"Well." Grandma slumped. "If you're both sure."
Jace reached for my hand. "We are. And we appreciate the effort."
Okay, suddenly I wanted to punch him in the face.
"Jace," I said in a sickly sweet voice.
"Yeah?"
"If you don't stop speaking on my behalf, I'm going to use your body as my own personal Frankenstein experiment when you're sleeping, got it?"
He pulled back and smirked. "Got it."
"Well," Grandma sighed loud enough to wake up every single child under eight in the back of the plane, "I guess what's done is done. And again, I'm so very sorry for the inconvenience. We'll be landing around dinnertime. I've already apologized to the kids for crashing their honeymoon. They've agreed to take your bags back with them to the hotel while we go have our peaceful dinner, then we can meet them there for a nightcap."
"Fine." I smiled tensely.
"Ta-ta." Grandma waved and walked back down the aisle.
With a sigh I slumped back against my chair, trying to look at the positive side of things. Just because Jace didn't want me didn't mean I was a loser. It just meant I was… single. Still single. Did it mean I was bad in bed? Possibly. It also meant that I was probably a terrible kisser. Who could blame me when my practice had been with Vampire Lover and McDonalds' Employee of the Month?
"She's up to something."
"Jace," I swore, "stop being so…"
"So what?"
"So… suspicious. She apologized. We get a free vacation. Leave it at that."
"But—"
"I'm going to sleep."
"Okay." He sounded disappointed.
I wanted to see the look on his face. I wanted to dissect every single look, every touch, every sigh, but I knew in the end the equation would still equal out to be zero. No matter how many tallies I put in his favor, he still wouldn't want what I had to offer.
Because in the end, I wasn't even sure what I had to offer, except for my heart. And for thirty years — even that hadn't been enough.
Chapter Eight
"You mean to tell me he wanted to be kidnapped?"
Grandma nodded. "Yes, that's correct."
"And he wanted to be rufied?"
"Of course."
"And he asked you to give him some time before you revealed his location?"
"That's what I'm saying."
"Did you murder Senator Brevik?"
"Oh honey, if I'd had murdered him. I wouldn't have gotten caught — that's why I'm here."
"You're here because you got caught."
"I let you catch me. To give him time."
"Fine. I'll bite. Time for what?"
"Love."
Jace
Once the plane dropped down in Honolulu, I was beyond ready to lose my cool. The little girl in front of us had, for the past hour, chattered about school, life, her mom, her gas — really anything that she'd thought might interest us. But the real kicker had been when Beth had started coloring with her.
And I'd been left to watch.
I'd watched her hands glide over the paper.
I'd watched her delicate fingers as they held the color blue.
I'd watched when her face lit up from the praise the little girl gave her.
And then I'd ruined it by scowling when the little girl gave her a high five, and I'd been left out.
Irritation pierced me in the chest. And I was ready to lose my damn mind over it. Every time I tried to imagine a reason for me to be upset that Beth wasn't giving me attention, the more upset with myself I became.
I probably should have apologized for my bluntness, but things were better that way. She needed to know it had been a one-time thing. Yeah, she was beautiful, but that didn't mean I was ready to hand my balls to her on a silver platter.
Been there done that. Never again.
So what if that made me insensitive? I had my job. I loved my job, and I intended to do anything to keep it.
I turned on my phone and looked down at the screen.
Rick: Call as soon as you land.
I texted him back instead, knowing I didn't want to be that annoying guy who started talking loudly when everyone was trying to grab his bag and make it down the narrow aisle.
Me: Landed. Can't talk. Everything okay?
Rick: Define okay.
Me: Did the problem go away?
Rick: If the problem you're referring to is an attractive thirty year old that works for the company whose bill you just rejected because you said it wasn't soundly written, then yeah. Sure. Peachy.
Me: What?!
Rick: Like I said, call me when you have time. We need to make this go away. Approval ratings can drop overnight. Good news? People think you're getting married, and the news is loving it. So stay put.
Cursing, I put the phone back in my pocket and rubbed my temples.
"Bad news?" Beth blinked her green eyes innocently.
"Thanks to you, yes." I was trapped. I couldn't leave, and if I stayed, I stayed next to Beth, and the longer I was in her presence, the more I wanted to attack her — in a totally sexually pent-up frustrated way. One where there was biting and fighting and—"
"Me?" Her eyebrows shot up.
I tried to look pissed instead of aroused.
"Any chance I can pay you an obscene amount of money to kick me in the balls on national television and say you're mentally insane?"