A Lover's Secret by Bethany Bloom Page B

as though she were an
old, wise woman, saying goodbye.
    If this day could get any weirder, Jess thought, she didn’t
know how.

Eight
    Jess
    “It almost feels like we’re on the run,” Jess said laughing.
She and Jake were sitting on the plane, waiting to embark toward a final
destination he had kept secret from her.
    “Let’s go with that,” Jake grabbed her hand and tilted his
head toward hers. His eyes drifted to her mouth. “All you need to do is relax
and enjoy the ride, Jess. All of the arrangements have been made.”
    Jess’s stomach slid downwards and she felt a flutter at the
top of her thighs. She thought about her conversation with Elizabeth. Did she
really think Jess had some kind of power over him? Jake and Elizabeth didn’t
appear to be a couple after all, and, this having been determined, Jess felt
that same overriding sense of peace, that lightness and familiarity with Jake
that she had the night before.
    It was a pure, calm energy, but also a buzzing. Electric.
She felt it even when he stood nearby, not touching her but close enough that
she could feel his presence, his warmth. She liked the person she imagined
herself to be when this energy filled her. Feeling it now, she knew she had
made the right decision. She would allow herself to feel desired and vibrant.
For once in her life, she was going to live for today. Fast and free. Because one thing was sure: being high strung and repressed hadn’t been working
so well for her of late.
    In the airport terminal, as they waited for their flight,
Jake had told her he’d love to blindfold her and make their journey’s end a
total surprise, but security regulations stipulated that she personally hand
over her boarding pass. “Plus,” he had said, “the flight attendants and the
other passengers tend to frown on it when you lead a blindfolded girl around
the airport.” He had laughed. “They sure know how to take the fun out of
flying.” And then he told her to sit tight with a magazine while he did a
little shopping for her in the airport boutiques. “What are you? About a size
four…petite?”
    She nodded. “And a size five shoe.”
    He returned twenty minutes later with a stiff brown leather
carryon filled with a sundress, a pair of jeans and a blouse, a new pair of
running shoes, two pairs of shorts and tank tops and a sexy, strappy pair of
sandals, along with some French-looking lingerie, all bows and lace.
    “Where did you find all of this stuff?” she asked.
    “Stick with me, kid…I’ve got all kinds of surprises up my
sleeve,” he said with a wink.
    It was just one of the many things he’d said that day that
made her push her rational, logical brain back out of the way because she knew,
as soon as she allowed it any space at all, she would wonder what on earth she
had done, and why she was going God-knows-where with this guy, without a phone
and without anyone knowing where she had disappeared to.
    The airliner began to taxi, lurching forward with an awkward
bucking motion, which made Jess fear for her safety while in flight, but Jake
didn’t seem to be alarmed. Soon, the plane came to rest once again, but in just
a few moments, the flight attendant instructed them to prepare for takeoff, and
Jess put on her placid face. The plane gained speed, emitting a terrific
screech, and forcing her back against the seat As the plane lifted, so did her
stomach, and she pressed against the headrest and peered over at Jake.
    “This is the moment of flight that I love,” he said, his
eyes dancing. “I mean, you know that, on some level, you really aren’t supposed
to be doing this. Soaring up over the world like this. It’s breaking all the
rules, and yet, here we are…in the air, where we most certainly don’t belong.”
He shook his head and leaned to look out the window. “Up with the birds and the
geese and the little damn clouds over the mountain peaks.” His tone dropped to
a reverent whisper. “I wish I could fly