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“Trina.” He pressed a finger to one side of his nose. “Look at me. Do what I do.” He firmly closed his lips and then inhaled through the oneopen nostril.

Mirroring him, her breathing slowed down, the tension eased. Her head cleared as her lungs filled and she felt better.

“There you go,” he encouraged. “Keep going.”

She kept it up for another few breaths. “That’s remarkable,” she said at last.

“Learned it from one of Max’s students from the Guardian Agency.”

“Tell him thanks from me.”

He eased back in his seat. “If I see her again, I will.” His eyes were kind when he asked, “Now was that because of me or is it our rushed plan in general?”

Our. Why did she have to get stuck on such a simple word? Every time she turned around, he was making them a team. That was good, and still unsettling.

“Surely, it can be both.”

“True,” he allowed. “Before you ask again, yes I’m all in. No, I don’t know exactly why. But you need help and I don’t do things halfway.”

She understood commitment to a plan, but this was a bit much. “Rhett. A real wedding?”

“Think of it more like a real elopement,” he said. “While you were packing, I decided you should have fond memories when you look back on this experience years from now. Something to make you smile or laugh. And nothing to cause regrets.”

What a time to realize that she’d invited another powerhouse into her life. As if her parents weren’t big enough factors to contend with. And she already had regrets, though none of them were Rhett’s fault.

Top of the list? There was no way the two of them would be married for a lifetime. She wasn’t capable of a real marriage with him or any other man. He deserved better than the purgatory she could offer.

“Trina?”

She scrambled for something to say. On the plane wasn’t the best time to have a private conversation. “You, um, mentioned that public displays of affection would be up to me.”

“Absolutely. But we need more than that. Your parents will keep hounding you if they sense that we’re faking it.” Apparently, Rhett didn’t share her concerns about the crew’s discretion. “They’ll just go right back to pressuring you to marry the man of their choosing.”

He was right. Why try and argue against the obvious? Her palms were damp. “Well, I appreciate your commitment. I assumed we’d just go through the motions.”

“I considered it,” he admitted.

“Not for long,” she said.

He laughed. “You won’t offend me if you call me bossy. In fact, you definitely need to call me out when I overstep.”

“Not if?”

He shook his head. “Arrogance is a fatal flaw. Anyone in the family will happily confirm it. I assess issues quickly and often make decisions without explaining my thought process. My mom will tell you that’s why no woman has stuck around yet.” A shadow of something flickered across his face, there and gone quickly. “I have a rough track record with simply doing when I should ask first.”

“Duly warned.”

“In this case though, I didn’t want you caught up in a lie.” He leaned back in his seat, resting one ankle on the opposite knee. His fingers drummed on that knee. “I figure eloping will disrupt things enough without making the whole thing a charade.”

Weirdly enough, seeing his nervous energy soothed her. Made her feel as if they really were a team, diving together into the deep end without looking. Getting the marriage license didn’t mean they had to actually marry. Maybe Luca wouldgive up before they had to see this through. As thoughtful as Rhett was being for her, she didn’t want to wreck his life either.

But now they had to discuss the rest of it. She finished off the sparkling water, wishing now she had asked for something stronger. She bit her lip and then released it. In her head, her mother’s voice gave her the all-too-familiar lecture about projecting confident body language.

“In the interest of not lying, are you comfortable with the living arrangements we talked about?” she asked.

“As long as you trust your housekeeping staff not to gossip,” he replied.

She knew they’d have to be careful. Gossip was part of life in any hotel she’d worked at so far. “Do you trust your staff?” she countered. “We’re kicking this off at your place.”