Page 19 of Discretion

“There’s no way we’re going to make it to the meeting in time.” My shoulders slumped.

I’d told Sloan we could reschedule, but I’d only said it tokeep her calm. This art dealer was a stickler for punctuality, and if I was late, he wasn’t going to see me.

“Show me,” Jasper said.

I handed him my phone. He nodded, his entire demeanor focused. “Can you contact the art dealer and see if we can have permission to land a helicopter?”

“What?” I widened my eyes.

“You heard me.” He handed the phone back to me, and I immediately texted the dealer.

When I looked up, Jasper was already halfway down the hall. “I… where?” I tracked his movements. “Where are you going?”

“Helipad. Come on.”

Helipad?He couldn’t be serious. Could he?

I practically had to run to catch up. He stopped in front of a private elevator I hadn’t even noticed, it was so discreet. Jasper placed his palm on a scanner then punched a button marked “H.” This was serious James-Bond-level shit. I glanced at Jasper askew.The hell?

The elevator climbed up and up, and when the doors opened, bright sunlight poured into the small vestibule. Jasper put on a pair of sunglasses, and I did the same. Through the glass doors, I spied a gorgeous navy helicopter, its gold accents glinting in the afternoon sun.

I scanned the roof, noticing that we were alone. “Where’s the pilot?”

“You’re looking at him.” Jasper grinned from behind his aviators.

Jasper was a pilot? How did I not know this? I kept waiting for him to tell me he was joking.

“Come on.” He grabbed my hand but quickly dropped it.

It didn’t matter how brief the contact had been; my skin was branded by his touch. My breath hitched. “I?—”

“Sor—” he started to say at the same time, and I waved it away.

“Are you sure you’re in the right frame of mind to fly?” I asked, thinking of how worried he’d been for Sloan only minutes ago.

“If I weren’t, I wouldn’t fly. I don’t fuck around with safety, especially not when it comes to you.”

I—what?

I ignored the butterflies that fluttered in my stomach at his statement.

I wanted to argue that his love of sports cars contradicted that, but then I remembered how insistent he’d always been that I wear my seat belt. Or the way he’d gently guide me away from the street when we walked together.

In ways both big and small, Jasper had always looked out for me. Protected me. If he said he was focused, then I believed him.

“Let’s go.” I practically shouted, crossing the helipad as quickly as I could.

I was determined to get to that meeting, and my adrenaline was pumping. It wasn’t until he’d opened the passenger door and I’d climbed in that I started to panic about the fact that we were going to be flying in a tiny aircraft with nothing more than a giant fan holding us aloft.

Jasper shut the door then rounded the aircraft, doing what I assumed was a preflight check. Finally, he climbed inside the cockpit, and suddenly, it felt a whole lot smaller. His cologne permeated the space, and I inhaled slowly, allowing a sense of calm to settle over me. Or at least, I tried to.

He checked the controllers and then told me to put on my headset. He placed his helmet with a built-in headset over his ears, but I was frozen. Maybe this was a bad idea. I mean…a helicopter?

“Are you sure this is safe?” I asked around a tight knot of fear.

“Halle,” he said, waiting until I turned to look at him. “Do you trust me?”

I held his gaze, and then I nodded. I did trust Jasper. He’d always treated me with respect. He’d always been honest. And he’d always put my needs first.