Page 43 of False Start

And my only job was to pretend to be his girlfriend.

I smiled.

Yeah…

I could work with that.

Madelyn

How silly it was of me to assume we’d be taking a commercial flight to Denver.

I’d certainly expected some type of security once we got to the airport. I had also presumed we’d be in premium economy seats, if not first class.

What I hadnotexpected was a private turboprop.

We didn’t park at the airport and drag our luggage inside. Instead, we drove right to a hangar where the plane waited for us — along with the pilot, a flight attendant, and a grounds crew waiting with glasses of champagne.

Kyle and Braden took a glass without blinking, not even bothering to move for their luggage in the trunk of the car. I went to reach for mine, but a man with pale skin, silver hair, and kind eyes stopped me — offering me a smile as he handled the luggage and nodded for me to join the others.

I felt so out of place, I wanted to crawl out of my skin.

It wasn’t that I hadn’t traveled to some nice places before or had some upscale experiences. Marshall was a veterinarian. Hemade a nice salary and used to like to spoil me when we were together.

Usually after he roughed me up.

It was his favorite way to apologize — by not actually apologizing at all, but rather buying me something or taking me somewhere.

My parents were also decently well-off, and they had taken me on many of their travels when I was younger.

But it was never anything likethis.

I was still standing shocked-still and staring at the plane waiting for us to board it when a glass of champagne was propped right in my eye line.

“If I remember right, you love bubbles,” Kyle said, his voice low and teasing.

He cocked one of those gorgeous, thick brows of his when I looked at him, a smirk curling on his lips.

I took the glass from him with my cheeks heating. “That’s a very specific memory to hold onto,” I noted with an arched brow of my own.

“Oh, trust me,” he said, hooking his arm around my waist. Again, he did it so effortlessly, like his hand belonged hooked on my hip and pulling me into him. “I remember everything about that night.”

He smiled with the words, but they hung heavy in-between us when I dragged my gaze up to his. I was so small in his arms — even more so than I had been when we were younger.

I felt his body against mine like a fortress and a warning all at once.

That night.

That night we were just two kids getting into trouble. That night we snuck into the pool of a vacation house, when we spent the night drinking champagne we stole from Kyle’s parents,when we crossed a line that had already been so thin it was impossible to see.

That night we went fromjust friendsto something more.

The more the memory resurfaced, the more both of our smiles dropped. The heat and the questions swirling in Kyle’s eyes were too much for me to bear.

I tore my gaze away and took a sip of my champagne.

When the crew was ready for us, they helped us board the plane, continuing to serve us as they went through the brief safety instructions. Then, they took our empty champagne flutes, and we were taxiing down the runway, ready for takeoff.

I looked around at the plush leather seats, the luxurious interior of the plane that could have seated eight, but just had the three of us.