Atypical Heiress: The Penelope Marino Story

Nine

Brett had been prepared for the long flight with a toddler and had plenty of activities to keep his son busy. Malachi, however, had other plans. He refused to sit with Brett and clung to me with a vice-like grip any time Brett tried to take him. He wanted to sit with his new friend, "'Pita." Eventually, I told Brett to leave him alone, lay my seat down and turned on a cartoon. Soon, both Malachi and I were asleep.

I woke up a while later and saw Brett studying his laptop intensely. The small light overhead illuminated his face just enough for me to see that he was chewing on his thumbnail and his face was scrunched up in concentration.

Taking great care not to disturb Malachi, I shifted myself into a sitting position and peered over Brett's shoulder. "What are you working on?"

He jumped and whipped around to look at me, eyes widened in surprise. "You scared the crap out of me. I didn't know you were awake."

I yawned and stretched. "I just woke up."

"I can tell by the hair," he said with a laugh.

"Oh, shut up," I said elbowing him gently before trying to comb through my tangled hair.

"I'm only kidding. You actually look cute when you're asleep," he said softly, looking away from me.

I felt myself blushing and cleared my throat. "Do you always stare at people while they sleep? Some people might consider that odd."

"I wasn't staring," he muttered.

"Are we close?" I asked, changing the subject.

"Actually yes. I was going to wake you in a few minutes. We'll be landing soon."

"Okay, well let me get Malachi ready. Will you hand me his shoes?" I asked, lifting the sleeping child into my arms as I returned the seat to its upright position.

Brett just stared at me.

"Did you hear me?"

"What? Oh. Yeah. Here." He thrust the shoes into my hands and I slid them onto Malachi's feet.

"Why are you acting so weird?" I asked with a frown.

"You're the one who's acting weird," he said with a laugh.

"How so?"

I didn't get to hear his explanation because I finally felt that the plane had started to descend and yelped in fear.

"You alright there?"

"Landing is my least favorite part," I replied shakily.

He put his arm around me and smiled. "It'll be fine. I'm right here."

Instead of pushing him off of me as I should have, I moved as close to him as I possibly could without squishing Malachi. My heart pounded hard in my chest. Whether it was from fear of the landing or how good it felt to be held by Brett, I wasn't sure. I hadn't been this close to him since the first night we met.

After the nightmarish landing was over, we gathered our things and headed to customs and then baggage claim. I held Malachi, who was somehow still asleep, while Brett retrieved our luggage.

Despite the 10 hour flight, Brett still looked perfect, in dark wash jeans and a button down. His dark brown hair was slightly mussed but he was still undeniably hot. I looked down at the sleeping child in my arms and smiled. He looked exactly like Brett aside from his blonde hair.

I glanced back over at Brett and shook my head. I had to keep my affection for this adorable boy and his father to a minimum. I had no room in my life for a relationship, especially a relationship with a single father.