Laura looked at her phone as she sat at the bar across from the departing gate. She had been the first to arrive so she had decided to get something hot to drink to help warm her. It had been a bitterly cold winter and she would be glad when spring finally broke.
She was sitting alone with her bag at her feet when she felt someone sit next to her. Ignoring the person, she continued to read the email that had been sent to her by her stepsister about her upcoming wedding.
Charlotte deserved some happiness and she was truly pleased for her. She had been through hell since her mother had married into the Wren family, and Laura felt less guilty since she had been able to find some happiness, and with a handsome ex-Navy SEAL no less.
She felt a large masculine arm brush her arm as it reached in front of her for some peanuts. Laura looked up, careful to keep her face blank as she looked at the man.
He was the classic business traveler. He was wearing a suit and tie and had a briefcase and rolling bag. Laura supposed he was handsome in an average all American way, and she didn't doubt that he had money because the suit was not off a rack, but he did have a wedding ring.
Pushing the peanuts towards him, she went back to looking at her phone, her senses on high alert.
"Hi," he greeted, popping a peanut into his mouth and grinning.
Laura looked up from her phone and let her gaze travel from the top of his head to the tips of his toes with a bored expression. Then, ignoring his greeting, went right back to reading her emails.
"Do I know you?" he tried again.
"No," Laura answered, turning slightly away from him.
"I'm sure I do, you look vaguely familiar."
"I'm sure you don't." She asked the bartender if she could get her drink to go.
"Why are you leaving so soon? I'll remember how I know you if you just keep talking."
"I doubt that." She stood up and wrapped her scarf around her neck while hanging her jacket over her arm as the bartender passed her a 'to go' cup full of hot water and a tea bag. Thanking him, she pulled some money out of her pocket and put it on the bar. Taking a couple of packets of sugar, she turned to pick up her bag and the man reached out to grab her arm to keep her from leaving.
"Please don't touch me," she insisted in a calm voice, looking pointedly at his hand on her arm.
"But I'm sure I know you."
"I promise you, you don't." She reached over for a glossy magazine that had been left on the bar top and opened it to the first page, sliding it towards him. Landau purchased the inside cover of most women's magazines to sell their cosmetics and in the advertisements she was either alone or with Carmen and Kelly.
Not waiting to see his response, most men immediately left her alone thinking she was way out of their league, she gathered her bag and coat and walked across the wide corridor to her gate. Finding a seat in the sun near the window, she settled in, pulling out her tablet to read a little.
"So, you're a famous model," he said, sitting next to her, letting his gaze travel over her, undressing her with his eyes. It was a look she was used to, but it still bothered her. It made her feel like a piece of meat.
She put a wall up and closed herself off, to talk to him would only encourage him and frustrate her. Laura would wait for a security guard to walk by then let him know that he was bothering her.
"What do you know, we're on the same flight." He grinned, obviously not reading her go away signals.
Laura gathered all of her things and moved to another seat, hoping that he would get the very overt hint. He didn't.
"What do you want?" she asked, looking right at him, meeting his eyes with her glacial stare.
"I thought we could pass the time by chatting."
"I don't chat, now will you please leave me alone." She watched as his face turned from pleasant to stern with embarrassment.
Laura felt a little twinge, she had spoken harshly, but he just wasn't taking her hints. He stood up and walked off with angry jerky movements as he sat on the opposite side of the terminal.
"The Ice Queen at work," Kelly said as she sat down next to her. "What harm would a little flirting have done? He looked nice enough."
Laura didn't say that she felt threatened, or that she was not an idle chit chatter, instead she went back to reading her tablet, ignoring Kelly as she waved at the man and smiled.
They sat in silence for a few minutes before Carmen joined them, sitting on the other side of Laura. Without being aware of it the three women were drawing every gaze in the near vicinity. Some looked covertly, others with open interest, but the three women were numb to their open stares.
"Ladies." They heard from the row opposite, and they all looked up at the same time while Davis captured their images on his camera.
Moving down the aisle to sit across from them, he set his heavy bag down and sighed. "I am the luckiest man in the room to be accompanying three such beautiful women."
Kelly rose and moved to sit on the seat next to him linking her arm through his. "I think we're pretty lucky to be seen with such a handsome man."
Laura looked up slowly and met Davis's eyes, hers carefully blank. He did look good. He was wearing blue jeans, a light blue sweater that looked to be cashmere, his black cowboy boots, a long black wool jacket, and a dark blue scarf. His wavy black hair was so dark it had tints of blue in it from the overhead lights. His baby blue eyes crinkled at the corners as he smiled at Laura. His perfect white teeth a foil for his tan skin. There was no doubt about it, he was a handsome man.
Not letting her expression reveal her thumping heart or her suddenly shaking hands, she looked back down at her tablet as if the moment and his look meant nothing. All the while her brain kept reminding her that those beautiful lips had kissed hers so gently.
She knew it was more than looks. She had dated some the handsomest men in the world and they had never made her heart rate accelerate or her hands shake.
One thing she swore to herself as a child was that she would never let what happened to her mother happen to her. She would never be at the mercy of a man and her love for him. Laura had seen what it had done to her mother, and she would not risk that happening to her.
A little voice in the back of her mind told her to note Charlotte and her husband-to-be Kellan. They were in love, and it had only strengthened her. Kellan had helped Charlotte heal, and one thing she was sure of was that he would never hurt Charlotte.
Pushing that voice away, she heard the words of her brother and father in her head. She had seen how her mother, who was just as beautiful as she was, maybe more so, had been treated by the man who claimed to love her. His jealously had swelled to the point that it had killed her.
Swallowing hard and focusing all her attention on her tablet, she tried to gain control of herself. It had been a long time since those bad memories had risen to the surface and threatened to choke her as they did now. Laura looked up at Davis covertly, but he was watching her closely as if he sensed the change in her.
Kelly was looking from one to the other, suddenly realizing there was some unspoken communication going on, not that Laura had a clue what it was.
"You should have seen the Ice Queen at work Davis." Kelly threw her hair over her shoulder. "She actually said, and I quote, 'Would you please leave me alone,'."
"At least she used the word please. I wouldn't have been that nice," Carmen said, looking at the magazine in her lap. "God, I hate airports, every man here is looking for a little side action and most of them are married."
"What's wrong with a little flirting?" Kelly asked with a giggle.
"One day child you are going to end up in a situation that you won't be able to get out of very quickly or easily," Carmen said shaking her head.
"So speaks the voice of experience," Davis said softly.
Carmen looked up at him and gave him a sad smile. "Something like that."
Laura tensed at Carmen's revelation. It hit to close to home.
Kelly laughed awkwardly, "Not me, I can handle any man." She threw her hair over her shoulder again.
"No Kelly you can't, and you're very foolish if you think you can." Laura closed her tablet just as their flight was called. They were flying first class so they got to board first.
Kelly rose quickly and flounced off, upset by being taken to task by both Carmen and Laura and being called foolish.
"So speaks another voice of experience," Davis said watching her.
"Something like that." She rose her eyes catching Carmen's. For just a moment they recognized each other's pain as similar. They didn't hear the click of Davis's camera.
"Ladies," he said, waiting for them to proceed towards the gate.
They were flying to different cities in the U.S., doing an Americana tour. The goal was to make Landau, a European firm, seem more American. Their sales were strong in the U.S., but they felt they didn't hold a large enough share of the market.
Their usual photo shoots had all been in famous locals. Paris, London, Spain, the Bahamas, but this time they were keeping it strictly on U.S. soil.
It was late March and they were scheduled for a four week shoot which would take them to all of the major U.S. landmarks and popular cities depicting different eras in the twentieth century.
One would think that they would start in New York since that was where they were all based, but it had been decided that that would be the last shoot. The first was to be in California and the era was to be 1950s Hollywood glamour. They also had shoots planned for 1960s glamour in Las Vegas, 1920s glamour in New York, 1940s glamour in Washington D.C. and 1970s glamour in Austin. They all sounded like taxing days playing dress up to Laura. Although, if she was honest, the one that sounded the most fun to her was the 1940s glamour.
As Laura took her seat she realized she was sitting next to Davis, and Carmen and Kelly were across the aisle from them. Kelly took the aisle seat leaving Carmen the window. It wasn't directly next to Davis, but it was as close as she could get. Laura had the window seat and was uneasy about having a seat next to Davis.
Davis had taken off his coat and offered to take hers as well. She handed it over to him wordlessly, and he folded them in half and put them in the overhead bin.
His sweater stretched across his massive chest and rode up his waist giving her a glimpse of a very well-toned set of abs as he lifted up his arms. Laura quickly looked away adjusting her seatbelt.
When the stewardess passed by Davis she brushed up against him, mentioning what a tight squeeze it was, and she took entirely too much time to pass him in Laura's opinion. The thought brought her up short, and she quickly turned her head to look out the window to hide her confusion. Why should she be jealous that the stewardess was flirting with Davis?
She risked a quick glance over at him as he bent down to take his seat.
"Jealous?" he whispered in her ear, his warm breath tickling her.
Laura couldn't help the blush that touched her cheeks, he didn't miss much. "Why should I be jealous?"
"I was jealous when I saw that man at the bar talking to you. I especially didn't like it when he followed you from the bar to the gate."
They settled in for the long flight. Davis's arm rested next to hers on the armrest and his large frame filled the small space. She had never been more aware of another human being before in her life. His smell, the heat radiating off of him, his even breathing. It was all registering with her.
His light blue eyes met hers with such open honesty that she was speechless. She didn't know what shocked her more, that he had been watching her, or that he had been jealous.
"Why on earth would you be jealous?" she asked softly, completely mystified.
"Probably the same reason you are." He shrugged, leaning his head against his headrest.
"But I'm not...I don't know..." She had no clue what she should say to that.
"You'll figure it out." He grinned.
"I take it you already have?" she asked defensively.
"Yes, I have." He sat forward and reached across her lifting up the window shade. "We're moving," he said, turning to look at her, a smile still on his face.
He was practically in her lap and his face was so close to hers she could see the laugh lines around the corner of his eyes. Her heart rate and breathing picked up speed. He was so close. She could kiss him again if she wanted, and oh boy did she want to, but she didn't want a sweet simple kiss like last time. She licked her lips subconsciously as she let her eyes roam his face as if memorizing it. A lock of his dark hair had fallen across his forehead and she wanted to brush it back. She actually clenched her fists to keep from touching him.
His gaze fell to her lips. "I'm still trying to figure out why they call you the Ice Queen. I think if I touched you right now we would both catch fire."
"Please stop." She choked on the plea.
He looked as if he was about to say something but changed his mind as he leaned back into his own seat. Laura turned her heated face towards the window as she tried to steady her heart rate and calm her breathing.
She agreed with his statement. If he had touched her she would have lost all control and she never lost control. The idea of giving any control over to another person scared her to death. She could only depend on herself, and if she let herself down it would devastate her.
"What's so interesting over there?" Kelly asked loudly across the aisle.
Laura had forgotten that they were not alone and jumped at the sound of Kelly's voice. In self-defense Laura ignored her question and kept looking out of the window.
"The ground crew," Davis responded with a smile. It had taken him very little time to recover from their heated moment.
Laura was unaware that she had started to rub the scar on her inner arm. It was a habit she had when she was trying to forget an uncomfortable memory. Davis hadn't missed the action or the scar.
"Hey Carmen, I really would like to look out the window during take-off, would you mind trading with me for a few minutes?" Davis asked with a smile.
Carmen shook her head and waited for Kelly to move, which she did quickly.
The action took them very little time, and soon Davis's disturbing presence was gone and Carmen had taken his place.
"Are you O.K.?" Carmen asked softly.
Laura shook her head no, not attempting to turn around.
"Did he make an unwanted move on you?" Carmen asked skeptically.
Laura shook her head, making herself turn to look at Carmen. Taking a deep breath she leaned her head back on the seat and closed her eyes.
"Well, I will say that you chose well. Granted, I don't have the best track record, but I think he's a decent guy. That may be why I'm not interested in him. I tend to go for the indecent types. Still, he's one of the best looking men I've seen in a while." She reached over and patted Laura's hand which surprised her. "You'll figure it out. Let me know if you want to talk."
Laura was too shaken up by her reactions to Davis to be shocked by Carmen's sudden friendliness. Perhaps it was the moment they had in the airport that had created a friendship. Laura just nodded, closing her eyes again as the plane started to taxi down the runway.
All she knew was that she was in serious trouble. Davis was a man that could make her forget all of her promises to herself. All she could do was hope that he would continue to stir up all of her bad memories. If he continued to do that, she might just be strong enough to get through the next four weeks.