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  Damn, the grocery store was packed for a Saturday morning. I only needed to grab a couple things, but it looked like this wasn’t going to be quick. I really hated shopping, even at the grocery store. It was just my luck that it would be so busy. And here I was, in my old ratty sweats I had worn to bed last night. At least I didn’t have to worry about impressing anybody here. One advantage to growing up in a college town is that all us townies knew each other pretty well. Everyone had seen me looking a lot worse than this at least once in my life.

  I grabbed a basket from the stack by the carts and darted towards the produce section to grab some bananas, strawberries, raspberries, and blueberries for the smoothies. My dad’s famous hangover cure was pretty simple, but they seemed to work wonders. He always said that the almonds helped settle your stomach and the berries aided in detoxing the liver. Throw in a banana for extra potassium and you were good to go. I had made my fair share for him over the years when he’d hosted poker nights for his friends. He needed to be bright-eyed the morning after so he’d be safe to fly.

  Once I had grabbed the fruit and almonds I needed, I headed over to the spices aisle to pick up some vanilla extract and cinnamon. I wasn’t sure what all was stocked in the kitchen on our floor, so I needed to buy some just in case. As I rounded the corner of the aisle, I glanced into my basket, trying to decide if I should get some more ingredients so I could make smoothies for Faith and Natalie too. It would be a nice gesture and a chance to try to connect with them.

  “Oomph!” I grunted as I walked into someone’s back. “I am so sorry,” I started to apologize. I lifted my gaze from my basket to the person I had knocked into and realized it was the guy from the party the night before. And then I quickly discovered that he was even hotter close-up. It sure didn’t hurt that he was dressed in pressed khakis and another polo shirt—dark green this time. And here I was, dressed like a homeless person.

  He had turned towards me while I was lost in thought and his hands wrapped around my arms to help steady me. His dark brown eyes twinkled at me as he smiled in response to my apology. He smirked at me with a half-grin that showed off the dimple on his left cheek.

  “No problem. I was kind of hogging the aisle while I figured out which way to go to find greeting cards,” he said.

  “Oh, you can find those across the aisle a few rows that way,” I offered while pointing in the direction of the card aisle. His hands felt like they were burning through my clothes as they gripped my arms. I stared at his full lips as I spoke. It was so hard to pull my gaze away from his lips—they just seemed to be begging for a kiss.

  “Thanks. I know this sounds like a bad pick-up line, but don’t I know you from somewhere? I’m Drake Bennett,” he asked.

  “What? Um, yeah, you do. I was at the Sig Chi party last night. I think you know Jackson? He’s—” I started to respond, stopping when his hands dropped from my arms abruptly and his eyes lost the warmth they had only moments ago. What the hell was up with that? He and Jackson had looked friendly enough last night.

  “Right. I remember. Better grab that card. See you around,” Drake offered as he walked away. Well, so much for chatting up the hot guy at the grocery store. Funny, right? Like he would ever even flirt back. He was way out of my league, even when I looked my best like last night. Looking like I did today, I was surprised he even spoke to me at all. I could be such an idiot sometimes.

  I grabbed the rest of the supplies I need and headed to the checkout. My phone rang, and my dad’s photo flashed across the screen.

  “Hey, Dad. What’s up?” I answered.

  “Honey, I was wondering if you wanted to grab some extra hours co-piloting the Lear this weekend. I booked a last-minute charter to the Greenwich, Connecticut. Want to meet me at the airport?” he asked.

  “Absolutely! I need more hours on the Lear. And I’d love to see you, too. I can only do it if I make it back in time for my first class on Monday morning.” I handed some cash over to the cashier as I spoke with my dad. I needed to run back to the dorm to clean up and change clothes, whip up the smoothies for the girls, and head over to meet my dad.

  “I wouldn’t ask you to join me if I thought it meant you would have to skip classes. School comes first, not flying. You know the rules, sweetie. We don’t take off for another two hours. Meet me in ninety minutes?”

  “I’ll be there, Dad. Thanks for asking me to join you,” I answered before climbing into my car to go back home.

  Aubrey was passed out in bed when I got back to the dorm. I hadn’t heard a peep from the other side of the suite, so I decided that Faith and Natalie must still be sleeping also. I figured I should have enough time to get ready before I made the smoothies and woke everyone up.

  I loved having the bathroom all to myself, so weekend mornings were my favorite. I could linger in the shower without worrying about anyone else barging in on me. As I washed my hair with my favorite coconut lime shampoo, I couldn’t help but think of Drake. I had bumped into him twice in less than twelve hours, and both times I’d felt a chemistry like I had never experienced before. The way he had first looked at me at the party and held on to my arms when I bumped into him at the grocery store made me think he might have felt it, too. But then he’d been so cold to me. It was just so confusing. He didn’t even really know me. Why would he be angry with me?

  I just didn’t understand the male mind. Brad had been my only boyfriend, and I thought I knew him until things had gone south. We had dated for three years, and everyone thought we would end up getting married and having kids. Including me. When Jackson walked in on Brad cheating on me at a college party his freshman year, things got ugly fast. Jackson kicked his ass then and there and told him to never speak to me again. He was the one who’d told me what had happened, with Aubrey by my side through the whole ordeal.

  I was so hurt and didn’t know how to react. Everyone heard about what had happened because of the fight. The pitying looks at school were tough enough to bear. Then when Brad decided that he wanted me back and didn’t care if he had to fight Jackson to accomplish his goal, things got even worse. Flowers showed up on my doorstep regularly. Text messages and missed calls came all the time. I tried to avoid Brad and was pretty successful at it until he started showing up everywhere I went. I wasn’t sure how he knew where I would be, and it freaked me out. My dad talked to the chief of police about getting a restraining order, but I worried that it would push him over the edge. The boy I had fallen in love with had disappeared, and Brad became someone I hardly recognized.

  Jackson and Brad had been friends throughout high school and had pledged Sigma Chi together. Their fight had caused some issues at the frat house, with most of the guys siding with Jackson since he was a legacy. When they found out that Brad had resorted to stalking me, Jackson pushed for him to be kicked out of the fraternity and had the support of a lot of influential alumni due to his family connections behind him.

  When the chief of police went to his parents, they’d refused to believe that things had gotten that bad. They wouldn’t intervene, so Aubrey and Jackson’s dad did. He owned the local bank, which held the mortgage on their house. I wasn’t supposed to know that he’d visited Brad’s parents and told them that they needed to fix this or he was going to call in their loan. I’d heard my dad talking about it on the phone after Brad had transferred to a school out West. He didn’t want to go, but his parents knew that they had to act fast or things were going to get bad for them. The Silvers had a lot of influence in town and had made it clear that they wouldn’t mind using it on my behalf.

  Brad’s leaving was a godsend to me. I’d been able to finish high school without worrying about seeing him in town and move on with my life without him in it. What I hadn’t been able to do was feel comfortable enough to date other guys. What happened with Brad had added some serious trust issues to my abandonment issues. Not a good mixture for teenage dating. I focused on school and flying and forgot about boys for a while. And when the time cam
e for me to pick a college, it made sense for me to attend Blythe but stay at home with my dad. Until he’d decided that I needed to spread my wings and could only do that while living on campus. Brad hadn’t been a problem for more than two years, and I didn’t have an excuse to stay home any longer.

  Did that mean I was ready to date again, too? If my reaction to meeting Drake was any indication, then the answer was a resounding yes. With his hands on my arms and his gorgeous brown eyes gazing into mine, all I had wanted to do was kiss his delectable lips. His little smirk had made me want to bite down on his lower lip to punish him for being so damn cocky. But then he’d seemed icy to me. I was better off not fantasizing about some guy who’d managed to tie me up in knots inside after a few sentences of conversation. My taste in guys sucked!

  The bathroom door flew open, interrupting my line of thought. “Lex, I thought you were going to fix me up a Hewett Hangover Smoothie?” Aubrey whined at me.

  “I am. Just give me a second to finish up in here. Dad called and wanted me to join him on a quick charter to the East Coast this weekend. Can you throw a change of clothes and my Econ book into a bag for me?” I asked.

  “As long as you promise to fix me up as soon as you are out of the shower. My head is killing me, and I need to get some studying done so I can party with Faith and Natalie tonight since you are abandoning me again!”

  “Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know. I suck as a best friend. Sorry I have to bail on you tonight. Maybe we could do a movie night sometime this week?” I offered.

  “Yay! But I get to pick the movie. No action movies! Chick flicks only, got it?” Aubrey replied as she walked out of the bathroom. I didn’t know which was worse—the idea of going to another party with her or being stuck watching some dumb movie she picked out. The things we do for our friends.

  By the time I had gotten ready to go, all three girls were sitting in the common area, waiting for me to make them smoothies. “Hey,” I greeted everyone, and they nodded their heads at me and went on gossiping about the party last night.

  “Did you hear what happened with Drake and Sasha last night?” Natalie asked. I almost nodded my head before I realized she wasn’t speaking to me. Normally I would have no idea what she was talking about, but I was the only person in the room who had seen Sasha practically get kicked out of the party.

  “No, what happened?” Faith replied as she leaned forward to catch everything Natalie had to say.

  “I heard that Sasha showed up at the party, without being invited, because she’d assumed that Drake wanted her there. I don’t know why she thought she was so special. Word around campus is that he never invites girls over to the house—ever. And certainly not for a party,” Natalie gossiped. “And that when she showed up, he pulled her through the house and to the back door so he could make it clear to her that he didn’t want her there. Supposedly, she freaked out and he had to force her out of the house.”

  “He did not force her out of the house,” I chimed in before I realized what I was saying. Three sets of eyes swiveled towards me, shocked that I had something to offer to this conversation.

  “I heard it from a very reliable source, Alexa. Sasha told her best friend what happened, and she told me directly,” Natalie huffed at me. “How would you know any differently? I didn’t think you even knew Drake or Sasha.”

  “Well, I don’t exactly know them, but I was in the kitchen when they were arguing and she left the house.”

  “What were you doing in the Sigma Chi kitchen last night?” Faith asked me. “We didn’t see you at the party at all. I thought you didn’t make it there.”

  “I went to the party with Aubrey. I didn’t stay downstairs that long. Maybe that’s why you didn’t see me? Anyway, when Jackson and I went to grab another drink before heading upstairs, we ran into Drake and Sasha arguing at the back door. Jackson talked with them, and she walked off in a tizzy over something. Nobody forced her to leave, but they definitely made it clear that she wasn’t welcome.”

  “And what happened next? I can’t believe you didn’t tell me first thing this morning that you met Drake Bennett last night, Lex! Best friends are supposed to share stuff like that,” Aubrey shrieked at me while Natalie and Faith nodded their heads in support.

  “Nothing happened, Aubrey. Jackson only talked to the guy for a couple minutes, and he didn’t introduce us. So, I didn’t really meet him last night. I just kinda observed him from afar,” I responded.

  “How could you waste a golden opportunity like that?” gasped Faith. “Drake Bennett is the hottest guy on campus. Every girl wants to meet him. And you were in the same room with him and didn’t make sure that Jackson told him who you are? You are crazy!”

  “Nah, she’s not crazy. She probably didn’t even notice how hot he is. Lex, you need to pull your head out of your ass and start living again! If someone as sexy as Drake doesn’t even capture your attention the teensiest bit, then I am seriously worried about you,” Aubrey wagged her finger at me, and I started to blush in response.

  Damn my fair skin.

  “Wait a second! You did notice him, didn’t you? I see that look. You’ve finally noticed another guy! Yay! So why didn’t you say anything to him? Oh, crap. You were with Jackson. No way could you ask him to introduce you after everything that happened the last time he introduced you to a guy. Don’t worry though. We will just have to make sure you have another chance,” Aubrey rambled on. Great, now I was going to have to admit to seeing him again in the grocery store.

  “Yeah, I don’t think that’s gonna happen. I already saw him again this morning at the grocery store. And you saw what I looked like when I left this morning. I bumped into him, he seemed nice, and then he was super icy to me. I don’t think the third time will be the charm.”

  I quickly finished making their smoothies so I could get out of there. I really didn’t want to get the third degree about some guy I was never going to date anyway.

  “Here you go! This should help with the hangovers. I need to head out if I am going to make it to the terminal in time. See you guys on Monday.” I grabbed my backpack off the floor near the door and peeked inside. “Thanks for throwing my stuff together, Aubrey. I appreciate it.”

  “Don’t think that this conversation is over, Lex. We will talk about this later,” Aubrey threatened.

  4

  I parked the Mini Cooper in my parking spot at the terminal. I rubbed my hands together in excitement as I thought about the upcoming flight. It wasn’t often that I was able to get extra hours in the Lear since Dad used it for most of his business charter flights. I couldn’t wait to get up in the air today.

  As I headed towards the hanger, I could see my dad running over his checklist outside the plane. We had both picked the same dark purple polo shirt to wear today—my favorite color. I knew Dad wore it because he knew I loved when he wore his. He had let me pick the colors out on the last order of logo shirts, and he hadn’t been too excited when he saw the purple ones, saying it was a little too feminine for him. Yet he still wore it because he liked making me happy.

  “Hey, Dad. Great minds think alike, eh?” I gestured towards our shirts. He snorted in response to my teasing and reached out to give me a big bear hug.

  “Alexa! Since I can claim half of your great mind, it only makes sense that we think alike. Right, sweetie?”

  “Makes sense to me. Anything I can do to help get ready for the flight?”

  “Yeah, could you make sure there are drinks and snacks in the cabin? We only have one passenger today, so we only need a few things available.”

  “Sure, Dad. Should I fluff a pillow and grab a blanket while I’m at it?”

  “Alexa Marie, you know that our passengers pay for comfort and convenience. I know it’s a pain to cater to them sometimes, but that doesn’t mean you need to get sassy with me.”

  “Sorry, Dad. I’ll can the attitude. I promise.”

  “Good, because he will be here any minute, and I want everything rea
dy to go before he gets here. His dad is paying us good money to make sure his son makes it to some big party tonight.” Dad smiled back at me, letting me know that he didn’t really mind my attitude all that much.

  As I worked to get everything set up in the cabin of the Lear, I could hear my dad talking to someone in the hangar. Sounded like our passenger was here a little bit early. As I leaned over, peering into the fridge to make sure we had a selection of beverages, I could hear footsteps climbing the stairs onto the plane.

  “Well hello. I didn’t realize the view would be this good or I would have had my dad charter all my flights through Mr. Hewett,” I heard a husky voice murmur at me. I stood and twirled around, coming face to face with none other than Drake Bennett. Dammit! Three times now in twenty-four hours. Really?

  “Drake,” I gasped at him. His eyes were directed at where my ass had been moments before, but he raised them to look at my face now. And yet again, there went that molten gaze turning to ice when he realized who I was. Seriously, what had I done to offend this guy?

  “Wow! Didn’t see that coming. Does Jackson know that you’re a stewardess? I can’t imagine that he’s cool with how often you must get hit on when you hang around horny businessmen all day, bending over like that.”

  “Wait, what? Why would Jackson care if I was a stewardess? Which I’m not, by the way.”

  “Right, sorry. I should have said flight attendant. Let me guess, you met Jackson because of the job. I almost forgot that he was the one who’d suggested this charter line to me. Guess he doesn’t mind how often you get leered at since he hasn’t talked you out of the job.”

  “Hey! First of all, Jackson would never try to talk me out of a job. He isn’t like that. And secondly—”

  “Yeah, you say that now. But you must not know him as well as I do. Your relationship with Jackson and your job choice really aren’t any of my business. Let’s just forget we’ve met before and carry on with this flight so I can get home for my mom’s birthday party.”