Chapter 99

“Oh, Elena’s with Charles,” Agent Bell chuckled. “If you’re stuck with them long, you’ll hear it over and over again.”

I bit my lip hard, causing the inside to bleed. Utter mortification ran through my veins. How could they joke about something so personal to Charles and me?

Did Lupinton have a hiring service that screened for creepy people? Only putting them in the job of security officers?

Lustrum might have had its fault, but in our city, we didn’t let our peacekeepers act like total asshats.

Beside me, Charles clenched the handle of his rolling suitcase, his knuckles white and his jaw twitching. I wanted to snuggle in next to him and give him a whiff of me. But after that last comment from Agent Bell, I wasn’t sure I could.

While I sat there and waffled, Charles crossed his arms and gave them all a superior look. “You wouldn’t be joking about your charge’s sex life if you had one of your own,” he snarked. “I’m sorry you boys are so hard up. Maybe petition your boss for a little time off to go get laid? And as for what goes on between my star reporter, Elena, and me, we’re planning on joining the mile-high club.”

He looked at the security officers. “What are you gonna do about it?”

They stared back at him for a moment before catching and returning to their poker faces. “You won’t be allowed to go to the bathroom at the same time,” one said.

Charles shrugged. “Then I’ll pee on my seat. I guess you’ll just have to guess whether or not I actually have to go at the same time she does.”

I bit back giggles. Sometimes, I really wished I had the rapier wit and timing of Charles Rafe.Both of the new security officers scowled at him.

Agent Malik cleared his throat and pointed between those two. “These agents work for the airport. They’ll only be seeing you to the airport in Packhaven. There you’ll meet your security detail for your time in the capital. But don’t think that just because they work for the airport makes them any less official. They’re still air marshals, and they can still arrest you for uncouth behavior.”

Charles smiled his most charming smile.” Then I can see we’re all going to have fun together on this flight.” He looked at the two officers who would be escorting us on the plane. “How long do we have together? A good five or six hours?”

“Just a hair over five,” one of the pair said. “And we’ll just nip this in the bud. You’ll each be sitting with one of us.”

“Like hell,” Charles said.

“You’ll find you don’t have a say in it,” the officer replied.

The tension crackled between them as we were escorted to our flight and seated in first class. I understood immediately why they gave us the more expensive seats when logic said they should have stuffed us in coach.We were at the front of the plane, nearest to the flight crew and away from all of the other passengers. There were also only two seats in a row in first class. Whereas, the rest of the plane had three seats and they were much closer together. It would be far easier for the security officers to keep an eye on us up here.

I suppose I should have felt pampered. But what I wouldn’t have given to be in one of those rows toward the back with Charles, by ourselves. Even the lack of legroom and another person in our row would have been preferable to sitting with the air marshals.

Sure enough, the officers seated us so that I was by the window, and my security officer was by the aisle. I’m sure that was so that I couldn’t get out and run wild on the plane. Although I don’t know who they thought I was, some sort of naughty five-year-old evidently.

They put Charles against the window directly behind me, and his officer sat between him and the aisle as well. We wouldn’t be able to go anywhere without the marshal’s permission.

Charles didn’t say anything to me. The whole time the flight crew got the plane ready for take-off and ran through a set of instructions for emergencies, I paid close attention. Never having been on a plane before, I wanted to be sure that if anything went wrong, I knew exactly what to do.

Once we were up in the air, the flight attendant offered us a drink. My air marshal made it very plain that neither Charles nor I were allowed to have any alcohol. So, the babysitting went that far. They were really going to treat us like babies.

Just after we ordered, and while the attendant was taking the orders of the other first-class passengers, Charles leaned forward, reaching his arms around either side of my seat. His officer cleared his throat but didn’t do anything to stop him.

Charles laid his hands on my shoulders and gave them a squeeze. He spoke quietly between the seats.

“Are you comfortable enough? Are you enjoying your first flight?”

I nodded. “This flight isn’t really how I imagined my first flight would be, but I’m good.”

He rubbed my cheek with one hand. “I knew you’d be able to handle this.”

Then he let out a rolling chuckle, and his hands slid down my shoulders to rest on my upper arms. One more move had him cupping my breasts from behind. He slowly massaged them, working my nipples through my shirt.

“That’s enough of that,” our security officers both said.

Charles made a funny noise in the back of his throat. “Am I grabbing something inappropriate? Sit together, then. I could put my arm around her, and I would be able to see better where my hands were actually at. I can’t see when she’s in front of me. The seat’s blocking the view.”

My face flamed red, but the curtain was drawn between first class and the cabin crew, and they couldn’t see. The only people who would be able to see what Charles was doing were the two security officers. Across the aisle from me, those two first-class seats were occupied by two businessmen who had their heads tipped back and their eyes closed. Still, this was horribly embarrassing.

“Charles,” I whispered in protest.

“What?” he asked in mock innocence.

“If you really can’t see, then go three inches higher.”

He moved his hands higher, but this time, went about caressing my neck, running his fingertips up and down the soft skin and along my jawline.

“Are you sure we can’t sit together?” he asked the security officers.

“Not a chance. You won’t embarrass us into giving in.”

“Suit yourself.”

Charles stood and leaned over the back of my seat and placed a kiss dead center in the top of my head. “Look. This way, I can see you.”

“Sit down, sir,” they snapped.

Charles gave them a mocking grin. “Is it against the rules to stand on the plane? The seatbelt sign is off. As far as I understand, I’m allowed to stand up. I should be allowed to walk around unless you guys have some special rule that only applies to us. Are we under arrest or something?”

The two security officers grimaced at Charles. “This is going to be a long flight,” one of them said, “if you are going to insist on making trouble with us. Make this easy on everyone involved, and just follow what we ask you to do until we arrive.”

“Well, if I’m not under arrest, then I am going to exercise the same rights as everybody else on the plane,” Charles said.

The stewardess returned with the drinks, and Charles sat back down so that he could have his soda. He then proceeded to spend the next several hours finding every way he could to piss off our security guards, but never actually breaking any laws or rules so that they could truly get mad at him or stop him.