LITMIR.BIZ

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being slammed shut “Besides, it’s too late. The plane’s ready to take off.”

      “Take your seats, please,” a flight attendant, a perky young blonde, said with a smile. “We’re ready to depart.”

      “Oh, no,” Lindsey moaned.

      “Oh, yes,” Alex said with a sigh of relief. He half led, half dragged her to their seats, giving her the window seat in hopes the view would take her mind off her misgivings.

      He might have been hoping for a miracle.

      “Do you have any idea how much work will be waiting for me when I get home?” she asked as she buckled her seat belt. A rhetorical question, obviously. She didn’t bother waiting for an answer. “I’ll be working twice as hard trying to fill all the orders before Christmas.”

      A new spill of tears threatened.

      Alex sighed, again, feeling like hell for forcing her to go on this trip...even if it was for her own good. Getting her away from life’s pressures—not to mention, the antique dealer who’d been hounding her for a date—was his top priority. It was the least he could do for the wife ... that is, the widow, of his best friend, he assured himself.

      He took her hand, giving it a gentle squeeze. “It’ll be okay, Lindsey. Everything will be fine once we’re in Florida.”

      The plane shimmied beneath their feet as it taxied along the runway.

      She leaned against him, resting her head on his shoulder. “I’m sorry, Alex. I’m ruining your trip. I don’t know what’s the matter with me. I just feel so guilty.”

      “That’s okay. You’re a mom,” he offered in way of explanation.

      He brushed his chin against the top of her head. Her hair felt soft, tickling his skin. He breathed deeply, inhaling the scent of lavender and springtime; Lindsey’s scent. The plane’s engine surged as it lifted from the ground. Alex attributed the light buoyant feeling in the pit of his stomach to the effects of takeoff.

      “What does being a mom have to do with feeling guilty?” she asked, sounding almost amused.

      “Guilt’s just part of the whole motherhood thing.” He stroked his thumb across the palm of her hand. It felt soft, smooth, and all so delicate. He cleared his throat, struggling with an ill-timed surge of awareness. “When you’re a mom, you feel as though you have to take care of everyone else. I speak from experience, mind you. My mother’s the world’s most notorious worrier. Your nurturing instincts kick into overdrive when you’re a mother. It’s going to take a while before they downshift into neutral.”

      She sighed. “I suppose you’re right.”

      “Of course I am.” His grin was devilish. “Aren’t I always?”

      She angled her face upward to look at him and, for the first time that day, she smiled. “Oh, Alex. What would I do without you?”

      Emotion stuck in his throat, making it impossible to answer. Another rhetorical question, thank goodness. Because it was one question that she need not ever ask. They both knew he would always be there for her.

      With a contented sigh, she snuggled against him, the tension melting from her body.

      Alex, on the other hand, suddenly felt as taut as a drum.

      One look into her trusting, innocent eyes and his protective instincts had been put on full alert. Yet the feel of her soft curves pressed against him had his blood pumping hot and thick. An undeniable awareness pulsed through his veins. To complicate matters further, guilt was stretching its icy fingers deep inside him, chilling him to the bone. He felt hot, cold and tense all at the same time. Alex gave a silent moan. Lindsey was slowly, ever so slowly, sending him into sensory overload.

      What the hell was wrong with him? he chided himself. Lindsey needed a chance to relax, to unwind. She didn’t need to be lusted after by someone she trusted, someone she considered a friend.

      But, then again, he’d be lying if he didn’t admit he’d always thought of Lindsey as a beautiful woman. It felt so good, so right, holding her close, touching her. For just a moment he allowed himself to imagine what it would be like if the circumstances were different, if she weren’t the widow of his best friend, if they were alone without another soul in sight...

      Thump-thump-thump.

      Alex nearly jumped out of his seat at the noise, sure the plane was about to crash. A just punishment for him and his prurient thoughts, he told himself.

      The thumping noise stopped as the flight attendant rolled the drink cart up to their seats.

      “First time flying?” she asked, glancing at Lindsey’s tear-stained face. She flashed a smile at Alex. “Perhaps your wife would like a drink to calm her nerves?”

      “Wife?” Alex stiffened. Instant heat suffused his face.

      Lindsey lifted her head off his shoulder so quick Alex feared she’d suffer from whiplash. She snatched her hand from his and blurted a hasty denial. “I’m not his wife.”

      “No, of course not. We’re friends,” Alex said, feeling the totally inappropriate need to explain. “Just good friends.”

      Lindsey brought a hand to her throat. Her wedding ring, the ring Danny had given her, glinted in the overhead light. “We’re traveling together.”

      “To attend my sister’s wedding,” Alex added, speaking around the lump of guilt lodged in his throat.

      “I see,” the attendant said, volleying a wary glance between the two of them. “Well, then, would your ‘friend’ care for a drink?”

      Alex looked at Lindsey. Her face had turned about two shades pinker in the last few seconds. She shook her head, refusing to meet his gaze.

      Alex cleared his throat. “No, thank you.”

      The attendant nodded. “Perhaps later...”

      Alex smiled wanly.

      The attendant left them then, pushing her cart down the aisle.

      An uncomfortable silence stretched between them. Lindsey shifted in her seat, tugging at the hem of her rust-colored skirt. Alex watched as she scooted herself as far away from him as the narrow seats would allow. New lines of tension etched her face. All of the progress he’d made toward easing her worries were for naught. She looked as uncomfortable now as she had before she’d boarded the plane. Lindsey glanced at her watch and feigned a yawn.

      “Would you look at the time. It’s already three o’clock. I had to get up early this morning to pack, then off to school...well, I’m just exhausted. You don’t mind if I take a nap, do you?”

      “No, of course not,” he said quickly.

      Without another word, she folded her jacket into a pillow, curled her body away from him, and squeezed her eyes shut.

      Alex felt like an idiot.

      An unexpected anger simmered deep inside him, threatening to bubble out of control. Not an anger directed at Lindsey, for she’d done nothing wrong, but at himself. He was the one who’d broken the terms of their friendship. Holding her close, comforting her was an indulgence he should never have allowed.

      He’d had no right.

      The only man who had that right was his best friend. A man who’d been dead for nearly two years. A man Lindsey had, obviously, never stopped loving.

      Chapter Three

      “Lindsey,” a familiar, teasing voice whispered, rousing her from her nap. “Rise and shine, sleepyhead. We’re ready to land.”

      She took her time waking up. With a purr of contentment, she allowed herself a luxuriant stretch—at least, as luxuriant as possible in the tiny seat—working the kinks out of her body. Her arm brushed against a masculine

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