Incognito

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She buried her face in the curve of his neck, biting softly as they continued to move against each other. And then, to his surprise, she cried out, her body quivering in his arms, the sound of her orgasm muffled against his skin.

Aidan was stunned. And so, it seemed, was Lily. He stared down into her face and her eyes were wide with wonder. He kissed her gently and she melted against him, her breath still coming in soft gasps.

“How long do you think we can stay in here before someone knocks on the door?” he whispered.

“I don’t think we should go just yet,” she said. “We’re not…done, are we?”

He glanced at his watch. “We still have two more hours until we land. There’s a lot we can do with two hours.”

“Like what?” Lily teased.

“Anything you want. I’m at your command.”

A tiny smile twitched at her lips. “Oh, a slave boy. That’s one of my fantasies right there. Kiss me, slave boy.”

Aidan growled, then softly bit her lower lip. “I prefer slave assistant.”

She laughed, then pressed her mouth to his in a delicious kiss. But her delight was short-lived. A sudden jolt put him off balance and Aidan reached out to steady himself, bracing his arm against the door.

When he looked back at Lily, her eyes were wide with terror. “What was that?”

“I think the earth just moved,” he joked. But his joke didn’t make her smile. “It’s all right. Just a little turbulence.”

The plane dropped again, only this time, the jolt was enough to throw him forward. He banged his head on a sharp corner above the sink and a curse slipped from his lips. “Shit. That hurt.”

“Are you all right?” Lily asked.

Aidan looked over her shoulder into the mirror. “I think I’m bleeding.”

Lily grabbed his chin and examined the scrape on his forehead. Then she leaned over and pulled a paper towel from the dispenser. But when she tried to twist around to turn on the sink, she couldn’t move. “Here,” she said. “You sit and I’ll stand.”

He did as he was told, but a third bump sent her sprawling into his arms. “This may be every man’s fantasy, but the logistics of it are really tricky,” he said, his erection pressed against the soft flesh of her belly.

“Ladies and gentleman, this is the captain speaking. We’ve run into a patch of rough weather here and we’re going to ask that you stay in your seats with your seat belts fastened. We’re going to try a different altitude and see if we can get you a smoother ride.”

“Rough weather? What does that mean?” Lily asked.

“It means we’d better get dressed and get back to our seats before they come looking for us,” he muttered. He should have been disappointed it was going to end so quickly. But Aidan was willing to wait.

As soon as this damn plane touched down, he’d find a quiet, private place where he could enjoy Lily’s body for as long as he wanted. Until then, he’d have to convince her that this flight was only the beginning and not the end.

LILY FUMBLED with her seat belt, the clip refusing to fasten properly. Her heart pounded in her chest and she couldn’t seem to catch her breath. The bumps were so bad that she was bouncing in her seat. For a moment, she thought she might pass out, but then Aidan sat down beside her.

They’d managed to get their clothes back on, though it was a struggle with the turbulence and the close quarters. Lily had sneaked out of the bathroom first and he’d followed her a minute later.

Seeing her dilemma, he quickly fastened her seat belt then took care of his own. “Don’t worry,” he said, wrapping his arm around her shoulders. “We’ll be fine.”

“The plane feels like it’s falling,” Lily said. She peered out the window. “It’s raining. And there’s lightning. What if we get hit by lightning? I heard about a plane that got hit by lightning.”

“What happened?”

“I don’t remember. Maybe I’ve blocked it out. It must have been bad.” Her stomach churned and she felt as if she might throw up. Lily searched through the pocket of the seat in front of her for the airsick bag. When she found it, she clutched it to her chest. “I should have taken the train.”

“But then you wouldn’t have met me.”

“I hate this, I hate this, I hate this,” she said. “Last year, I was flying to Paris and we lost an engine.”

“A plane can fly with just one engine.”

“You don’t understand. It fell off the plane, into the ocean.” Lily stopped short. She’d been so careful not to reveal too much. But the fear of dying made her babble.

She tried to calm herself, to think of other things—like what had just happened in the bathroom. Her skin prickled with goose bumps as she recalled the feel of him, hot and hard against her body, the thoughts making her even more light-headed.

And then her reaction. She’d experienced release with men before, but never with so little prompting. If it hadn’t been for the turbulence, they might have continued with the seduction and she would have enjoyed those pleasures again.

“You were on that flight? I heard about that. Man, that must have been scary.” Aidan pressed a kiss to her temple. “What are the odds of that happening again? Microscopically small, I’d say. In fact, you should be happy that happened. Now it’s over with. There’s no way it can happen to you again.”

She glanced over at him. He really was a nice guy. It would have been much simpler to seduce a man who wasn’t so sweet, some guy with a macho attitude and an overinflated opinion of himself. At least he’d be easier to leave behind. But Aidan—he’d be hard to forget.

“Maybe that book of yours would help,” he suggested. “Would you like me to read to you?”

“Sure,” she murmured. She pointed to her bag tucked beneath his seat. The sound of his voice had already calmed her down. And if she could focus on that, then she wouldn’t be nearly as scared.

“You must think I’m such a baby,” Lily said.

“We all have our fears.”

“What are you afraid of?”

He grinned. “I’m not going to tell you. I’ve worked too hard to make you think I was a stud.”

“Tell me,” Lily insisted.

“Snakes,” he admitted. “And bats. And I’m not real fond of spiders or centipedes, either. In fact, anything that can kill you with its bite is something I try to avoid.”

“A brown bat can catch and eat over six hundred mosquitoes in an hour,” she said. The moment the words left her mouth, she knew she’d made a mistake. “I—I did a report on bats when I was a kid. Funny how you remember things like that when you’re about to die.” Lily groaned inwardly. Maybe she ought to just give up. Playing the part of a seductress wasn’t that easy. Still, some men found intelligence a turn-on, didn’t they?

Aidan reached down and opened her bag, then pulled out her stack of flying books. “Conquer Your Fear of Flying,” he read.

“That one didn’t work,” Lily said.

“Here’s the one with the big title.”

“Pteromerhanophobia,” Lily said. “That’s the fear of flying.”

“And what’s the fear of really big words?” he muttered.

“Logophobia,” Lily said. “Actually, that’s just the fear of words in general. Not necessarily big words. Arithmophobia is the fear of numbers. Graphophobia is the fear of writing.” He stared at her for a long moment. Too much knowledge was never a good thing. “Sometimes these facts just fly out of my mouth,” she said with a laugh. “I don’t know why I remember them, but I do.”

“How about this one? Have Fun Flying? Flying with No Fear?” He picked up another book. “How about—” Aidan went silent and Lily turned to look at him. He was holding the copy of—

“The Ten-Minute Seduction,” he read. “This looks interesting.” He flipped through the pages.

“It—it’s not what you think,” Lily said. Frowning, she reached out and took the book from him. “What do you think?”

“That this wasn’t all just a spontaneous experience? That you got on this plane determined to seduce someone and I just happened to be close at hand?”

Lily searched for a way to make him understand. He wasn’t some lab rat in her bizarre sexual experiment. “It—it’s my book,” she said.

“I know that. It was in your bag.”

“I mean, I wrote it. It’s mine. I’m…”

“You’re Lacey St. Claire?”

“Yes?” She opened the book and pointed to the notes she’d made in the margins. “See. I was just making some notes, in case it goes to a second printing.”

He shook his head in disbelief. “I was seduced by the woman who wrote the book on seduction?”

“Yes?” she replied. “Actually, I think you seduced me.”

“No, I’m sure it was the other way around.” He paused. “And you do this often?”

“No!” Lily said, unable to let that pass. She might be pretending to be a seductress, but she wasn’t a slut. “No! Never. I mean, I’ve been with men, but I don’t make it a habit to seduce strangers.”

“So, I was the exception, rather than the rule?”

“Yes,” Lily said, thankful that he was finally beginning to see the truth. “Most of what I’ve written comes from scientific studies, not from experience. It’s all basic physiology, the attraction between men and women.”

“Scientists do studies on seduction? Hell, I definitely would have chosen that for a major in college had I known.”

“The study of human sexuality is a very important field. Behavior can be instinctual and reactions predicted.”

He took the book from her hands and examined it closely. “So what’s your real name? Lacey or Lily?”

“Lily. Lacey is my pen name. To protect my privacy.”

“Yeah, I can see why. Ten minutes. Most guys only need two or three before they’re ready to go.”

“You’re angry?”

He shook his head, frowning as he read the back cover copy. “Confused would be a better word,” he said. “Maybe a little…disconcerted.”

Lily took his hand. “Don’t be. I don’t have any regrets. Do you?”

“You’re the expert on seduction. You’ll have to tell me how I measured up.”

“No!” Lily said. “It’s just a book. Authors write about vampires and witches and monsters, but they’ve never seen them. You’re the first man I’ve actually…seduced.”

He took a moment to consider her confession, then nodded. “I guess most men would appreciate a woman who has some book smarts when it comes to sex.”

Lily nodded. “Men have techniques for seducing women, right? And they’re written down in all those men’s magazines and how-to books. Why shouldn’t women have the same advantage? It’s only fair.” She gently pulled the book from his hand and tossed it back into her bag.

“You’re right.”

By the time they finished their discussion, Lily realized that the turbulence had stopped and the plane was now flying smoothly again. She took his hand and wove her fingers through his. It seemed quite natural to maintain the contact, but she had to wonder why she felt it necessary. In a few more hours, they’d be saying goodbye to each other. And then she’d never see him again.

“Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. I’m afraid I have another bit of bad news. We’ve got fog rolling in over JFK. The airport has just been closed to incoming flights. Because of our fuel situation, we’re going to be diverted inland to Hartford, Connecticut. Once the fog clears, we’ll get you back on your way.”

Lily heard a communal groan go up from the passengers in tourist class. She looked over at Aidan and he shrugged. “The only time fog is dangerous is when you try to land in it, so we’re safe.” He glanced around the cabin. “I think I need a drink. Do you want one?”

She watched him as he spoke to the flight attendant. For some reason, he found it necessary to be overly charming, as if he were trying to punish Lily for the secrets she’d kept.

Maybe this was for the best, she mused. She’d had her fun and that was the end of it. There would be no thought of making another trip to the bathroom or of carrying on after the plane landed.

Lily fought the urge to grab the book again. Though she knew it by heart, she couldn’t recall a chapter on how to deal with the aftereffects of an anonymous seduction. Could she separate her memories of the act itself from thoughts of Aidan? She brushed aside a tiny twinge of regret.

It wouldn’t do to second-guess her decision. What was done was done. And she’d gotten exactly what she wanted from him—a fantasy fulfilled.

But suddenly, that wasn’t enough to satisfy her. Now, she wanted more.

THE SUN was already up by the time they landed in Hartford. The airline had decided to let the passengers disembark while they waited for a new flight crew to arrive in Hartford. Once the weather cleared, they’d take off again for New York. Aidan grabbed his bag from the overhead bin, then stepped aside to let Lily pass.

It was early morning and he was drunk. He’d spent the last hour of the flight drinking Jack Daniel’s and water while he tried to figure out just what the hell Lily Hart was up to. She didn’t seem like one of those mercenary women he was always trying to avoid, women who set their sights on a man then did anything and everything required to possess him. What had happened between them seemed perfectly natural, just two people discovering an overwhelming attraction and acting upon it.

But maybe that’s what it was—acting. Someone so schooled in the art of seduction could make a man believe anything she wanted, right? Was any of it real? Her fear of flying, the way her hands trembled as she touched him, the claim that she’d never made love on an airplane. Maybe he’d been played.