had one goal, and one goal only, to evaluate the independent consultant working for AM Air, trying to figure out if she knew her stuff or if her work could jeopardize the sale of Blue Sky to AM Air next month. Law, the reclusive majority shareholder at Blue Sky, and acting CEO, wanted very badly for that sale to go through. He’d spent nearly fifteen years in the airline business, and he was done. He was ready to focus on his charity, and spend the rest of his forties enjoying life a little, maybe even starting a family. He’d spent his whole adult life up until this point working seventy hours a week, and that had to change.
That all started with the sale of Blue Sky, and the only thing potentially standing in the way was this little independent report, commissioned by the board of AM Air, to prove the merger would be beneficial. That report would be written by this troublemaker sitting in 34G.
She smiled at him, pink lips inviting as they broke to show him the hint of her perfect smile. Nobody told him the woman would be drop-dead gorgeous. That little detail had been left out of all the meetings when his senior VPs had cried into their beers and wrung their hands about the hard-charging consultant who didn’t take no for an answer. She even had a nickname: the ice queen. Distant, hardworking, demanding. He could see why so many of his colleagues were intimidated by her. Though, looking at her now, he couldn’t for the life of him understand why anyone would think she was cold. He’d known she was whip-smart, because she’d run circles around his entire management team. She intrigued him, and he was here to find out more about her.
“Give me one reason I shouldn’t ask you out right now.” He couldn’t help himself, actually. Apparently, he liked flirting with danger.
“Because I’d say no.” She grinned, softening the blow.
“Ouch,” he said, splaying his fingers across his chest. “That hurt.” He faked a cough. She’s tough and doesn’t need every man’s approval then, he thought. I like that.
“Come on. I’m sure you get turned down all the time.” Juliana’s smile grew bigger, her light brown eyes teasing. He was so intrigued by her. He suddenly wanted to know everything about her. The nearly three-hour flight seemed too short suddenly. How was he really supposed to get to know her during such a short time?
“Hey! Are you trying to make me feel better...or worse?”
“Worse,” she admitted. He had to laugh. She was surprisingly quick, and she kept him guessing. Few people managed to surprise him, but Juliana did.
Above their heads the seat belt light flicked off. They’d reached cruising altitude. She looked far more relaxed than when they’d begun takeoff. His mission to distract her from the ascending plane had worked, clearly. He’d been worried there for a minute. She’d been wound so tight, he thought she might burst. That little chink in her armor took him by surprise. She was afraid of flying but had taken on the report from AM Air, anyway, knowing that she’d have to crisscross the country on Blue Sky flights for months. He admired her more in that moment. That took nerve.
“Besides, I don’t date random strangers I meet on planes. Especially ones who believe in soul mates.” She rolled her eyes again. He had to laugh at her disdain for all things romantic. Still, what was her beef with true love? He’d never met a woman so insistent that it didn’t exist. It made him want to figure out just why she was not a fan of love. Broken heart in her past, maybe? Or was it a defense mechanism? Lord knew he’d spent a lot of his professional life not wanting any personal entanglements. He thought they got in the way, until he realized one day that he had an entire airline empire but no one to go home to at night. He wanted that now for the first time. But he realized that to get it, he’d need to scale back his work, make room for a woman in his life.
“You are the least romantic woman I’ve ever met,” he managed, not quite keeping the surprise from his voice. He actually didn’t know they existed. The women he’d dated were always clamoring for commitment, to settle down. Maybe that was because they knew how much he was worth, he thought sourly. Juliana didn’t know who he was. As far as she was concerned, he was just another business traveler, a stranger. She didn’t know how many zeroes he had in his bank account. Too many, really, when he thought about it. Growing up middle class, he’d never imagined he’d have this much wealth at his disposal, that he’d own one of the world’s biggest airlines. Yet here he was.
“I’ll take that as a compliment.” She flipped her dark hair over her shoulder and he admired the slimness of her neck. He loved how quick she was, how smart. He admired that she had strong opinions and stuck to them. He found himself wanting to ask her personal questions: does she have a family? Does she ever want kids? But those questions weren’t the ones he was supposed to ask. He ought to be focusing on her consulting work for AM Air. This is business. Just business. Don’t make it personal.
He doubted Juliana would ever guess she was sitting next to the man who ran the company she was evaluating. Law didn’t like the spotlight, and shunned social media, so few outside Blue Sky even knew what he looked like. He knew it was unfair to keep Juliana in the dark, but he’d been tasked with evaluating how competent she was, and that was what he’d do. He’d never had a problem keeping his professional life separate from his personal one before. He wasn’t about to start now.
Then, out of nowhere, the plane hit a serious and unexpected patch of turbulence. He clutched his armrest as the nose dipped. Without warning, they seemed to fall ten feet and Law felt his stomach leap to his throat.
Whoa, what was that?
Law knew turbulence could pop up unexpectedly but there was barely a cloud in the sky, and weather forecasts had been clear almost all the way to Chicago. His mind instantly clicked into survival mode: assess the danger, form a plan, act. But of course, there was nothing he could do. He was wearing his seat belt, and Juliana had on hers, and someone else was flying this bucket of bolts, and all they could do was wait and hope for the best. He glanced at Juliana, who’d lost all the blood in her face, looking a shade paler than the tray table stowed in front of her. He reached out and clasped her hand. She let him, glancing at him with fear in her eyes. How he wanted to tell her everything would be okay, that she shouldn’t be afraid, but the hairs standing up on the back of his neck told him maybe that was a promise he couldn’t make.
The plane jostled again, one overhead bin flying open and a backpack falling out into the aisle with a hard thud. Gasps and one shout went up from nearby passengers as Law held Juliana’s hand, pulling her arm closer to his, worried that all his bragging about Blue Sky’s accident record might have cursed them. He glanced around the cabin, looking at the panicked faces around them, many with eyes squeezed shut in prayer, and saw he wasn’t the only one who thought this contraption might fall from the sky. Goodness, the irony: Blue Sky President and Majority Shareholder Dies in Own Plane Crash. He was pretty sure all his shares would be worthless after that. Although, who cared if he was dead?
He realized in that moment the stark truth: no one. He had no one to leave his fortune to other than a couple of distant cousins he rarely saw, and his alma mater, the University of Pennsylvania. The Ivy League school would be getting a substantial portion of his estate. If he went down with this plane, he’d be a tiny blip in history, one soon forgotten.
He looked at Juliana, who had pressed her lips into a grim line.
“We’re going to be fine,” he told her, glad he sounded authoritative, and hoped it wasn’t a lie.
The cabin rattled once more, hard, the nose of the plane dipping down. Another round of shocked gasps pierced the air, and this time one high-pitched scream. She squeezed his hand hard, holding on with all her might, her grip surprisingly strong. Not a sound left her clenched jaw, but Law could tell she was using
