Total pages in book: 71
Estimated words: 69330 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 347(@200wpm)___ 277(@250wpm)___ 231(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 69330 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 347(@200wpm)___ 277(@250wpm)___ 231(@300wpm)
“How did you end up flying again?”
“I serviced Joss’s private plane. His pilot happened to fall ill. We’d talked a bit before flights, so he knew about my history and asked if I could fly him as his business was urgent. It was a tough flight and Joss liked the way I handled it. When we got back to the base, he offered me a permanent position.”
“How long have you been with him?”
“Long enough to call him family.” He gave her a dashing smile. “I didn’t bring you here to talk about me.”
“If you brought me here to show me you’re sought after by every female in Amsterdam, then you’ve succeeded.”
“Even if that was true, which it’s not, that’s not why I brought you here.”
“Why did you?”
“To dance.”
“Why?”
He gripped her chin and asked in a chastising tone, “Do you always ask so many questions?”
“Only when I want the answers.”
“You really want to know?”
“Yes.”
He brushed his thumb over her chin. “I think you’ll enjoy it.”
“You want me to?”
“Yes.”
“If I don’t want to?”
“We can leave.”
“Just like that.”
“Just like that.” He leaned over the table and planted a chaste kiss on her lips. “We’re not going to do anything you don’t enjoy. Now that the matter is settled, eat up.”
There were plenty more questions she wanted to ask—for starters, if the boss he respected so much still planned on taking her out—but for now, she did as she was told.
When they’d finished their meal, she dabbed the napkin to her lips and got to her feet. “Excuse me, I have to visit the ladies’ room.”
Bono followed suit, standing when she left the room. He was such a gentleman, unlike any man she’d met. She walked down the carpeted hallway, her heart pounding in her throat with the bitterness of her betrayal. It was all so very wrong. Before long, when Bono learned of her deceit, he’d never look at her again with that adoring light in his eye, as if, only for tonight, she was the center of his well-traversed universe.
Inside the ladies’ room, she touched up her lipstick and fixed her hair. Bono was waiting outside the door when she exited. He held out his hand when he saw her.
Accepting his proffered hand, she asked, “You were waiting for me?”
“Making sure you’re safe.”
“Nobody’s going to attack me in the toilets at Melk.”
“It doesn’t matter where we are. It’s my responsibility to take care of you.”
He led her to a private table in the VIP area of the club where bottled water waited.
“Can I get you a drink?” he asked.
She motioned at the water. “Aren’t you drinking?”
“I’ve had enough. I’m driving.”
“I’m fine, thank you.”
He opened a bottle and poured her a glass. It was still early, and the music wasn’t pumping yet. The dance floor was empty. Resting her hand on his thigh, Sky got a perverse kick out of the way his muscles bunched under her caress. She liked what her touch did to him.
Sipping her water, she looked around the room. She’d been to plenty of clubs with Doumar, but they were nothing like this. The places she’d been were dark and dirty. Cheap beer was served in plastic cups, and the girls were dressed in outfits meant to degrade or arouse. Their company had been people who dealt in sex or drugs or both. Although Doumar had never allowed her to leave his side, she’d seen the men his friends shared their female companions with. They didn’t wear tailored shirts and expensive cologne. They didn’t wait for their partners outside the toilets to make sure they were fine. Her world was one in which you could never let your guard down if you wanted to survive, and you could certainly not trust anyone, especially not the man you were supposed to seduce and deceive.
A woman with a flowered dress looking out of place approached them. She took a brochure from her tote bag and placed it on their table. At first, Bono’s smile was accommodating, but when his gaze fixed on the paper, his expression turned tight. Sky leaned forward to examine the reason for his sudden change of mood. The text was printed in a revolution style font with a crossed-out number seven watermark in the background.
Bono snatched up the brochure, scrunching the paper into a ball in his fist. “What’s the meaning of this?”
“The government is busy with a cover-up operation, hiding the existence of paranormals. They’re keeping us in the dark, just like the church did in the first Dark Age. This is the beginning of the second age of darkness. Join Medusa now if you want to be part of the enlightened generation.”
Three men, two in black suits and a third sporting a fashionable velvet jacket, came rushing up to them. The men with the suits grabbed the woman’s arms. She struggled for all she was worth, screaming at the top of her lungs.