Page 42 of Mile High Ruin

This time neither of us pretends it’s accidental.

His hand closes around the bottle. Mine remains beneath it for half a second too long.

He’s closer now. I don’t remember him moving.

“What?” I ask.

“Nothing.”

“That is not nothing.”

“You are the one standing very close.”

“You are the one who came into my galley for water you already had.”

A small smile appears.

There. Finally.

I feel it like a victory.

Then footsteps sound from the cabin, and we separate so quickly it is almost embarrassing.

Elise appears. She looks from me to Vadim, then at the unopened bottle in his hand. “Everything all right?”

“Perfect,” I say.

Vadim looks at me. “Yes.”

He leaves.

I stand there for several seconds afterward with my hands pressed against the counter, wondering exactly what would have happened if Elise had arrived thirty seconds later.

I know.

That’s the problem.

8

VADIM

I know following her into the galley again, after the cabin lights go down, is a bad idea before I even stand. But I can’t help myself.

Sloane has spent most of the flight behaving as though nothing has changed between us, which would be easier to believe if I hadn’t caught her looking at me three times since takeoff, each glance lasting a fraction too long before she turned away.

I have done the same. Probably more often.

Marek notices, naturally. He notices everything that might eventually become useful against me.

He’s stretched across the seat opposite mine with one arm along the backrest, watching Sloane disappear behind the galley curtain after collecting the last of the glasses.

Then he looks at me.

“No,” I tell him.

“I haven’t said anything.”

“You are about to.”