Page 52 of Mile High Ruin

Toward the chocolates.

That’s all the confirmation I need. He did it.

Heat moves through me. Not because of the gift itself, but because he thought about me after the last flight. Because whatever I said to him in that galley didn’t make him decide I was too much trouble. Because apparently he still wanted me here enough to leave something on my seat before boarding.

I meet his gaze, and for a second, neither of us says anything.

There’s something different in his expression now. Something quieter.

I feel guilt almost immediately.

I was cruel to him. Maybe not entirely without reason, but cruel nonetheless.

He tried to give me space. He didn’t threaten my job. He didn’t mock me when I became upset. And now he’s standing in front of me while I hold the evidence that he remembered me anyway.

“Mr. Chernovar.”

“Sloane.”

The way he says my name still does something to me. I hate that I know it will before he even speaks.

“Welcome aboard.”

His gaze stays on mine for one second longer. Then he walks past.

I follow him with my eyes before I can stop myself.

The want is still there. Worse, actually. Distance didn’t do anything useful. I still remember his mouth, his hands on me, even the fact that he stepped back at the first sign of my resistance.

I glance toward Vadim. He’s removing his coat.

For one second, his eyes meet mine again.

Then Hale appears beside me, so close that the shift in my mood is immediate.

His attention goes to the chocolates on the seat. Then toward Vadim. Then back to me.

“Nice gift.”

I turn toward him. There’s something unpleasant in the way he says it, as though the chocolates confirm a suspicion he has already been entertaining.

“They’re mine.”

“I assumed.”

I don’t like his tone.

“Then why ask?”

He smiles. “Just making conversation.”

“I’m working.”

“So was I.”

The words make my skin crawl.

I take one step away.