Pyramids and Promises (Omega Mu Alpha Brothers Book 2) (24 page)

“Oh yeah, I am. But Nour.”

“Is in the past. She’ll probably patch him up and then go face her own demons. I think you need to give Conner another chance.”

Jessica’s heart tightened, and her stomach clenched. She hurt so bad.

“What if it’s not over between them? What if I’m always just second best to her? He left me tonight, and I find him back at his place with her.”

“Correction, you find her carrying him back to his place. You don’t know what happened or how he got hurt. Don’t you think he deserves the chance to explain? If for nothing else than for breaking Rick’s nose.”

“Julie, he was with her.”

“Jess, I know you’re scared. Heaven knows after Rick you have a right to be.” Julie’s tone softened. “But don’t turn your back on something that could be real because you’re frightened.”

She was wrong. It wasn’t fear. It was a healthy sense of self-preservation. Conner had made his choice. It hurt like hell. But she wasn’t going to be second best for him. She was no one’s consolation prize. Either she was number one or she was moving on. No matter the pain it caused her. Like he said earlier. It would suck for a while, a long while maybe, but she’d get over him.

J
essica looked around the crowded lobby. This was going to be a long ass flight. She hadn’t been on airplane since Conner took her to Prague. She’d gotten used to the comfort of the private jet, and her heart tightened. She hadn’t seen Conner at all in the last two weeks. Though he had tried calling her. Multiple times. She ignored all of them and his text messages.

A woman bumped into her, and she heard an announcement over the intercom.

“Ladies and Gentleman, the flight has been overbooked. If you would be interested in a thousand dollar voucher and a rebooking on a later flight, please see us at the counter. We need three people.”

Jessica groaned. That meant she’d be crammed in a seat in economy. Usually on these flights there was an empty seat or two, and she could spread out a little. She wished she could give up her seat, but she needed to appear in front of the judge for her permanent restraining order on Rick to go through. She had the notarized testimony of her therapist.

This wouldn’t be the last time she’d have to go home either. The State Department was considering charges against him for spying on her. She would be required to testify at his hearing. With everything, this could drag on for a year or longer.

She planned on staying single until this mess was over. She needed the time to heal, and it was too hard trying to explain it all to someone new.

“Jessica Erikson please come up to the counter.”

Oh, no, they were going to bump her anyway. She needed to be on this flight. She couldn’t miss her court date.

She hurried to the counter. “Please, I have to be on this flight. I can’t take another one.”

The gate agent smiled at her. “No problem. We moved you to first class. Enjoy your flight.”

Jessica smiled. Finally something was going her way.

She boarded early so she could stow her stuff and get comfortable before the masses descended. First class on a transatlantic flight meant a seat that turned into a bed, and nearly complete privacy. This was almost better than the private jet. The seat next to her was far enough away that they wouldn’t be in each other’s way at all.

Jessica turned on the movie and fell asleep before the plane even took off. She jerked awake as it was barreling down the runway. She rubbed her eyes and looked around her. Oh hell no.

“What are you doing here?”

Conner grinned at her. “The correct response would be ‘thank you,’ because otherwise you’d be sitting back in economy.”

“That doesn’t answer the question; what are you doing here?” Her heart thumped in her chest so loud that he had to be able to hear it. His bruises had healed nicely though there was still a hint of that black eye. Still, he looked so good.

“It’s a long story.”

“Somehow, I don’t think it is.” She frowned at him.

“Would you like to hear it? We’ll be stuck here for a while.”

“Sure, humor me. Explain in more than a hundred words why the hell you are on a plane with me. Because I expect it is a very short story that goes something like ‘I booked the same flight you did so that I could trap you thirty thousand feet up in the air and try to talk you into getting back together with me.’”

“Wrong. Explain to me how I even knew you were on this flight.”

“I don’t know. You were probably doing something creepy like having my movements tracked. You have the money. I wouldn’t put it past you.”

He’d done it for her. Had Rick’s movements tracked. She wasn’t putting anything past him. Nearly all flights out of Cairo connected through New York, but that didn’t matter. She didn’t believe in coincidences. Not when it came to Conner.

“Wrong again. Are you sure you don’t want to hear the story?”

“Positive,” she said and put her headphones back on. She turned on some random stupid movie and crossed her arms and tried her best to ignore him. Which was really hard to do when he was staring right at her with those green eyes of his. After a few minutes, she couldn’t feel his gaze anymore. So she risked a peek. He was reading a book. She let out a breath. At least he wasn’t pestering her.

Try as she might, she couldn’t get into the movie. Finally she ripped off her headphones.

“Fine,” she said, exasperated. “Tell me the stupid story of how you came to be on the same airplane I did.”

He took his time putting in his bookmark. He looked at her, his eyes piercing her to the very core. It took all of her self-control to not just say, “Okay all is forgiven; now kiss me dammit.” But she restrained herself. She would not give in that easily.

After what seemed like an eternity, he spoke.

“Several years ago I met a girl named Nour.”

Jessica grabbed her headphones and shoved them back on her head. She did not want to hear any more about Nour. She knew that story, and it ended with her heart broken. Sucky story.

Conner gently removed them and turned her chin so she was facing him.

“Could you please just listen? You need all the facts before you go making rash judgments.”

He was right, and chances were at some point on this stupid ten-hour flight, she’d give in, so she might as well do it now.

“I will hear out your stupid story, but as soon as it is over, I reserve the right to watch movies and ignore you in peace.”

He nodded. “Fair enough. But I did warn you it was a long story. It might take the whole flight.”

Jessica held back a grin. “Whatever, start talking, I’ve got a movie to watch.”

He leaned over the armrest so he was closer to her. “Like I said, I met this girl named Nour. I fell hard. She took my heart and held on to it fiercely. But it was not meant to be. Her family wouldn’t allow us to be together, and she refused to run away with me. Believe me, I tried. I had a new identity created for her and everything, but she wouldn’t do it.”

The flight attendants came through and offered them drinks. Jessica asked for a Sprite, and Conner got a Coke. He made a big deal of taking a drink and pretending to swallow. Jessica rolled her eyes.

“Anyway,” he finally continued. “We maintained our twisted relationship even after she met and married Mahmoud. But earlier this year something strange happened. I met you.”

“I know this story already. I hate the ending,” she growled at him.

“Patience, love.”

Jessica was quickly losing that patience, but she waved him on anyway.

“When you first stepped out of the pool at the Maadi House, I thought you were her. Which was crazy because I specifically chose to swim at the Maadi House because I knew I wouldn’t run into her. Naturally, I had to talk to you. One thing lead to another, and suddenly we were dating.”

“Right, you planned it all out so you could look at your precious Nour without actually being with Nour.”

“At first, sure, but you quickly shattered that illusion the morning of the balloon ride.”

She pursed her lips. “What do you mean?”

“Do you know how often I saw Nour smile? Maybe two to three times in our entire relationship. We were up in that balloon, and you were giddy. I didn’t know quite what to do with you. It didn’t take me long to figure out that you were certainly not Nour. I think I fell in love with you faster than I fell for her. Every time we are even in the same room together, I feel like my heart is about to burst out of my chest. I can’t stand being near you and not touching you. The last few weeks have been hell. Jessica, I can’t live without you.”

“I’ve heard all this before,” she said.

His eyes darkened. The last two weeks had been long and torturous for her. It’s possible they had been for him too.

There was one thing she had to know though.

“Why did you leave me and go to the hotel?”

“I’m an idiot,” he answered without hesitation. “I couldn’t sleep, and I wanted to see if she had shown up. I guess I wanted to see if she was sad and heartbroken like I had been all those years. It was hard to let go. Not because I wasn’t completely in love with you, but because I had been driving myself mad for this woman for years, and a part of me needed to know if she’d feel even a small portion of the regret I’d felt for all that time.”

He paused.

“It’s twisted, but it’s the truth,” he said after a moment.

“Who beat you?” The wall she’d built was breaking. She understood him. His answer was perfect. Letting go after so long was hard. That very night she’d been crying over her memories of Rick while going through those old boxes.

“I guess her father was on to us. It was her brothers.” A smile tugged at his lips.

“Is she okay?”

“Worried about her?” He raised an eyebrow.

“I don’t wish her harm.”

“No worries. She was never seen that night. She was on to them.”

He teased her fingers with his own. She didn’t pull away, but she didn’t encourage him either. She was having a hard time thinking about how to get out of this, or if she wanted to. Her own heart was beating fast.

“That still doesn’t explain how you ended up on the same flight as me.”

“Oh, yeah, that. Well, I was trying to figure out how to win you back and remembered that a few weeks ago, your sister friended me on Facebook. Since you wouldn’t talk to me, I talked to her.”

“My sister? You’ve been talking to my sister?”

“Almost every day for the past two weeks. I’m flying out to see her and hatch a plan on how to win you back. She suggested I also meet your parents.”

Jessica didn’t know quite what to say.

“You know this still qualifies as stalker behavior.”

“Maybe. But I actually didn’t initiate the contact. She did. She wanted to know what the hell I was doing. She’s surprisingly easy to talk to. She told me something interesting that made me certain I was doing the right thing.”

“What’s that?” Jessica looked down and realized they were fully holding hands. She was about to lose this fight, but in reality she wanted to lose.

“She said that she’d never seen you as happy as you were in the pictures you posted with both of us. She wanted you to be happy again. I booked this flight a few days ago because I needed to get out of Cairo, and I figured winning you back would take all the information I could get. Meeting your folks and hanging out with Julie would give me just what I needed. The fact that we ended up on the same flight was a fluke. Why are you going home anyway? Julie didn’t mention that you were coming.”

Jessica had decided to surprise her family. Julie didn’t have a clue.

“How’d you know I’d be on here?”

“I didn’t. I swear. I saw you sitting at the gate and figured you’d be more comfortable in first class, so I paid for your upgrade and bribed the gate agent to convince you it was because the flight was too full.”

“Why aren’t you on your private jet?”

“It’s being used this weekend.”

He leaned farther across the armrest. “Julie convinced me of one thing in all of our conversations. You spent the last several years in a relationship with a man who did everything possible to make you miserable. My whole purpose in life from now until I die is to do whatever will make you happy, even if you never agree to be with me again.”

“That’s a long time.”

“Yeah, you know, I thought I’d never fall in love again after Nour. But what I felt for Nour doesn’t hold a candle to what I feel for you. It won’t be possible for me to recover from you, so I’m sticking around. Your wish is my command. What can I do at this moment to make you happy?”

Jessica’s breath was coming in rapid bursts. She had to think quickly. She had a decision. She could willingly be with this gorgeous man and be happy, or she could push him away, ensuring both of them would be miserable. She had no idea what was holding her back. Fear of getting hurt, probably.

“Promise me one thing. Promise you’ll never hurt me again.”

“I can’t promise that.”

“But you just said.”

“I know what I just said, but you didn’t let me finish. I can’t promise that I’ll never hurt you again, but I can promise that no matter what, I’ll never leave you, and if I do accidentally hurt you, because I would never do it on purpose, I will do whatever I can to make it up to you. Next request?”