Crazy for the Boss (Crazy in Love Book 1) (8 page)

They were already tightening their seat belts as she said this, and a minute later, the plane rocked again.

Quinn’s face was impossibly pale.

“It’s going to be fine. You just need to relax. I’ve been on much rougher flights than this. While we finish off the last twenty minutes or so, why don’t you tell me about what you have planned for the next few days?”

“Plans?” She stared out the window, chewing on her bottom lip. “You know…the usual.” She flinched as they swayed. “You know what? Let’s skip the talking.”

She took in a deep breath and slowly exhaled. Her face was turning green.

James tried to bite back his smile, having sat through worse turbulence than this before. The least he could do was offer her a calming influence.

Or at least a distraction.

He slipped his hand in his pocket and retrieved his trusty tennis ball that he threw against the side of the plane before capturing.

He repeated it, counting down how long it would be before the ball was confiscated by his traveling partner, who would do so with a touch more color in those cheeks when she did.

Q
uinn groaned
from her perch in the tiny airplane bathroom, holding the wet towel to the back of her neck as she tried to recover her composure.

At least she hadn’t lost it…not directly in front of him anyhow. And they’d arrived alive and in one piece.

There was a knock on the door. “Quinn? You doing all right?”

She stood up and turned the water on at the sink. “Much better. Just a minute.”

The water felt soothing over her fingers, and she took a moment to dab some around her mouth and face. She studied her image. She’d definitely looked better. But it couldn’t be helped. Still…

From her handbag she pulled out a Tic Tac that she tossed in her mouth before applying the plum-colored lip balm to her lips. She scrutinized her appearance. White as a sheet, something that a dab of the plum balm to her cheeks improved.

Knowing it was about as good as she could get, she opened the door, finding James in conversation with their pilot. From the serious expressions on their faces, she realized that she must have missed something. “Everything okay?”

James glanced over to her and nodded. He patted the pilot on the shoulder and came to meet her.

“Just a little bit of a hiccup. That’s all.”

“Hiccup?”

“Chris was doing his post-flight inspection and noticed a couple of things that he would like a maintenance technician to take a look at before he gives the all clear for us to take off.”

“How long is that going to take?”

“Not really sure. Fortunately, the FOB—sorry, that’s basically the company who operates the private terminal here,” he explained. “Anyway, the FOB has a couple of maintenance technicians here on staff, but it’s going to be at least an hour before they can take a look. From there, it just depends on what they find and what, if anything, it will take to fix it.”

“So you’re just going to hang out here at the plane then?”

“Don’t worry. Things will be fine. I’ll just watch a movie or maybe take a nap until they have things figured out.” His stomach chose that moment to rumble. “Maybe I’ll see if you left any of those peanut butter candies or something.”

The guilt hit her. The plane probably wouldn’t have had any problems if it hadn’t flown through the last half hour of hellish turbulence. Heck, James would be halfway to Cabo if he hadn’t gone out of his way to get her this far.

“Ms. Taylor?” It was the other copilot who popped his head in. “Your car is here. I can carry your luggage for you if you’d like.”

She couldn’t just abandon James. Could she?

“You should go on ahead,” James said, nodding. “I know you have lots to do. Don’t mind me. I’m sure I can turn up some blankets somewhere to keep me warm.” For good measure, he rubbed his arms, although she had to concede that, with the door open, the air inside was gradually growing chillier by the minute.

Distracted, she saw the copilot take her bags, something she usually would insist on doing herself.

She sized James up. What kind of trouble was she inviting if she did what she was considering?

She looked at the time on her cell phone. Just after ten, and she was fifteen minutes from the diner where her sister was waiting to go over some of the details for tomorrow’s party.

“Just putting this out there, and I completely understand if you would prefer to hang around here, but…did you want to tag along with me until you hear some word? I’m meeting my sister at this diner, where you can grab something to eat. It’s only a fifteen-minute drive away so, this way, if you get the okay to take off, you can have the car bring you back here in no time.”

“Well, I am pretty hungry, and if you don’t think I would be in the way or anything…”

He grinned, appearing entirely too happy over the sudden state of events. If she hadn’t seen the concern on the pilot’s face herself, she’d have thought he’d maneuvered the whole thing.

Lord help her. She wasn’t sure what she was more worried about, his impression of her humble hometown, the eccentricity of her family and friends…or her family and friends’ impression of him.

“Since I finished off the last of the M&M’s, I suppose I should at least feed you.”

He smacked his hands together. “Let’s go then. Does this mean I’m going to meet the lovely Sabrina?”

She narrowed her eyes. “She’s twenty-four, pal. If you try anything with her, you’ll find yourself left on the side of the road in the Coeur D’Alene National Forest.”

“I think I’ll be able to control myself. All set?”

She studied his outfit of light khaki pants, a white long-sleeved linen shirt, and brown leather loafers that probably cost more than the entire monthly rent she and her roommates paid. “I’m guessing that your luggage is probably going to contain more of the same clothes you’re wearing?”

“If you mean do I have anything more appropriate for a lumberjack or a mountain man, I’m afraid not. It didn’t seem entirely appropriate for the beaches of Cabo.”

“Then I guess we should go.”

She slid on her black jacket and leather gloves before wrapping the purple cashmere scarf around her neck. With a worried glance James’s way, she took the lead to the door and stepped outside. She stopped short when a cold, biting gust of wind nearly took her breath away. Pulling the jacket tighter around her, she gripped the rail and slowly descended the steps until she was on firm but icy ground.

Three seconds later, a curse streamed from James’s mouth, and she glanced over in time to see his nice Italian loafers flying out from under him as he reached the bottom step even as he managed to right himself by grabbing the rail. She bit her lip to stop the smile that wanted to stretch across her face at seeing the usually
GQ
suave playboy fumble in what was obviously outside his usual element.

Maybe this wouldn’t be so bad after all.

* * *

J
ames felt
like he was sliced in half, the cold was so sudden and biting. How anyone could function when the wind chill alone had to put the temperature well under zero degrees, he wouldn’t know. It had to be, maybe…minus five?

He slid into the warmed town car and took a look at the temperature reading.

Huh. Thirty-two degrees. Fahrenheit.

Well, that didn’t take into account the wind chill, so he might still not be off the mark. He sat still and erect, fighting the need to shiver just to get the blood moving again, but he knew from the smug smile on Quinn’s lips that she would enjoy that too much. He forced himself to relax instead, leaning back into the seat, his leg crossed over his knee.

While Quinn gave their driver the directions to where they were going, he stared out the window. The sky was gray and gloomy, painting everything in a smudgy charcoal. The surrounding mountain range, however, almost appeared deep blue as it soared around the small valley.

He supposed it was rather beautiful. That was, if he stayed in the well-heated car and avoided the five-foot-high snowbanks that lined the sides of the road.

He glanced back at the company’s Gulfstream sitting on the side of the tarmac waiting to be pulled into the hangar for inspection before turning to meet Quinn’s gaze. There was uncertainty in her dark brown eyes, and he grinned, hoping to convince her nothing would go amiss. Besides, now that the invitation was there, he was beyond curious to see how this town, her family, and her friends had made Quinn Taylor into the woman she was.

And a little more time with the woman wouldn’t be too bad, either.

The drive was peaceful and quiet as Quinn was lost in her thoughts, leaving him to enjoy the view outside the car. It wasn’t too long before they passed the sign reading
Entering Eureka, Population 7,131
, and he leaned forward to see what it might bring.

It was, quite honestly, breathtaking.

The small town rested not only on the shores of a glittering lake but at the base of several surrounding snow-covered mountain ranges. All it needed was an opening in the clouds and the sun shining down for it to be almost perfect.

He was aware of Quinn’s attention on him and he glanced over. “It’s beautiful.”

It seemed to be the right thing to say as she smiled and looked outside again. “It is. Every time I come home, I tell myself that same thing. You should see it in the summer, when everything is vibrant and green and the boats are out on the lake.”

“I’m sure it’s just as pretty.”

They arrived on a small street that appeared to be the main artery of the town. The car slowed down to allow people to meander across the street. The storefronts were carefully maintained two-story structures that ran one end of the block to the next. He spotted a local hardware store, a movie theatre, a pizza shop, a coffee shop and bakery, several boutique shops, and even a brewery that made it clear that, although it might be small, the town was lively and burgeoning.

They pulled into an open parking spot in front of the Eureka Diner. “I’ve texted Sabrina, so she’s already inside waiting for us. Remember what I told you,” she added in warning.

“Best behavior. Scout’s honor.”

Again, the cool temperature cut right through his linen shirt, and although the sidewalk was freshly cleared of snow and salted, he still found himself skating across its surface in his flat, non-tread Italian shoes. A gurgle from behind him had him glancing back suspiciously at his companion. She smiled innocently, though.

The diner they stepped into was fairly busy for the middle of a workweek. The scent of hash browns and bacon wafted around them, making him realize again that, other than a Twinkie and half a bag of microwave popcorn, he hadn’t eaten anything of substance today.

A small brunette with blue eyes and dark brown hair the same color as Quinn’s hopped up from her seat at one of the booths by the window and came bounding over. “You’re here, finally! I can’t tell you how worried I was that something was going to come up and you wouldn’t make it.”

Quinn and the woman who could only be her sister hugged for a quick second before turning their attention to him. “Sabrina, this is James Thornhill, my boss. James, this is my sister, Sabrina.”

“A pleasure.” He offered his hand to the younger Taylor girl, who was a couple inches shorter and a little curvier than her older sister. She was cute. And her grin was immediate as she shook his hand. Nothing like the reserve of her older sister.

“Nice to finally meet the tyrant whose business seems to take up all of my sister’s time these days.”

“Guilty. But that should all change now that this deal we’ve been working on is almost done.”

“Maybe, maybe not. Knowing my sister, she’ll immerse herself in some new make-or-break project soon enough. She likens herself to some sort of crusader. It’s part of an irksome martyr complex she suffers.”

“You’ll have to forgive my sister,” Quinn said, looking exasperated. “She’s a writer, so she errs on the side of dramatics. Kind of like some other person I know…”

They took a seat in the booth, the girls on one side and he alone and under their scrutiny on the other. “A writer, eh? What kind of writer?”

“I write for the
Eureka Examiner
right now and dabble a little here and there…” The sisters shared a grin before Sabrina changed the subject. “Quick status update. The lead guitarist for the three-man band has the flu, and they’re trying to find a backup in time for tomorrow night, but it doesn’t look promising. They gave us a name of a DJ we might want to reach out to as a precaution. There’s also been a delay in the shipment at the florist, leaving a question as to whether we’ll be able to have peonies as the centerpiece on the tables. Oh, and Aunt Bea called and left a rambling message apologizing for not being able to make it to the big party.”

Quinn gasped. “Did they hear it?”

“Fortunately, I caught that one before Mom could and I erased it. There’ve been a few other close calls but I think we’re safe. With the winter carnival, they’ve been too busy to notice much of anything. They spent most of this morning down at the lake watching them put the finishing touches on the floats.”

“Floats? As in…parade floats?” James asked, interrupting the flow of conversation.

“It’s Eureka’s annual winter festival this week,” Quinn explained.

A winter carnival. The idea was intriguing. “What exactly happens for this winter carnival?”

“Oh, lots of things,” Sabrina said, excited. “Besides the parade of lights, the Eureka ski resort holds some winter events on the slopes, including a race and a torch parade and a laser light show. There’s also the food fair and beer-tasting fest at the brew hall followed by a live music concert at the local dive bar tonight. Tomorrow will be family bingo night, sleigh rides, Mom and Dad’s party, of course. Oh, and there’ll be the usual exhibition show later this evening from our very own Eureka Roller Derby Girls.”

“Roller Derby?” Now he was really intrigued. “They still do that sort of thing?”

“Oh, you’d better believe it. In fact, Quinn here—ouch!”

“You don’t need to share all those boring details with James, Sabrina.” Quinn’s face was suddenly infused with color. “Why don’t we go ahead and order so he gets a chance to eat something before his pilot calls—”