Gregor said, reaching out his hand to her. For a moment, Faye thought they were going to shake, but then she felt him leading her out of her seat and into the aisle. His hand was large, almost completely covering her own, and slightly rough to the touch. Once she was out in the aisle next to him, they looked at each other for the first time, face-to-face.
“You’re the writer.”
“You’re on my plane,” Faye said, stating the obvious.
Gregor smiled. “Let’s go ride up front, shall we?”
Faye grabbed her carry-on out of the overhead bin and followed Gregor up the aisle and past the curtain that partitioned off first class from the rest of the plane. Her mind was racing a mile a minute. She wasn’t expecting to have to begin her interview so soon. And she also hadn’t expected that Gregor would be this good-looking in person. She had hoped it would be like other celebrities she had met who looked amazing on TV but short with skinny bodies and big bobble heads in person. Gregor was, in fact, quite tall—well over six feet—with a nicely formed head and broad shoulders Faye could easily imagine wrapping her arms around if he were inside her…
Easy, girl! she cautioned herself. Not only would this line of thinking be extremely distracting from getting her assignment done, it was also against her journalistic code. Getting involved with a subject, no matter how rakishly sexy, was a very bad idea.
“Let me grab that for you,” Gregor said, taking the carry-on from Faye and easily hoisting it into the overhead compartment. The first-class cabin was the complete opposite of the cramped economy seating Faye was used to. The seats were wide and luxurious, each with their own entertainment center. A flight attendant was offering champagne to the couple seated in the row across from the one Gregor had stopped in front of. Although she was nervous about having to be “on duty” for the flight, at least she’d be comfortable, she figured.
“After you.”
Gregor had stepped aside and was gesturing for Faye to take the window seat.
“Thanks,” she said, sliding into the seat and looking up expectantly as Gregor sat down next to her. “So how did you know I’d be on this flight?”
“Bev told me,” he said matter-of-factly. “I realized I was going to be leaving New York at the same time and I have to admit, I wanted to check out who was going to be interviewing me.”
Faye smiled nervously, wondering what Bev had told Gregor about her.
“Bev said you’re her top writer at the magazine. That’s a very big deal.”
“I’ve been doing this for a long time,” Faye said. “Well, not this exactly,” she said, looking around at her very not-usual surroundings. “But it’s what I love to do.”
“She didn’t tell me that you’re also strikingly gorgeous,” Gregor said and then quickly put a hand over his own mouth. “Sorry. Please tell me you’re not going to sue me for sexual harassment?”
Coming from any other man it might have seemed crude, but from Gregor, it was totally disarming. Faye smiled and laughed girlishly at the suggestion.
“You’re fine,” she said, trying to maintain an even keel while her mind did an instant replay of him calling her gorgeous.
“So what do you want to know?” Gregor folded his hands in his lap and looked directly at Faye, waiting for her response.
“Umm,” Faye stuttered. “How did you…?” Funny enough, her mind, which was normally filled with thoughtful and provocative questions, was running on an endless loop of shirtless Gregor up on that paddleboard.
“I’m kidding!” Gregor said, touching Faye’s shoulder so naturally and letting out a laugh. “Plenty of time for business later.” He turned his attention to the flight attendant who was passing by in the aisle and Faye audibly breathed a sigh of relief. This whole situation was just too intense! “Can we get two glasses of champagne?”
“Absolutely, sir,” the flight attendant responded in what Faye thought was a flirty tone. Moments later, they each had a real crystal glass in hand, filled to the top with fine, French bubbly.
“Cheers,” Gregor said, clinking glasses with her and taking a big sip. “Preflight ritual,” he said, holding up the glass by way of explanation.
Faye reached into her bag and pulled out the copies of her tabloid magazines. “These are mine,” she said with a grin.
“Oooh!” Gregor said, raising his eyebrows with a devilish grin. “I love these. They’re so sordid.”
Faye’s insides turned to butter in reaction to his wicked pronunciation of the word. Why did even normal, everyday words sound so sexual with a British accent? She could probably be happy with him reading the dictionary out loud to her for the entirety of the flight. Instead, Gregor had taken one of the magazines from her and was paging through it.
“This is my favorite!” he exclaimed. “‘Stars, they’re just like us.’ Look, it’s Matthew McConaughey eating a burrito!”
Faye laughed and looked over his shoulder at the picture. She couldn’t help but quickly inhale the scent of his aftershave. It was clean and manly and sent a signal straight to her private area.
“Have you ever been caught for one of these?”
Gregor waved off the suggestion. “That’s just for A-listers. No one wants to see me coming round the bend with a bog roll.”
“I think that would be rather intriguing,” Faye said, which made Gregor laugh.
“If my toilet papers are what you’re interested in, this is going to be a terrible interview.”
Faye looked down at the glass she was holding and realized she had finished off the champagne. She was feeling a little light-headed, though she wasn’t sure if it was from the drink or the cabin air. The flight attendant collected their glasses in preparation for takeoff and Faye made sure her seat belt was fastened before turning her gaze out the window. They were headed for the runway.
“Next in line for takeoff,” the captain announced over the PA system. “Flight attendants prepare for departure.”
Faye wasn’t so sure she was ready for departure, but here she was, buckled in next to a handsome celebrity, and ready to spend a week in London with him working on the story of her career. As the plane picked up speed, she felt Gregor place his hand on top of hers on the armrest that divided their seats. She looked over at him, but he was sitting all the way back in his seat with his eyes closed.
It was exciting, the feel of his skin on hers, and comforting, too. It had been too long since she’d been touched by a man, let alone one she felt so instantly attracted to. Faye steadied herself against the loud noise of the engine and just as the plane became airborne, she felt Gregor squeeze her hand—hard. The sudden pressure gave her a jolt and she felt the nerves throughout her body tingle in anticipation—of what she wasn’t yet sure. But one thing was certain: there was no turning back now.
GREGOR WASN’T A fan of air travel, but he had done it so often in his career that settling in for a New York to London flight was really no big deal. As he settled back in his seat, reclining it now that the seat belt light was off, his mind began to turn over the details of the meetings he had taken over the past few days in the city.
There was talk of launching a new show, a cookbook, even a podcast. And while he was grateful that viewers still wanted to see and hear more from him, the truth was that his heart just wasn’t in it. Ever since things had gone so terribly wrong with Emily, his girlfriend of over five years, he’d been down in the dumps. His friends had tried to cheer him up with several wild nights out in London, Ibiza and even Paris, but nothing had changed