Avery had the good grace to look ashamed. “Yes.”
“And they just let you switch like that?”
“I had to pay a fee, but, yeah.”
Jorgie felt as if she’d been slapped across the face. “What’s going on? Why didn’t you tell me? I would be just as happy going on the movie star tour. Let’s go back and swap my ticket over.”
“Um, I kinda, sorta, wanted to go alone.”
Dismay sucked all the anticipation out of her. “But…but…” Jorgie sputtered. “This whole Eros vacation was your idea. You told me to spread my wings, to claim my sexuality and show Brian that I could be as unconventional as…as…”
Avery placed a hand on Jorgie’s shoulder. “And that’s what you’re going to do.”
“Not without you I’m not.”
“Jorg, we’ve gotta cut the cord sometime. I can’t keep being your id. You gotta learn how to develop your own sense of fun.”
“Well, that sounds all great and everything,” Jorgie said, still stunned by the turn of events. She’d never expected Avery to pull something like this. Sure, her friend was spontaneous and free-spirited and, okay, she could be irresponsible at times, but she’d never betrayed Jorgie before. “But who’s going to be your brake?”
“That’s just it. This time, I wanna freefall. No brakes, no parachutes, nothing to hold me back.”
Jorgie gaped openmouthed. “I…I…never knew you felt this way. I thought we balanced each other out. I thought that was why our friendship worked so well.”
“Listen, it’s not the end of the world,” Avery said in a perky voice as if she wasn’t about to cut the cord with a pair of giant metaphorical scissors. “We’re simply taking separate vacations.”
“I would never have agreed to the trip if I’d known you were going to bail on me.” Jorgie fisted her hands.
“I know.” Avery smiled. “It’s the reason I had to pull a stunt like this. I hope you’ll forgive me for the subterfuge.”
Betrayal had an ugly taste, bitter and hard. “Don’t do this. You can switch your ticket back. I’ll pay for the fee. Please.”
“Time to pull up your big-girl panties, Jorgie.” Avery hoisted her knapsack onto her shoulder. “Ciao.”
“You can’t…You’re not…Avery, don’t leave me.”
“You’re too dependent on me, kiddo.”
Her friend was right. She sounded so desperate. She felt desperate, too. Her life had been unraveling ever since Brian left her and now Avery was leaving her, too. “Please…”
“You can do this. I have faith. We’ll call each other every day and share our experiences.”
“Ave…” Jorgie was finding it hard to breathe. A tumult of emotions clogged her lungs. She felt scared and betrayed and angry and, strangely enough, just a little bit excited. She’d never done anything on her own. She and Avery had roomed together in college, and then afterward she’d met Brian and they’d moved in together. Then after Brian had left, Avery rented Jorgie’s spare bedroom. She’d never lived alone. Never traveled alone.
“Final boarding call for Eros Air flight 692,” said a voice over the loudspeaker.
“Go on.” Avery gave her a gentle shove toward the jetway. “This is for your own good.”
“I…”
“Spread your wings, Jorgie. Flout convention. Fly. Go to your destiny.” Then with that parting advice, Avery turned and scurried away. Quickly, the crowd swallowed her up.
Jorgie stood frozen, her heart pounding madly. The gate agent looked at her expectantly, hand outstretched to receive her boarding pass.
She locked eyes with the woman and the life-changing events of the last few weeks washed over her. Getting dumped by Brian for essentially being too timid, getting passed over for a promotion at work because she wasn’t aggressive enough (a direct quote from her boss), the decision to take Avery’s advice and sign up for an erotic fantasy vacation, unexpectedly meeting Quint Mason and then discovering he was on her flight. Was it kismet? Was serendipity at work here? Had the universe converged to plant her in this spot at this time under these conditions for a reason?
Jorgie wasn’t fanciful. She was an accountant. A cruncher of numbers. She liked things that made sense, and this romantic notion of destiny defied logic. And yet, here she was with the cosmic dominoes all lined up. Did she have the courage to knock them down?
“Miss?” the gate agent asked. “Are you boarding?”
It was now or never. Time to prove she could be bold and daring, or forever accept her fate as a shy, conventional woman who could never attract the attention of someone like, say…Quint Mason.
Jorgie raised her chin and slapped her ticket into the gate agent’s hand. “Yes,” she said. “Yes, I am.”
2
Keep your heart unfettered and your fingers nimble
—Make Love Like Casanova
WELL, WELL, WELL, little Jorgie Gerard had grown up quite nicely.
From his seat in the back of the plane, Quint Mason watched her board the Eros Air Bombardier CRJ200. She moved up the aisle, her carry-on bag clutched in her hand. His gaze tripped lightly over her lush curves. She hadn’t possessed a body like that thirteen years ago. He would have remembered.
Spellbound, he simply stared. The front of her silky, powder-blue blouse dipped, revealing just a hint of cleavage, but it was enough to cause instant sweat to bead on the back of his neck in the confines of the expensively decorated aircraft. She stopped a few rows ahead of him and looked down to double-check her seat assignment, and then she looked up again.
A ray of sunshine slanted through the open portal window, casting her in a bright surreal splash of yellow. For a whisper of a second, he could have sworn he heard harp music and the sound of angels singing. The woman who used to be his best friend’s shy little sister was bathed in a whole new light.
Her straight, chestnut-brown hair—swept back off her neck in a demure ponytail—glinted with red highlights. His fingers itched to reach up and pull that band from her hair and watch it tumble about her shoulders. She wore a knee-length skirt that was a darker shade of blue than her blouse and blue, matching sandals decorated with pink flowers. She looked like exactly what she was—the girl-next-door all grown up. The kind you took home to meet your parents. Marriage material. He’d do well to steer clear.
But even as the light shifted, dimmed, Quint couldn’t take his eyes off her and he didn’t know why.
Familiarity. She reminds you of a simpler time. That’s all. A missive from your past.
Still, his heart skipped a beat. That was odd. Usually the only time his heart misfired was when he drove his Corvette too fast or danced the tango or made love all night long. She was pretty, hell yeah, but certainly nothing extraordinary. Nothing to make him feel like this.
Still, there was something about the way she carried herself that clutched his gut and narrowed his focus to only her. She possessed a quality that called to something primal inside him. One thought snapped through his head hot as electricity.
Gotta have her.
Stupid, that impulse. It could lead nowhere but to big trouble. Quint lowered his eyelids, smiled slowly.
She sucked in her breath. He heard it all the way down the aisle. Quickly, she turned, reached for the overhead bin. In this private jet the bins were more lavish than on commercial liners, but she struggled to get her suitcase stuffed in.
Quint