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This did nothing but pique my curiosity even more, of course

"What on earth happened?"

He grimaced "I walked in on Melissa in the cockpit last week She was, u the captain, Peter, u to usted look on his face

"Where was the co-pilot?" I asked, not sure why that was the first question that popped intouncoht he’d be into it, but he sure wasn’t And then, after she saw your watch, I overheard her talking to Brenda and Jake as I approached the back galley She had the nerve to tell theifts froall to actually i that you did for him in the bathroom of the aircraft"

My jaw literally dropped

"That lying skank," I said in disgust, reacting quickly with temper

He held up a hand "I handled it First of all, I confronted her in front of the others,sure they knew that she was a flat-out liar They had no trouble seeing that she was just jealous of your watch Brenda and Jake both know me better, and they trust me, so they easily took my word over hers And then Iin the cockpit She at least had the decency to look embarrassed about it I even spoke to the first officer, and he agreed to back me up if I needed to write a report about it Melissa knoon’t hesitate to get her fired if she tries to hurt you She’s lucky I didn’t get her fired for trying to spread nasty ru about it"

I patted his hand co over the dra about my work, oblivious

"She’s a piece of work," I commented, then dropped the subject

"James is so crazy about you," Stephan ht, I thought, but I didn’t co every scandalous detail about our relationship with Stephan, but decided against it It would dispel his strange notion of Ja for me like some romantic hero, but it would alsojust outside the door as alked out of the jet bridge as a crew, finally done for the night turned

"Drive with me," he ordered as he fell into step beside me

I slowed until the others passed us

"I can’t," I said to him quietly "We’re supposed to drive with the crew, and I need to go check into the hotel to reserveas he reached to pull e for me "That’s all unnecessary, Bianca For the love of God, just stay atover this again"

He walked beside me in silence until ere nearly at our pick-up location

"Fine A driver will co

"When?" I asked, but he was already striding away

It was an entertaining bus ride, with Murphy at hisa funny story, if Melissa would try to go down on Daht deck this week Or would she go down on both? I didn’t kno that sort of thing worked

I was just discoveringon two men just seemed too sordid to me No matter what kind of spell James seemed to havelike that

Murphy interruptedonna be sorry to ht! Admit it, you love us!" Murphy had adopted his atrocious mockery of an Australian accent as he spoke He did so often, clai that it if it worked for Damien, it could work for hi of his accent, which just made it funnier

I smiled "I made plans before I knew about yours, Murphy Don’t take it so hard"

"Just have Ja planned, just tell hiht of hoas going out that night withoutup with theone out with these pilots, that they would have no proble up early

"Maybe I’ll swing by the bar later," I conceded "I’ll have to play it by ear"

Murphy whooped as though he’d won a victory Iwarmly I felt a little uncoone out with these pilots many times and there was usually never an uncomfortable moment

Aht troubled ot our roo in the lobby, chatting with the hotel staff Murphy was convincing them to join up at the bar after work It sounded like he was succeeding Murphy was nearly as char as Stephan, in his own silly way

"Ms Karlsson" A quiet voice spoke behind me

I turned in surprise It wasn’t the usual way I was addressed I was a little surprised to see Clark standing there, both in New York and in our hotel I hadn’t realized that he traveled with Jaas

"Hi, Clark How are you?" I asked, s

"Great, Ms Karlsson The car is out front Please, allowfor an answer

Stephan kissed me on the forehead "Have fun, Buttercup Call "

I nodded absently, seeing the strange looks on the rest of our crew’s faces as I ave them all a quick wave as I departed