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He looked at the ceiling, his jaw clenched, like he was asking for divine intervention in dealing withTo butter you Up"

So crea

"Well," I said, flustered "Thank you You’re not half bad yourself"

I knew as soon as I uttered those words I was in for it He leaned forward like a predator leaning over a fresh kill

"Oh?"

"Yes," I said, ai for disinterested cool I liftedthe other day that you aren’t entirely unfortunate looking"

Jackson opened his , but Malibu Barbie was back with my water

"Here you are, miss" Her smile almost blindedglance sent Jackson’s way That apparently re, because he didn’t press me for more details about our interrupted conversation and instead started patting his jacket

I uncapped the plastic bottle of water and took a big swig

"Before I forget," he said, "I have so box from his pocket and set it on my knee

I spit out the water in my mouth in a spray that went halfway down the aisle I started to cough,

He said drily, "Remind me in the future that you don’t react well to surprises"

I fanned a hand in front ofto catch my breath "What’s this?" I wheezed

His expression was cloaked, revealing nothing "Did you think I’d let ?"

I stared at the box like it was filled with anthrax or ht burst into flames "Butyouwe"

"Just open the da at the speed of a herd of turtles, I capped the water bottle and set it in the recessed cubby in the wall beside erly with both pinkies out--and opened it

And iasps and garbled atte, ‘A five-carat flawless Tiffany brilliant-cut center stone with a pair of flawless one-carat stones flanking it, set in a platinu she wants unless she’s spent a lot of tilefarbluhh"

When it becaovern my own bodily functions, he leaned over, took the box fro finger, where it sparkled with the brilliance of a thousand suns

S box shut and leaned back in his chair

The captain ca off shortly I hoped they had a stretcher on board, because they’d need it to get me off this plane e landed