A cold, prickly sensation seeped in, but she took a deep breath, blew it out slowly, and forced a smile for him. “How can I resist?”
Noah dropped his head back and finished off the water bottle just as the flight attendant passed, and he handed her his empty.
“Noah’s X-rays showed a slight malunion that I’m concerned about,” Julia told Drake over her cell. “His orthopedist doesn’t seem to think it’s a big deal because of the cement the surgeon used to secure the screws. Said it was new, a prototype or something.”
“Excuse me, ma’am?” The flight attendant paused in their row again. “I really need you to put the phone and computer away.”
Julia nodded but didn’t make any move to obey, which made Noah smile. The woman had a serious stubborn streak, not to mention a distaste for authority. Noah loved that about her. But this was the flight attendant’s third request, and the look she gave Noah told him she was about at her patience limit. The cabin door was closed, the plane already pushing back from the gate.
Noah gave the frustrated flight attendant a grin. “Sorry. I’ll cut her off.”
The woman shot another annoyed look at Julia.
“I want to talk to the specialist myself,” Julia was saying. “He flew in from Philadelphia?”
Noah reached for the laptop open on her tray table, closed the lid, and slid it into his lap. Julia’s gaze followed as he offered it to the flight attendant, who stored it in an overhead bin.
“Okay¸” she said to Drake. “Can you get me his contact information, maybe give him a call and a heads-up that it’s urgent I talk with him?”
Noah laid his hand over her forearm where it rested on the arm of the chair, and she glanced over. “They always give first-class customers a little more leeway, but you’re pushing it. Call him back when we land so the flight attendant doesn’t kick us off the plane.”
She rolled her eyes in frustration. “Okay,” she said into the phone. “I’ve got to go. I’ll call you later.”
With a heavy exhale and a furrowed brow, she turned off her phone and tucked it into the tiny thing she called a purse in the seat back of the chair in front of her, just as the plane taxied onto the runway.
She burrowed her little body into the plush leather chair, gripped the edge of the seat flanking her thighs, and closed her eyes. Within a minute, the engine revved, and the plane sped down the runway. Julia’s body stiffened, and her fingers dug into the leather. When Noah glanced at her face, he found her jaw tight, her eyes squeezed shut.
He lifted the armrest between them, curled his hand over her fist, and pried her fingers loose so he could thread them with his. “Are you afraid to fly?”
“Not…exactly.”
“Then why are you draining the blood from my hand?”
“It’s just takeoffs and land—”
The plane lifted off the runway, and a soft mewl ebbed from her throat. Noah lifted his arm and wrapped it around her shoulders, pulling her into him. She cuddled close, and gripped his thigh so hard, he was pretty sure he’d have fingerprint bruises in his quad.
“Jesus, Julia,” he murmured in her ear. “You should have told me. I could have gotten you a Xanax or a drink or something.”
She didn’t respond, just burrowed her head deeper, and Noah held her tight until the plane’s thrust eased and her grip on his thigh relaxed.
He lifted his other hand to her cheek and found her skin cold. “Don’t faint on me. I’ll freak out and embarrass myself.”
She huffed a laugh. “It’s all about you.”
“That’s my girl.”
“I’ll be fine once we level off.”
“We can stay like this the whole flight, as far as I’m concerned.”
She didn’t respond, but her body slowly relaxed against his.
“Has flying always bothered you?”
“No. Just after the crash.”
“Crash? As in plane crash?” He tilted his head to look at her, but she was still snuggled close. “Jesus, Julia, you were in a plane crash, knew we were flying to LA, and didn’t think to tell me?”