Escaping Reality

at the feel of a hand on my shoulder and
    turn quickly to find
    Liam leaning over me, his mouth impossibly close to mine.
    “I was asleep again?”
    “Like a rock.”
    “Please tell me I didn’t scream.”
    “No. Nothing like that. We’re about to—” The wheels hit the runway
    with a hard bump and I am shocked to realize that I’ve not only slept a
    second time, but so deeply that I had no idea we were even hearing the
    landing announcements. It’s like my mind had just shut down.
    “I didn’t want the landing to scare you,” Liam explains, settling back
    in his seat.
    “Thank you. It would have.” I sit up, adjusting my skirt and folding the
    blanket.
    “What’s your plan from here?”
    “Plan?”
    “Do you have a ride to wherever you’re going?”
    “A friend is picking me up,” I croak out, and the lie is like wet cotton
    in my throat. He wants this…this whatever we started to continue and so
    do I, but I can’t know his real motivation any more than I can risk his safety
    by being seen with him.
    “Male or female?”
    I blink, snapping back to the present. “What? Male or female?”
    “Your friend picking you up. Male or female?”
    I know the safe answer is “male”. I know that if his motivation for the
    question is simple male interest, it will discourage him, and still I hear
    myself say, “Female.”
    His eyes darken, heat, and I think he’s pleased with my answer. “I’ll
    help you with your bags.”
    “No, I—”
    “I’m helping you with your bags, Amy.”
    There is command in his voice, and I am instantly, unbelievably
    aroused, and pleased at his insistence, when I should be running for the
    hills. I will run for the hills when the doors open.
    “Thank you,” I murmur and turn away from him, afraid he will read
    my intentions to flee.
    Quickly, I make sure my folder and bag are intact, sliding the leather
    strap over my shoulder, and I am ready for action.
    The plane parks at the gate, and Liam stretches his long, perfect body
    to retrieve my bag from the overhead compartment. Once he hands it to
    me, I lift the handle and tell myself to make my escape, but for a moment I
    am frozen in regret over leaving him. Too soon, he jerks his bag free, and I
    am out of time. A man moves between myself and Liam and I take the
    opportunity to dart for the exit. I don’t look back. I want to look back.
    A few minutes later, I am outside in a cab line that stretches a good
    fifteen cab lengths long, with no actual cars in sight. Thanks to several
    conventions and some Hollywood event, it appears I have plenty of time to
    savor my regret over leaving Liam behind. And I do. I savor it like I would
    water in a desert.
    I’m busying contemplating how good he might have tasted when a
    black Town Car stops directly beside me. The door opens and to my shock
    Liam steps out and grabs my bag. “Come with me,” he orders, and he
    doesn’t give me time to argue.
    I haven’t moved yet and he’s already at the trunk where the driver
    lifts my bag to deposit it inside. I consider leaving it behind and running. I
    should leave it and run. I charge toward him and meet him at the back
    door.
    My chin lifts and he is taller than I realized, and his sleek goatee is
    impossibly sexy, nearly distracting me from my anger. “You can’t just take
    my bag and demand I come with you.”
    “And yet that’s exactly what I did. Get in the car, Amy.”
    I bristle at the command. “I don’t know you.”
    His piercing blue eyes darken. “I have every intention of remedying
    that.”
    A thrill shoots through me at the obvious promise that he will be my
    lover, and there is no denying that I am seduced by this man, drawn to his
    confidence and dark good looks. To the gentle lion I believe will take
    control of everything around him, including me. The man who will demand
    much of me, and perhaps take more than I should give. And yet, beyond all
    reason, I want to experience those things. I want to experience him. It
    almost feels…necessary.
    A cab honks at our driver and I have nothing to go on but instinct that
    tells me I can trust him, but it has never failed me. Not even when I took
    the job at the museum that I knew was a mistake. The horn blasts again
    and I go with my gut. I get in the car. Liam follows me inside and shuts the
    door.
    “Where are we going?” the driver calls over his shoulder, pulling
    away from the curb.
    I quickly slide my bag from my lap to the seat in between Liam