“Come on already!” shouted the guy in the suit. “I don’t havetime for this shit. Lady, get the fuck out of my seat!”
Snapping out ofhis momentary stupor, Crispin glared at the insensitive ass.Stalker or not, Gwen did not deserve to be spoken to in such a way,especially given her current state of mind.
“Hey! Back the hell up! Have a little respect!” The manimmediately startled at the unexpected rebuke. “Yeah, that’s what Ithought,” Crispin added before stepping forward and leaning overGwen’s seat. She had her eyes shut tight and was once againclinging to her armrests. “Gwen?”
When she didn’trespond as if in some sort of trance, Crispin furrowed his brow. Hethen reached for her hands and when she refused to let go, heforcefully wrenched them away from the armrests, startling her inthe process. When she opened her eyes in reaction, she focused onhis long wavy hair and took strange comfort in his presence. Sheunwittingly sighed at his proximity. Gazing at her for a fleetingmoment, he then grasped her upper arms and hoisted her up onto herfeet.
“Thank you so much, sir,” Anne said as she then grabbed Gwen’sbelongings. “I’ll be right over to check on you both.” The maleflight attendant then ushered the disgruntled passenger to hisproper seat.
With a nod overhis shoulder, Crispin proceeded to escort Gwen down the aisle. Hetried very hard to ignore the stares from those they passed. Atthis point, all he wanted was to get Gwen situated and then as soonas she could verbalize it, he would demand an explanation. But notbefore he had a moment to calm down. He was seconds away fromlosing his patience.
With his handsstill gripping her arms, he all but hissed in her ear, “Go on, getin.” When she hesitated, he was tempted to physically place her inthe seat but then realized it would not look right even though hisinstincts were screaming at him to do so.
“I can’t sit at the window,” she said, turning to himpleadingly.
“Wonderful,” he said with a roll of his eyes. Here she was allfive foot two at the most. Here he was, a full foot taller and hewas expected to squeeze into the cramped window seat. “I supposeI’ll take it!” Doing so, in order to avoid further complications,Crispin sat down and then dragged her in beside him. She landedwith a thump and sat petrified. Glaring at her, he reached aroundher and buckled her in, pulling the belt tight around her hips.“There, now sit still and give me a moment.”
“S-sorry…”
“I said give me a moment,” he repeated on a low growl as heshuffled his things about and buckled himself in.
Gwen took thetemporary reprieve to concentrate on her breathing. Crispin wasfurious. That was plainly obvious. But her fear of his wrath wasnowhere near that of what she had felt moments ago. The fear of nothaving him near was far greater than the fear of anything he mightsay at this point. It was odd and she couldn’t quite understand itbut it was the truth. His presence even in his current state ofmind, was a balm to her soul.
Anne, theflight attendant appeared by their seats with Gwen’s carryon andproceeded to place it in the above compartment with Crispin’s.“Everything okay now, Ma’am? Are you comfortable?” She handed herthe book she’d left behind in haste.
Taking it, Gwenquickly stowed it in the pocket in the chair in front of her. “Yes,and I’m so sorry. I don’t know… I can’t explain it,” Gwen said veryquietly.
“As long as you’re comfortable,” Anne reassured her, shootingCrispin a glance filled with gratitude. “How lucky to have yourfriend with you.”
“Indeed,” Crispin muttered from his seat. “Justperfect.”
“We’ll be taking off shortly. Enjoy your flight,” said Annewith an apologetic smile.
Gwen would haveattempted to say something to him then if not for the last minuteflight proceedings taking place. They were late taking off alreadyand she was well aware it was all her fault. Embarrassed, she heldher tongue while the announcements went on and then again when theplane started to back away and move onto the runway. It was all shecould to keep from screaming when the engines started revving up.Her previous fears forgotten, she now braced herself fortakeoff.
Oh, God, could she do this? Ofcourse, she had no choice!
Unable to copewith the sounds, the roar of the engines, and blinking lights, shedid the only thing she could. She reached out and clung toCrispin’s hand that was currently resting on his knee. Heimmediately tensed before taking hold of her hand. He then moved itto her lap, palm down, and flattened it with his own.
“Do not cling to me,” he hissed in warning.
At his tone,she flinched, yet breathed a sigh of relief when he did not let gowhich is what mattered most. In fact, it brought her great comfortto have the weight of his strong hand pressing down on hers. Infact, the heat of his elegant fingers between her own, against herthigh had her so distracted, she almost forgot she was on a planeascending into the atmosphere. Almost, being the keyword.
Petrified. Thegirl was absolutely petrified. Crispin could only frown at theentire situation. Had she not been so terrified, he would haveripped into her by now. As it was, the only thing he could do washold her hand and wait for the plane to level out before saying aword.
Sure enough,the seatbelt warning light went off. He turned his head to look ather. Her eyes were shut tight, her head pressed back against herseat. He watched her take shallow furtive breaths. She was tensebeyond belief and for a moment he wondered if she would evensurvive the duration of the flight. He realized plenty of peoplehad a fear of flying but she clearly suffered from an extreme case.If he wasn’t so pissed off, he’d almost feel sorry for her.
“Now then,” he said, watching her eventually peek out of oneeye, then the other. She took a deep breath and exhaled, slowlyturning her face towards him. That’s when his heart nearly stopped.He should be furious, but at
