Free FLIGHT 22 by Dyanne Davis Page A

Nick stopped abruptly. He stared down at Sela. “Family’s not all it’s cracked up to be, Sela.” He shrugged. “I don’t see one in my future.”
    There it was out in the open between them. He’d punctured her core without even knowing it. How could he?It wasn’t even something Sela allowed to surface but it had always been there, gnawing at her bit by bit.She wanted to belong to someone totally and completely . She wanted family.
    With just a few words Nick had wounded her. No, she hadn’t been thinking wedding bells, but she’d have to admit some infinitesimal part of her soul had whispered, ‘ maybe.’ She brought her gaze up to meet his, chastising herself.
    How could he work so closely with children and not want a family? She’d always wanted to have her own family. Sure she loved her mom and dad but there’d always been something missing, some disconnect that she firmly believed was the result of blood. She didn’t have theirs. She wanted that connection someday that a family tie was supposed to give. Sela sighed softly knowing she’d never be able to let go of that dream. She wanted children someday and she wanted to give a sense of belonging to them .
    “What do you see in your future, Nick? “
    Sela continued out the doors of the airport waiting for him to catch up with her, waiting for him to answer.
    “I’m not sure.” He shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t want to start this off by lying to you. I’m not a big believer in marriage.” He shrugged again. “My parents were married and divorced to each other twice.”
    His hand snaked out and he allowed his fingers to travel down her face pausing at her chin and tilting it upward.
    “I know I’d like to see more of you in my future. I want this first weekend with us to lead to a second and a third. I wouldn’t be averse to meeting you in airports for a very long time.”
    His words carried a warning and Sela should have been listening. In fact she was, but he was staring into her eyes his look blazing a path of want along her spine. Her heart was screaming for her to take a chance. Nick Winters didn’t have to be ‘the one,’ but she definitely didn’t have to discard him for telling her the truth either. As he continued smiling seductively at her she could feel much more than she wanted knowing what she now knew. With his touch, his looks and his kisses he was claiming bits and pieces of her. She had to say something to stop him from looking at her like he wanted to devour her then and there.
    “Listen, I wanted to thank you for getting the ticket.”
    “That was necessary,” Nick countered. “How else were you going to be allowed to go through the gates to wait for me at Starbuck’s if you didn’t have a ticket?”
    Sela couldn’t stop the smile if she’d tried. Nick was beginning to grow on her big-time and that she didn’t need. But….he grinned. And she sighed. Her heart was leading her on this because her head had apparently taken its own vacation. Sure spending a couple of hundred bucks just so she could wait for him at the Starbuck was not a major amount of cash. But it was the thought that he’d wanted to do it that had her heart thumping. She could have paid for the ticket herself, she thought and frowned, wishing for a few years in the past.A past when a ticket hadn’t been necessary to go past the gates to the Starbucks and wait for a friend.
    Sela’s hand swinging back and forth entwined with Nick’s made her stare down. He was behaving like…like a little kid caught in some mischievous act. She looked at the shy smile that played around the corners of his mouth. Hmm, she thought, that was a first. She’d seen his smiles, flirtatious, teasing, sweet, seductive, but not this, not shy.
    “Nick, are you embarrassed?” she asked. “You shouldn’t be. It was romantic. You could have just come to Caesars’ Palace. I told you I have a room. It was Sela’s turn to smile. My company paid for it for the entire