Free Love After All by Celeste O. Norfleet Page B

were strong, full and firm, the kind that could kiss a woman into submission.
    His dark, wavy hair was cut short, with half sideburns that stopped short of his chiseled jaw and firm chin. Tall, with broad shoulders, he was exceptionally built. But it was his eyes that gave her pause. Framed by thick dark lashes, his eyes, exquisitely divine, shot right into her the very instant she looked up at him, mesmerizing her to silence.
    She smiled, numb. He tilted his head downward as if to increase the intensity as his eyes brightened knowingly. They were luminously breathtaking and she suspected he’d been told that more than a time or two.
    â€œIs that right?” she finally said as she pulled out her boarding pass and checked the seat number and the armrest number. “It appears you’re correct.”
    â€œDo you mind? I’d prefer the window seat,” he said.
    â€œNot at all,” she said, then stood and moved to step back into the aisle.
    Jackson, who had begun storing his bag in the overhead compartment, stepped aside and right into her path. Their bodies connected against the back of the seat in front of them and pressed closer as another passenger passed behind them. The maneuver was completely innocent but extremely sexually suggestive.
    Their eyes locked as she looked up and he looked down.
    â€œThank you,” he said provocatively, leaving it up to her to know what he was thanking her for. He smiled, grabbed his briefcase, then ducked his head and moved to the window seat and sat down.
    His gold Rolex gleamed as she inhaled the scent of his expensive cologne. “My pleasure,” she responded as she sat down in the aisle seat and placed the magazines back on her lap and continued flipping through the pages.
    Jackson looked around the immediate first-class area. “Looks like we’ve got most of first-class all to ourselves, at least for the next few hours,” he said as he glanced at her legs and then at the name of the magazine she had on her lap. She nodded but didn’t speak, then obligatorily glanced around the first-class cabin also. He watched the smooth perfect softness of her caramel skin as she turned, noting also the single two-carat diamond stud earring.
    Jackson smiled as he took the opportunity to observe her more closely. He’d seen her before, of course. She’d been in the airport’s first-class lounge sitting alone nursing what looked like a glass of white wine as two others that hadn’t been touched sat across from her.
    Now, seeing her face-to-face, he changed his assessment of her. She wasn’t stuck-up or haughty, she was something more. Attractive, yes, she was definitely an attractive woman, elegant and glamorously styled. She was impeccably dressed with the knowing air of a boardroom executive. But then there was something else behind her aloof coolness, an attitude definitely, but something more elusive. He was intrigued.
    Finding a woman with money and power was relatively easy in his circle. They were a dime a dozen. They moved awkwardly in an affluently graced society that had groomed them for perfection since birth. But finding a woman with that certain something and who moved with the ease of assured confidence by her own making was something else completely. The difference, subtle to most, was blaringly obvious to him.
    They sat side by side in silence as a continuing flow of passengers began to enter the plane and take their seats farther back. Preoccupied, Jackson rested his head back on the cushioned headrest and relaxed. The stress of the past few days had worn him down. He was glad to be headed back home. That is, until his phone rang. He pulled it out and looked at the number. He closed his eyes and exhaled. It was his father again and he wasn’t in the mood to deal with that. “Damn,” he said tightly, then turned off the phone and put it away.
    â€œAre you okay?” Samantha asked, witnessing his tense