Free Bought: A Billionaire Romance by Sadie Keynes Page B

fluffy, white clouds sailing past. It’s amazing how much more comfortable flying can be when you’re not being crammed in with a few hundred other people.
    The luxury of the cabin has done nothing for my nervousness. This is only the second time I’ve left the country in my life and now I’m flying across the world for a business meeting that I don’t feel ready for, one that could change the future of the company and my future. If I’m ever going to go back to working for Greene Earth, I need to make this project a success. Kyan seems to sense my agitation.
    “It’s going to be fine,” says Kyan
    “What?”
    “The meeting. It’s going to be fine. You wrote the report, you know the numbers. You’ve got this.”
    “But what if I mess it up?”
    “If I thought you couldn’t handle it, I wouldn’t have brought you along. Look, I’m going to do most of the talking, what I need from you is to check the numbers they’re feeding us and just make sure I don’t say anything stupid.”
    “OK.”
    I feel more at ease knowing that he has faith in me but I still get the report out of my bag to read through it another few times.
    “You’re reading the report again? There’s a state of the art entertainment system on board if you prefer, hundreds of movies, anything you want to watch.”
    “I just want to make sure I know it all. Have you even read it?”
    “I skimmed it.”
    “You haven’t read it?” I say without even trying to hide the exasperation in my voice, “How are you going to be able to discuss it if you haven’t read it?”
    “That’s why I brought you along. I know what the deal is about and if there’s one thing I’m good at, it’s talking. You’re here to throw in some facts to make sure I’m not completely bullshitting them.”
    “Thanks. That makes me feel a lot better.”
    “Doesn’t it, though? We’ve got this. No problem.”
    With that, Kyan reclines his seat and closes his eyes . Of course he’s relaxed, I think, He’s probably done this a hundred times.
    I’m barely through the first page of the report when my eyes start to close by themselves. All the sleep I’ve been losing over the last couple of days has caught up with me, and this seat is so comfortable. The words and numbers on the page just look like a blur so I stop fighting it and let my eyes close.

Chapter 20
Kyan
    Something about plane travel just makes me feel sleepy. I know a lot of people have trouble sleeping on planes but it’s never been a problem for me. When I open my eyes I feel pretty well rested and I check my watch to see we’re three hours into the flight. I look over to Clara and see that she’s sleeping peacefully, curled up on the chair. I can’t help but think how cute she looks.
    Damn it Kyan, stay professional! I think.
    My stomach rumbles and I realize it’s time for lunch. I press the button for the stewardess and she appears a few moments later.
    “Can we get lunch now?” I ask.
    “Certainly. We’ve got red wine braised beef.”
    “Sounds delicious. What have you got for vegetarians?”
    “Vegetable lasagna.”
    “Perfect,” I reply, “the beef for me and the lasagna for Clara here will be great.”
    The stewardess disappears towards the kitchen to prepare our meals for us. This is the kind of service you get when there are only two passengers on the plane. I can’t imagine eating the trash they serve on regular airlines now.
    The stewardess reappears after a while with two steaming plates of food. The beef smells delicious and I can hardly wait to eat it. ’m not sure how hungry Clara is but I think she’ll be grateful for the food so I tap her on the shoulder. Her heavy-lidded eyes slowly and she yawns and stretches with a small moan.
    “Food?” she asks.
    “Lasagne. Vegetable lasagna. I thought you would probably be hungry.”
    “Thanks. I’m starving,” she says, “How long until we arrive?”
    “Eleven hours.”
     
    ****
     
    By the time we’re about two