27. Kat

27

Shocked, I glare at Nik for a long, silent moment.

He must take my confusion as uncertainty because he says, "It has nothing to do with Maxim or McGuire, I promise. Just something fun. Something I used to do a lot."

After this intriguing and mysterious statement, I tell him yes, of course I'd like to "get out of here" with him. What else could I say? I need to find out more about whatever it is that Nikolai Stefanovich does for fun.

Nik excuses himself, ordering me to meet him at the door in five minutes. I almost pace back and forth in front of the door as I wait for him, dying of curiosity.

"Ready?" he asks, giving me a smile that warms his eyes even more. He's wearing a black leather jacket, zipped all the way up. I study him as he drops his phone and keys in his jeans pockets. He looks so good I could eat him with a spoon—the whole container in one sitting.

"You have no idea," I say. His only response is a soft laugh.

We ride in the elevator down to the garage in silence. It disturbs me how at ease he is. I don't think I've ever seen him this content—and almost even relaxed.

I'm bursting at the seams with a million questions, but last night's events still linger in my mind. I don't want to ruin this moment or his mood. I don't want to burst this happy, comfortable bubble we're in right now.

Nik and I finally get to the garage and he leads me to a white Mercedes G-Class car. I'm surprised when he opens the passenger side door for me with a small smile.

"Where's your driver?" I ask.

"I'm driving today. I think I'd like it better if it's just the two of us for this," he says enigmatically.

I get in the car and buckle up as he walks around the vehicle to reach the driver's side. After turning the car on, he shifts into reverse and pulls out of the parking spot.

"Are you going to tell me where we're going?" I ask.

"Nah, I don't think I will. I think it'll be more fun if it's a surprise." With a smirk, he slips his sunglasses on as we exit the garage and merge into traffic.

The sight of him with his black Wayfarers on is, of course, devastating. It takes an excessive amount of self-restraint to stop myself from asking him to pull over so I can jump his bones immediately. Somehow, I manage it. Instead, I tell him, "Maybe you haven't noticed this, but I'm not exactly great with surprises. I'm not a go-with-the-flow kind of girl."

"I don't know about that, Kat. I think you've been going with the flow just fine. I can't say that learning that you're a bit of a control freak would surprise me, though."

I scoff, outraged at his hypocrisy. "Me? A control freak? You're one to talk, mister."

Nik laughs again. The lovely sound doesn't make my life any easier. The urge to throw myself at him is almost unbearable.

"You are literally trying to control me through sex, Kat." He smirks at me.

"I'm just doing what I can with the hand I've been dealt. I can't just ignore the resources at my disposal."

Over the rim of his sunglasses, Nik practically undresses me with his eyes. He takes his time looking at me from head to toe before sighing. "I know just how you feel. I have a hard time ignoring your resources myself. No pun intended."

Once again, the man is just more than I've bargained for. I could deal with grumpy Nik. But smirking, flirty Nik is way more than I can handle.

"Listen, it's your fault, too," I say with an unladylike snort. "If you weren't so freaking bossy, I wouldn't feel the need to wrestle some of the control of this situation from you."

"I'm not bossy, Kat. I'm the boss. Of you, at least." He smiles again and my heart does a somersault. I roll my eyes at him, and he laughs. I could really get used to the sound of it…

After a moment of comfortable silence, I start getting restless. Fidgety, even. Nik hasn't said anything else. He seems perfectly content to just sit there and drive, looking gorgeous.

"Hey, shotgun picks the music, right?" I ask, needing some distraction.

"Sure, why not?"

I connect my phone to the car's sound system and spend the rest of the drive occupying myself with the soundtrack to our little impromptu drive—nothing too romantic, nothing too sexy.

At last, Nik pulls into a graveled side road. Shortly after, he slows down as we approach an open field. From my car seat, I glance around the area. There isn't much around us. I spot an asphalted road and a massive expanse of grass, but nothing else.

Nik comes over to my side. After opening my door, he offers his hand to help me out of the car.

"Where are we?" I ask. The words are barely out of my mouth when I realize the asphalted road is a landing strip. A tarmac. "Is this an airfield?"

"Of sorts. I used to come here a lot," he says, pulling me away from the car.

As Nik leads me toward a small airplane, I'm so distracted by its bright red and white colors that I don't notice the man approaching us.

"Nikolai," he says in greeting. "It's good to see you, man. It's been a while."

"Yuri." Nik shakes the man's hand. "This is Kat. Kat, Yuri here is our pilot today."

"Our pilot?" I ask, turning to face him. "As in, we are going into that thing?"

"Yeah. It'll be fun, you'll see." He smiles at me again before turning to Yuri. "Ready?"

"I'm ready when you are," the man joyfully replies.

"I'm not going into that thing," I tell Nik, digging my heels in.

"Oh, come on, it'll be fun, Kat. You'll enjoy yourself, I promise." He laughs, amused by my hesitation.

"No, I won't. I won't enjoy plummeting to my certain and horrific death when that paper plane crumples up in the air."

As he drags me closer to the plane, Nik chuckles. "It's completely safe, I promise."

"It's so tiny, Nik," I protest.

Nik climbs into the plane and turns to me, stretching out his hand to help me climb into the death machine. "You don't have to come if you don't want to, but I think you should give it a shot. It's completely safe. I've done this a dozen times."

"Nik," I cry, ready to tell him why I think this is a bad idea, but he interrupts me.

"Do you trust me?" he asks, his hand still outstretched.

I look at him. His eyes are warm, searching my face. The wind ruffles his shiny dark hair, and he looks so gorgeous that my heart aches a little. Wordlessly, I take his hand. His answering smile is like a fine glass of whiskey, warming me up down my neck, through my chest, and down to my belly.

Nik effortlessly pulls me into the plane. After leading me to my seat, he helps me buckle up before sitting down in front of me. We both put our headsets on, and the plane's engine roars to life.

Yuri says something over the intercom system, but I can't discern his words over the deafening sound of my thundering heart.

I could have mentally prepared myself if Nik had warned me we would be doing this. I would've had time to get ready for this moment. As it is, I feel entirely out of sorts, like I'm already free-falling from a mile up in the sky.

Nik clasps my hand, holding it tightly. I look at him, and his expression takes my breath away. His eyes are like molten ore, and there is a carefreeness in them I haven't seen before.

Without much preamble, the plane takes off, and it's my turn to squeeze the Russian's hand. Mid-laugh, Nik grabs my other hand, squeezing both my hands tightly in his.

We rise higher and higher. I shut my eyes as my stomach drops and my ears pop.

A minute or an hour passes—I couldn't say. Nik squeezes my hand again.

"Kat," he rasps. "Open your eyes, milaya."

Reluctantly, I do.

"Eyes up here," he says. "Just look into my eyes."

I do as he says. After a moment, it helps calm down my nerves. Maybe because staring into this man's eyes is my kryptonite.

"There you go," he says in a soothing voice. "You're doing great. Now, take a deep breath and try to relax your muscles. Just try it."

Still looking into his eyes, I do, to a small degree of success. "This isn't so bad," I say tentatively.

"It really isn't," he says with an encouraging smile. "We're almost ready for Yuri to start the maneuvers."

"Maneuvers?! You didn't say anything about maneuvers."

Nik laughs. "It's an aerobatic flight, Kat."

"Oh, god, I'm going to puke."

"No, no, just look into my eyes. You'll be fine. You're safe, and you're going to have fun."

"Nik…" I gasp, unsure of what else to say. He clutches my hands tightly, his eyes never wavering from mine.

He's right, I realize. I'm going to be okay.

Here's this gorgeous man who drives me wild and who wants to share this moment with me, even after I broke his trust the night before. I can either dread the entire experience or let go, taking it as it comes.

"Just let go," he says, his brown eyes ablaze.

With a deep breath, I do. And just in time—as Yuri takes us through a complete loop. I scream in surprise, my stomach dropping to my feet. Somehow, I manage to glance at Nik, and the pure joy in his face takes my breath away.

Yuri rights the plane, and Nik asks me breathlessly, "Not so bad, right?" I shake my head, and the enthusiasm on his face starts to get to me. "Ready? Here we go again." He laughs, not letting go of my hands.

This time, as Yuri wills the plane into a spiral of turns, my attention is focused on Nik. A laugh bubbles up inside my chest until it bursts its way up as the plane flips us up and down. His laughter joins mine, and I get lost in the moment.

As we float through the blue sky, I feel the same carefree joy I saw on Nik's face earlier. Our gazes never disconnect, our hands never let go, and soon, I can no longer tell where my delight ends and his starts. I feel completely at ease and weightless—not a worry about anything clouding this beautiful moment.

Once the plane starts to come down to prepare for landing, I catch my breath, stealing glances at the man in front of me. He's still smiling, and his hair is a mess. No one's ever been this handsome. And to think that I could've missed the opportunity to witness him like this if I hadn't trusted him, if I hadn't let go of the need to control the uncontrollable. I file that thought for later.

When we get out of the plane, my legs feel like Jell-O, and I almost stumble over. Nik catches me right away before I hit the ground, and we laugh.

"You okay?" he asks, mirth still glinting in his eyes.

I nod, smiling when I realize he still hasn't let me go. I stay in his arms, gazing at his face, not daring to break the spell of this moment.

"Maxim and I used to do this all the time," he says. "It was one of his favorite things to do."

Surprised that he would share that tidbit with me, I wordlessly stare at him, unsure of what to say.

"Thank you," I tell him, finally. For sharing it with me. For letting go of the previous night.

Nik nods.

"This was fun, right?" he asks.

"It was so much fun. I can't remember the last time I had such a blast." I laugh.

He smiles, and it's unlike any of the other smiles he's ever shown me before. This is a gigawatt smile—a take-no-prisoners smile. He's never been this happy and carefree near me, and he's never shown me so much of himself before. Unable to stop myself any longer, I rise on my toes and, wrapping my arms around his neck, I plant a fast, hard kiss on his lips.

It only lasts a second, and when I break it, I grin at his surprised expression.

"What was that for?" he asks me curiously but not angrily.

Still smiling, I shrug. After untangling myself from him, I take his hand, and we walk back towards the car.

Nik and I drive back mostly in silence, the only conversation being his good-humored complaints and comments about my music choice. Shockingly, pop bops are not his thing.

When we return to the penthouse, I feel almost sad to part from him. But I also don't want to ruin a perfect moment. And the day we spent together was as perfect as it gets.

Hoping for the best, I carefully ask, "So, what's the plan moving forward, boss?"

With his swoon-worthy smile still in place, Nik sighs and closes his eyes for a moment. "How about we worry about that tomorrow?"

"Sounds like a plan to me." I smile back at him.

"I'll see you tomorrow, then, kiska," he says as he departs.