Chapter 13

Nothing consoled Eva like knowing that her brother suffered on commercial airline flights more than she did.

Of course, suffering in First Class wasn't the same as being stuck in Economy, which had only happened to the Warren siblings a small handful of times in their privileged lives. The hilarious thing is that we can politely bear it for a few hours. Sometimes, things could not be helped. Flights were delayed. Things happened to the First Class and Business Class seats that forced people to redistribute. Booking mishaps occurred, especially when the family forewent flying in their private plane in the name of being more "green."

But they were tall. Henry more so than Eva.

"Heh…" Eva hid her amusement behind her tablet while her big brother struggled to keep both of his legs out of the aisle. Monica and Abigail were on the opposite side of the plane, near the window while Nadia and Eva were opposite them. That left Henry in the middle set with a stranger, a semi-serious businessman who looked like he may have been on vacation but didn't know how to unwind. That poor man. Henry did his best to not invade his seatmate's space, which was already a feat since this airline not only staggered their First-Class seats, but the space was so wide that everyone peeking in from Economy looked like they wanted to burst in frustration. "Doing okay there, Hen?"

Eva reached across the aisle when nobody was coming. Her brother jerked up in surprise that Eva wanted to touch his arm.

"I swear they make these seats smaller every time we fly commercial."

"To be fair, you complain about space on the family plane, too. Next time your daughter asks why there's that one big chair at the front of the cabin, I'm telling her it's for her giant of a father who Goldilocksed his way from one end of the plane to the other. Everything was too small for Henry Warren."

"You know my daughter is on track to be tall like us."

"Like us? No way. She'll be a respectable 5'10 when she's done. None of this six-foot-oh-god-why that the world was not built to support."

"You're rubbing it in right now."

Eva was tall enough to gaze over her brother's head and see Monica pointing out the plane window. Abigail, who was a perfectly normal height for a kindergartener, pressed against the window and said something that Eva couldn't understand. Regardless, it made Monica laugh. Already, one flight attendant paid them special attention before bringing Abigail a small bottle of flavored water.

"Back to the grind tomorrow." Eva had to retract her arm to let through another flight attendant. "How many meetings do you have stacked up this week?"

"Too many. Unlike you."

"Why, Henry, if you'd like to get together to discuss my future in the family, tell me when you can pencil me in."

"Not funny."

"Excuse you, I'm hilarious."

Nadia finished fussing with her bags and settled into her cushy seat with her phone in front of her face. "Stop bothering your brother."

"Are you our mother? Oh, my shrink will love to hear that. She already thinks I have mommy issues."

"You do have mommy issues."

Eva didn't have a witty comeback for that. She instead focused on making herself comfortable, which was possible with half an inch to spare for her feet. Henry finally figured out to arrange his neck pillow so it made him taller in the seat. That meant the soles of his feet pressed precariously close to the wall in front of him.

"You should be glad that I'm not as tall as my brother," Eva muttered to her wife.

"I am rather glad since I solidly identify as a lesbian since my last boyfriend."

Eva linked her hands behind her head. Her elbow hung out in the aisle until she scooted closer to her wife. A flight attendant offered her a tired smile before continuing down the aisle. Once upon a time, I would have tried flirting with her. Assuming Henry hadn't gotten to her first. Gone were the days when brother and sister tacitly fought over a new temporary girlfriend. First, it was Henry dating and marrying Monica. Then it was Eva taking herself off the market, too.

Still, the urge was always there, wasn't it?

As if Nadia sensed it, she leaned across the gap between her and Eva's seats and said, "Don't even think about it."

"Think about what?"

The look on Nadia's face was worth it. "I also don't want to know how many stewardesses you've taken back to a hotel room before."

"It really is the one thing I like about flying commercial," Eva said. "The great staff looking for something to do on their mandatory rest."

"Somehow I doubt they rested much with you."

"Best sleep of their lives, babe. Sometimes I got to make love to them first." Nothing knocked a work-weary flight attendant out like lying down on Eva's bed. That was how she learned to treat them to coffee first, not wine or beer.

"Sometimes you get to make love to me."

That caught Eva off guard enough that her tablet fumbled between her hands. When Henry looked at her, she pretended she meant to do that. "It's a good thing it's not every other night, you know. We'd light this whole world on fire with those sparks."

"Great way to look at it."

Eva's hand landed on her wife's thigh. Nadia's leggings were no match for the way Eva dug into that flesh as if it contained the very lifeblood she needed to survive.

If Nadia felt that same thing, though… well, her face told a different story.

"Really?" Nadia drolly asked. "Front row on a commercial airline?"

Eva released her grasp and gently patted Nadia's leg. "Good trip, huh? Bet you're not looking forward to the freeze back home."

Nadia returned to her phone. "It is what it is. Honestly, wouldn't mind being cold after sweating every day this week. Plenty of time to do that in the summer."

"You would know something about sweating, my dear."

"I know you're trying to make sexy talk," Nadia lowered her voice, "but if you had thighs like mine, you'd sweat all the damn time too."

"God bless ‘em, too." A pilot announced that they were about to prepare for takeoff. Once Eva knew that the message had nothing to do with her, she turned her full attention to the woman who had finally opened up some of her fantasies the other night. "When we get home, I'll treat them to whatever they want."

"They? They? Are my thighs an independent entity from the rest of me?"

"Yes."

Nadia sighed. "At least you're honest in your weird-ass humor."

Eva's phone buzzed between her knees. She shoved her tablet into the seat pocket and swapped to her phone. A message from Belle was prominent as the flight attendants became more adamant that people behave themselves for takeoff – that included putting their devices in airplane mode, which Eva had yet to do. How else could she read Belle's text?

"You owe me sooooo bad," Belle lamented. "You made me think I was going to get a hot threesome with you and your delicious wife. Hmph. So, how are you going to make it up to me?"

"I never said the threesome was a sure thing. You know, I also hoped it would happen. I can't lie."

"Because admit it, you miss me the tiniest bit."

Eva had to think of a polite way to say, "I honestly hardly think of you at all." Yet she wanted to keep Belle as a good acquaintance. Besides, Eva had a reputation as a good ex to maintain. "You and my wife would have made a formidable sight in that hot tub together."

"Ugh. Don't remind me. Your wife is so hot that I instantly understood why you settled down with her. You locked that one down."

"It took a lot of effort, let me tell you. She barely has the patience for me."

"Because you throw her to lionesses like me?"

"It's good for her."

The flight attendant lingered by Eva's seat until she took the hint. Once she was sure all of her things were stored properly, she turned on airplane mode after telling Belle she had to go.

Nadia had nothing but scorn on her visage when Eva had the attention to give her again.

"I knew it," she hissed.

Eva was instantly in the hot seat. "What?"

"That was Belle, wasn't it? Come on. Don't lie." Nadia dropped her phone into one of the seat pockets. "I saw her name. I somehow don't believe she was groveling for forgiveness for coming on to me Saturday night."

"What are you on about?"

"You conspired with her to hit on me!"

Damnit. Eva thought she was out of this hole. After the incredible night they had in the condo Saturday night, they had spent most of Sunday acting like lovebirds by the pool and sharing an intimate dinner. The makeout session that lulled us to sleep last night. Ugh. Fantastic. The stuff marriages were made of!

So, Eva supposed it was time to light it all on fire.

"We've established it was a great ego boost for you."

"Eva!" Nadia's attempt to contain her outburst to a publicly acceptable squeal barely worked. The plane engine was the only thing keeping the people behind them from checking out what happened in the front row. "I don't care about ‘ego boosts,' weirdo. I care about being put in awkward situations! You've gotta know what I mean."

Eva lightly poked her wife in the shoulder as the plane began taxiing to the runway. "Relax. I don't throw anything at you that I don't think you can handle."

"Do you think you're playing a game of 4D chess with our relationship? Give me some warning next time."

"Warning, huh?" Eva waited until a flight attendant hustled by her. "So, you liked it? Having someone like Belle put the moves on you and want more of what you have to offer."

Although Eva softened that with a wink, it only made Nadia scowl more. "I think you know what I liked about that night."

"Mmhmm." Me, being a possessive wench. Yes, I can work with this. Eva didn't have a jealous or possessive bone in her body if she were critical of herself, but for Nadia? She'd make that their roleplay du jour every night if it meant making Nadia happy. "Be honest, though. A threesome would be super hot."

"Sounds like you're the one who wants a threesome."

"Um, duh. I wanna do everything with you."

"As long as you concede it has to be with me."

"Why wouldn't it be with you? Why else would we be married if I didn't love you to death and want to conquer this super sexy world with you?"

"Sometimes I wish you could hear the words coming out of your mouth."

"You married me, babe. If not for my money, then it was for my dumbass words."

"Oh, yeah, that's it. You got down on one knee and said, ‘conquer this super sexy world with me, babe.'"

It was the hilarious head bob that sealed the deal for Eva, who couldn't help but laugh as the plane prepared to race down the runway. "By the end of this year," Eva said, "we're having our first threesome."

Nadia pretended to be more enamored with the faraway Hawaiian foliage than what her wife had to say. "First, huh? Implying there will be more than one."

"Yes. And you will be the one to instigate it. Mark my words."

"Whatever you say."

Eva turned her head the other way, right in time to witness Henry readjust his whole body for takeoff. The serious businessman looked like he couldn't believe this was what First Class got him these days. Nope. Neither of them could hear a damn thing Eva said as the engines grew louder, and takeoff was imminent.

"You, me, and a very lucky third. Your choice. Though, I've got some ladies in mind."

"I bet you do."

"When you think about it, there's too much sexual energy simmering between us. That's why we're so careful about when we unleash it on the world."

Nadia yawned. "You truly only care about one thing. One thought buzzing in your brain."

"That's what happens when I marry the hottest woman in New England."

"Only New England?"

"I mean… I haven't been all over the country. You probably are the hottest one in America, though."

"Only America?"

Eva's laughter was masked by the plane ascending into the air. Her back pressed into her seat as her ears popped alongside Nadia's. A few seats away, Abigail exclaimed that this was more fun than the amusement park ride she had been on that past Christmas. The flight attendant sitting in her chair by the lavatory couldn't care less about anything.

"Pinky me." The higher they ascended into the tropical skies, the more brazen Eva became. Her hand hovered before Nadia's face. The two of them shared a look that wasn't disrupted by the plane dipping to the left. "Pinky promise that we'll make it a party by the end of this year."

Nadia couldn't have been more unamused. Yet she linked her pinky with Eva's.

"No promises," she said.

"That's literally what we're doing right now, though." Eva gestured to their pinkies hooked together. "You can't take it back. An honest, concerted effort is required."

Nadia lowered her hand. "Just saying. I'm not promising it will happen."

"But you're open to it, right?"

"For you."

"Hey…" Eva readjusted her seatbelt over her stomach now that they were nearing cruising altitude. "Don't do it for me. Think about it because it turns you on, too."

Finally, she garnered a smile out of Nadia. "What do you think turns me on?"

It was a rhetorical question – one that made Eva sit back and contemplate what she liked best about her marriage to Nadia Gaines, a woman who always kept at least one secret up her sleeve. Secrets that inevitably drive me crazy with more love.

Eva had been on a mission to assuage her wife's insecurities and to draw her more out of her sexual shell. Had she achieved both on this trip? I like to think so. Was there more in store for them that year? Absolutely.

Eva would see to it.

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