Her hair was basically brown and straight. She didn’t ever do much to it, just let it hang, and her glasses seemed designed to distract from her features. She had a button nose and full lips that made me want to bite them. She wasn’t hot from the neck up so much as she was adorably cute, but that didn’t stop me from wanting to get her naked and do dirty-ass things to that curvy body.
There was just something so… straitlaced about her. I wanted to unbutton her.
I wasn’t sure why. She really wasn’t my type. Jim was right about that. But I’d spent the last three days anticipating spending time with her and that told me something. I didn’t just want her body, though that was a thing of beauty. Her body was built for sex. I also wanted to play with her. She would be a fun woman to flirt with and get to know a little better.
“You are correct, Kitty,” I said, giving her an amused look. “Not up to your standards?”
She had also been shocked that I had picked her up in my truck instead of using a car service. But I like to drive and not necessarily a fancy-ass sports car. It’s a bitch to fit my frame into one of those cars.
“No, that’s not what I meant!” she said, sounding flustered. “I just thought, you know, your privacy…”
“Do you know how much a private jet costs?” I asked her, throwing my duffel bag up on the belt and turning to the ticket agent. “Hey, how’s it going?” I handed her my driver’s license.
Her eyes widened. She took the license, glanced down at it, then back to me. “You’re Dakota North!”
“Yes, ma’am.” I gave her a smile. Privacy is overrated. Anyone who says they don’t love being recognized in public by an adoring fan is full of shit. “Are you a football fan?”
“Oh, no, not really, but I am a fan of good-looking men in tight pants.” She waved her hand in front of her face like she needed cooling down.
That made me laugh. “I appreciate the honesty.”
I turned and took Eloise’s purple rolling suitcase and put it on the belt next to mine. When Eloise made no move to do anything, just clutched her boarding pass and stood there blinking, I tapped her driver’s license. “Kitty, give the lady your ID.”
“Oh!” She started. “Sorry.” She thrust it at the woman who barely spared it a glance.
“You’re all set,” the ticket agent said to me, with a smile. “You go and have yourself an excellent day, Mr. North. Would you mind if I took your picture?”
“Not at all.”
She pulled out her phone and said, “Lean in. I want a selfie.”
I obliged and gave a smirk to the camera.
“Oh my God, thank you,” she said.
“Have a nice day.” I waved at her.
Another female ticket agent had appeared next to her. A thin brunette with false eyelashes. She eyed me up and down with naked lust.
Time to walk away before she tried to pull me into a selfie herself.
“Come on,” I told Eloise, putting my hand on the small of her back and leading her away.
“Is that his girlfriend?” I heard in an exaggerated whisper. It didn’t sound like the first woman. “No way.”
“He had a pet name for her, so it must be. Crazy.”
I tried to walk faster, but Eloise had slowed down. She was clearly listening.
“How does a plain-ass girl like that get a hot guy like him?”
Eloise stiffened next to me.
I got pissed. Those women had to know Eloise could hear them. I turned back to them. “You know how? By being intelligent, sweet, and beautiful, and not by being shallow as fuck.”
The one woman gasped. The other just raised her eyebrows. “Damn.”
Eloise tugged on the arm of my sweatshirt. “Dak. It’s no big deal. Come on.”
I opened my big mouth. I wasn’t sure what was going to come out of it. But before I could say a word, Eloise went up on her tiptoes and put her hands on my face and turned my head back to her.
She shot me a look of warning and gave her head a little shake. “Dak,” she murmured. “No. Someone could be recording this right now. Let’s go.”
She was right. I took a deep breath. “Fine,” I growled. “But that was bullshit. Fucking bullshit.”
Her soft hands smoothed over my rough jaw in a way that had me calming down.
“I don’t want to lose my job, Dak. Please. Don’t.”
She was looking up at me with pleading eyes and I groaned. Double damn it. I couldn’t protect her from haters without risking her job? What the fuck was fair about that? “I won’t say anything. I promise.” I took both her hands in mine and impulsively gave them a kiss. Let those catty girls chew on that.
Eloise sighed in relief and dropped her hands. “Thank you.”
“Don’t listen to them,” I told her as we headed toward security. “They were just jealous.”
“They’re not saying anything I don’t know,” she said, adjusting her purse on her shoulder. “It’s not like we actually are together.”
“That doesn’t mean we couldn’t be.”
Eloise snorted. “No, we couldn’t. Guys like you don’t date girls like me.”
That annoyed me. “What exactly is a guy like me?”
I knew what she meant and she was, for the most part, right.
Which is what annoyed me. I hated being predictable.
Rolling her eyes, she handed the TSA agent her boarding pass and license and didn’t say anything else.
The TSA guard recognized me, and after he shook my hand and clapped my shoulder, grinning, and offering me a playoff prediction, we were ushered aside to a VIP line where we didn’t have to wait. I was used to it, and knew there was no point in protesting, but Eloise looked a little dazed.
As we walked to our gate, I saw a few kids taking pictures of me.
“Does this happen to you all the time?” Eloise asked.
“A lot of the time.”
“It’s very weird and precisely the reason I thought you would take a private jet.”
“Being recognized doesn’t bother me. It’s part of the job. And I may have a lot of money, but if I blew it on shit like private jets, someday it might be gone and I don’t want that.”
“That’s very practical.”
“I’m a practical guy,” I told her.
The look she gave me made me laugh. “What? Are you judging me, Kitty? Because I feel judged.” It was noon and my stomach was starting to rumble. I spotted a kiosk. “Hey, do you want a soft pretzel? Those things are awesome.”
“No, thanks.”
“Okay, wait here.”
“Dak.” Eloise gave me a stern look and held out her hand. “Phone, please.”
She was really taking this shit serious. “What if I say no?” I could go five minutes without my phone. I just didn’t like being told what to do.
Eloise paled. But she lifted her chin and looked determined. “I guess I’ll just have to take it from you, then.”
Oh, now this was interesting.
“It’s in my pocket,” I told her. “Go for it.”
Eloise swallowed visibly. “Front pocket or back pocket?”