Mark watched Lana as they talked because he couldn’t seem to tear his eyes away. Once they’d stopped flirting and talked about random things, she’d stopped being shy or nervous and was a lot of fun. He wished she wouldn’t think so hard when he flirted with her; she was so damn pretty when she smiled. He wondered what she looked like after a kiss. Would she blush like she did every time she was embarrassed?
There was only one person in front of Lana when the ground began to shake.
“What in the world?” Lana turned, frowning.
“Oh, shit.” Mark put a protective hand on her arm. “This is an earthquake.”
“What?” Lana’s eyes widened. “Oh my god.”
Mark quickly took in their surroundings. The airport was probably reinforced for earthquakes since they had them here relatively often. But breaking glass was always an issue.
“Come on.” He grabbed her hand and tugged her away from all the windows. There were no nearby doorways or tables to hide under, so they were going to have to ride it out and hope the building was as sturdy as he thought it was.
“What do we do?” Lana asked in a hushed whisper.
“Just hang on.” Mark still had his hand wrapped around hers. Lana squeezed back her eyes on his as the room continued to shake and roll. He’d experienced earthquakes before, and this one probably wasn’t more than five point six, but it went on longer than he would have liked.
When Lana moved closer to him, her side pressed against his chest, he didn’t resist the change to wrap his arms around her. She shivered a little, and he gently stroked her back.
“It’s going to be okay,” he whispered. “I won’t let anything happen to you.”
“I-I know.” She didn’t move away from him, though, as if he were some kind of lifeline.
And he liked how that felt.
When it finally stopped, the room filled with sighs of relief and nervous laughter, but Lana looked a little pale.
“That was…terrifying,” she said quietly, rubbing her hands up and down her arms.
“Your first?” he asked.
She nodded.
“You okay?”
“Yes, but I’m not looking forward to aftershocks.”
“It shouldn’t be too bad. Don’t worry.” He smiled. “Looks like we lost our place in line, though.”
“Ladies and gentlemen, due the earthquake, all flights are delayed thirty minutes. We appreciate your patience while airport staff makes sure there was no impact on plane or—” Someone announced.
“We’re never getting out of here,” Lana groaned before the announcement was over.
“Let’s get back in line.”
This time, the line was even longer and everyone around them seemed short-tempered and frustrated.
“Maybe we can just get a couple of hotel rooms,” he suggested two hours later. “Deal with this online or on the phone instead of just standing here. It doesn’t look like any flights are going anywhere just yet today.”
She looked around and sighed. “You’re probably right. Hang on, let me make a call.” Lana pulled out her phone and made a call, tapping her foot impatiently. “Hello, this is Lana Callahan… I’m a platinum member, yes. Account number 536658153. Yes, I’ll hold.” She glanced at Mark. “You want me to book one for you too?”
Mark glanced at the mile-long line and instantly nodded. “Yeah, that would be great. Thanks.”
Lana nodded and turned back to her call. “Yes…okay. Thank you. Perfect…that’s lovely. By the way, I’ll need another room as well. I have a client with me.” She paused, narrowing her eyes. “What do you mean? There are always rooms for platinum members… I see. Well…no, that’s all I needed. Thanks for your help.”
She turned to Mark. “I guess I got the last room. She said if I didn’t have such high status, I wouldn’t have gotten the one I got. It’s the presidential suite.”
“Don’t worry about me. I’ll figure something out.”
She hesitated for a beat before saying, “There’s a pullout couch in the living room.”
“I’ve slept on worse,” he chuckled. “I’ll take it if you don’t mind.”
“I don’t mind. And from what they said, a lot of people had the same idea so all the hotels near the airport booked up quickly. Come on, let’s go.”
They walked around the growing lines and made their way to the exit. Their bags had been checked so they got in another line to find out where they were. It was another hour until they had their luggage and they headed outside to get an Uber. The lines were long and Lana sighed, wisps of red hair whipping across her face. She reached into her bag, pulled out something pink, and proceeded to put her hair up in a loose, lopsided bun, but on her, it was adorable. Mark smiled to himself, trying to keep from complimenting her since it would inevitably lead to some sort of disaster and that was all they needed after the long day they’d had.
“We’re lucky we got a room,” she noted, looking around at how many people were waiting for rides.
“Yeah, the airport is going to be a mess for the rest of today.”
An hour later they’d settled into the nicest hotel room Mark had seen in a long time. The pullout bed was almost as comfortable as his bed at home and being in such close proximity to Lana was more than he could have hoped for. Of course, she immediately started to work, setting up her laptop on the dining room table and calling Kate, Aaron, and at least four other people before he’d even had a chance to read the room service menu. She was a force of nature when it came to work and he was somewhat enthralled.
“Stop staring at me,” she called over her shoulder without even looking up. “You know I’ll undoubtedly burn the place down if you get me flustered.”
He snorted with laughter, loving her sense of humor. “I can’t help it—you’re beautiful.”
She turned slowly, her eyes meeting his. “Mark, I’m clumsy and have zero game with men, but I’m neither a virgin nor a prude. I like sex, I have sex when the opportunity arises, and I’m down for sex. I’m just not good at getting from point A to point B.”
Mark had no idea how to respond to that but refused to miss an opportunity to flirt with her. “Honey, I can handle all the points from A to Z. You just have to tell me what I have to do to relax you enough to get started.”
Surprisingly, she scowled but he realized it was because her phone was ringing, and she answered with the Bluetooth device in her ear. He waited impatiently for her to finish, and finally she set her phone on the table, closed her laptop and turned to him.
“I don’t like being the aggressor,” she said softly.
“When I was the aggressor you almost hurt yourself,” he pointed out.
She chewed her lip thoughtfully. “What if…neither of us was the aggressor and we just kind of…did stuff…together?”
“Like go to dinner?” He got up and held out a hand to her. “There’s a steakhouse inside the hotel. Let’s go eat and get to know each other some more. You don’t have to be nervous with me, Lana. I’m a nice guy.”
She slowly got to her feet, her eyes trained on his. “Not too nice, I hope.”
Mark was positive this was going to be his favorite hotel stay ever.
Lana couldn’t remember being on a dinner date that went so smoothly. She didn’t knock anything over, she ate what she wanted, and Mark made her laugh. His stories about his non-combat military escapades were hysterical, and he was well-read, interesting and oh-so sexy. When he focused on her, she felt something stir inside of her that made no sense. He was handsome in a rugged way, with a military haircut, blue eyes and a muscular but not overly bulky frame. His biceps were clearly visible through the gray Henley he wore and she was pleasantly surprised she could enjoy looking at him without being obvious about it.
As they finished eating and sat back to polish off the bottle of wine they’d ordered, she relaxed into the warm atmosphere and his wonderful company. Whatever this was tonight, she liked it too much to try to overthink anything. Maybe, just this once, she could have the upper hand in a one- or several-night stand. Based on the uncertainty in his life and not knowing were either of them were going to be living going forward, keeping things casual would be best. Because they had mutual friends and would be together in Anchorage for a few weeks, it was likely he would be on board with that kind of arrangement.
They were adults and had a mutual attraction, so there was no reason for them to deprive themselves just because they didn’t have a future. He wanted to sleep with her and she desperately needed to get laid. It had been far too long. Hell, she’d never slept with anyone as sexy as Mark Garrison, so that was unique in and of itself.
“What are you thinking about?” Mark asked, startling her back to the present.
“How nice this is,” she admitted, meeting his eyes. “How nice you are. Thank you for going out of your way to keep me from embarrassing myself—dating is always stressful for me.”
He frowned. “Really?”
“I think guys find me difficult because I get so flustered and inevitably say or do something silly and it goes downhill from there.”
“I don’t know what they’re talking about. Being with you is easy.”
“Being with you is easy too.” She kept waiting for that anxious, awkward feeling to wash over her, but it wasn’t happening. It was like she’d turned a corner with Mark, and it was fantastic to be so at ease with him.
“Dessert?” he asked, his eyes twinkling as if he’d read her mind.
“No, the wine is plenty.”