"Everybody's a liar.  Being in the closet is a lie.  It's something you'll figure out around the time you grow up, kid."

"Get out."

"Excuse me?"

"Leave," I said through my teeth, hoping he would listen, because I was about a second away from hitting him.

Luckily, he went.  I never heard from him again.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

DO ME A FAVOR

PRESENT

STEPHAN

It wasn't until the next day that I got Javier's other reaction.  The delayed one, that came after the relieved one.

"What were you doing?" he burst out with suddenly.  "What were you even thinking, going back there, getting yourself shot?"

I'd known this was coming.

"I had to," I said calmly, though it hurt to speak.  "She was in danger.  I had to do something."

"You had to take a bullet for her?"

"Yes."

"Do you know how f**ked up that is?  Who does something like that?"

"It's not f**ked up.  It's who I am."

"How?  Why?"

"This is how I love, Javier."

"It's how you love her."

"Yes.  And it's how I love you.  I'd do the same for you."

"You'd take a bullet for me?"

"In a heartbeat."

He laughed mid-sob.  "Do me a favor.  Please don't ever take a bullet again.  Not for anyone.  Not even me."

"Deal.  And you do me a favor."

"Anything."

"Marry me."

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

BUT THEN I MET HIM

PAST

STEPHAN

I heard every story there was to hear about Javier before I ever laid eyes on him.  He was slutty.  He was a snob.  He loved drama, and it followed him everywhere.  He couldn't keep a secret.

There was more dirt flying around about him than I could keep up with, and though I tended to shy away from gossip, I had every reason to believe most of it, based on the fact that there was just so much of it.

But then I met him.  No one had told me he was drop dead gorgeous.  Just beautiful in a way that spoke to me.  Every part of him was defined and perfect, from his lips to his hands.  Elegant and devastating.

No one told me that he had the thickest eyelashes on the planet, or that his calm dark eyes sparkled when he smiled.

I was wildly attracted to him the instant I set eyes on him, but even so, I didn't like him.  He had a shitty reputation, and he was not my type.  Not at all.

My unruly body and my stupid heart couldn't seem to keep that straight.

We met at the crew headquarters.  He was our fifth flight attendant, not a part of the regular crew, which meant he was on-call and had likely had to rush to work with only an hour's notice.  He didn't look it.  He looked very well put together, his tie straight, his hair perfect.  He looked calm and relaxed, and good enough to eat.

Everyone was there, including the pilots, so we did the crew briefing as we waited for the bus that would take us to the plane.

It was a short briefing, because almost all of us had been working together for a full month, and Bianca and I always worked together in first class.  I sent her a brief smile, and that was all, before addressing Javier, whose eyes I'd felt on me since the moment we'd been introduced.

He was brazen, that one.

"Jessa has the galley," I told him, "and Julie is our usual third this month, so that makes you fifth.  You'll be doing the count and helping the girls between their carts."

He just nodded, giving me his full attention in a way that unnerved me.  He didn't know I was g*y.  Very few of the people we worked with did.  I never dated anyone from work, and only our closest friends had any inkling of the truth.  Most thought Bianca was my girlfriend, and that suited us both fine.  But the way he looked at me felt like a come-on, and I felt myself both infuriated and fascinated by that.  There was no way he could know.  I didn't believe in that g*ydar crap.

I held Bianca's hand as we sat together on the crew bus.  This was in no way unusual for us.  We were close to the point of inseparable and had never felt the need to hide it, not from anyone.  Still, somehow, with Javier's stare boring into me across the aisle, I felt defensive about the handholding, and I wasn't sure if that was because I wanted to explain it to him, or use it to warn him off.  It rankled that I even had to think about it.  I didn't owe explanations about any part of my life to anyone, I told myself firmly, let alone some little troublemaker I'd just met.

The plane was boarding through the second door at this jet bridge, so the passengers were entering the plane between the front of coach and the back of first class.  This had Javier at the door with me, side by side, as we waited for the passengers to board.

"You and Bianca make a beautiful couple," Javier said quietly beside me.

This had me raising my brows and looking directly at him.  He was smiling, a brow arched playfully.

Was he messing with me?  Did he really think she and I were a couple, or was he mocking me?

I honestly couldn't tell.

"Thank you," I replied, my tone very neutral.

"Like Barbie and Ken."

That almost had me laughing.  "Don't tell her that.  She hates it when people call her Barbie.  We've gotten that comparison a lot."