Heart of Stone

Chapter Fifteen: Flying High

"Soph. Sorry I was in the front with the pilots." Teddy's hand came to rest on my lower back in greeting.

"Hey." I turned to face him and instinctively leaned for a hug, as if I craved familiarity after stepping into such an unfamiliar environment.

Teddy's arms wrapped around me, squeezing, and I relaxed into the hard contours of his body, inhaling the recognisable spicy cologne. Same guy I'd known for the last month; he just happened to own a private jet.

"You alright?" he asked, leaning back with his hands still gripping my waist. "You seem worried. Nervous flyer?"

I'd joked many times before about the excessiveness of Teddy's life. Personal bodyguards. Dedicated driver. Hotel suite. Maybe he'd seemed relatively normal before, and that's why I'd felt able to poke fun at the parts of his life that weren't so normal. But a private plane took his wealth—his lifestyle—to a whole new level.

"Just worried about your carbon footprint." I forced a smile.

Tension drained Teddy's shoulders, and his hands dropped from my waist. "I'm carbon neutral. How was your family lunch?"

As I told him about the awkward meal, he led me through the cabin and explained that we needed to sit in the armchairs for take-off but could move around once airborne. He seemed so at ease in the plane, like we were in his own home. With the amount of travelling his career involved, perhaps it did represent a second home to him.

"You sure you're not a nervous flyer?" Teddy asked as we settled into two armchairs opposite each other.

"I'd struggle with travel blogging if I hated flying."

"You asked about my carbon footprint. Perhaps you use more environmentally friendly methods of travel." He shrugged.

I buckled my belt with a chuckle. "I'd love to but flying is always the cheapest option."

"So why do you look so nervous? Don't you like the plane?"

"No, I much prefer travelling in a cabin with hundreds of other people, cramped in a tiny seat with minimal legroom."

Laughing, Teddy glanced over his shoulder towards the front of the plane and nodded at Mark. Mark then nodded at someone else, and the door to the cabin shut. So much communication with so few words, as if they'd created their own silent language through years of working together.

"Just checking," Teddy said, twisting back to look at me again. "In case you'd changed your mind. I'm still ecstatic you agreed to come."

"Like you said, great opportunity for my blog."

His lips twitched, like he suspected that wasn't the only reason I'd agreed. Remembering my conversation with Becca, it wasn't necessarily a bad thing if Teddy thought I was here under false pretences.

"There aren't many people," I said, noting the sparse cabin.

Mark and three other men sat at the front, but Teddy and I had the rear of the plane to ourselves.