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Chapter Twenty Two

After doubling my dosage of those calming tablets and downing an iced vodka in the departure lounge, I am finally on my way to LA.

As terrified as I am about being forty thousand feet from off very solid ground, I am soooooooo excited about seeing Rhys. The past two weeks have been building up to this day—the day that we see each other again. I can't tell you how good it's going to be to see him in the actual flesh.

To touch him.

To hold him.

To smell him.

I honestly cannot wait!

Rhys's last text message to me is one that has become my inner calming mantra for the duration of the scarily long flight.

Hey baby, today is the day! We both have waited for it to come and now that it has, expect to be held by me for a very long time. All I have ever wanted is for you to be here. I've missed you, baby.

So damn much! Can't wait to see you. To hold you. God, I'm gonna hold you so damn tight.

Rhys xxxx

Every. Single. Word.

Makes my heart swell with absolute joy. My excitement just keeps growing and growing inside of me. I'm on a plane, yet I only feel the purest of excitement. I am on a plane and I haven't fainted or vomited. The only thing that I am feeling is giddy, giddy at the thought of seeing Rhys in just a matter of thirteen hours.

Oh my days! I really am a jittery bundle of excited nerves. The anticipation is too much to bear, it really is. I don't think I have ever been more excited about anything in my entire life. The emotional knots that twist around inside of me, I know that only Rhys can untie them. The closer I fly towards him, the more my feelings close in on me. Rhys has captured my every thought, taken away many of my breaths and stolen my heart in only a couple of weeks. It's crazy that I am even doing this but it's a good kind of crazy. I like this crazy. I love the crazy that Rhys makes me feel. I am forty thousand feet up and crazily excited. Crazy, right?

**

I am finally here—jaded, but I really am here. As I carry my hand luggage in the crook of my arm, my heart is galloping with each jaunty step I take. Me and my hi tops don't seem to be getting me out of the arrivals area quickly enough, but just as I am, I am promptly intercepted by a polite young man. "Miss Thorn?"

Surprised to hear someone use my surname, I warily reply. "Yes?"

"Mr Ryan has requested that I escort you safely out of the airport." The polite, and very American, young man tells me. "He also has someone getting the rest of your luggage from baggage claims."

Taken aback but grateful, I smile. "Oh, okay...thank you."

"If you'd just like to follow me." He kindly instructs me with a thoroughly professional smile.

So I do, I follow him like an obedient small child. LAX is huge. Huge and overwhelming. Instead of following all of the other passengers out of the massive sliding doors, I am guided to an easily missed smaller door. "Have you had a pleasant journey?" The nice young American asks me.

Although extremely tired, I am now running on 100% adrenaline, so my reply is positively perky. "It was, thank you."

He smiles briefly over his suited shoulder at me as I continue to follow him through the far more discreet route in and out of the vast and busy airport. As we hastily walk from one hallway to the next and descend some quiet stairwells, I am soon in a small security room, where my luggage is all promptly searched before being escorted out through yet another side door. From there, we travel down another long and private hallway, exit another side door, before I am being whisked right through a bright and airy terminal to then be taken outside to a waiting car that is parked right beside the curb. The young man kindly opens the rear passenger door with a pearly white smile. "Enjoy your stay in LA, Miss Thorn."

With a genuine grin, I tell him. "I will, thank you." Then I carefully step inside of the car only to be suddenly pulled in by strong and very impatient hands. With a startled shriek, I heavily land right in Rhys's lap in the most clumsy of ways. My loose and long hair is now a mess, my breaths are shallow and fast and my long sleeved top is all twisted around my mid-riff. Nose to nose, I breathlessly stare back at the face that I have longed to see so much during the past two weeks. "Hey." I whisper with a serene smile. To see him now, makes my heart drum hard. It feels like a stampede is happening within my chest cavity. It beats so frantically because it's so very glad to be reunited with him again.

"Hey." Rhys softly whispers back, gazing at me with a heady mix of ardour, affection and exhilaration. Stroking my hair from off my content face, his sage eyes don't even contemplate to leave mine. "You're here." A tilted smile soon reaches his mouth, the one that my own mouth simply can't wait to kiss.

Bringing my arms around the back of his neck, I settle deeper into his welcoming lap as I cock my head to the side with a content little smile. "And so are you." My eyes start gazing down to his sumptuously parted lips. "Have you missed me?" My brows questioningly rise as I imagine all the ways that I want to kiss those enticing lips of his.

Rhys chuckles gently, coyly biting down on his bottom lip. "You know I have." He says as he gives my waist a tender squeeze with his poised fingers.

My eyes slowly lift to look back at him with a flirtatious twinkle within them. "Show me how much you have missed me." My challenge is said with deep and sensual provocation.

Rhys's hands lazily glide over my clothing, from my waist and up to the top of my back. He's smiling, teasing me with his cushioned lips as they sexily rub against mine from a featherlight left to right. "Maybe I want you to show me how much you have missed me?" His lips continue their sweet and slow torture with the shape of his smile being felt against my impatient mouth.

I can't wait any longer, tightening my hold around his neck and pressing my body harder against his, my lips urgently merge with his tantalising mouth. His hands quickly move to the back of my head, needing and wanting our kiss to be so deliciously deeper. How I adore the shape of his longing lips. They perfectly fit my mouth; a sumptuous coming together of the softest and most delicate of flesh. Our breathing becomes erratic, our bodies closer than close, our hands tug and tease. Our long awaited hello is an overjoyed one. It's also sexy, undignified and glorious. I am so happy to be in his arms, in his lap, with our mouths entwined. It all feels wonderful and it all feels right. "I've missed you." My hurried words are breathless, raw and truthful, said in-between his parted lips.

Rhys slowly draws back, looking at me with half-open eyes that are shrouded with unleashed lust. "And I've missed you, Clara Thorn." His smile is sincere, his thumbs are so tender with their stroking touch across my cheeks. "You have made me so happy by coming here to be with me." Closing my eyes, loving his touch and his words, I am left serenely speechless. "The only thing is, I don't know whether I'll ever be able to let you return to England now."

When I open my eyes, he is smiling back at me. I have only just arrived, so I don't even want to think about leaving in two weeks time. I just want many more of these moments.

More kisses.

More being held in his arms.

More of his sweet words.

More of his everything.

Cuddling Rhys really tight, I finally answer him. "Let's make the most of what time we do have together." That's when we hear his driver putting something into the boot of the car, presumably the rest of my luggage.

We both listen to the driver get in behind the wheel of the luxury vehicle, and as he does, Rhys looks down at the floor of the car before looking back at me with a determined glint in his eye. "Let's do that." Tapping on the privacy glass to alert his driver that he's ready to go, Rhys then smirks some more as he reluctantly slides me from off his lap. "I have many things for us to do together." What he says sounds innocent enough, but the way he is looking at me right now...yeah, there's nothing innocent about that.