My Heart Is Yours

Chapter 65

Richard reluctantly stood from his bed and dragged himself to the door to stop the incessant knocking. Brows furrowed, he was ready to shout at whoever it was on the other side. He opened the door and stopped short when Maine was the person on the other side of the door.

"Maine?!?"

For an answer, Maine reached out and felt Richard's forehead and neck for fever. When she felt his temperature was normal, she suddenly wrapped her arms around Richard's waist, pushing them inside the room which shocked Richard even more.

"Aren't you supposed to be out with Martin and the others?" He asked as he slowly enveloped her in his arms, returning the embrace. He took a deep breath and was assaulted by her scent. She smelled of strawberries and he was reminded of their time in Rome, when he kissed her by the Trevi.

"I got worried," Maine replied, as she slowly extricated herself from Richard's embrace. She looked up and searched his eyes. She continued, "Valeen mentioned that you weren't able to rest during the whole trip."

Richard sighed and led her inside his room by taking her hand to his. Maine realized that he was wearing a shirt and pajama pants, as she was led to his bed. She saw her "Twilight" book on the bed, a bookmark protruding haphazardly between the pages.

"Yeah," Richard nodded as he got comfortable on one side of the bed while Maine took the other side. He propped some pillows on the headboard so that both he and Maine were leaning on them. "We hit a snag during the trip. The plane was fighting us the whole way. Three turbulence and a storm. We had to increase altitude so that we were over the storm so you didn't feel the worse of it. But controlling the plane was difficult. It was a tag team of navigation and piloting. We not only needed to go over the storm but around it as well. Jerald, Sam and I usually take turns resting up during the whole trip. On normal schedules, I let Sam and Jerald sleep during the longer hauls while I let them take control on our shorter stops so that I can get some rest. But with the incidents, Sam and Jerald only got about 2-hours each and I ended up flying the whole way."

Richard suddenly yawned and leaned his head back on the headboard and closed his eyes. He was really tired. The adrenaline that was keeping him awake the whole flight was gone now and he was feeling the after-effects. Usually, he gets at least four hours of sleep during their flights when he gives control to Jerald. But with the incidents that had happened while they were airborne, he couldn't risk not keeping control. He was the captain. He was responsible for everyone on the plane. He decided to just rest up afterwards, but with Maine in the room with him, he wondered how he will manage to do it.

"You need to sleep, RJ," said Maine worriedly as she saw how tired Richard looked at that moment.

"I'll text Martin to wait for you then," he started to reach on the side table for his phone.

"I'm staying," she stated, reaching out to stop him from getting his phone.

"I'm not very good company at the moment, Maine," he remarked, a bit of reluctance in his voice.

"I want to make sure that you sleep," she said as she held out her book in front of him. "You were about to read a book, RJ. How will you be able to sleep with a book in hand?"

"Easy," Richard answered with a smile, but his eyes showed how tired he was. He reached out and took the book from Maine's hand and set it aside on his side table beside his phone. "It's Twilight. I just need to read a few paragraphs then I'm off to Neverland."

"What is it with guys and their distaste for the book?"

"Two words, Maine," he remarked as he slid down the bed to lie on his back. "Sparkling vampires."

Richard adjusted his pillows so that they were under his head. He pulled the blanket up to his chest and laid on his side to face her. His eyes were already drooping as he looked up to Maine, who was still leaning against the headboard. He yawned once more.

"Go get some sleep, Captain," Maine said softly as she reached out and brushed her fingers through his hair.

"Are you just gonna watch me sleep?"

"Nope," she replied as she saw him close his eyes. "I have my Kindle with me. I'll read while you try to catch up on your sleep."

Eyes still closed, Richard reached out to the hand that was brushing his hair, and placed it on his lips for a soft kiss. Then he placed her hand to his chest near his heart and said, "thank you for staying, Maine."

He settled on his side with his eyes closed. Just when Maine thought that he was already asleep, his grip on her hand tightened.

"I was so worried," he murmured that Maine barely heard him. "That was one of the worse flights I had experience. And all I could think about was that you were on the plane with us. You need to be safe. I need to keep you safe. Come hell or high water, I will get you to safety. I can't lose you, Maine. I just can't. I just...can't..."

Then Richard drifted off to sleep, his hand clutching Maine's like a lifeline. Her heart went out to him. Maine just let him sleep as she leaned down and kissed his temple.

"I'm right here, RJ," she whispered. "I'm not going anywhere."