Love at First Flight Read Free

approve?”
    “Definitely.”
    They checked in and were shown to a
luxurious oceanfront room with a king-sized bed.
    She nibbled on her thumbnail while he
tipped the bellman. “This is going to cost a fortune, Jer,” she said when they
were alone.
    “Don't sweat it, babe.” He pulled open
the sliding door and stepped onto the balcony. “Come on out.”
    The surf pounded in the darkness as she
joined him.
    He brought her closer to him and leaned
in to kiss her.
    They'd been lovers for so many years
that he was home to her, no matter where they were. He ran his tongue along her
bottom lip, and she wrapped her arms around him, wanting him desperately. She
just wished he didn't taste like stale beer and smell like cigarette smoke.
    “I love you, Jule. I've missed you so
much.”
    “Me, too,” she whispered as his cell
phone rang.
      “Ignore
it,” he said against her lips. When the phone rang again, Jeremy pulled away
from her to turn it off. “Sorry about that.”
    “What if it's work?”
    “They're going to have to live without
me tonight. I've got better things to do.”
    “Do you mind if I take a quick shower?”
    “As long as it's quick, I'll allow it.”
    She left him with one last kiss and took
her bag into the bathroom. After she showered, she stood in front of the mirror
brushing her long dark hair until it fell in soft, shiny waves down her back.
The ivory silk nightgown she bought just for this weekend with Jeremy made for
a striking contrast with her olive complexion. As she brushed her hair one last
time, Juliana suddenly thought of Michael and the strange look on his face when
he greeted his fiancee at the airport. She wondered how his weekend was going so
far.
    Emerging from the bathroom, her heart
raced with anticipation and desire. She couldn't wait to make love with Jeremy
after so many weeks apart. But when she saw him sprawled out on the bed fast
asleep, the disappointment hit like a fist to the belly. He'd had enough beer
to knock him out for the night, and she knew from experience that there was no
point in trying to rouse him.
    Juliana ventured onto the patio and
curled up on one of the lounge chairs to listen to the pounding surf. Filled
with frustration, she hoped Michael's evening had gone better than hers.

    ***

    The bright sunlight streaming into the
room woke her early the next morning. Stretching out the stiffness from a night
in a strange bed, she glanced over at Jeremy.
    Before this interminable separation,
they had lived together for four years. People often asked her why they hadn't
gotten married, especially after they marked their tenth anniversary together.
The only answer Juliana could ever give was that he hadn't asked her. More than
one friend recommended an ultimatum, but Juliana had never seen the need for
threats. What they had was special, and it always had been.
    Jeremy transferred into her high school
at the begin-ning of their junior year, and tugged her out from behind the dark
clouds of life with a needy, alcoholic mother to life with him in the sunshine.
With his quick wit and talent on the football field, he fit in right away with
kids who had been indifferent to Juliana for years. Before she knew it, she'd
been elevated from obscurity to half of a couple whose names were mentioned
together so often that JeremyandJuliana took on the same easy cadence as peanut
butter and jelly.
    After graduation, she pursued a career
in cosmetology while he studied electrical engineering at Johns Hopkins. When
all the couples they knew in high school either moved into marriage and
families in the suburbs or broke up during college, they continued on with just
an occasional discussion about marriage. Until he had been transferred to
Florida for this endless year, they hadn't spent a night apart in four years.
And even though they had never actually taken the vows, Juliana considered them
married in all the ways that mattered most.
    They had also discovered there was a lot
more to