Private Arrangements. Brenda Jackson

airship of that kind before now.”

       “People have long memories,” he said, pushing his plate aside and leaning back in his chair since he’d finished his meal. “Fortunately, the ones who do remember are no longer around to tell the story of that fateful day in May 1937.”

       He paused a moment and then added, “I remember reading about it in school. I had a history teacher who ranked the Hindenburg explosion right up there with the sinking of the Titanic.”

       Nikki could believe that. Both had been major catastrophes. She had studied the Hindenburg in school as well, and was well aware that the disaster had effectively destroyed the public’s confidence in any type of giant, passenger-carrying air transportation of its kind, abruptly ending the era of the airship. But at the time they didn’t have the technological advances of today. She’d heard the airship that Fulton had built was in a class all by itself, definitely a breakthrough in the world of air travel.

       “My ultimate plan is to rebuild people’s confidence in this type of air travel.” Jonas interrupted her thoughts. “After the Titanic, people were leery of cruise ships, but now they don’t give a thought to what happened with the Titanic years ago. I want the same mind-set in getting the public back interested in luxury air travel. Especially on the airship Velocity.”

       She arched her brows. “Velocity?”

       “Yes, that’s the name of Fulton’s airship, and when you think of the meaning I believe it will fit.”

       He leaned back in his chair. “Velocity is being billed as the wave of the future in air travel, and is capable of moving at four times the speed of sound and uses biofuel made from seaweed with minimum emissions.”

       “Seaweed?”

       He chuckled. “Yes. Amazing, isn’t it? Fulton will bring a hypersonic zeppelin-design aircraft into the present age. It guarantees a smooth flight and will trim the time getting from one place to another by fifty percent. Ideas of Steele’s job is to tie everything together and present a package the public would want to buy into. When the Velocity is ready for its first series of air voyages in April, we want a sold-out airship. Fulton’s designers have created a beauty that will be unveiled at a red-carpeted launch party in a few weeks.”

       Jonas paused a moment when the waiter returned to clear their table and give them a dessert menu. Jonas looked over at her and said, “Fulton is well aware the only people who will be passengers on his supersonic airship are the well-to-do, since a ticket won’t be cheap. My job is to pique everyone’s interest, restore their confidence in the safety of hypersonic travel and make sure those who can afford a ticket buy one. I will emphasize all the Velocity has to offer as a fun and exciting party airship.”

       He paused a moment, then continued, “I’ll need photographs for the brochures, website, all the social networks I’ll be using, as well as the mass media. The launch party will be held in Las Vegas. Then the next day the Velocity will take a trial flight, leaving Los Angeles, traveling to China, Australia, Dubai and Paris on a fourteen-day excursion. That’s four continents. Fulton has invited certain members of the media, and a few celebrities. You will need to be on board for that too, to take as many marketing photos as you can.”

       Jonas met her gaze. “As my photographer I’d like you to attend all events as well as travel with me. We’ll want to highlight the airship to its full advantage, to give it the best exposure.”

       Nikki breathed in deeply in an attempt to downplay the racing of her heart at the thought of all the time they would spend together. Here he was, sitting across from her, all business. She drew in a deep breath. Evidently he had put the kiss they’d shared out of his mind and was not still dwelling on it like she was. Had she really thought he would?

       Get real, girl. Do you honestly think that kiss had any sort of lasting effect on him like it had on you? You’re talking about a man who’s kissed countless women. In his book, one is probably just as good as another. No big deal. So why are you letting it be a big deal for you? If he can feel total indifference then why can’t you?

       She knew the answer to that without much thought. As much as she boasted about no longer believing in fairy tales of love and forever-after, and as much as she told herself that she could play with the big boys, she knew she could not compete with the likes of Jonas Steele. Nor did she want to.

       She had deep apprehensions when it came to him and they were apprehensions she couldn’t shake off. What if her attraction to him intensified? What if it moved to another level, one that could cause her heartbreak in the end? Could she handle being a Jonas Steele castoff?

       “Um, this dessert menu looks delicious. What would you like?” he asked.

      What would I like? Having him wasn’t such a bad idea. Deep, dark chocolate. The kind of delectable sweetness that you could wrap around your tongue, feast on for hours and still hunger for more. She wondered about those tattoos she’d heard he had. Where were they? How did they look? How would they taste under her tongue?

       Suddenly she felt breathless and her heart was thumping like crazy in her chest. She should feel outright ashamed at the path her thoughts were taking. She needed to get a grip.

       She took another sip of wine thinking any time spent around Jonas would drive her over the edge. Already she was imagining things she shouldn’t. Like how his lower lip would taste being sucked into her mouth. She shifted in her seat and forced the thoughts away. And he thought they could work closely together again. Boy, he was wrong.

       At that moment, considering everything, she knew what her answer regarding his job offer would be. She would be giving up a golden opportunity, one any photographer would love to have. But she had to think about her sanity.

       “Nikki?”

       She met his gaze. “Yes?”

       “Dessert?”

       It was hard to keep her mind on anything but Jonas, and that wasn’t good. “Yes, the apple pie sounds delicious, but the slice is huge. That’s more than I can eat.”

       He closed his menu. “No problem. We can share it.”

       She swallowed deeply. He wanted to share a slice of pie with her? To him that might be no big deal, but to her that was the beginning of trouble. It was so sad that he didn’t see anything wrong with it.

       “Nikki?”

       If she kept skipping out on their conversations he would begin questioning her attention span. “Okay, we can share it,” she said and regretted the words the moment they left her lips. Sharing a slice of pie seemed too personal, and this was a business meeting. Wasn’t doing something like that considered unprofessional? Evidently he didn’t think so.

       The waiter returned to take their dessert order. After he left, Jonas said, “I need to be up front with you. If you do take the job it will require long workdays, but I don’t see it as being as exhausting as the last project we worked on together.”

       In a way Nikki wished that it would be. Then she would be too tired to do anything but collapse in bed each night. Too tired to replay over in her mind every nuance of feelings she’d encountered around him. And too tired to remember that one darn kiss that he’d already forgotten.

       Jonas made it through dinner—barely. His gut had tightened each and every time he’d glanced up to see her mouth work while chewing her food. He imagined that same mouth working on him.

       And sharing that slice of apple pie with her hadn’t helped matters. They’d had their own utensils, but more than once he had been tempted to feed her from his fork, hoping that she licked it so he could cop her taste again.

       He’d meant what he said about doubling whatever salary Joseph’s campaign was offering her. One thing she didn’t know was that Jonas had kept up with her over the past few months. He knew no big accounts had been knocking on her door.

       Like he’d told her more than once, she was the best and could handle a camera like nobody’s business.