Chapter Two

“So what brought you here, if you don’t mind my asking?” Jon settled himself more comfortably in the seat and crossed his arms, but left his legs spread confidently wide.

“Business,” Erin raised her eyes. “And family, too, you could say. But mostly business.”

Jon nodded knowingly. “Same here.”

Erin cocked her head to one side. “Really? You mean you were actually working? I had you figured as an all-play kinda guy.”

Jon looked over at her and saw the sly smile playing on her lips. He laughed. “Ahh, you think you’ve got me figured out already?”

“No, but rumor has it you’re a workaholic. I guess your reputation doesn’t lie,” she smiled.

Damn she had a nice smile, he couldn’t help but notice. And she was so confident – not the slightest bit shy, it seemed. He was intrigued.

“No, it doesn’t,” he admitted. “Unfortunately, that rumor is true. What about you?”

Erin shrugged. “Guilty as well. I work for a management-consulting firm. It’s hard not to work all the time.”

She didn’t offer up any more details, but Jon nodded in understanding. “I’d imagine not. And San Diego companies needed your expertise?”

“More like my presence. Our annual company retreat took place at their headquarters. So it’s been one big party after bigger corporate meeting for two weeks.”

“Ouch,” Jon winced. “I take it that time with the family was welcome at that point.”

“Hardly.”

Jon laughed. He wasn’t entirely sure why he was opening up to her, but it felt good to talk to someone who didn’t, to his knowledge at least, have an ounce to do with the music business. He had spent the last week surrounded by presidents and CEOs and representatives for major recording companies, and he was sick of the whole industry at that point.

Besides, she was easy on the eyes. She had that beautiful smile which showed off straight, perfect white teeth. Her long blonde hair was pulled back into a casual knot, and her skin was evenly tanned to the point of glowing. His eyes traveled down her body to take in the gentle slope of her chest, the flat plane of her stomach, and slender, firm legs. She also had the most captivating eyes he’d ever seen, a trait in women that he knew spelled trouble for him. They were dark green and for some reason, because his poetic lyricist’s mind worked this way, made him think of the shade of a deep forest.

All in all, not a bad companion to have to share a cross-country flight with.

She seemed to notice he was taking her in, and she adjusted herself in the seat. “So what about you? Any particular calling to San Diego, or just more of the same old ‘gotta be in this place at this time’ stuff?”

Jon sighed. “Yeah, that’s pretty much it. I’ve been globetrotting for a while now. Business just keeps taking me all over the world – different state or country every week.”

“I’d say I was jealous, but something tells me it isn’t exactly heaven for you,” Erin mused.

“Yeah, not really. It’s nice to travel, it’s great to see different cultures and people, and it’s refreshing to get a change of scenery…but not when it’s all for the same thing over and over again.”

Erin furrowed her brow, wondering if he meant what she thought he meant.

“And I don’t mean that in reference to playing music,” Jon explained, winking at her. “I should have chosen my words more carefully. I meant when you’re off tour and in between albums and have business chore after business chore to do. That’s what gets old.”

Erin nodded, slightly taken aback. That was the second time he’d read her mind.

“I know what you mean,” she replied, choosing to ignore the uncanny hold he was beginning to take over her. “Thankfully, my job doesn’t require me to hop around the world, but I certainly do my fair share of domestic travel in a year. It ain’t fun and games all the time, but it works out.”

“It makes it easier when you’re unattached,” Jon mused.

Erin met his eyes. “What makes you think I’m unattached?”

“Are you?” he asked simply, berating himself for actually being curious.
She considered him for a moment before answering. “Yeah,” she finally said. “I am.”

An almost smug look crossed Jon’s features, and Erin suddenly wondered if she had been right in lying. But it wasn’t like it really mattered, she realized. It almost didn’t feel right to tell the truth, anyway – she was on a plane sitting next to an international rock star who had actually struck up a conversation with her. The situation was so surreal that it almost begged her to play up some characteristic differences. Not put on a mask or façade, just step a little bit out of the realms of her normal, otherwise boring life.

“I must say I’m surprised,” Jon said, nearly smirking.

Yeah, me too, Erin thought. “Is that so?”

Jon nodded. “With a pretty face like yours, I’m surprised you don’t have men fawning all over you.”

“Oh, I never said I didn’t have admirers,” Erin teased.

“Ah, but you keep them at bay, do you?”

Erin couldn’t help but smile. “In my dreams.”

“Whoa, careful there, that’s a little too much information,” Jon teased back.

Erin made a face at him good-naturedly. “That’s not what I meant!”

Jon shook his head, smiling. What was he doing?

They settled into an easy conversation, the topics leading them smoothly to new subjects and deeper discussion over the next few hours. The cabin lights were dimmed and most of the passengers slept, but Jon and Erin continued their banter in quiet voices. Neither of them knew or understood exactly how they had gotten to that point in the first place, but once they had begun talking, there was something so comfortable in confiding in the other that neither of them wanted to stop. It was reassuring to talk to a new face, but there was also a subtly developing attraction between them that they both sensed but neither openly acknowledged.

The night wore on, and the sky outside Erin’s window was inky black, the stars and moon glowing brightly. Together, they painted an entirely different world that, in retrospect, contributed to the sensuality that had flavored the evening.

Before either of them knew it, the pilot was announcing their descent into Newark. All around them, people began to wake and stir, breaking the soothing silence that had been dominant until then.

“It’s been almost five hours already?” Erin checked her watch, surprised.

Jon stretched his legs out and shifted his weight a bit. “Time flies when you’re having fun,” he said softly.

Twenty minutes later, Erin looked out the window and saw the familiar lights of Newark International Airport. A sad knot formed in the pit of her stomach as she realized her late-night adventure was coming to an end. It had been so enlightening, so entertaining, so…captivating to spend all that time talking with and getting to know the man sitting to her left, and she almost felt as if they had poured out enough of their souls to each other that they were entitled to get off the plane and head out together.

But real life was waiting on the ground in Newark. She’d get her bags and grab a taxi and go back to her little townhouse, and Jon would probably get into a waiting limo, drive away with a flourish, and go back to his colonial style mansion that she knew sat nestled out in the back country of Middletown. She’d probably see Max in the morning and he would ask about every detail of her trip; Jon would…she didn’t know what Jon would do. She wondered if he was seeing anyone. Somehow, in their entire conversation, they had never mentioned his love life.

Probably all the better, she thought. That’s a touchy subject with rock stars.

Regardless, their happenchance rendezvous was rapidly winding down, and Erin figured she might as well accept it.

Sunday, October 5, 2008