I glared at Ryan as I heard, "I want you," spew out of his mouth. His words making me angrier than I was before. I raised my hand to slap him across the face, as I had done in the wine cellar. But this time, Ryan was sober, and his reflexes were faster and mightier than mine. He grabbed my raised wrist and pinned it back on the wall of the bathroom. Then he did the same to my other wrist as I went to counter with it.

"Let me go, or I'll scream!" I demanded, trying to twist my wrists to get out of his grip.

He wasn't budging. He just stared at me with darkened, hungry eyes. I went to open my mouth to scream, and in response, he planted his mouth on mine. I ended up letting out a quiet scream into it. Then as he continued to forcefully kiss me, my body took on a mind of its own. It was becoming aroused by the excitement of the moment. Eric was always such a tame and thoughtful man that he'd never dream of just taking me without consent. 

My body was enjoying the charge Ryan was taking, more than I wanted it to. I tried to resist, but he didn't stop as he continued to test his boundaries. His tongue carefully entered and explored my mouth to meet mine. When he realized I wasn't going to bite, even though I seriously considered it, he became more lustful and tried to go further.

Just then, the plane went through a little bit of turbulence, causing Ryan to release his hold of me, to stabilize himself. The pilot came over the intercom and requested all passengers return to their seats and to keep their seatbelts fastened. Being free from Ryan's grasp, I quickly unlocked the door and left him to return to my seat. As I headed back down the aisle, I fixed my hair and smoothed out my shirt, which was still slightly damp from the water spill.

As I reached my seat, I unknowingly interrupted Adam and the attendant flirting. She was giggling at something he said, but as she noticed my return, she shifted back to her professional stance. "The seats have been dried. Would you care for another glass of water, Madam?"

"No, thank you," I responded, sitting down and buckling my seatbelt just as Ryan rejoined us and did the same.

"Another Jack and Coke?" the attendant asked.

"Yes, please," he said, sounding slightly out of breath. He looked sideways at me. His expression showed that he knew he did a bad thing, but it wasn't an unapologetic look at the same time.

The attendant excused herself and returned moments later with a fresh drink. I noticed Adam giving her a subtle wink as she looked at him before returning to her station, at the front of the plane. Ryan also saw it and raised his glass towards his brother before taking a gulp.

"What?" Adam asked, seeing my disapproving gaze. "She's hot."

I rolled my eyes at his response, realizing he also had sleazy tendencies, just like Ryan. I wondered if it ran in the family.

"You should get her number so you can see her the next time we're in the Oakland area," Ryan suggested as he crunched on some of his ice. Obviously trying to cool his body back down. Or so I figured.

I rolled my eyes at his response too. I was still furious that he had just taken advantage of me. Again. Even though I still felt the excitement, my brain was telling my body to stop being irresponsible. I knew I should know better than to continue doing anything with a man that most likely was still just using me to get back at his archenemy.

Keeping these reminders in mind should have made it easy to turn off my desires. I even tried giving myself a similar talk as I gave Ryan earlier. I reminded myself that I wasn't in high school or college anymore. I was an adult. I had a fiance who was kind, caring and did all the right things. I should know better than to feel anything for that asshole. After all, it's always the assholes who end up breaking your heart. Right?

I was grateful when we landed in Salt Lake City. Adam and Ryan wanted to grab something to eat before heading to our next gate. I didn't realize I was hungry until they pointed out that they wanted a burger from McDonald's. I never really chose to eat there at home, but for some reason, seeing those golden arches and smelling the frying oil in the airport made me agree.

I gave them my order and tried to hand Adam my credit card, which he refused to take. As they went to the counter, I found an open table and quickly dialed Eric's number while I had a private moment.

"Hey, babe! You landed in Salt Lake City, I take it?" he greeted.

"Hey! Yeah. Our next flight is in less than an hour, so I wanted to call you while I had the chance. How's work?"

"Busy. We're heavily prepping for the trial I told you about. I can't believe it's finally going to start. I feel like we've been working on interviews and paperwork for it since I started here. Over a year ago!"

"I bet it's a relief. So I wanted to talk to you about something."

"Is it something that can wait? I want to hear it, but I'm about to head into another meeting," Eric explained.

"Sure."

"Thanks, babe. I love you. Have a safe flight home."

"I love you too." I disconnected the call just as Ryan and Adam joined me, caring trays of food.

*******

We had been sitting on our second flight in Salt Lake City for close to forty minutes past our takeoff time, and we still hadn't moved from our gate. Everyone was getting restless and anxiously checking the time on their phones and watches.

Finally, the pilot came through the intercom. "We are sorry to announce, our plane is having some technical difficulties. While the issue is minor, out of extreme precaution, we are unable to fly at this time. We request that everyone please disembark from the plane and proceed to the check-in counter to see about getting on the next available flight. Again, we apologize for any inconvenience caused, and we appreciate your business."

Everyone groaned at the announcement. Especially me, as I was dying to get away from Ryan and get back to Eric. I felt like the universe was testing my relationship and love for him, and I was failing miserably.

Since we were in First Class, we were one of the first in line at the counter. Adam took charge and spoke to the Passenger Service Agent. I stood off to the side, watching with concern at Adam as his face reddened, and he was getting vocally angry with the agent. Ryan stepped in and apologized to her. Then proceeded to talk to the agent about our options. He must have said some kind words because I saw her smile and blush at him. As the brothers were handed new tickets, they made their way over to where I was.

"They couldn't get us on another flight until tomorrow morning," Adam said furiously.

"Are you saying every flight is fully booked that's going out today?" I asked, surprised.

"Well, the First Class seats are."

"Can't we just sit in Economy?"

"Not for a four-hour flight!" Adam exclaimed, almost offended that I suggested such a thing.

"Adam isn't used to associating himself with commoners," Ryan explained.

"Well, I don't care about where I sit. Can I change my seat?" I begged. Then noticed the long line of passengers currently waiting for their tickets to be changed. "Nevermind."

"Ms. Ashcroft," Ryan said, sounding professional once more. "Will you please call the nicest hotel in the area and book us three executive rooms with the company card?"

Maintaining my professionalism, I agreed and did as he requested. I booked three rooms at the Holiday Inn nearby. As we made our way out to catch an Uber to our hotel, I also called Mrs. Turner and explained to her our delay. Then during our ride, I texted Eric letting him know what happened. He didn't respond, but I knew he was probably still stuck in the meeting he mentioned.

The airline had told us that they'd hold our suitcases, to quickly transfer them to our next flight the next morning. Another thing that seemed to bother Adam. I didn't realize how snobby he was until now. He was definitely a man who liked things to be perfect and seemed flustered when things didn't go as planned. I made sure to take a mental note of that for when I would become his apprentice.

When we checked into our hotel, the Front Desk clerk apologized that they weren't able to book more than one of the executive suites. Adam insisted on taking it, which didn't bother me, and Ryan didn't seem to care either. We all rode the elevator to the second floor.

"Do you all want to meet up and go somewhere for dinner together?" Adam suggested as he stood in the elevator doorway. He still had two floors up to go, to get to the executive level.

"Sure," Ryan agreed.

"That'd be nice," I said the same time Ryan responded.

"Okay. It's 4:30 now. How about we meet in the lobby around 6?" Adam asked, glancing at his Rolex watch.

Ryan and I agreed to the time. Adam gave us a half-wave as he stepped back into the elevator. The doors shut and we turned to make our way down the corridor, passing doors on each side. I looked at my key-packet and stopped at the room number that matched. Ryan went to the room door right next to mine. I cursed myself for not remembering to ask for the remaining rooms to be separated when they couldn't find the extra suites.

"I'll see you at 6," Ryan said and walked into his room.

"Yup," I responded and entered mine, closing the door fast. I leaned back against the door and took several deep breaths. I didn't know why my body was going crazy. I went into the bathroom and splashed cold water on my face. Ordinarily, this would help me, but it didn't. I decided to take a shower instead.

I removed my clothing and threw them on my king size bed. I kept the shower temperature on the colder side, as I knew I needed something to help me kill the growing urge inside me. My skin prickled as it first made contact with the water. But then it smoothed out, everywhere but my nipples, as it got used to the temperature.

I heard a knock on my room door, but ignored it, as I was enjoying the water flowing over me and didn't want the shower to end. Whoever it was, was probably knocking on the wrong room. And if it was Ryan or Adam, they could wait. I needed some alone time.

Then a knock came on my bathroom door, which I hadn't closed. I screamed, seeing a fuzzy figure standing in the door frame. I couldn't see clearly through the shower curtain.

"You're in the wrong room!" I shouted, looking for something to defend myself. All there was, was a bar of soap and two little bottles of shampoo and conditioner.

"It's me." Ryan's voice announced.

"Ryan? What the fuck are you doing in my room? How the fuck did you even get in?" I demanded, covering my chest. Though the shower curtain shielded my body, it was still transparent enough that I knew he could probably see my figure.

"We have connecting doors, and they were unlocked. I did knock first." Ryan said. I could still see that he was leaning against the door frame.

"The fact that I didn't respond, should have been an indication I wanted to be left alone," I said, turning off the water. I reached my hand around the curtain and grabbed one of the bath towels on the steel rack beside the shower. I dried myself off in the shower quickly, enveloped the scratchy linen around my body, and grabbed another to wrap my hair up in. "Could you please go back to your room? I'd like to change and rest a little by myself before dinner."

"No. I want to finish our conversation. But I'll turn my back while you're changing. Even though I've already seen and felt your naked body. Which I can't get out of my mind."

I couldn't help but blush at his last comment. The cold shower didn't do as much for me as I had hoped it would. I didn't respond, but stepped out of the shower and pushed past Ryan to go out to the main room. He must have just put on a new dash of cologne as his smell wafted into my nose and started sending tingling sensations throughout my body. I cursed the universe again that I enjoyed his scent.

Ryan walked over to the window to look outside. Giving me the chance to change back into my clothes.

"So talk," I demanded, leaning against the wall by my bed.