The Lucky Charm (The Portland Pioneers) Read Online Free Page B

glared at the bulkhead in front of him, and wondered where the hell he was supposed to stash them, because in his mouth wasn’t even a remote possibility. Finally he’d thrown them in his backpack, knowing he’d find them six months later and wonder why on earth he’d ended up with a bag of mixed nuts, looking worse for the wear.
    He supposed it could have been worse; they could have been pretzels. He hated pretzels.
    The third time, her tap was downright forceful, jerking him out of a perfectly pleasant dream involving him and a baseball field, the grass green and crisp, the sky a flawless blue overhead.
    She’d smiled her most charmingly ingratiating smile and had proceeded on a long rambling explanation that culminated in the opinion that his neck looked mighty uncomfortable in the position it was in and wouldn’t he like a pillow to use to position it properly? Jack had stared straight ahead through the entire recital and had only been surprised that she hadn’t offered to support his neck personally.
    “No.”
    “Are you sure?”
    He was sure she was a damn pain in the ass. Jack was remembering all the reasons he didn’t like to fly commercial and they were all exemplified by this annoyingly fussy, fake-looking flight attendant.
    When he didn’t answer her question, she fled again, but this time she thankfully took the offending item along with her. Jack didn’t feel much like trying to stuff a cheap airplane pillow into his backpack.
    This was now her fourth time bothering him, and Jack had to admit the truth—she’d clearly recognized him and had decided he was a surer bet than any of the other men in first class.
    He glanced down to his feet, comfortably propped on the first-class bulkhead.
    “I don’t understand.” He didn’t move his feet. When the team flew on their chartered plane, he always sat this way, and had been doing so for years. Today was the very first time anyone had told him it was against the rules.
    Because, of course, it wasn’t. Not really.
    A wrinkle appeared between the attendants’ dark blonde brows, the expression marring her pale complexion, and for a split second, she paused, clearly flustered. Jack merely gave her a bland stare in return. She was pretty enough, he guessed, if you liked that plastic look in a woman. Him, he liked a little more challenge. If Noah had been awake, he would have been eating all this up. Of course, all that was predicated on Noah being in the aisle seat, which Jack had offered to take when they’d come aboard. He was pretty sure he was never going to be that self sacrificing ever again.
    The wrinkle disappeared, and the flight attendant set her chin firmly, leaning farther over into his personal bubble. That settled the question; she was possibly the most persistent flight attendant in the history of flight.
    “I don’t think you understand,” she bit back, “but who you are has nothing to do with the rules on this airplane. You still need to remove your feet from the bulkhead.”
    He understood perfectly. She was pissed that he hadn’t fallen all over her, and so she was going to hound him just because she could.
    “Oh?” Jack raised an eyebrow. “And who am I?”
    She ignored the question. “Your celebrity has nothing to do with this conversation.” She pulled back, crossing her arms over her chest, as if it wasn’t his celebrity that had brought about this ridiculous discussion in the first place.
    “Of course it doesn’t.” 
    She had a lot of poise, he had to give her that, but at his response, the wind went right out of her sails.
    “It doesn’t. Right.”
    “What you don’t understand is that nobody tells me that I can’t do something.’”
    That furrow appeared again, and Jack realized then that he was going to have to roll out the heavy artillery because this woman just wasn’t going to give up.
    “ Can’t doesn’t exist,” he said levelly. “Can’t is the one word in the English language that I won’t