Incognito

If only she knew how to flirt. There were probably ten or fifteen women on this flight who’d give up a year’s salary to be sitting exactly where she was. This man was going to be completely wasted on her.

Lily had never needed to flirt. It had never been required for the men who usually found her attractive. But a guy like Aidan probably expected it, maybe even enjoyed it—the witty banter, the offhand caresses, the veiled come-ons. Lily realized if she didn’t at least make an attempt, he’d walk away thinking she was…odd.

The flight attendant reappeared with her drink. Aidan handed her the cranberry juice, then he held up his beer in a toast. “To our safe arrival in New York.”

Lily gave him a hesitant smile. This wasn’t going that badly. In fact, if she wasn’t mistaken, he was flirting with her.

“So why are you headed to the other coast?” Aidan asked.

“I’m taking a little vacation,” Lily said. “In the Hamptons.”

“I have friends in the Hamptons,” he said. “It’s pretty wild in the summer. Lots of Hollywood people. So, are you staying with friends or did you rent a place?”

“I—I have a house. I mean, it’s my family’s house. Well, not really my family, but—I’ve been going there since I was fourteen. It’s near Eastport.” She took a sip of her drink. This was a conversation. Now it was time to ask him a question. “And where are you going?”

“The city,” he said. “I have a place in SoHo. Actually, I was supposed to have a meeting on this flight, but it was canceled at the last minute. And you must have gotten her seat.” He grinned. “Kind of a happy coincidence, don’t you think?”

And that was a compliment. Oh God, it was, wasn’t it? Or could she simply be reading a deeper meaning into his words? This was exactly how her fantasies always started, except she wasn’t usually drunk and she always looked like she’d just stepped out of the pages of a fashion magazine. But this was close enough.

“Feeling better?” he asked.

“A little,” Lily said. She reached out to set her drink down, but in her excited state, she missed the edge of the tray table and the glass slipped out of her hand. It tumbled off to the side and landed on Aidan’s leg, splashing her drink all over the front of his cargo pants.

Mortified, Lily grabbed a napkin and dabbed at the damp spot then realized where she was dabbing. She looked up into his gaze and caught his bemused smile.

“Sorry,” she murmured.

“I can see we’re going to have to monitor your consumption.” Aidan took the glass from between his legs and set it down. Lily didn’t want another drink. Nor did she want to continue to make a fool of herself in front of this man. Suddenly, she felt the need to throw some cold water on her face and regroup.

She bent down and grabbed her tote, then stood. But as she did, her bag caught on the edge of Aidan’s tray table and his bottle of beer tumbled over, sending another round of drinks into his lap. “Sorry,” she murmured as she crawled over him into the aisle.

When she reached the bathroom, she stumbled inside and locked the door behind her. Lily sat down on the toilet seat and reached into her bag for one of her phobia books. But instead, she pulled out a hot-off-the-press copy of The Ten-Minute Seduction.

The book had hit the stores last week to little or no fanfare. She had hoped it might be a success after all the hard work she’d put into it. But really, what woman would need a book like this? Most men didn’t need to be seduced. They were usually quite willing to engage in sex whenever and wherever and with whomever.

“I need this book,” Lily murmured. She opened it up and scanned the first chapter.

Step one, carefully choose a target. Not every man can be seduced. A man who is completely secure and happy in his relationship with the woman in his life may willingly engage in flirtation, but will not be tempted to go further, even if you strip off every last bit of clothing and offer yourself to him on a platter.

She blinked, then looked up at her reflection in the mirror. For all she knew, he could be dating or committed or secretly engaged. Though he seemed to be interested. But then, men in Hollywood cheated all the time. Paging through the book, she found the pertinent section on flirting and read it silently.

Flirtation is a careful balancing act. Show too much interest and you’ll scare him off. Show too little and you’ll never get past the preliminaries. Make eye contact and then hold it just a few seconds longer than proper before glancing away. Lean in as you speak and if you can, accidentally touch him. A clever combination of confidence and mystery will tempt any man.

Lily moaned. Yes, she’d written these words, but they’d come from careful research, not from real-life experience. She set the book on the edge of the sink and stood up, regarding her reflection in the mirror. The glasses would have to go. She dropped them in her bag, then pulled the elastic from her haphazard ponytail. With trembling fingers, she unbuttoned the next two buttons on her blouse, exposing a bit more skin and just a hint of cleavage.

“Better,” she murmured. But it wasn’t Lily Hart staring back from the mirror. If only she could become another person entirely, for just the next six hours. Could it be that difficult to play a part? L.A. was all about perception, people pretending to be something they weren’t in order to get what they wanted.

Could she push aside her own inhibitions and see if there was a seductress buried somewhere deep inside her? As a single woman living in L.A., she’d have to get herself some kind of “game” if she ever planned on attracting a man like Aidan. Why not take advantage of the situation and see where it led?

Every woman had this fantasy at one point in her life. How many times had she wondered what it might be like to switch places with a beautiful supermodel or a sexy actress, to be the object of every man’s secret desires? And she had nothing to lose. She’d never see Aidan Pierce again after this flight.

“Ladies and gentlemen, the captain has turned on the seat-belt sign in preparation for our departure. Please return to your seats and make sure your belongings are stowed securely in the overhead bins or beneath your seat. The flight attendants will be coming around to pick up your drinks.”

It was now or never, Lily thought to herself. Just once, she wanted to go out there and grab what she wanted, even if it meant doing something wild and crazy and completely out of character.

Lily quickly flipped through the book, reading the list of hints she’d so carefully researched. “Scent is important.” Reaching into her bag, she searched for her perfume. “Highlight your most striking feature.” Lily looked in the mirror. She’d always believed that her mouth was sexy. She had full lips, shaped in a perfect Cupid’s bow. The kind of lips Hollywood starlets paid good money for. Lily plucked her lipstick out after her perfume. “Be confident, but not arrogant.” That would be more difficult. The outside was easy to change, but she’d been living with her doubts and insecurities for a long time.

“Ladies and gentlemen, this is the captain speaking. We’re sixth in line for takeoff. We’ll be in the air in about five minutes. The weather is clear and our flying time to JFK will be approximately five and a half hours. Just sit back and relax and we’ll have you to your destination before you know it.”

Five and a half hours to live a fantasy, to live an adventure that might redefine the rest of her life. This time, she wouldn’t be left with regrets. This time she’d seek out her fantasies and make them real. And maybe, by doing that, she’d transform herself into a whole new woman.

AIDAN GLANCED at his watch, then turned around to look down the aisle toward the bathroom. Lily had disappeared nearly ten minutes before and he was ready to ask the flight attendant to check on her. She seemed so frightened by the prospect of flying that he was worried she might have gotten sick or even fainted in the bathroom.

When he’d boarded the plane, Aidan had been looking forward to a quiet, uneventful flight. Now that his in-flight meeting had been canceled, he thought he might be able to relax and catch a little sleep. He’d been going nonstop for nearly a year, working on his latest film.

He glanced down at the front of his pants, soaked through with the mixture of their two drinks. The flight attendant had handed him a wad of napkins when she’d collected what was left of the drinks, but Aidan had resigned himself to being uncomfortable for the rest of the flight.

He’d never met a woman quite as skittish as Lily Hart. Though he was used to being hounded for autographs by giggling female fans and had experienced a fair number of racy proposals, he found all that silliness irritating. So why did he suddenly find it so charming in Lily?

Perhaps because there was no artifice there. She wasn’t just playing the part to be coy. She really was a bundle of fears and insecurities. No woman intent on charming him would have spilled two drinks on purpose. Or locked herself in a bathroom for ten minutes.

He drew a deep breath and leaned back in his seat, closing his eyes. She was beautiful, though, beneath those schoolteacher glasses and that careless hairstyle. And he couldn’t deny he found her attractive. He’d been in L.A. for far too long and the women there had all started to look alike—long blond hair, trainer-toned bodies with spray-on tans. And personalities so bland that he could barely carry on a conversation.

At first, dating beautiful actresses had been a kick. In high school, he’d never been able to get a pretty girl to give him a second look. He’d been skinny and fashion-challenged and he’d worn glasses. College had been a little better. But these days, a membership at a gym, a competent Hollywood stylist and laser eye surgery had corrected all his problems. Now, he could pretty much attract any woman he wanted. The problem was, he didn’t want them once he got them.

So what the hell was he searching for? “Someone real,” Aidan murmured. “Something real.”

He’d become disenchanted with his life in general, his work, women, even the car he drove. He’d been making hit films, but they weren’t important films—they didn’t mean anything, they wouldn’t last. His relationships had fallen into the same pattern, flashy on the surface and devoid of any true emotion. And hell, he drove a gas-guzzling SUV just because it looked cool. What was that all about?

Maybe that was why he found Lily Hart so intriguing. She was real, with all her quirks and mannerisms. She’d made a complete fool out of herself and yet he found that utterly charming.

And she was pretty, too. She wore barely any makeup; her pale ivory skin was almost flawless. Her dark hair, pulled away from her face, made her features even more striking. But it was mouth that he found most alluring. It was perfectly shaped, untouched by all those silly injections.

Aidan scolded himself inwardly. Why did he automatically focus on her looks? Was this what L.A. had done to him, turned him into a shallow, superficial jerk? The woman sitting next to him wasn’t just a bunch of features thrown together for his viewing enjoyment. Hollywood was insidious, like a drug that lured you in only to make your life worthless.

That’s why he had felt compelled to return to New York. A dose of life in the real world always seemed to clear his mind and focus his thoughts. Aidan needed to remember the days when he had to pull pennies out of the sofa just to buy a cup of coffee.

The plane began to move slowly down the taxiway and Aidan pushed out of his seat and walked back to the bathroom. He rapped softly on the door. “Lily? Are you all right in there?”

An instant later, the door swung open and he found himself staring into the most striking green eyes he’d ever seen. He took a step back, certain that he’d knocked at the wrong door. But then he realized he was looking at Lily. She’d removed her glasses and let her hair down, the wavy dark strands curling around her neck. Her face, once pale and tense, was now flushed with color and her lips were painted a seductive shade of red.

He nervously cleared his throat. “You’re supposed to be in your seat. We’re going to be taking off soon.”

She smiled at him, regarding him from beneath long dark lashes. “Thanks,” she murmured.

He stepped aside and let her pass, then followed her down the aisle. His gaze dropped to her backside, the fabric of her skirt clinging to her curves like a second skin. Lily flipped up her tray table and buckled her seat belt.

“Feel better?” Aidan asked.