Stealing the Dragon

Chapter Twenty

“Nuts?”

Lucy cranked up the wattage on her Tennessee smile as she proffered the small cup of mixed nuts, but the big Chinese fella wasn’t having any of it. He looked at her like she’d just shit on the tray table.

She didn’t think he spoke English, but it was pretty damn clear what she was saying. She was holding the nuts in her hand, after all.

Part of being a flight attendant was meeting all sorts of interesting people, but the flipside was dealing with folks who just couldn’t see the sun for the clouds. This boy’d clearly had a tough life, just from the look of him. That scar was as long and crooked as an interstate highway. Not even a mother could love that face.

But this was business class, and she wouldn’t become positive employee of the month for backing down from a challenge. (The airline used to have an award for plain old employee of the month, but the constant squabbling with the unions made the flight attendants so surly that management had decided to get specific.) The award came with a free trip to Hawaii including lodging and two hundred bucks cash, so Lucy wasn’t about to let some grouchy Chinaman knock her off her game.

She bent down to show some cleavage and gave it another Tennessee try.

“Nuts?”

“Yes,” came the reply, and Lucy almost yelped in surprise, his English crisp and clear, the voice so deep. Then the big man turned away and closed his eyes, never reaching for the small cup in her outstretched hand.

Lucy wondered if maybe he didn’t understand her after all, or if he thought she was asking him a personal question. That last thought gave her a little shiver.

Lucy walked back to the galley and checked her watch. They’d be landing in San Francisco pretty soon. She decided to keep to herself for the rest of the flight. Pulling out the folding seat next to the lavatory, she absently chewed on a Macadamia from the cup in her hand.

It was only the middle of the month, she told herself. Still plenty of time to win that trip. Better to conserve her energy so she could charm the shit out of the passengers on the way back to Hong Kong.