"Who do you think asked to have her on the flight?" Sebastian said, without taking his gaze from Melanie, still giving her that up and down stare as if he were sizing her up to put a price tag on her.
"I don't get it." Alex said. "You asked for her? I thought Mitch was in charge of that stuff?"
Sebastian turned to his brother.
"Hey, we own this company, right? Mitch just works for us. I saw this girl on the way in--"
"She has a name, Sebastian."
"Whatever. I saw this girl with a name on the way in and I figured we could use someone, let's say, a little more youthful and energetic on our flight than the usual crew."
"This is Melanie." Alex said, with hidden meaning that she didn't understand. Sebastian's eyes were blank with incomprehension.
"Okay, I heard you. She has a name."
"I don't think you did. This is..." he looked at Melanie and then changed direction. "Forget it. So where is Margaret, our usual flight attendant?"
"Margaret isn't well today and I knew if I left it to Mitch, he would replace her with some other..."
Alex glared at his brother.
"...with someone I wouldn't be happy with. Then I saw Melanie here and she looked..." he paused and stared at her with burning, intense, deep set eyes, "... she looked just perfect, so I told Mitch to get her on the flight, and that was that. Now here she is."
"Oh yeah," Alex said, "about that. Melanie was just saying that--"
"Oh no, Alex, that's just fine. As long as Mitch and everyone say it's okay and since Margaret isn't well..."
Now that she knew Alex was just a nice guy and not some wacko Jekyll and Hyde, there was no way she was going to miss this opportunity of a lifetime. Just as long as she could take Sebastian's weird arrogant behavior, and as long as Alex didn't get the wrong idea, then this would be a trip to remember.
"Well that's just great, Melanie." Alex said. "Glad to have you aboard." He gave her that irresistible smile that she was becoming a little addicted to and then took his strong hand in acceptance.
"Glad to be aboard, sir." She beamed back at him.
Sebastian stood beside them and glowered. "Get ready for a long flight Melanie." He said. "You'll be paid damn well for this, so you better be every bit as good as we need you to be.