Chapter 1

Mr. Lim

My hands trembled slightly as I prepared my galley for the first class, pre-board service. My whole body hummed nervously as I pulled a chilled bottle of champagne from the large drawer of ice at the bottom of my liquor cart. I felt more than heard my best friend, James, sweep into the curtained galley behind me.

“Showtime, Maya,” he said briskly.

I felt him tucking errant brown hairs back into my sleek chignon. In spite of his fussing, I knew it was smooth. Since we were departing from  Las Vegas, we had taken a shuttle from our airline’s headquarters directly to the plane. This meant that we got to bypass security completely. No metal detectors meant bobby pins. And bobby pins meant that my smooth, pale brown hair would behave itself perfectly.

But James liked to fuss over me. He was by far the most…