CHAPTER 14
Lexi
Sitting next to Curtis was a terrible idea. Even in first class, they were jammed together. He smelled divine. Like pines, danger, and sexual tension. His denim clad thigh pressed against hers. He was wearing plaid. Plaid. Red and black, and it looked amazing on him. It showcased his ridiculously drool-worthy body and broadened his already massive shoulders a few more inches.
He had a set of black boots on that looked more suited to riding a motorbike than hikers. She herself put on her favorite cherry red canvas high tops, normally only reserved for weekends, a set of skinny jeans, also normally reserved for her days off, and a plain black pullover sweater. She’d done her hair into a tight braid and worn almost no makeup. She didn’t want to do anything that would encourage Curtis. She still had hopes for making it out of their weekend “work” trip unscathed.
Everyone was boarded and their luggage was stowed. They were just about ready for takeoff, having been through the safety demonstrations. Lexi didn’t fly that often, but she didn’t mind it. She’d been to Mexico the year before with her family, but not anywhere since.
Curtis flew all the time. She knew that because she booked most, if not all of his travel. She knew he was rarely at home to enjoy that massive mansion of his. Yet he sat beside her, his hands discreetly balled into fists at his sides, his left foot tapping out a nervous rhythm. When she chanced a glance at him out of the corner of her eye, she noticed most of the blood had drained from his face, leaving him so white it looked like he literally hadn’t surfaced from whatever cave he’d been living in for the past decade.
Curtis James, the big bad Trust Fund Baby, turd of the century, the ass and also the hole in asshole, her nemesis of a bossy pants, spoiled, entitled, jerkus, was actually scared. Of flying.
“Are you okay?” The words dribbled unexpectedly from her lips.
Curtis turned to her, all of his normal cocky composure melted away in the face of whatever the heck was going on with him. Drop a spider on her face and she might look the same.
“I think I’m going to vomit,” he ground out under his breath, his teeth clenched together so tightly his words were little more than a rush of air.
Lexi wanted to turn away and tell him that if he puked anywhere near her, he was a dead man. That she’d return the favor by catching frogs at the cabin and stuffing them into his bed when he was sleeping, maybe into his mouth again, since the slime thing had been really satisfying, but that didn’t come out either. It was like someone had jammed a filter over her mouth and now, instead of mean things, her words came out all rainbows and farty sunshine beams.
“We’ll be fine. Anyway. It’s early. I slept like shit. I’m exhausted. I’m going to close my eyes and I probably won’t remember a thing.” Curtis looked far from convinced. He did look skeptical about her actually being nice to him for a change. She leaned forward, slid the white barf bag out of the seat in front of her, and passed it over to Curtis. He gave her a death glare she hadn’t seen from him before and she didn’t have to force a smile when she blinked back at him.
She turned, rested her head against the seat and closed her eyes. The engines roared to life and since she truly was tired, she snatched her earbuds out of her pocket and popped them in her ears. In a few seconds, she had her tunes blasting. She’d slept about two seconds the night before and that was generous. She felt the blackness of some much needed sleep closing in before they were even off the ground.
Lexi might not have felt the takeoff, but she sure as heck felt the touchdown. The plane hit and bounced then hit again so hard she would have pitched out of her seat if she wasn’t belted in.
She glanced around wildly after the rude awakening. After scanning the murmuring passengers around her, her eyes flicked to Curtis. He was still that horrible shade of chalk white, but there was a sickeningly green undertone that was new. It took her two seconds to spot the barf bag on his lap and it was no longer so flat and new.
“Oh my god,” she breathed. “Did you actually puke?”
Curtis scrubbed a hand over his face. He blinked at her, a little pink coming back into his cheeks. It didn’t look like the robust pink of health. Lexi was floored. Her boss, the unflappable jerk wad was actually embarrassed.
Without thinking, she reached above her head and flicked on the light to call the stewardess. As soon as the button lit up, Curtis yanked her hand down. Heat roared up her arm and burst in her chest like he’d just shoved her onto a red-hot burner. It wasn’t that much less painful either. She could practically feel her skin sizzling. She quickly wrenched her arm away and held it at her side.