Page 42

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It’s somewherearound the three-hour mark, and I’m beginning to get restless. I don’t like being on planes. I feel like a caged animal. I need room to roam. Funny enough, I spend a lot of time on planes and buses. Two places you can’t walk outside and get some fresh air. Mase likes to joke that I’m claustrophobic, and I agree. No sense in arguing with the obvious.
Needing to get up, I stand, leering at Callie. “I’m going to the bathroom. Care to join me?”
Without offering me so much as a look, she raises her right hand and middle finger.
I have half a mind to lean over and suck on that finger. Maybe that’ll get her attention.
Instead, I rub my chin thoughtfully. “Your loss. Maybe I’ll see what that flight attendant is doing.”
Callie unbuckles her belts and stands. “Go!” She hisses, waving me forward.
Fuck yes!
Well, that’s my initial thought until we get to the bathrooms in first class, and she just stands there. “Go.” She waves again.
“You first.”
“No, I mean you go and I’ll wait.”
“So you mean to tell me you walked me to the bathroom like I’m a child just so the flirty flight attendant wouldn’t find me?”
“Yep. Now go to the bathroom.”
She isn’t going to admit it but look at her, all flushed and fine. She fuckin’ loves me but won’t admit it. That’s okay though. I can play this game too.
Not so gently, I push her inside the smallest bathroom I’ve ever been in and shut the door, locking it before she can protest. She stares up at me. “Let me out, Leo.”
“No.” I laugh, my hands on her hips. When she shifts, wanting away from me, my fingertips graze the skin I’ve been dying to touch. “Not until you talk to me and tell me what happened this last month. What’d I do that’s so bad that you quit talking to me?” I touch two fingers under her chin and make her look at me. “I miss you,” I tell her again.
She stares at me intently, either wanting to punch me or kiss me. Either one I’d probably find hot right about now. “You miss the sex, not me.”
“Well, that too. And since we’re in here, you got me alone, now what?” I whisper, leaning in, intending to run my lips over her collarbone. Just simply staring at her is killing me.
With our bodies touching, Callie shifts again, her gaze falling from mine to my chest, her body language signifying angry defiance. “I wasn’t….” Her words fall short.
“Wasn’t what?” I still, not even breathing, waiting to see what the reason can possibly be. There’s something she doesn’t want to say to me. I want to hold her face in my hands, make her look at me, give her the opportunity to say anything to me, and know if anyone has my attention, it’s this girl. At this very moment, her beauty renders me speechless, so pure and captivating. I take a moment to look at her, remember everything I love. My head spins with thoughts of forever, and I struggle to catch my breath. I heave in a breath at about the time she does, and our eyes lock.
Callie’s mouth falls open, withholding words I so desperately want to hear on the tip of her tongue stuck there. She closes her mouth and smiles, her hands moving to my chest. She can’t hold out when we’re alone like this.
Her body sinks into mine but never makes an attempt to say anything. We go through turbulence, the plane shaking slightly, gaining our attention but failing to pull us out of this trance.
It’s then I wonder how, if possible, I can make her feel what I feel. The dirty side of me wants to fuck her in the bathroom. But the side that wants this girl to know I care clings to her. I want to hold her. Make her feel this beat in my chest that thumps for her. I do my best to act casual and pretend I’m not dying inside.
“If I did something to upset you, just tell me,” I whisper over the hum of the jet engines, my lips barely moving around the words. My hand touches her cheek, grazing her jaw. “I’m not dumb enough to think you love me or anything like that, but I thought we had something.”
Her eyes snap to mine. Normally bright eyes are now tear-filled and apprehensive. “I didn’t mean to ignore you.”
There’s a stretch of silence that fills the space between us, neither of us moving our gaze from one another. I want to kiss her, feel those soft lips pressed to mine and the sweet taste of her tongue I know so well, but I also don’t want to push. She’s moments away from tears. No way can I push her into something she doesn’t want.
My eyes close and I press my forehead to hers, my arms tightening around her waist. She willingly lets me hold her, and then reality comes crashing back, feeling her resistance. “Why did you take her home with you?”
My eyes snap to hers, confused. Why would she think that? She knew why? She took that douchebag home with her. “Because you came withthat guy.” The back and forth between us is so familiar, like nothing has changed, but something has, and I can’t place it.
“So because there was a man next to me, and atno pointdid I ever touch him, you took a girl home? If you’re so into me, why’d you take her home?”
My heart aches to hear her say that. Okay, so maybe I misread some things that night, but still, she wouldn’t fuckin’ talk to me, so how was I to know? Right? “You ignored me, Callie. I tried so many times to talk to you, and you wouldn’t even acknowledge me. You can’t blame me for misreading the signals.”