Page 2

Chapter 2

Mile High Introductions

Blake

The plane reached cruising altitude, and I still felt myself blushing.

I still couldn’t believe I’d introduced myself to my bodyguard by asking if he wanted to top me sometime. I reclined my chair all the way back and slapped my hands on my face. Twenty-four hours had passed, and it still felt like those words had just slipped out of my mouth.

“Ow.”

“Would you like anything to drink?” the flight attendant asked me. I slowly removed my hands. He looked at me as though he were looking at a baby rhino needing to be sponsored.

“Vodka.”

“With orange juice?”

“No, just straight vodka.”

“You got it. And for you, sir?”

Xavier looked up from his phone. He had one leg crossed over the other, an arm casually propped on the tan leather armrest. His cuffed jeans revealed a colorful pattern from his socks, rising up from his clean white sneakers. “I’ll just have water, please.”

The flight attendant went to go grab our drinks, leaving me to fester in my own embarrassment next to the man who witnessed it all. I went back to covering my face.

“Are you scared of flying? That wasn’t in the briefing.”

I popped apart two of my fingers and peeked at him. “This is how I relax.”

And how I try to dissociate.

“In that case, continue on relaxing.” He smiled as he turned his attention back to his phone.

I raised the seat back to its normal position. “Okay, I’m done relaxing. I was joking about what I said before, about the whole topping me.”

Xavier let out a laugh that sounded oddly soothing. Hmm. I couldn’t remember a time I had ever thought of a laugh as soothing. “It was a funny joke. Especially considering I enjoy bottoming as well.”

My jaw nearly dropped to the floor. My eyes did that cartoon effect where they fly out of my skull and snap back in with an audible pop. “Oh. Right. Well. Okay, then.”

That little bit of information was being bookmarked for later referencing.

“Anyways,” I said, feeling a desperate need to switch topics. Before that desperate need turned its focus elsewhere. “You mentioned a briefing. What do you know about me?”

“That you’re twenty-six years old, held two jobs for a cumulative time of three weeks, graduated summa cum laude, are about to start working on your master’s in chemistry, and you have a very strong dislike toward sour jelly beans.”

“I hate them.” The flight attendant set my drink down in the drink holder and did the same for Xavier. I picked it up and shot it back. The vodka burned all the way down and made me do a wiggle dance in my seat. But at least the warmth in my cheeks immediately started to cool off.

“Anything else I should know about you?”

“I hate action movies, I like any kind of cheese you throw at me, I sometimes get really sweaty, and I’m pretty good at tennis.”

“Noted,” he said as he took a sip of his drink through the thin red straw. My eyes quickly dropped to his mouth before flitting back up. His grin grew a little wider.

“What should I know about you? Considering we’ll be spending a lot of time together and I didn’t get any kind of briefing. I was just told I’d be assigned an expert bodyguard. No one ever told me it’d be a han—” I winced and quickly corrected myself. ”—a dragon.”

“You were about to call me handsome, weren’t you?”

“No I wasn’t.” There was still a little vodka left. I finished it off and crossed my arms. “Anyways, what should I know?”

“Well, you already know I’m verse, so we can start somewhere else.”

Again, I nearly launched myself across the cabin. He might as well have pressed an Eject button on my seat. I cleared my throat. Looked for more vodka and found only a few drops.

“I’ve been a bodyguard for five years now. I’m twenty-eight, which is pretty young for us dragons. I’m an expert at tennis, and I don’t mind getting a little sweaty. I’m also a sap for rom-coms.”

“Which one’s your favorite?” I asked, finding a common interest.

“I think I’m going with The Wedding Invite .”

“Classic choice, classic. That one’s up there for me, but the one I can constantly rewatch is Look Who Caught the Bouquet .”

Xavier nodded, appearing impressed. “That one’s not talked about enough.”

“I agree,” I said, his contagious smile making me match him. Maybe it wasn’t only his laugh I found calming. I settled back into my chair. We were the only two passengers on the plane besides the crew, which gave this an odd form of intimacy I wasn’t expecting. Xavier was hired to be my bodyguard—I had to remember that.

“I thought you were going to say you loved action movies.”

Xavier huffed. “Why, because I’m handsome and muscular?” He gave me a wink.

I rolled my eyes and started to blush again.

“I do also love them,” he said. He swirled his glass, leaned across the wide aisle. “Music?”

“Huh?” Why was he so close to me? He had a beauty mark above his left eyebrow and another one near his chin.

“What kind of music do you listen to? That wasn’t in the briefing.”

“Mostly pop, some country here and there. You?”

“Rock. I loved it growing up. I love jazz too. It sounds like magic to my ears.”

“You’re such a contradiction. A bodyguard dragon who likes rom-coms, rock ’n’ roll, and jazz. ”

He shrugged, head cocked. The plane shook as we pushed through turbulence. “The rom-coms came from my mom, actually. We’d watch them every week together. And her favorite bands were all rock bands. My father took her to a concert on their first date, and she was hooked. She loved the energy from going to the shows.”

“You and your mom sound really close.”

“We were. She passed in the Dragonfall.”

My chest tightened with sympathy. The Dragonfall had been a curse that nearly changed the entire world as we knew it. A hostile takeover attempt by a rogue queen of vampires. It was the very family Xavier was a part of who were responsible for stopping it and effectively saving the world.

I hadn’t known he lost his mom in the process. “I’m so sorry.”

“Yeah, I am too.” A slash of grief crossed his expression. He sat back in his seat. The flight attendant came by to take our meal orders, interrupting the flow of conversation. Once he finished, it took a while for me to speak up again.

“So you live in a castle in Malibu, right?” I asked. “I guess I’m staying with you. My father didn’t want me renting somewhere. I tried.”

“You will be staying with us,” he said. “I don’t think you’ll mind. We have great views. And a lot of space.”

“Does anyone else stay there?”

“All my siblings do, along with their partners. Dinner times can get a bit hectic, but I love it. Makes things fun. The vice president said he’d prefer you stay with us for an extra layer of protection.”

That was interesting. I thought I’d just be staying with Xavier, not the entire Blackthorne family. Not that I cared. The idea actually excited me. I just wondered…

“Oh, you don’t mind camping, right?” Xavier asked.

“Not really. Haven’t done it much, if I’m being honest.”

“Good. We have our family camping trip coming up in a couple of weeks out in Joshua Tree.”

“Sound like it’d be fun,” I said, a little absentmindedly. I was still hooked on that train of thought I’d had before he brought up camping. Xavier gave me another white-toothed grin before excusing himself to the bathroom. I tried to distract myself on my phone, but the thought still nagged at me. As Air Force Two continued on its way through the sky, I found myself looking out the window and wondering:

What the hell’s so bad that my dad wants me staying in a castle surrounded by dragons?