Page 2 of My Ex-Best Men (Ex Marks the Spot #4)

***Claire***

“ M a’am!” The stewardess was still hanging around. “Please watch your language. There are children on board.”

Zane didn’t take his eyes off of me. “I guess I deserve that too. You want to get more out of your system, babe? I'm ready to take all the punches you can throw.”

I apologized to the woman before she finally left and ran my hands over my hair. I felt the lopsided bun hanging limply and told myself it didn’t matter. I pushed my glasses up my nose and sucked in a sharp breath when Zane leaned into my space.

“Come on, Claire. Fate brought us back together after all these years. Don’t you think we owe it to fate to at least chat a little?” He gently touched my knee. “You look good.”

I was going to end up in jail for murder. I swatted his hand away and let myself lean closer so I could whisper at him without the entire plane hearing. “Fuck fate and fuck you. You ghosted me. You- You were an asshole and that’s all that matters. I don’t want anything to do with you.”

“Some part of you does…” He flicked his gaze down to my beaded nipples, then his tone turned serious.

“I didn’t know how to say goodbye the right way.

I just… disappeared. And I’ve regretted it more times than I can count.

I know that doesn’t fix a damn thing, but I need you to hear it.

I just hope one day you'll be able to give me some mercy.”

The thing about Zane Wilson was that if you gave him a little mercy, he’d have you naked and bent over in two-point five seconds flat. “Leave me alone, Zane.”

My dangerous tone worked on him for as long as it took the stewardess to go through her opening spiel about flight safety. As soon as she finished he was back in my space, his leather and citrus scent hitting me hard.

“You look really good. Despite what you think, there hasn't been a day that has gone by when I have not thought of you.”

I narrowed my eyes at him and let out an angry breath through my nose.

I hadn’t been thrown so thoroughly by his presence to forget the situation with my bra and the sweat cooling on my face and neck.

I didn’t look good. I was pretty sure I hadn’t looked worse in a very long time. “You’re still a liar, I see.”

The plane started taxiing down the runway but Zane didn’t look away from me. If he felt any of the nerves I was feeling over the impending lift off, he didn’t show them. “I was a lot of things, Claire, but I was never a liar.”

I locked my hands together and squeezed them between my thighs as the plane took off.

I hated the breathless feeling I got with every take-off and landing.

Zane reached over and gently pulled my hands free so he could hold them both in his larger one.

He stroked his thumb over my wrist and I felt a breathtaking moment of warmth towards him for the comforting gesture.

“Still nervous about the take-off, huh?” His eyes searched my face and for a moment it felt like time had reversed and we were back in my college dorm again.

Someone coughed across from us and I shook myself out of whatever trance he’d put me under. I pulled my hands free of his and scowled. Whatever warmth that I’d thought I’d felt had probably just been a warm breeze or something. Yeah. A warm breeze on a plane. That sounded right.

He moved away from me like the moment hadn’t happened and the cocky smile was right back on his face. It made it easier for me to remember exactly who he was and what he’d done to me.

“To be fair, I haven’t looked at much else since you shoved your tits in my face.

” He was unfairly beautiful. Messy black hair that made it look like he’d just crawled out of bed, tattoos crawling up his neck and down both of his arms, he was one hundred percent bad boy rockstar beautiful.

The pale green eyes with envy-inducing eyelashes just added insult to injury.

It made him saying crude things acceptable to most women.

It was hard to be offended when you were swooning.

I wasn’t swooning over Zane Wilson anymore, though. I narrowed my eyes at him and shook my head. “Go to hell.”

“You wound me, babe.”

“I would love to wound you but I have a wedding to get to and getting arrested wouldn’t work with my timeline.

” I saw the stewardess stand and start prepping a drink cart.

We’d reached altitude and could take our seatbelts off.

As soon as I got a drink in me I was going to escape to the bathroom to fix myself up as best as I could and then I was going to beg someone to change seats with me.

“A wedding, huh?” Zane took his seatbelt off and leaned even closer. “Not yours, though. That ring finger is still bare.”

“Do you have to talk to me?” I raised my hand to catch the stewardess’ attention and she lifted a small bottle of liquor, the silent question clear.

I raised two fingers and almost cried in relief when she left the cart and brought me two small bottles right away.

I smiled at her as I took them. “Thank you so much. You’re a lifesaver. ”

She could barely take her eyes off of Zane when she was that close to him but I couldn’t blame her.

He’d been wildly attractive to women before he became a famous rockstar.

Add the fame and I was sure he had panties thrown at him hourly.

She smiled at him like he was the center of her universe. “Mr. Wilson? Can I get you anything?”

I opened the tiny bottles and chugged them both.

Coughing as the liquor burned my throat, I pressed my hand to my mouth and squeezed my eyes shut.

Work had kept me so busy most of the past year or two that I hadn’t had much time for drinks.

Those two little bottles instantly went straight to my head.

Maybe I could handle a flight next to Zane. I was getting to fly first class after all. Surely, I could put aside my hate for long enough to enjoy the extra leg room and free booze.

“Cold, babe?” Zane smiled down at my chest and raised his eyebrows. “Need a blanket?”

Never mind. The flight was going to suck.

I couldn’t handle it. Not even a little bit.

Especially not when I was so unprepared.

I normally went into battles at work fully put together and organized.

It was how I preferred to live my life. He’d caught me completely off guard and out of sorts.

My defenses were down. And my nipples were hard. So that was great.

“One. I’m not your babe. Two. No, I don’t need a blanket. If I did, though, I could ask for one myself.” I crossed my arms over my chest and frowned at the seat in front of me. I needed a few minutes to figure out my battle plan. “I’m going to the bathroom.”

He stood up when I did, shifting like he was letting me pass.

When I was caught between his body and the seat in front of his he leaned into my space, though.

His hands went to my hips and he dropped his face until his mouth was against my ear, his lips brushing the sensitive lobe.

“Careful, Claire. If you’re not cold I might start to think your nipples are trying to tell me something. ”

My breath caught and I stupidly froze. It’d been a few months since I’d had sex and even then it hadn’t been good. It’d been years since I had good sex. Having a man with Zane’s raw sex appeal whisper into my ear while his all-man scent flooded my senses was dangerous.

Zane’s fingers pressed harder into my flesh and he let out a low growl. “If you keep looking up at me with those fuck-me eyes, I’m not going to be responsible for how I react.”

I couldn’t be sure but I might’ve yelped.

That threat sent me stumbling up the aisle to the tiny bathroom, my purse banging into each seat I passed.

I rushed through half a dozen apologies before I was able to slip inside the bathroom and lock the door.

I dropped my purse in the sink and silently swore when the water automatically came on.

I moved it to the floor and then gripped the counter and stared at myself in the mirror.

I looked like shit. There was no other way to put it.

I was still blotchy and red from my run across the airport, my hair was sticking out in every direction, the baby hairs around my face doing their best to make me look like a puffer fish.

The dark bags under my eyes made me look older than my twenty-eight years and there were multiple stains on my t-shirt from my awful morning.

I’d run into my rockstar ex-boyfriend while looking like I’d just gone through some sort of apocalyptic event.

Wasn’t that just my luck? Bending down to grab my makeup bag from my purse, I smacked my forehead on the counter and stumbled backwards onto the toilet.

Groaning, I didn’t let it slow me down more than that.

I got back up and began working on my face.

Some concealer and bronzer brought me back to life and a quick swipe of my hairbrush made my bun more cute messy bun and less horrific messy bun. There was nothing I could do about the stains on my shirt but I finished off with a pop of cherry lip-gloss and felt at least slightly more presentable.

I couldn’t do much about preparing mentally for facing an hours-long flight next to Zane so I took a deep breath and opened the bathroom door, as ready as I was ever going to be.

I gasped when I looked up and on the other side of the door was Zane, his hands gripping the frame as he stared at me with hunger in his bedroom eyes.

I told myself to step out of the bathroom and go back to my seat. When Zane stepped forward, though, I stepped backwards, deeper into the bathroom.