Page 42 of Come Fly with Me

“That tool over there is calling your name,” Jake says, walking up and stopping next to me. The nervousness I feel is overwhelming and I’m sure it’s written all over my flushed face, but Jake calling Trent a tool kind of makes things a little better.

“That’s my ex.”

“Oh, this should be good.” He gives me a wink and slips his hand into mine, giving me a little tug so I start walking.

“What are you doing here?” Trent asks, his tone rude and insinuating, and his posture standoffish. “Did you follow me here? Did you look at my route?”

“You can’t be serious right now. No, Trent, don’t flatter yourself.”

We stand silent, looking at each other, but neither of us speaks, and it’s Jake who cuts through the silence.

“Hey, mate. I’m Jake Campbell, a friend of Taylor’s. You here with your…daughter?” Jake motions to the woman standing next to Trent, who in Jake’s snarky defense, does look like she could be eighteen. I bite down hard on my bottom lip to stifle the laugh caused by Jake’s snide comment.

“No, this is my girlfriend, Camilla,” he quips back, obviously growing annoyed, but I’m sure this is not the first time he’s gotten that type of response to her. “I see you found yourself a new boy toy though.”

I link my arm with Jake’s, looking up at him, I smirk, an unspoken moment passing between us. “He’s no boy, if you know what I mean, but it wasn’t too hard to top you.” I wrinkle my nose up and shoot Trent a faux sympathetic look. “Enjoy your trip. I did see that they have childcare if you need a break from playing daddy.”

I quickly walk away, hitting the bank of elevators and obsessively pressing the button for the door.

“What the hell was that?” Jake asks, but there’s some humor to his question and a small smile on his face.

“It was petty, that’s what it was.”

“He had it coming. He came at you first.”

Fourteen

Jake

He’s like a walking cliché. Shorter than I expected, he’s obviously dealing with classic short-man syndrome, for which he’s overcompensating for by having a teenager for a girlfriend and being a dick to his ex-wife, the woman he once supposedly loved.

That same woman who right now is fuming beside me as the lift takes us up to our floor. She’s bouncing from foot to foot, and when I glance over at her, she’s giving the numbers above the door a death stare as though that will possibly get us there faster.

Chuckling a little, I watch as the doors finally open and she storms off toward her room, dragging her suitcase behind her. She’s pissed, really pissed.

“Taylor,” I call, hurrying after her. “Taylor, wait.”

She doesn’t stop, and by the time I reach her, she’s repeatedly jamming her card in the slot on her hotel room door, cursing because the light stays red and her door stays locked.

“Fuck,” she mutters, as I come up behind her.

“Hold on,” I say, one hand on her hip. I take the card from her hand and slowly slide it into the reader and unlock the door. Taylor huffs in frustration, shoving the door open, but before she has a chance to disappear inside, I stop her, my arm snaking around her waist and pulling her back against me.

God, her body feels so good against mine.

“Go inside and get changed,” I whisper, my mouth at her ear. “You’ve got two minutes to get your arse in that bikini I bought you, and then I’m coming back to pick you up,” I tell her, nuzzling her neck before I gently shove her inside her room.

The door closes behind her, and I move three doors down to my room. Inside, I throw my suitcase on the bed as I rip my uniform off, discarding it on the floor before pulling on some board shorts and grabbing my sunglasses and phone.

A minute later, I’m standing outside Taylor’s door, knocking. When it eventually opens, she stands on the other side, her eyes a little red and her hair a mess, as though she’s been raking her hands through it.

Smiling, I reach in and circle my fingers around her wrist. “He isn’t worth a single second more of your time,” I tell her, tugging her outside.

She nods, even as she pulls that bottom lip between her teeth, and I can tell she doesn’t quite believe me.

“You know what it is, though?” I whisper, sliding a hand around to the back of her neck.

Taylor shakes her head, her eyes wide as she looks up at me.

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