Page 33 of Jilted

“Why’d you ask if you already knew?”

Her hand was still on my bicep. She rubbed up and down my arm. “Are you going to buy me that drink or what?”

“What are you having?” I lifted a hand to call the bartender.

She shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe a hard seltzer? Something portable, not in a glass.”

“You going somewhere?”

She bit her bottom lip. “I hope so.”

I ordered her a hard seltzer and added another beer for me. While we waited, I stared at her lips. “I like your lipstick.”

“Thank you. I like your eyes.”

I looked down. “I like your legs.”

She squeezed my arm again. “I like your muscles.”

I was standing, so I could see right down her shirt. A healthy amount of cleavage popped out of her top. I lifted my eyes and met hers with a smile. “Fuck the drinks. You want to get out of here?”

Her sexy-as-shit lips curved to a grin. “It’s about time.”

My dorm room was five minutes away, but it took us twenty because of all the times we stopped to make out. We had half our clothes off in the hall before I even got the door open. It might’ve been the easiest encounter I’d ever had with a woman.

So my father’s words should’ve set off an alarm.

“What comes easy won’t last.”

But all the thoughts I had went out the window with the sound of my pants coming undone.

11WILDER

“Well, it sucks,” I said. “But I think you’re making the right decision.”

Andrew sighed. “I wouldn’t be able to look her in the eyes if I didn’t come clean. And she deserves honesty.”

The following morning, our plane had finally leveled off to cruising altitude, so the crew got up to move about the cabin again. One of the flight attendants, Mia, cast a flirty smile in my direction as she passed.

Andrew noticed, too. “I take it you know her?”

“I take this flight a lot.”

My buddy side-eyed me. He knew the answer without me having to spell it out, but just in case he didn’t, Mia walked over. I was seated in the window seat. She leaned in, giving me and my buddy a clear view down her blouse as she set the drink I hadn’t asked for in front of me.

She smiled. “Staying at the St. Regis this trip?”

I shook my head. “Nah. I have business in a different area.”

“Oh. Okay.” She stood, her smile morphing from flirty to forced, and rested a hand on Andrew’s shoulder. “Can I get you anything else, hun?”

He lifted his still-half-full Bloody Mary. “I’m good. Thanks.”

We both watched her walk to the galley area a few rows up. Andrew shook his head. “I thought you said you were staying at the St. Regis?”

I met his eyes. “I am.”

“Gotcha.” He sipped his drink. “Everything okay with you? It’s not like you to turn down a nice offer like that.”

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