Page 8 of Long Story Short

‘Your first time?’

I jumped and turned to see Jake beside me, watching intently. He hovered by the pod opposite mine. I had forgotten for a moment we would be side by side for the flight.

I flushed as I nodded. ‘Yes,’ I said, thinking he must have flown first class hundreds of times. But it wasn’t like many people could afford it so I knew I shouldn’t let his scrutiny embarrass me. This wasn’t something to be nonchalant about. I had dreamed of being able to travel in style like this. ‘And I’m going to enjoy the hell out of it,’ I told both Jake and myself with a shrug. Then, I pulled out my phone to take a photo of my pod, ignoring the fact he was still watching me.

Afterwards, I sat down with a contented sigh. ‘Oh yes,’ I said, leaning back in the seat, which was approximately ten times more comfortable than economy ones.

‘A drink to settle in?’

I jumped as a flight attendant peered around the pod at me, smiling widely. ‘Oh, um…’

‘How about champagne?’

‘This is a work trip, though,’ I confessed, biting my lip.

‘What would your boss do?’ he asked me.

‘She’d order champagne,’ a voice sailed over from across the aisle.

I jumped again and looked over at Jake, who had sat down in his pod opposite but was still watching me with interest. I raised an eyebrow at his encouragement, which was surprising, but I also knew he was right. Hayley Harper was the champagne queen so I nodded at the flight attendant. ‘Yes, please, a glass of fizz would be lovely.’

‘You too, sir?’ he asked Jake, who thought about it for a moment.

‘Why not? We need to mark Freya’s first time here.’

‘I am a first-class virgin,’ I agreed as the flight attendant left to get our drinks.

I caught a small smile on Jake’s lips while my hand flew to my mouth that I’d made another sex comment in front of him.

‘Why do I keep embarrassing myself in front of you?’ I groaned, then my cheeks began to turn pink again. I wouldn’t need to use blusher at all when I was around Jake at this rate.

Jake looked at me for a moment then he ran a hand through his dark hair. My eyes tracked the motion involuntarily. ‘I don’t know, Freya, but if it makes you feel better, I embarrassed myself in front of thousands of people. I need this trip to work out because of it. So, don’t worry about embarrassing yourself in front of me. You don’t care what I think about you, do you?’

I stared at him. There he was, finally admitting to the fact that the article calling him out for slagging off romance books had been humiliating and damaging. And telling me that it didn’t matter I had embarrassed myself in front of him. His last words echoed though my brain as the flight attendant returned with our glasses. Did I care what he thought about me? I wanted to say no. He had gone down in my estimation after finding out he might not care about the books he’d written that had made me so happy to read, and he was so much more reserved than I was but… I wanted to impress him still. It was annoying but I couldn’t help it.

I liked that he had acknowledged he needed this trip to work out. That he needed my help. Finally, we were on a more level footing. If I ignored him being ten years older, a rich and famous author, and handsome as hell… Still, it was something and I grasped at it eagerly.

‘Here’s to making this trip the most successful one we possibly can,’ I said, leaning across the aisle so he could hear me. I lifted up my glass of champagne.

Jake raised his glass too. ‘Cheers to that.’ He kept his eyes on mine as we both took a sip.

6

Once we took off towards New York, I was able to relax and enjoy first class as much as I wanted to because Jake put in ear buds and closed his pod curtain. I didn’t have to worry about being cool any more or not embarrassing myself; I could do exactly what I wanted to. So, I had another glass of champagne, put on the sheet face mask I’d brought and changed into the pyjamas they’d given me, even though it was daytime. Then I feasted on fancy food they brought around and watched old episodes ofSex and the Cityto put myself fully in a NYC mood.

Halfway through the journey, I turned my seat into the bed and for the first time in my life, had a great sleep on a flight. When I woke up, more food came, including a slice of chocolate cake, and I watched a romcom while I ate it. When I changed back into clothes, excitement began to build again for my first sight of New York.

As the approach to the city began, Jake opened up his pod and gave me a nod as we all fastened our seatbelts. He looked remarkably refreshed, whereas my hair and make-up had definitely taken a turn for the worse but my worry about that completely disappeared as the plane began to descend. I looked out of my window and let out a gasp when I caught sight of New York below stretched out like an urban blanket, fluffy clouds like candyfloss breaking up the view. A thrill ran through my veins at the thought of finally being able to walk around the city I had been fascinated by in films, books and TV shows. I knew I wouldn’t have as much time as I would like to explore as I needed to be focused on the conference, but I would make use of it as much as possible.

My gaze drifted over to Jake, who was scrolling on his phone, uninterested by the view, and our descent into New York. I supposed he had seen it many times before. I hoped that he wouldn’t make me feel bad for being so excited to be here for the first time. I was determined to not let him. This was a dream come true for me and even if I was with someone who appeared to be world-weary, I sure as hell wasn’t going to be like that.

* * *

Getting off the plane and through security and immigration was anexperience.

The officer who spoke to me made me feel flustered and I stuttered through his questions about why I was in New York, my cheeks hot with a pool of sweat settling at the bottom of my back. When I finally made it through, I found Jake waiting for me, unruffled naturally by the process. I tried to not let him see how unsettling I had found it.

We walked through to collect our luggage. I always watched the conveyor belt nervously in case my suitcase had disappeared but thank God, mine was through quickly. It was, of course, me though, and I struggled to grab the handle and lift it off.

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