Page 4 of Hostile for the Holidays

My hackles rise, wondering what he’s inferring.

“What does that have to do with anything?” I snap.

“Can’t start a relationship without a second date.” He smirks.

I think back to the dates I’ve been on this year and other than the doctor that had to leave in the middle of our date so we rescheduled, there haven’t been any second dates.

I find Jasper staring at me, a peculiar look on his face that has me going on the defensive.

“That doesn’t mean anything. And you’re one to talk. Where’s your girlfriend?” I motion to the empty space around us to prove my point.

“Don’t have one.”

“Ha!” I exclaim, shooting my finger in the air like I’ve solved an age-old mystery.

The woosh and subsequent shifting of the plane lifting off has me reaching for the arm rest. However, it’s not the plastic arm rest my fingers grip, but Jasper’s warm, muscular forearm.

I hadn’t even realized we were taking off.

“Excuse me.”

“You’re excused,” Jasper says, leaning back into his seat.

“That’s not what I was referring to. You need to move your arm.” I nudge at his forearm with my elbow. “Everyone knows the courtesy is to give the person in the middle seat two arm rests.”

“Nobody knows that. You’re making it up.”

“Well, they should. It’s the way to balance out the discomfort of being the middle seater.”

“Aren’t you going to tell him about this policy?” Jasper lifts his chin toward our row companion.

The man’s large frame is sprawled out, his forearm taking up the entirety of the arm rest between us. His mouth, which is covered by a thick brown mustache, is gaping open because he’s already asleep.

I open my mouth to argue with Jasper, but that’s what he wants so I snap it closed and decide to ignore him for the rest of the flight.

Leaning forward, I reach into my travel bag for my noise cancelling headphones. They were a gift from Sadie last Christmas and I’m thankful today more than ever for them.

Jasper makes me cranky and moody. And my stomach hurt.

That’s a new one.

Ignoring my body’s reaction to Jasper, I power on my Bluetooth headphones, then start playing my audiobook where I left off last night. It was right in the middle of a tension-filled sex scene. That’s exactly what I need to distract myself from Jasper’s presence. And I love the fact that I can listen to this sexy audiobook and he has no idea. It’s my little secret.

I wait for the audiobook to start, but nothing happens. I reach down to hit play again, but it says it’s already playing. I can see the seconds ticking down on my screen. That’s odd.

A hand lifts the side of my headphones. Why can’t he leave me in peace? Also, why is this audiobook not playing?

“What?” I ask sharply.

“Your audiobook is playing out loud.”

I yank my headphones off and immediately hear the male narrator describing in explicit detail how he’s going to make the female character come. My hands fumble for my phone and try to hit the pause button, but I accidentally swipe the volume and the groan of the narrator’s voice gets louder.

Beside me, Jasper takes my phone and hits pause like a person with steady fingers can.

I glance up to see the woman in front of me giving me a scolding glance over her seat.

“Sorry,” I whisper, wanting to sink underneath my seat.

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