Page 21 of Breaking Free (Guarded Hearts)
I laugh. “Yeah, but he wouldn’t listen to reason.”
My phone beeps; it’s a text from Nicole.
Nic: Ran up to my room as soon as you left. Hopefully he doesn’t realize I helped. Have fun girl
I relax against the seat, still in shock that this is what I’ve chosen to do. “So, you still never actually answered me when I asked you why you came back.”
“Why is it so important to you?” I raise my eyebrows at him, letting him know I don’t plan on backing down. He groans in frustration. “One, that event is tomorrow night, and if you remember, I got a ticket for you.” He stops talking.
“And two?”
He groans again. “Fine, I fucking missed you. Happy?”
I smile so hard that it hurts. He missed me. I want to jump up and do the snoopy dance, I’m so happy. “Yes. You know, it doesn’t have to be such a struggle to talk to you.”
He smirks at me and then moves so that he’s on top of me. “Hmmm, maybe I like to keep you on your toes, James.” That’s an understatement.
“That’s fine,” I pant. I can barely think when he’s this close, much less talk. “I just want to know more about you. I’m going across the country with you and I barely know you.”
I can see his wheels turning. “I’ll tell you what. It’s a six hour flight; ask me whatever you want then.”
What? There’s no way he would agree to that. “What’s the catch?”
He smiles.I knew it.“When we get to my house, I get to do whatever I want with you for six hours.” I inhale sharply. I’m making a deal with the devil, but it seems like the best deal I have ever been offered.
I hesitantly whisper, “Okay.”
Drew looks at me in confusion. “What?”
How can I tell him this? I don’t want to tell him, but if he tries something like he did last night, I’ll freak out. I can’t explain my fear without explaining the reason. Well, I can, but I know that he won’t let me. “I’m scared you’ll push me too far.”
His face displays shock. “We’ll set up some kind of a word for you to tell me to stop, a safe word. Okay?”
I nod yes as we pull up to the airport. Drew seems so carefree and happy right now that I can’t help but smile. The serious controlling guy seems to have taken a hiatus and been replaced with a funny one. He even jokes with the airport worker as I go through the x-ray machine that he better not be ‘looking at the goods’. The worker doesn’t find it nearly as funny as we do. When we get to the gate, they’ve already started to board and Drew takes my hand as we stand at the back of the line. I look down at our interlaced fingers and want to pinch myself to make sure that this is my life. It amazes me that I can feel so connected to him when we barely know each other. The deal he proposed to me in the car comes to mind and I smile.
Chapter Seven
When the woman checks our tickets and directs us to first class I’m surprised, although I don’t know why I wouldn’t have expected it. Drew seems to only accept the most expensive things. We sit down and the seats are so comfortable.
My phone beeps and I realize that I never turned it off. I look over at Drew to see if it’s okay to answer it now.
“You’re fine. They’ll tell you when to turn them off.”
I check my phone and I have another text from Nicole.
Nicole: Tell lover boy he owes me big time. I didn’t know what to do with your brother’s keys so I just threw them and they had landed in the sink. Well when I snuck upstairs to hide I forgot about them and Christen ran the garbage disposal. Needless to say he is even more unhappy than before.
I laugh out loud, imagining what’s going on in the house right now. As soon as we buckle ourselves in, I turn to face him. “I want to know about your family.”
“Shit, James, you don’t waste any time.”
I laugh. “Considering this will probably be the only time that you will answer my questions, Ican’twaste any.”
He shakes his head and sighs. “My family is from Calabasas, which is right outside of Los Angeles. I have a younger sister, Maya, who is eight, my mom is your normal stay at home mom, and my dad is a plastic surgeon. I had a pretty normal life growing up, at least normal in my eyes. I’ve been told I led a privileged life because of our money, but my mother never let money affect us.”
I let that settle in. It makes sense to me now why he’s so quick to throw money around. He has an abundance of it, and as a child his mother never let them use their money wastefully.
The flight attendant gives a speech about the flight and all of the safety precautions. As we begin to take off I get nervous, but when Drew reaches over and grips my hand I instantly relax. Once we’re in the air, my nerves even out and I turn to face Drew again. “What’s your thing with control?”
