Page 12 of Wish Me Home

“Need help?” I asked, more out of habit than anything when he went to go lift his bag. He shook his head, and I sat in my seat. His shirt lifted when he raised his arms and my eyes zeroed in on that trail of hair that disappeared into his sweats. I salivated as the memories of being intimately acquainted with that patch of hair came flooding back. I shifted in my seat to hide the evidence. The person in the window seat gave me a funny look as I bumped into them.

Emmett dropped into the seat next to me and fished for the seat belt. I’d already fastened mine. I helped him find one end, and he gave me a tight smile as he clicked the mechanisms into place, pulling the belt tight. “Are you going to tell me to turn off my electronics next? Place my table and seatback in the upright position?”

Laughter bubbled up from my chest. It was like he knew what I was fighting against. “Alright, you caught me. It’s sometimes hard to just be a passenger.”

“I figured as much.” Even with his belt pulled so tight he slouched down in his seat. He pulled his phone from his pocket and I watched as he fired off a text to his aunt letting her know he had made it onto the plane. Once he was done, he powered it down and shoved it in his pocket.

“Good morning. This is flight 903 with service to San Diego. Our flight time today is approximately four hours and fifteen minutes. Our pilot is reporting smooth travels all the way to SD. The weather forecast in San Diego today is a high of seventy-two and clear skies.” I recognized Giselle and waved to her as she finished her speech. She shot me a smile and waved back.

“Flirting with the crew?” Emmett asked.

I snorted in order to hold back my laugh. “Are you jealous? She’s a friend. We fly together often.”

Chapter Nine

Emmett

WasIjealous?Probably.It wasn’t like I knew Cody all that well. Sure the guy had sucked my dick like a pro, but that didn’t mean that was his only preference.

My stomach gave a funny little flip as the airplane moved and taxied around the runway. Without prompting, my hand was enveloped in the warm heat of Cody’s. I blinked at him and he gave me that same warm smile.

“Relax, Emmett. I won’t pretend to know what’s going through your head right now, but my interests lie only with men. Giselle is very pretty, but I have never looked at her that way.”

I released a breath I hadn’t been totally aware I was holding. His words set me at ease in more ways than one. I had nothing against men who were interested in both men and women. It was still that unnatural fear that he hooked up with people often even if he had assured me otherwise.

“I know it’s not fair that I keep making assumptions about you…”

“You hardly know me and I’ve not given you much to work with.” he cut me off.

“No, but it’s still not fair.”

His thumb drew soothing circles on the back of my hand and I focused on that instead of the fact that the giant metal tube we were in was about to go careening into the sky. I took a deep breath in through my nose and let it out slowly, trying to will myself to relax. Closing my eyes, I rested my head against the seat.

“So what about you? You seemed to be concerned if I was bisexual, but you didn’t elaborate about yourself.”

I turned my head to the side to look at him and cracked my eyes open. His tone was quiet enough that we wouldn’t disturb the other passengers around us with our conversation. “I thought I was clear when I said something about allowing men to buy me drinks in bars.”

Cody nodded. It wasn’t a big deal. These felt like standard questions to get to know each other but it also felt like he was trying to keep me engaged so I wasn’t focused on take-off.

“Can you tell me about your parents?” he finally asked.

My chest squeezed a little at the request, but it was nice for him to ask. “My mom? She was amazing. She worked at a bakery and would always come home smelling like all the sweets in the shop. Sometimes she’d bring home whatever didn’t sell.”

Cody’s smile widened at that thought. “That sounds spectacular.”

“Oh, it was great. Dad would always accuse her of trying to fatten him up. He worked as a contractor so he was used to hard labor. I don’t think he had an ounce of fat on him.” I found my cheeks were hurting while telling him this. Normally it hurt to talk about my parents, but he had me smiling, reminiscing about better and happier times.

“And you were an only child?” His question was innocent enough, but I felt the smile drop off my face.

“I wasn’t supposed to be. They tried. Mom wanted another baby so bad. They were unsuccessful for a lot of years. When I was eight, Mom finally got pregnant again.”

“But?”

“But she lost it at ten weeks. Then she got pregnant again, with twins! We lost them at fifteen weeks. They kind of gave up after that. Mom couldn’t take the heartache and Dad couldn’t bear to see her so sad.”

Cody nodded. “Sorry to make you think about that. That had to have been hard. I have some good news for you, though.”

I grappled with what he was alluding to that would get me out of my new-found funk. Then it dawned on me. Since we weren’t on the ground anymore, he’d effectively kept me distracted enough to not worry about the take-off.

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