AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“The plane is going down.”
He stared blankly, looked around the cabin and apparently satisfied with what he saw, settled back into his seat. “Not funny.”
“Listen, I need you to order a vodka and OJ. They won’t let me have another. But if it’s for you…”
“I don’t drink.”
She raised her voice louder. “Damn it, Myles. You know what I mean… don’t fuck with me.” She crossed her arms over her chest. “I’m not in the mood.”
He studied her, then allowed his displeasure to play across his face. “Good grief, how many have you already had?”
“How many have you had?” She slurred her words.
He placed his hand on her forearm. A warning.
She sat up straighter and glared at him. “Well, how many?”
“Jessica, stop. Now.”
“You stop. Who are you to tell me anything?” she hissed.
Myles shifted and faced her. He took her chin between his hands forcefully and stared directly into her eyes. “Listen to me. If you don’t stop this right now, I will drop your ass the moment we get off this plane. Do you understand me? And I’m guessing, of all the foreign countries, this isn’t one a woman like you wants to be dropped in, alone.”
Jessica understood his limits, even if she wasn’t willing to verbalize it. She pulled back and rubbed her chin. “That hurt.”
Myles frowned. “Come here.” He pulled her in his direction so that her head rested on his shoulder. She didn’t move to pull away as they’d both expected. “Do not say another word,” he whispered harshly. “Sleep it off.”
They sat there quietly like that for some time, stiff—but unwilling to move. And then he felt her silent tears fall though she tried her best to conceal them.
“I know you’re scared.” He shushed her quietly. And though he couldn’t pinpoint exactly why he’d said it, he added. “We all are.”
The two of them flew into Nairobi, the capital and largest city in Kenya, where a car met them at the airport and drove them to their hotel nearby. Once checked in, they went their separate ways. Myles freshened up in his room as Jessica sobered up in hers. In an hour, their driver was scheduled to arrive and take them to the camp where Jessica’s husband was staying.
Myles showered and scrubbed the woman’s scent off him. He hadn’t even liked this one. It was rough and was exactly what he’d needed, but it had left him unsatisfied still, and to make matters worse, his boss had busted him. He checked his phone. Finally, he’d been given a lead that just might pan out when he was called away to Africa to deal with someone else’s problems. No new news. Frustrated, he dressed and made his way to Jess’s room. He was ready to let her have it, but when she opened the door, she appeared to be in better spirits. Not to mention the fact that she made him lose all train of thought. Myles had seen many women in his time, but Jessica Clemens was in another league. She was naturally beautiful. It w
asn’t so much in the way that she dressed, though that was a nice touch, or the way she expensively adorned herself, but it was simply her presence. The way she carried herself. Not his usual type, if there were such a thing these days. She was a category all her own. Regal, yet broken. She was the kind of woman who made a man feel like a man.
He cleared his throat and hoped his head would follow. He knew thinking like this was dangerous territory. He was playing with fire. “So what’s the plan?”
She eyed his reflection in the mirror as she fastened her diamond earring. It had to be the biggest he’d ever seen. In person, anyway. “Plan? I’m here to get my husband back.”
Myles looked away. “And your plan to do this is what exactly?”
“Spencer would never expect me to come all the way to Africa. You know, I said it before, but my gut tells me this really is what he wanted all along.” She checked herself once more in the mirror, this time from the back, and grinned, apparently satisfied with her appearance. “Also, I mean… look at me.”
He deadpanned and met her eye even though he knew she hadn’t meant it literally. “I am.”
She smiled playfully, but upon likely seeing the intensity he held within his gaze, he quickly watched her smile fade and give way to confusion.
He stood and walked to her. She stiffened, clearly unsure what his next move would be. Myles surprised her by reaching for her zipper. She gasped and then held her breath as he yanked it up the few inches she’d missed, or more likely, couldn’t reach. His hand brushed the back of her neck as he caught the end and her eyes met his. He spoke slowly not taking his eyes off hers. “I just think you should be prepared, that’s all. You should know what you’re going to say… know what you came here for.”
She glared at his reflection in the mirror and swallowed hard. “I do,” she said as she moved away.
Myles walked to the door and held it open. He had to get out of that room.
“Then, I guess we’d better get to it…”
The drive from the hotel to the camp near Serengeti National Park, where Spencer was said to be studying large animals, was to take nearly ten hours. Myles had suggested they charter a flight, but Jess informed him that the only thing she liked less than small airplanes were small planes in third world countries. Myles hadn’t been pleased with this decision so he made a suggestion that he fly while she could drive, a suggestion that did not go over well and in turn led to an intense argument. Needless to say, the ten hours they spent in the car were ten hours in which neither of them spoke to the other. Jess read or pretended to read. He had seen her turn few pages. Myles either stared out the window or studied Jessica—the same way many travelers arrived in Africa to study exotic creatures. While he had a hard time figuring her out, he noted the way the golden tint of her brown hair lit up in the sun, the way she fidgeted with the hem of her dress, and the nervous way she chewed on her bottom lip. He wondered why a woman like her would fly halfway across the world to chase a man. Thankfully, for the both of them, he was a little too smart and a little too polite to pose this question. He predicted the conversation would also not have gone well. And ten hours in a small car where the tension ran high was a little more than he’d bargained for.
