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“Why did you do that?” he hissed without looking at her.
“God, because you need to give that to someone. You can’t just stuff it in your pocket.”
“I’m fine. I’ll throw it out at the airport.”
She turned to gape at him. “Are you kidding me? Throw it away? Just give it to the stewardess. I’m sure it’s not their first rodeo dealing with barf bags.”
“Just leave it.”
Lexi had a second to study Curtis and she realized he was truly mortified. For just that split second, he wasn’t an asshole. He wasn’t her indomitable, rich ass boss who had the world in his palm and anything else he wanted. He wasn’t the guy who ran a multi-billion-dollar corporation. Who came from money so old it was probably pre-historic. Who ruled the world with a single glance. Who could wither enemies and melt panties alike with a single glare.
He was just Curtis, the guy who was so afraid of flying- crazy as it was- that he’d actually thrown up and was currently wishing for a giant sinkhole to open up and swallow him.
Maybe she had a heart after all because as soon as the stewardess, a pretty young blonde woman with a kind face, appeared, she passed over the bag. “Sorry. I don’t normally get sick on flights.” She pasted on a sheepish look.
“That’s okay. We had some pretty rough turbulence up there.” The lady smiled back at her. Lexi’s eyes flicked to her nametag. Mallory. “I’ll just take that off your hands. I hope the rest of your day is better for you.”
Lexi grinned back. “I’m sure it will be. Thanks.”
Mallory nodded and continued on down the aisle humming away to herself like she was holding a box of expensive chocolates or a really exotic bouquet of flowers from some secret admirer and not a bag of someone’s ejected breakfast.
“You didn’t have to do that,” Curtis mumbled.
She turned and nearly smiled all over again when she saw how flustered he was. The smile faded a few seconds later when another, disturbing line of thought took over the snarky ones pre-loaded in her brain when it came to her boss. When was the last time someone did something nice for him without expecting anything in return? She was probably overthinking it. Sam was wrong. Curtis James was a robot. He was not human under that flawless, drool-worthy exterior.
Instead of letting him see how rattled she suddenly was, Lexi pasted on a smirk. “Alberta has good breakfast? I bet you’re starving now.”
Curtis must have been feeling more like himself because his normal color was coming back and so was his signature biting sarcasm. “We’re actually in Calgary, which is in Alberta. And yes. I’m starved.” He nearly shoved her out of her seat. So much for being a gentleman. He was a robot for sure. Sam had it all wrong.
“Thanks for the geography lesson,” she muttered. “I know we’re in Calgary, by the way. I’m not that stupid. If you want breakfast, lead the freaking way. I hope you’re paying, since you demanded I come on this trip in the first place.”
“I’m paying,” Curtis confirmed with his smirk firmly back in place. It was wondrous what being back on the ground could do. Or not. She didn’t actually mind his barfy, vulnerable alter-ego that much. “For the record, those demands were ones you were only too happy to comply with, even if you can’t admit it. Hop out and I’ll be happy to take the lead.”
Of course, as soon as she was up and out of her seat, Curtis James did exactly that. Unfortunately, that meant that he reached for her hand and practically dragged her off the plane like he was worried about her getting lost in the airport. She managed to untangle their fingers somewhere between the off ramp and the baggage claim, but her heart wouldn’t stop pounding out a beat that she was sure was somewhere near violent enough to kill her.
No. Sam wasn’t right about her or Curtis or any of it. She wasn’t right at all. Why then was Sam’s evil text playing over and over in her mind? The one with the word. She could practically hear Sam singing it in her ear in a sweet, too high-pitched voice. Lexi and Curtis sitting in a tree. D-I-C-K-I-N-G.
Who was she freaking kidding? Sam was right. About all of it. Sam was so right and apparently, that made her as transparent as a nice sunny window. Barf or not, jerk or not, boss or not, she was in lust with Curtis. In lust, and maybe a little of something else. Something dangerous. Something she’d never admit to because no matter what was about to transpire, they weren’t a match. Physically, maybe they’d lit up a roaring fire on a few stolen moments if that presumptuous kiss was anything to go by, but in real life, they weren’t compatible. It would just make a mess of everything and shit was messy enough as it was.
