The dynamic has shifted between us.
I don’t know how to stop it, but I’m falling for him.
I can feel myself slipping under the water, his water . . . the beautiful spell of Jameson Miles.
“No layovers, okay?” I whisper.
He smiles as we kiss.
“No talking to girls who get upgraded.”
He grabs my behind. “Stop talking, wench.”
I grip him tighter. “Oh. I hate the thought of a week without you.”
He kisses me again but remains silent.
“Will you say something?” I whisper. “Say something sweet to put me out of my misery.”
His eyes come to mine as he cups my face. “I packed your scarf in my luggage.”
I smile softly.
“It’s nothing new. I’ve taken it on every trip I’ve been on . . . since we met.”
A wave of unexpected emotion overwhelms me, and my eyes fill with tears. I blink them away in the hope he doesn’t see. “You have?” I whisper.
He nods and kisses me as he holds my face, and it’s tender and perfect and God, I just want to blurt out that maybe I really do love him for real now.
But I won’t, because then I will ruin it.
Whatever this is.
I lie in bed and aimlessly scroll through Instagram, but my mind is anything but on my feed. Jameson is my focus. I’ve missed him this week, but I know he’s missed me too. Even with all his meetings and stress over there, he has kept in constant touch. Hopefully when he gets back, we can decipher what’s really going on here. My phone rings, and the letter J lights up my screen.
“Hello.” I smile.
“Hey there,” his deep velvety voice purrs down the line.
“How’s my man?”
“Good, busy. How are you?”
“Lonely.”
We’ve spoken every day since he’s been gone . . . twice a day, actually.
He chuckles. “You didn’t look too lonely last night in that Skype session.”
I feel my face flush. We’ve been sexting each other every night, and last night I may have given him a little vibrator show. The look on his face was one of pure pleasure. I clench my sex just thinking about the way he was pulling himself as he watched me.
God . . . deviants.
“What’s going on today, sweetheart?” he asks.
My stomach flips every time he calls me that; it will never grow old. “Working.” I try not to talk about work with him. I want to keep our relationship as separated as I can. “What are you up to?”
“I’m just about to go out to dinner with Elliot. He’s introducing me to some girl he’s met.”
“Really?” I smile. “Has he fallen in love?”
“God, no. He falls in lust every week, though.”
I giggle.
“Are you going out tonight?”
I roll my eyes. “No, Jay; relax, will you?”
God, he’s frigging traumatized from that night I was dancing with the blond god.
“It’s hard to relax when I know how gorgeous you are on the other side of the world all alone.”
“Well, in four more days you’ll be back.” I glance at my watch. “I’ve got to go. I’m going to miss my bus.”
“Okay. I’ll let you go. Have a nice day, babe.” He sighs.
“You too,” I whisper.
He lingers on the line.
Even on the other side of the world, he has an effect on me. He’s waiting for me to tell him I’m missing him . . . he always does.
“I’m missing you.” I smile.
“Me too.”
“I’ll speak to you tonight.”
“Okay. Bye.”
Molly and I’ve just been out for dinner, and she’s driving me home. Her phone rings through the Bluetooth in her car. The name Michael lights up the screen. “Hello,” she answers.
“Oh my God, Molly. I need your help.”
“What’s wrong?” she stammers as she slows the car down.
Michael is her ex-husband; my eyes widen as I listen.
“I took something, and now I’m driving, and I just passed out, and my car hit a guardrail.”
“What?” she cries as she pulls the car over to the side.
“I feel so dizzy.”
“Holy shit, tell me where you are!”
“I’m on the interstate near the garage we get gas from.”
“Okay, I’m on my way.” She does a U-turn and starts speeding in the other direction.
She’s driving like a bat out of hell, and I hold on for dear life. “Do you know mouth to mouth?” I ask.