Jessie Slaymaker's Rules of Engagement (The Jessie Slaymaker Series Book 2) (3 page)

Despite her brave, gung-ho facade, Jessie felt nervous, anxious. She had become a borderline insomniac in the days leading up to the big off. But even through all the apprehension, she was excited. Super-excited, in fact. A part of her found it absolutely thrilling that she was doing some kind of magical disappearing act, embarking on her adventure halfway around the world, whilst her friends all plodded on with their stable, slow-changing lives and their humdrum worries of mortgages, children’s educations, and the remembering of wedding anniversaries. In the past, Jessie had always felt envious of her friends’ seemingly perfect lives, but when she saw their faces at her numerous farewell shindigs, she knew that the tables had turned. They were the envious ones now.

True, some people—namely her mother—thought she was being highly irresponsible and reckless to turn her life upside down so dramatically when all she really needed was a new haircut to make her feel like a new woman. And a few others expressed their well-intentioned concern that she was possibly rushing things with this Jack Davenport character, so soon after the fiasco with Tom.

But despite the warnings from her family and friends, she realised now that she had never felt so utterly convinced of anything in her entire life. Sure, she had her butterflies about the whole escapade, but who wouldn’t? Yet at the same time, she had no real ties to keep her in England, not even a cat who could lay claim to her. It was just her. She was as mobile as she was ever going to be, and could move anywhere she damn well pleased.

And then there was Jack. Anywhere in the world Jessie might have wanted to go, she knew that Jack would have found a way to be there too. The fact that she wanted to go to Hong Kong, where Jack already knew the territory well, was just an added bonus.

Jessie and Jack had been through more than their share of silly mishaps and stupider misunderstandings, but since they’d finally gotten together for real, Jessie knew she was falling in love with him. She positively beamed when he was around and still radiated a glow on the rare occasions when he wasn’t by her side. Having reconnected after half a year of pining for each other whilst they were both in relationships with other people, they’d effectively fast-forwarded their own romance from a fledging encounter to a whole new life together. They had well and truly flown the nest. Or at least, they were about to.

Everything was going perfectly. Better than perfect. Until the first tiny fracture started to appear at they waited for the announcements to signal the start of boarding.

Jessie had insisted that the bank only pay for an economy fare for her. She’d seen the enormous cost increase in moving up a class, and she’d thought it was absolutely preposterous to spend that much money when the bank didn’t have to. She had two weeks of holiday when she arrived in Hong Kong to recover from the flight anyway, so she simply didn’t see the need to make her employer pay such an exorbitant amount of money.

‘I don’t see why we have to fly economy,’ Jack huffed as he fidgeted in his seat.

‘We
are
still in a recession, you know,’ Jessie replied soothingly.

‘The world is. But I’m not. I don’t know why you won’t just let me pay for an upgrade so we can get some proper rest.’

‘Oh, come on. It’ll do you good to mix it up with us plebs,’ Jessie laughed, leaning into his neck. Of course, she would love to be flying in business, but economy was plenty good enough for them both.

‘Would Mr Jack Davenport please make his way to the gate desk,’ a clipped voice announced over the tannoy.

‘That’ll be my upgrade,’ he said sarcastically as he got up and began weaving his way through the crowded rows of seats. There were lots of infants and children. Jessie eyed them warily, hoping they wouldn’t be sitting within too close a proximity to her. The vain monster within her wanted to sleep as much as possible on the flight and arrive looking fresh-faced and ready for her new life to begin.

‘Would a Miss Jessica Slaymaker please also come to the desk?’ the same tannoy voice announced.

‘That little bugger,’ Jessie muttered under her breath as she collected their array of hand luggage and fought her way through the sea of people. She had a feeling Jack had been up to silly business and gone and upgraded them despite her protests.

No such luck. That would have almost been better than what had actually happened.

‘Hi,’ Jack said when she reached the desk, hot and flustered from her traverse.

‘What’s up?’ Jessie asked, attempting cool and calm in front of the ever-so-beautiful ground staff lady. From the way she was smiling, it looked like Jack had been working his charm offensive on her.

‘Well. You’re not going to believe this, but economy is fully booked, so the airline has given me an upgrade to business. On account of my frequent flyer miles.’

‘Oh, right…’ Jessie began. Her face was halfway frozen between a smile and a look of puzzlement.

‘Let me buy you an upgrade so we can be together,’ Jack said, giving her his most sincere look. ‘It’ll be a nice treat for us. Start as we mean to go on, eh?’

‘No, thank you,’ Jessie replied, her voice steady. ‘Economy is fine for me. It’s too much.’

‘Why not?’ Jack asked, a hurt look clouding his handsome features.

‘Thank you for the offer. It’s very kind of you,’ Jessie said, trying to sound grateful. ‘But I’d rather not. I don’t need a business seat to validate the start of my new life, and I certainly don’t plan to be living this extravagantly once we get to Hong Kong. Do you know how much those seats cost?’

‘Right,’ was all Jack could manage. He was clearly miffed. The voice of the tannoy had been watching their exchange and she gave Jessie a look that could only be interpreted as
get your blinking brains tested, love
. But Jessie wasn’t going to budge. It was the principle of the matter—and Jessie was very fond of her principles. Business class was just too expensive. ‘I’ll just stay in economy, then,’ Jack sighed a little sadly.

‘I’m sorry, sir,’ the tannoy woman said smoothly, ‘but that won’t be possible either. As I’ve already told you, economy class is fully booked today. You can either take the business-class upgrade or we can’t let you on this flight.’

‘What? That’s crazy. Well, can I give my upgrade to her?’ Jack asked, a sudden brainwave hitting him as he inclined his head to signify that by
her
he meant Jessie.

‘I’m sorry, that’s not possible, either,’ the tannoy woman explained. She was starting to sound impatient and snooty. ‘She doesn’t have the necessary loyalty points to qualify, and we can’t just swap these privileges around.’

‘But we won’t be able to sit together?’ Jack half-asked, half-said as a statement.

‘No, sir. Not unless she buys an upgrade for herself.’

‘Jack, take the upgrade,’ Jessie interjected. She was tired of being spoken about as though she hadn’t been standing right there.

‘Are you sure?’ Jack asked, turning towards her.

‘You have to! It’s either that, or you don’t come.’

‘Are you sure I can’t buy you an upgrade?’ Jack offered one last time.

‘No, thank you. I’ll be fine in steerage. You go and enjoy yourself up front,’ Jessie joked.

‘Okay, but don’t say I didn’t offer,’ he said, giving her a quick peck on the cheek and then handing over his boarding pass to the tannoy woman.

As they made their way onto the plane, Jack bid her a quick farewell and turned left at the first junction, leaving Jessie to make the lonely trudge further back to economy. He made a half-hearted promise to come and see her during the flight, but Jessie had a feeling he’d be having far too much fun sipping champagne from real glassware and making the most of his 180-degree flat bed to remember to come and see her in the back.

‘Best foot forward, and all that jazz,’ Jessie muttered to herself, manhandling her carry-on case independently. She plastered on a fake smile as she greeted the welcoming flight attendants and bit her tongue at every single fellow passenger who stepped on her feet, got in her way, or just tried to take her out as they stowed their own bags.

‘That’s it,’ Jessie huffed as she struggled to the back of the cabin, narrowly missing getting her eye poked out by a child flinging crayons around. She’d made some silly, personally detrimental decisions in the past, but this was going to be the last time she made a stupid decision where Jack was concerned. She could have smiled sweetly and silenced her principles, and be sipping bubbles and having her every desire anticipated by now. Not to mention, she would be able to talk to Jack on the long flight. Jack, whom she was in love with.

Well, not that they’d actually said the words to each other yet. Jack wasn’t exactly a big talker when it came to feelings. He’d told her he liked her, but other than that he seemed to be a fully paid-up member of the actions-speak-louder-than-words school of thought.

If she’d just accepted his offer of an upgrade, Jessie would not be waylaid by all and sundry in her quest to find her blasted seat in the elusive row seventy-one. Some start to the rest of her life. She couldn’t help a sulk from appearing on her face as her smile gradually ran out of batteries. When she did eventually find her seat, she did so only to find that the overhead bins were already rammed full of oversized luggage and enough shopping bags to legitimately wonder whether Posh Spice was on board. Of course, Victoria Beckham wouldn’t be flying economy, Jessie reminded herself.

‘Wanna hand with that?’ came a deep voice with a broad Australian accent. Jessie had ineffectually been trying to make a dent of space in the overhead locker. She turned to see a bona fide Aussie beefcake before her eyes, complete with biceps the size of bricks bulging out of his tight t-shirt. The man was a veritable walking muscle mountain

straight off the set of an antipodean beach-based soap opera. Jessie’s mouth parted and her eyes widened as she admired the demi-god before her. He truly was the embodiment and celebration of the magnificence of the male form. Michaelangelo’s
David
had nothing on this guy.

‘Huh?’ Jessie replied, her usual loquaciousness having deserted her, leaving her with something akin to cavewoman grunts in its place.

‘Come here,’ Aussie Superman said as he grabbed her awkward heavy case and flung it effortlessly into the locker. Jessie wondered how much he could bench press. She knew nothing about bench pressing
per se
, but she’d bet her last pound he could do a lot. She also couldn’t fail to notice the slight flex and bulge of his golden arm muscles as he rearranged the bags, making room, or the way he hoisted his own bag up there as if it was filled with nothing more than air. It was actually a rather nice spectacle to watch. Something beautiful in a sea of mental and actual chaos.

Conscious that she still hadn’t uttered a complete word yet, let alone a sentence,
and
that she’d been gawping, Jessie managed a polite thank-you and a nod of the head before she shuffled sideways into her seat. Thank goodness she had a window seat. She could at least semi-cocoon herself as best she could against all the surrounding travellers and attempt to get a bit of rest.

She pulled out the in-flight magazine and tried to think nice and happy thoughts in an attempt to regain her usual cheerful frame of mind. She was most definitely not thinking about Jack having the time of his life with all the pretty flight attendants servicing his every need. And although the circumstances this time were entirely different, she couldn’t help thinking about Jack’s brother, Charlie.

The last and only other time she’d flown to Hong Kong, she’d been on business with her then-boss, Charlie. On that trip she’d offered Charlie her seat, since it came with more leg room. Charlie had literally jumped at the offer without so much as a wave goodbye, whilst Jessie had been forced to squeeze herself between two inconsiderate fellow passengers. The result had been an awful and exhausting flight. And to think she’d once had a monumental crush on the guy!

But Jack was not the same as Charlie, Jessie reminded herself. He was kind and caring, not to mention super-generous with his time and money. On that same first trip to Hong Kong, he’d been the one to hop on a plane to join her at the drop of a hat, all because he felt she wasn’t having the best time. She’d most definitely ended up with the better brother; she smiled at the thought of his cheeky, lopsided smile, the one which had the power to make her go weak at the knees.

Conscious that she was smiling away like an eejit, Jessie neutralised her face. As she glanced up from the in-flight magazine, she saw that the Aussie hunk was now manoeuvring his considerable hard muscular bulk into her row. In fact, not just into her row, but into the very seat right next to hers. She pretended not to notice him and hoped he didn’t think she’d been perving on him when she failed to not-clock her new neighbour’s matching muscular thighs. She felt truly sorry for her white knight. He was folded into every available millimetre of his seat and his knees appeared to be jammed into the seat in front. Twelve hours plus sat like that… it was not going to be fun for him.

‘I’m Trey,’ the Aussie man mountain said as he twisted his torso slightly towards her and unfolded his hand to her.

‘Of course you are,’ Jessie said. Such an obvious Aussie name for such an Aussie man.

‘’S’cuse me?’ Trey said, looking lost.

‘Jessie,’ Jessie replied quickly in an attempt to cover her tracks. She shook his hand and forced herself to meet his eye. Men who looked like Trey didn’t ordinarily talk to women who looked like Jessie. Jack was gorgeous, of course, but he was attractive in an English, slightly scruffy, and well-educated way. Trey was practically a different species altogether. He looked like an extra from a Hollywood historical epic, just without the baby oil.

‘Good to meet ya, Jessie,’ he replied, eyeing her with undisguised appreciation, as he held their handshake a little longer than was necessary.

He was
just
being friendly, Jessie told herself. He was clearly way younger than her and could have his pick of any of the pretty cabin crew. But she was unable to stop that private smile of hers from making a quick reappearance. She turned her attention back to the magazine and concentrated on picturing Jack’s sleepy face from that morning.