Fierce Love
Page 21
Knowing Jessica these last few weeks was like trying a new dish, savoring something that sent your taste buds sailing but being unable to figure out the secret ingredient.
She opened her mouth and began to speak through a smile but stopped abruptly as a gravelly voice across the aisle rose up. “If you need a seatbelt extender you shouldn’t be allowed in first class. She should go back where all the other cattle are.”
A tall wiry man with a pock-marked face slurred into his phone. The woman who’d been sitting next to him stepped into the restroom in first class, and he was taking the opportunity to bash her to whoever was on the other end of the line. “I know, it’s like who wants to squeeze in next to someone that huge?”
Both Jessica and Mathew made quick eye contact and then froze as the bathroom door opened and the woman stood, pale-faced and chin quivering, listening in shameful horror.
“It’s so gross. You should see what she’s wearing too. It’s like a muumuu, for God’s sake.” The man’s laugh was high-pitched and as ugly to listen to as his face was to look at.
Mathew wouldn’t let something like that stand. It wasn’t because the beautiful woman next to him deserved to see some chivalrous reaction. It was because that asshole was overdue for some manners, and he was sure as hell about to get a hard lesson once Mathew got involved. As he opened his mouth to speak, Jessica shot out of her chair.
“Get off the phone,” she shouted, pointing a delicate finger in the man’s face. She’d already crossed the aisle and was standing in front of him.
“Why?” he asked, looking her over with an arrogant stare. “We’re not taking off yet.”
“Get up,” she said, pulling the phone forcefully from his hand and hanging it up. “Stand up.” Mathew watched in shock as her tiny frame stiffened and her little ring-covered hands balled into fists.
“Who the hell are you?” the man asked, yanking his phone back angrily.
Mathew watched the scene unfold in stunned silence for a moment. But the silence didn’t last long as Jessica’s roaring voice continued. Of course he should get up and intervene. There was no question. Well, there was one question: What the hell was Jessica’s plan?
“Stand the hell up before I grab you by what I can only imagine is a baby-carrot-sized dick and make you stand.”
“Are you a crackpot?” the man asked, twisting his face up and instinctively covering his groin as he looked around for some help.
“You are a rude, self-centered bully with nothing better to do than to insult someone. You don’t deserve to sit next to her. Get up.”
“You can’t kick me off this flight.” The words began as a statement but waivered into an uncertain question.
“No, I can’t,” Jessica agreed, looking momentarily disappointed. “But I can make you switch seats with me.” She pointed at the seat next to Mathew and stared down at the man.
“Get the fuck out of my face. I’m not moving because you feel bad for some cow who can’t fit in her own seat.” The man had doubled down, but his firm words didn’t match the look of fear dancing at the corners of his eyes.
Mathew stood now, having no clue where Jessica would take this situation if the man continued to refuse her demands. The woman stayed tucked in the doorway of the bathroom looking mortified but listening intently.
“This is your last chance,” Jessica hissed. “Get up and move to that seat, or I will move you. I don’t care if I have to claw out your eyes or bite off your ear, I will get you to move. Don’t try me.”
“You are a crazy bitch,” the man said, using his free hand to cover one of his ears.
“Get up,” Mathew announced in a deep and determined voice. “Get up and move to the window seat over there.” He pointed at the seat he’d just gotten out of.
“Or what?” the man asked in a nervous snicker, still having one hand over his crotch and the other over one ear. “You’re going to kick my ass?”
“No,” Mathew said coolly. “Even worse, I won’t stop her from doing it.”
Maybe the comment lent some credibility to Jessica’s ability to actually maim this man. The last little piece of arrogance slid away from the jerk’s face as he stood, and Jessica cleared the way for him to change seats. When he flopped himself down onto the window seat, the man continued to mutter nasty things, now about all of them.
“Shut it,” Mathew demanded as he took the seat next to him and slammed the armrest down like a barricade not to be crossed. Jessica gestured for the woman to come out of the bathroom and then patted the seat by her in a calm and friendly way, as though she hadn’t just threatened to bite a man’s ear off. As though what she’d just done was perfectly normal in every way.
“Is everything all right, Mr. Kalling?” the flight attendant asked as she made her way toward them, a worried look painted across her thin-lipped face.
“It’s fine now,” he said, though his face still looked anything but. “Get me a gin and tonic though.”
“Yeah me too,” the wiry man said, throwing one finger up like he was ordering in a restaurant.
“No,” Mathew said flatly. “He won’t be drinking anything else this flight. Don’t bring him anything. Not even a bag of peanuts.”
“Yes, Mr. Kalling,” the flight attendant said with a worried smile.
“You can’t do that,” the man protested.
“You don’t even know who I am; how do you know what I can do? Now get your arm off my armrest, stare out the damn window, and don’t say another word the rest of this flight.”
Mathew glanced across the aisle at Jessica and her new friend. They were smiling easy smiles as Jessica talked animatedly about something and occasionally touched the woman’s shoulder. If he thought this flight was going to give him time to sort out and compartmentalize his feelings for Jessica, he was wrong. It had done just the opposite. The light haze of mystery shrouding her had become a unique thick fog. And all he could think as he replayed her actions over and over again in his head was: What the hell was that?
The only thing more awkward than a plane ride sitting next to a guy who’d just been demolished by Jessica, was the car ride home. The service had picked them up at the airport with the intention of dropping her off first. There had been a part of him, before the scene on the plane, that thought it would be pretty easy to convince her she’d rather come back to his place. But now he wasn’t so sure getting involved with Jessica would be in any way simple.
“What an asshole that guy was, huh?” she asked as she powered up her phone and scanned her messages.
“He was,” Mathew said with hardly any conviction. He felt the breeze from her head snapping around quickly in his direction.
“What? You think I should have just sat in my own seat and let that guy treat Mary-Lou like that? That’s her name you know. She’s a person, a human being.” Like a toy that had been wound and then placed back down, Jessica flailed her arms animatedly.
“Whoa,” Mathew said, tossing his hands up and figuratively pumping the brakes on this runaway conversation. “That’s not what I’m saying. The guy deserved to be shut down. I just don’t agree with your methods.”
“I didn’t see you doing anything,” she snapped accusingly.
His pride sent a flare to his brain, and his instinct to defend himself against the blow took over. By this time of night he’d expected they might be tantalizingly touching each other in the back of the car in anticipation of the hot sex they’d have all through his apartment. Instead he wanted to go tit for tat in an argument about tact and self-control. Significantly less sexy by all standards.
“You were on your feet and threatening his life before I could even blink. Trust me, I’d have handled the situation without making a scene like that. Do you really think that woman appreciated all the attention?”
“Her name was Mary-Lou,” Jessica said as though he were making her point. “What would you have done? Read him statistics about the impact of bullying? Come on,” she huffed loud
ly and tossed herself back against the plush leather of the car seat.
“There are many ways to take down a guy like that. I’ve been doing it my whole life. It’s not always about brute force; sometimes it is, and I don’t hesitate, but I use my head first. You can scare a man half to death if you know what to say to him. I’d have had him escorted off the plane. I’d let him know exactly what a lowlife dirtbag he was. After getting all his information I’d have put some fear in him that would linger a hell of a lot longer than those empty threats you were shouting.”
“That’s where you’ve misjudged me. The threats were far from empty. I meant every word.” Her coal-black eyes blazed as though they’d been struck with a match and lit.
“The difference is, if I would have needed to demolish that guy, he would have been carted out of there by ambulance. What could you even do?”
“You don’t ever want to find out,” she said in a cool whisper as she brought a hand down on his shoulder, nails digging into his skin.
“I don’t know what bothers me more. The fact that you can turn your crazy act on so quickly or that it’s not an act at all.” The nails in his shoulder were not painful, but the bulge in his pants was growing more uncomfortable by the second. This twisted argument was turning him on.
“Drop me off here,” Jessica called through the partition of the car. “I’m getting out now.”
“Here we go again, waving the crazy flag,” Mathew said, assuming Jessica was bluffing. They were still miles from her apartment, and it was dark.
But as she opened the car door the overhead light flicked on, and the driver slammed on the brakes.
“Seriously?” Mathew asked, exasperated. “You’re going to walk home?”
“I’m a grown-ass woman,” she retorted with a wild smile. “My daddy taught me a long time ago how to get myself home if I’m ever out with an insufferable jerk.”
The door slammed in his face, and through the tinted glass he watched her walk away.
“What should I do?” the driver asked, sounding panicked.
“Just stay close by her until we know she’s gotten another ride or something.”
The driver nodded his head in agreement, and Mathew was certain he heard him chuckle.
A few minutes later a cab pulled up and Jessica got in. “She’s a firecracker.” The driver laughed, flashing his gap-toothed grin and crinkled eyes in the rearview mirror.
“She’s a nightmare,” Mathew corrected. “I feel bad for whatever man ends up with her.”
“Oh, I don’t know,” the driver replied lightheartedly through his knowing-old-man snigger. “A woman like that is one in a million. I tend to feel worse for the men who end up letting her go.”
Continue Book 2, Wild Eyes
BOOKS IN THE BARRINGTON BILLIONAIRE WORLD
By Ruth Cardello:
Always Mine
Stolen Kisses
Trade It All
* * *
By Jeannette Winters:
One White Lie
Table For Two
You & Me Make Three
* * *
By Danielle Stewart:
Fierce Love
Fierce Love - Sweet
Wild Eyes
Wild Eyes - Sweet
Crazy Nights
BOOKS BY DANIELLE STEWART
Piper Anderson Series:
Book 1: Chasing Justice
Book 2: Cutting Ties
Book 3: Changing Fate
Book 4: Finding Freedom
Book 5: Settling Scores
Book 6: Battling Destiny
Book 7: Chris & Sydney Collection – Choosing Christmas & Saving Love
Betty's Journal - Bonus Material (suggested to be read after Book 4 to avoid spoilers)
* * *
Edenville Series – A Piper Anderson Spin Off:
Book 1: Flowers in the Snow
Book 2: Kiss in the Wind
Book 3: Stars in a Bottle
* * *
The Clover Series:
Hearts of Clover - Novella & Book 2: (Half My Heart & Change My Heart)
Book 3: All My Heart
Book 4: Facing Home
* * *
Midnight Magic Series:
Amelia
* * *
Rough Waters Series:
Book 1: The Goodbye Storm
Book 2: The Runaway Storm
Book 3: The Rising Storm
* * *
Running From Shadows: Novella
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Table of Contents
Title Page
Dedication
Synopsis
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Wild Eyes, Book 2 - Sneak Peek
Books in the Barrington Billionaire World
Books by Danielle Stewart
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