by Iles, Jo
‘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.
It was a peculiar thing, but ever since she’d first met Jack, she’d seemed to be a hundred percent more desirable to the opposite sex than she had ever been throughout her entire adult life. Jack and her had had only the briefest of flings, and then suddenly Charlie had shown an interest in her out of the blue, after years of silent pining on Jessie’s part. Although perhaps Charlie didn’t really count, owing to the fact that he had ulterior motives—namely framing her for stealing company information and trying to get her fired. But then the dust hadn’t even settled on the whole Charlie fiasco before Tom had thrown his hat in the ring and declared his love for her. If she looked at the number and quality of serious suitors she had had over the last year, then Jessie would have to say she’d been doing pretty well for herself. A stark improvement on the previous half decade, without a doubt. She wasn’t sure what had changed, but since she’d finally gotten shot of her crush on Charlie, her world had seemingly become full of eligible men.
Chapter 6
Touchdown. Jack was back. Back in Hong Kong. Back to Asia, to start all over again. After an interminably long flight in which he’d struggled to get any decent sleep, despite his lucky upgrade, he was back in a place where he’d so recently been desperately unhappy. His last stay had lasted six months, and he’d been more or less blackmailed into remaining in a relationship with someone who had once upon a time been a very good friend. He approached this new phase of his life with mixed feelings and with more than a little trepidation. It wasn’t the geography of the place, nor the majority of the people that he disliked. After spending much of his recent past in Asia, he enjoyed the culture and what life had
to offer him here. It was just that there was one person here whom he greatly disliked. The one and only Sonia Shum. The bitch who’d tricked him into staying with her for the best part of half a year, when he could have been making hay and a whole lot more with Jessie.
Sonia had taken advantage of Jack’s mortal fear of her billionaire tycoon father to keep him glued to her side for her plethora of public engagements and events. He’d been blackmailed into playing the doting boyfriend who worshipped the ground she walked on. It had been exhausting, but for some reason still unbeknownst to him, she had set her sights on him, Jack Davenport. And what Sonia wants, Sonia invariably gets.
Jack knew it was ridiculous, but as he exited the plane, he felt like the eyes of Sonia Shum were somehow on him. He’d be foolish to think that she hadn’t heard about his return to Asia. In Jack’s eyes, Sonia was effectively a thief who had stolen precious time from him, time that he would never be able to get back. He hoped that by returning to the scene of his emotional incarceration he would be able to banish some of his heavy negativity towards the region. And of course, there was always the possibility of getting his own back on Sonia. Or at the very least, getting even.
Whilst revenge may have been an iffy motivator for his return to Asia, in Jessie, he was more than confident that he was finally embarking on something long term with the right person.
When Jessie had told him she’d wanted more, he’d flippantly planted the seed of a return to Asia in her head, which she’d jumped on full throttle. That was one of the things he loved best about her—her unbridled enthusiasm for everything. Their fast-tracked affair had been some of the happiest weeks of his life, and he found himself continually delighting in Jessie’s innate sensuality and her good-natured, witty companionship.
During the flight, he’d been unable to concentrate on any of the in-flight entertainment, his mind continually wandering off to think about Jessie. About how kind she was to everyone, about how stubborn and unmoving she could sometimes be about right and wrong. He’d chuckled to himself when she’d refused his offer of an upgrade. And although they both knew his upgrade couldn’t be helped, he knew she was slightly miffed at lady luck for separating them. But still, he was looking forward to kissing and caressing the strain out of her sleep-deprived body later.
Jack had been genuinely surprised by just how much he’d missed her, despite being a matter of metres away. It was only twelve and a bit hours, he’d kept telling himself. He’d thought he could use the time apart to think and plan without Jessie being there to distract him. Not that he’d actually done much of his intended planning. In fact, he was pretty much planless and clueless as to what he was actually going to do with his life in Hong Kong, besides be with Jessie.
Throughout the flight, a nagging question kept positioning itself in the forefront of his mind, so much so that he ended up thinking about nothing else. Did he love Jessie? He thought he did. Jack had never really been one for wearing his heart on his sleeve, but he’d spent a huge part of the duration of this flight considering whether or not it was too soon to take the plunge and tell Jessie how he really felt about her.
Chapter 7
Jessie disembarked the plane at Hong Kong International in fine spirits, although she was far from well rested, seeing as she’d spent the entirety of the flight talking at ten to the dozen. And drinking more than her fair share of Merlot. Trey had made the whole experience thoroughly enjoyable. Once they’d gotten chatting, she’d found him to be something of an expert conversationalist who regaled her for much of the flight with funny anecdotes about his working holiday experiences in the UK. He definitely wasn’t just a pretty body—although he was definitely that, too. He’d also asked her lots of questions and seemed genuinely interested in her career, and her making the move overseas.
Jessie hadn’t seen what she was doing as anything quite as formalised as flirting. It had been more like the pair of them had used the time to admire each other, to while away the hours together on the long journey. There was surely no harm in that, Jessie told herself defiantly.
As Jessie and Trey walked along the jetway into the terminal building, laughing about the idiosyncrasies of the British, Jessie clocked a familiar-looking figure leaning against the wall. As she got closer, she noticed that Jack was not smiling at her. He in no way, shape, or form looked even remotely like he was the least bit pleased to see her after their long-haul flight.
‘Hmm,’ Jessie exhaled to herself as she did a mental run-through of all the potential reasons for him to be pissed off. Coming up blank, Jessie concluded that he must just be cranky through lack of sleep. Maybe business class wasn’t all it was cracked up to be after all!
‘Hi, Jack!’ she said brightly, giving him a wide smile as they approached. ‘I’d like to introduce my flying buddy, Trey. Trey, this is Jack,’ Jessie said, gesturing to each other.
‘Hiya, mate. Good to meet you,’ Trey said easily, proffering his hand. Jessie couldn’t fail to notice the admiring look Trey threw at Jack.
‘Hi,’ Jack said stiffly, taking a moment longer than was quite polite to shake the other man’s hand.
‘Well, Jessie. It was great to meet you, and good luck with your new lives together in Hong Kong,’ Trey said, pulling Jessie into a bear hug.
‘Thanks, Trey. And I hope everything goes well with you back in Melbourne and with you-know-who,’ Jessie replied, giving him a wink and squeezing his bicep before their embrace ended. During the course of the flight, Trey had alluded to there being someone waiting for him back in Australia. Trey then scooped up his hand luggage in that I’m-just-so-unbelievably-strong way that he embodied, and joined the throng of people heading deeper into the heart of the terminal building.
Jessie leaned in to Jack for a hug and a kiss. Only Jack did a first-rate job of shunning her as he turned away and began patting down his bag. He unzipped a pocket and pulled out his passport before he took off at a fair clip towards the immigration hall.
‘Jack!’ Jessie called after him, gathering her things and doing her best to keep up. ‘Jack,’ she repeated again, pulling his arm so he had to look at her. After a couple more paces, Jack finally stopped to one side and glanced around to see if their display had been observed.
‘What the hell is your problem?’ Jessie snapped at him.
‘I don’t have a problem,’ Jack replied sulkily as he continued to scan the crowd above Jessie’s head, rather than look directly at her.
‘No, of course you don’t have a problem,’ Jessie began sarcastically. ‘You’re just being surly, bad-tempered, and frowny for no reason whatsoever. Now what gives?’
Jack continued to avoid Jessie’s eye contact for a few moments more, until Jessie at last stilled his head with a kiss. It seemed to do the trick as his posture visibly relaxed and he looked at his girlfriend properly.
‘I missed you, that’s all,’ Jack said honestly. ‘But you clearly didn’t miss me at all. You looked like you were having a whale of a time.’
‘Oh my God. You’re jealous!’ Jessie exclaimed. She threw back her head and laughed.
‘Of who?’ Jack asked, looking lost.
‘Of Trey, of course.’
‘Of that Aussie wastrel? Don’t be so ridiculous,’ Jack replied, sounding slightly offended.
‘Don’t you trust me to talk to another man?’ Jessie asked seriously, all trace of her earlier smile now gone. ‘I would never cheat on you, surely you know that.’
Jack’s brow furrowed slightly as he considered her words. He fixed her with a pointed look. Although Jessie couldn’t read minds, she had a fair idea that he was thinking about his brother. Or more to the point, the fact that she’d ended up in bed with Charlie during the initial stages of her flirtation with Jack. Jessie had thought that was water under the bridge now, but perhaps she’d been wrong.
‘I trust you,’ Jack said simply, after an uncomfortable silence.
‘Good,’ Jessie said, smiling at him. ‘And if you must know, I
missed you lots. And if you hadn’t scared the Aussie wastrel away with your evil looks, then he’d be able to tell you that practically all I talked about for the past half a day was you. Now let’s stop this silliness and get out of this bloody airport,’ Jessie said assertively as she continued on her way, keen to put this tiff behind them.
Jessie was in a daze as she watched the luggage carousel go round and round, becoming increasingly sparse with bags as they were gradually claimed by their owners. This wasn’t in the script. Jack and her weren’t supposed to move to a new country together, only to have a fight as soon as they stepped off the plane. It had only been a little disagreement, with Jack’s ego dented, but it had also revived the fundamental issue that had stopped them from being together when they’d first met: Jessie had spent years being secretly in love, or so she’d thought, with Charlie. Of course, that didn’t mean she still had feelings for him. She most definitely did not. Jessie didn’t want Charlie to have a recurring role in her relationship with Jack, and she sincerely hoped this wasn’t a precursor to future niggles and arguments between them.
‘I think that’s all the bags arrived,’ Jack said gently. ‘Are you sure your case isn’t here?’
‘No. I haven’t seen it,’ Jessie said, shaking herself from her daze and realising the horrid truth. Although she’d made it safe and sound to Hong Kong, her poor luggage hadn’t. That most definitely hadn’t been in the script. Jack had his bags, which was good, but it didn’t much help Jessie other than give her a few sleepwear options. And to top it all off, Jessie had completely ignored the one piece of useful advice her mother had ever given to her—to take some clean underwear and a change of clothes in her hand luggage. Jessie was furious with herself. Sometimes mothers really do know best.
‘I’m sure it’ll turn up in a few days,’ Jessie said, putting on a brave face, when all she really wanted to do was cry.