Even though I never saw myself as someone who would eventually get married, John had been different from the very beginning. And the longer I thought about it, the more it failed to terrify me.
I was busy booking our return flight while he drove as quickly as possible. “We can make the seven p.m. flight if we get there in the next hour. Want me to book it?”
He checked the GPS for traffic along the route, then nodded. “Yeah, go ahead. We’ll make it.”
“Okay. I need your phone to book yours.”
Reaching for it, I looked at him. “Passcode?”
John glanced at me sheepishly, then cleared his throat. “123123.”
I smiled. “Afraid you’ll forget the code? You know any hacker with half a keyboard could break into this, right?”
“Hardy har. Just book the fucking ticket.”
I bit my lip and went back to work. Ten minutes later, I had us booked in first class for our return flight to PDX.
When I closed his app, the overwhelming urge to look at his photos overtook me. I sat my phone on the seat and opened his photos app. The last photos he’d taken were from today, but as I scrolled on, my breath caught in my chest.
John had taken a photo of us on the bed at the hotel. I was plastered across his chest, passed out while he smiled up at the camera. He was exhausted, but he also looked … happy. After hours of dealing with my sick ass, he still looked happy.
Scrolling on, I found pictures of the apartment, and then a beautiful girl that looked like him. The look on her face matched him, and it was the same one in the photo earlier. Happiness.
Allowing myself to fall for him was more dangerous than any mission I’d ever been on. But I wasn’t sure I could stop myself even if I tried.
“Get us booked?” he asked, glancing over at me momentarily.
“Yeah, we’re good to go.” I darkened the screen on his phone and went back to my own.
I had a fuck ton to think about, but wouldn’t go back on my word. I’d agreed to ninety days with him before we decided what we were going to do.
Staring out the window as we approached the airport, I thought about my friends. Telling Dare what we’d done would be easy since he’d just eloped with the man he loved to hate. Phantom wasn’t married yet, but he and Adam might as well be. Then there was GQ and Dominick. They were perfect for each other and Livie.
I glanced over at John and his chiseled jaw. His features were relaxed as he sang along with the song on the radio. Could I see myself with him?
He must have felt me staring. “You okay? You’re not getting a goddamn burger if your stomach is upset. Maybe we should wait to eat until we get to Portland. We can grab something and take it home. Tomorrow we’re going grocery shopping.”
I nodded, making no argument, but continued to stare at him. “Whatever you want to do is fine with me.”
John slowly panned to me, making me smile. Then he put his hand on my forehead.
“What? What did I do now?” I laughed.
“Just making sure you didn’t have a fever. It’s unlike you to agree.”
I laughed and pushed his hand away. “Oh fuck off.”
But he caught it and held my hand in his. His smile was warm and reached his eyes. Right then I knew I had no chance of coming out of this thing with him unscathed.
After we turned in the car and grabbed our bags, we ceremoniously dropped our Rush shirts in the trashcan outside the airport. After checking in and clearing security, we found seats at our gate. As we settled in, John elbowed me.
“Did you really have to do that today?”
I scowled at him and then spoke very low. “What’s wrong with the way I handled it? Turner’s a homophobic dickwad and his management needed to see it. It will save that owner a ton of trouble in the end. If they let him go, then that will prove he had a contract, and it’ll help Greer. So the way I look at it, I was protecting Dare.”
“So you’re saying a protector also needs a protector.”
I thought about that. “I guess we all need someone to have our backs now and then. Not me, but most people.” I leanedcloser and dropped my timbre. “And I gotta tell you that that 'back the fuck off' in that authoritative tone really did it for me.”
