21. Chapter Twenty-One - Lexie
Lexie
"We are here, sweetheart," Jackson's low voice whispers right next to my ear, and my eyes flutter open and I sit up abruptly when I realize I fell asleep.
"Sorry," I mumble, wiping the sleep from my eyes. Oh God, how embarrassing. Sleeping in bed together is one thing, but sleeping on him in broad daylight?
"It’s fine." His hand finds my hair and gently pats it down where it must have been messed up from leaning on his shoulder. "You’re really cute when you sleep."
"I am?" I raise an eyebrow. "Pretty sure I’m just a drooly mess."
"I mean, you do drool." He grins and points at a little fleck on his shirt. "But you’re really adorable doing it. You have my blank permission to slobber on me."
"No way,” I groan and hide my face behind my hands. “Thank you though," I say and peek through a gap between my fingers. "I’m sure I’ll make use of it. Now, where are we again?"
I lower my hands, and he leans over me to open my door, following me as I climb out of the car and turn around myself to see where we are.
"What the…"
My words trail off as I take in the view. We’re standing in front of a wide field with… “Is that a fucking helicopter?”
"Why yes, it is a fucking helicopter." Jackson grins, clearly amused by my swearing.
"We’re not… totally going to fly that?" I ask, disbelief coloring my tone.
He looks like a little boy on Christmas morning as he takes my hand and pulls me after him. “Wait, for real?”
He leans down as he leads me closer to it. "I could make you come right over the roofs of London. What do you think?"
"I think you’ve lost your goddamn mind," I mumble, shaking my head at him. "The car was already cutting it close. But we’re not doing that in front of other people, for God’s sake." My eyes are still glued to the helicopter and I stare at it with awe. "This must have been expensive as hell!"
"Eh, the price of three to four rounds on the London Eye and I figured this was more fun," he says with a wink, then pulls me closer to him to whisper-shout in my ear. "Being a celebrity just means disclosure can be bought." He shrugs. "I’m sure seeing a beautiful girl come isn’t the worst thing our pilot has seen."
"Yeah, that is still a no." I shake my head firmly, and he looks hurt for a second, so I quickly clarify. "At the coming-in-the-sky part. Not the flying. The flying is a yes. Oh my God, I can’t believe it."
As we walk closer, Jackson greets our pilot, and I follow suit, although the helicopter is so loud I don’t quite catch his name. Then he hands us some heavy helmets with headsets and shows us how to strap them in before we step into the metal death machine.
"Fuck, now I’m getting nervous," I admit, trying to put on the headset.
"It’s going to be fun," he assures me, taking the headset from my hands. Before I can ask what he’s doing, he places it on me, situating my hair so it doesn’t get caught in the fastener.
"There you go,” he declares with a happy nod.
"Thank you." I grin, quickly grabbing his hand once his headset is situated as well.
"You guys want the commentary?" the pilot asks, startling me when his voice comes through the headphones.
"Sure," Jackson says, shooting me a wink.
I hate to admit it, but the clunky headphones and microphones are not sexy at all, not even on him. Neither is the way the helicopter moves as it lifts off the ground, because it bucks and jerks us around as it lifts to the air.
We might be wearing seatbelts, but holy fuck, this feels like a damn rollercoaster compared to being on a plane. I cling onto Jackson’s arm, and he squeezes my thigh with a force that tells me it’s affecting him too.
We’re in the air for what feels like only a minute or two until the pilot starts to point out landmarks to us and explains, "There’s the London Eye.”
That catches my attention, and I almost climb into Jackson’s lap to see it from his window.
"It looks so tiny from here," I say, and Jackson nods in agreement. The two of us stare in awe as the pilot explains where we’re flying over.
I knew Buckingham Palace was massive, but seeing it from the air… holy fucking shit. It’s the only part of London we’re flying over where you could probably truly get lost—well, if it weren’t for the guards not letting you in in the first place, obviously.
But the ride is over before we know it and I’m not sure if it just passed in the blink of an eye or was actually super short. As the helicopter lands, I find myself clinging onto Jackson’s arm yet again, a silent squeal escaping me when the helicopter touches the ground.
"The whole turbulence thing is really not for the faint-hearted," I say, clutching my shirt right above my heart, which is beating fast like it expects the helicopter to crash any second, even though we’re already on the ground.
"Well, I hope you enjoyed your flight," the pilot says with a grin, giving us the okay to disembark.
"Holy fuck," I exhale as I put down the headset. My head suddenly feels so light and I shake out my hair.
Jackson climbs out first and holds out his hand to help me down, bursting into laughter when my knees start shaking as I follow him.
"Ha ha," I say dryly, clinging to his hand to avoid collapsing like a marionette with its strings cut. "You should be worried that it was him who made my knees weak, not you."
"Oh, well." He leans down, and I squeal in surprise when he suddenly picks me up in a princess carry, like I weigh nothing.
"Can’t have that," he mumbles against my ear. "Better take another nap in the car right now because I’ve got plans for tonight."
"Looking forward to them," I whisper, nipping at the skin right below his ear and making goosebumps rise right there. "I could get used to you carrying me though."
"Listen, I’ll carry you wherever the fuck you want me to," he mumbles with a grin, then sets me down as we reach the car to open the door for me.
"Get in, princess."
"Ooh, I like that." I grin.
"Come on, Beautiful, wake up." Jackson's gentle voice is right next to my ear, and I wake slowly. This is becoming a recurring thing, it seems.
"Huh?"
"We're back home," he says. "I brought you to my place, but I can also have Max drive you back. What do you think?"
"I think I’ll take any bed right now," I mumble, slowly blinking my eyes open, lips lifting into a lazy grin. "Yours will do."
"Good to hear that." He chuckles and reaches over me to open the car door, but I shake my head.
"What was that before? You’re going to carry me anywhere I want?"
"Greedy," he teases me with a low chuckle and climbs out of the car, appearing on my side within seconds and gathering me into his arms.
"That’s the danger of starting the princess treatment early," I tease him, playfully poking his cheek. “I’ll get used to it.” He’s carrying me princess style, in the perfect position for me to lean forward and press a kiss against his neck while I lock my hands around his shoulders. "Now there’s no going back."
He shakes his head at me. "I wouldn’t want to go back," he mumbles, squeezing me to him.
He keeps me secure in his arms as we ride up the elevator to his apartment. My eyes are already falling closed again, and I mumble in protest when he has to set me down to open his apartment door.
"We’re almost there," he says, pressing a kiss to the top of my head. “Don’t worry, my bed is waiting for you.”
"Good thing I can sleep in tomorrow," I mumble. This day just wiped me out. That helicopter ride brought so much excitement, additionally to the nonstop cupcake piping, I’m fucking exhausted, and I can’t think of anything better than getting to fall asleep in Jackson’s arms.
"What the—?" Jackson wonders aloud as his door clicks open. "Why isn’t it locked?"
And just like that, I’m suddenly wide awake.
"Should it be?" I ask, alarmed, my heart beating in my throat as we stare at each other with wide eyes. What now? “Do I need to call the police?” I fumble for my phone, but he shakes his head.
"Wait here," Jackson says firmly and pushes the door open, leaving it slightly ajar as he sneaks inside. Then I hear a relieved sigh, but I keep my phone ready for now.
"What the hell are you doing here?" I hear him say, and the tension seeps out of my body. That doesn’t sound like a home invader.
"Lexie, you can come in." Apprehensively, I push the door open and stop in my tracks when I see a stranger in what I assume to be Jackson’s living room. "This is my brother, Adam."
His brother? I look between the two of them for a second, confused, before I shake my head and collect myself.
"Nice to meet you," I say awkwardly, stepping inside and extending my hand.
The people-pleaser in me wants to say I’ve heard a lot about him, but the truth is I haven’t. Obviously. My research on Jackson showed he had brothers, but I didn’t want to dig deeper, assuming he’d fill me in once we got serious. We just didn’t have that talk yet.
"Good to meet you," Adam replies, shaking my hand.
At first glance, the two don’t look similar, but the more I look at Adam, the little similarities I notice: the bridge of their noses has the same little hill, their eyes are shaped the same, there’s a little swirl in their hairlines, and they have a matching dimple when they grin.
I go to stand next to Jackson, my eyes darting between the two of them awkwardly. "Is everything okay?" I whisper, and he reaches for my hand, clasping it in his.
It’s obvious there’s tension between them, so I step onto my tiptoes and press my lips to his cheek.
"I’m going to wait for you in the bedroom, alright? Take your time." He turns his face so I can press my lips to his for a quick kiss.
"He can wait for a moment. I’m coming with you," he mumbles and squeezes my hand. Turning back to Adam, he puts an arm around my waist and leads me to the bedroom.
"Feel free to find some clothes to sleep in," he says, nodding to the far side of the room, where another door presumably leads to a walk-in closet. "I'm sorry. This might take a bit. You don’t have to wait up for me."
I hide a yawn behind my hand. "Feel free to wake me up if you need to vent afterward."
"I will," he agrees, cradling my face in his hands and pressing his lips to my forehead. "Sweet dreams, Lexie."
"Sweet dreams, Jackson," I reply.
I watch him trudge out of the bedroom, then take a proper look at his bed.
"Hell yes," I whisper when I see its size. I whisper again when I take a testing seat. Oh, I’m going to sleep like a princess in here.