Chapter 28
Sutton
Jagger’s alarm went off at six the next morning, but I was already awake, lying on my side looking at him.
“Good morning.” I smiled.
He stretched. “I don’t remember the last time the alarm actually woke me up. I set it, but I’m always up before it goes off.”
“I’m glad you slept well.”
“You look like you’ve been up for a while.”
“Not too long. Maybe an hour.”
“Have you just been staring at me?”
“I’ve been thinking, actually.”
He kissed my forehead. “Uh-oh. That doesn’t sound good.”
I smiled again. “I want to come with you today.”
“To Ohio?”
I nodded. “I was serious when I said I’d like to help out with the girls.”
“Sutton—”
I pressed two fingers to his lips. “Before you tell me the million reasons why you’re not right for me and we shouldn’t get too close, I should tell you that I’m not taking no for an answer.”
His eyebrow quirked, and he nipped at the tip of my pointer. “Is that so?”
“Ow.” I pulled my finger back and shook it. “And yes. If you want to continue to be able to tell me what to do in the bedroom, you’re going to have to give elsewhere, so I don’t feel like everything is completely one-sided.”
Jagger grabbed my hand and brought it to his mouth, kissing the finger he’d just bitten. “I thought you enjoyed giving up control.”
“I do. I absolutely do. But I need to be heard, Jagger. I want to support you. It doesn’t mean I think you’re going to propose, or that we need to do every little thing together, but I do need balance to feel like I’m not being used.”
Jagger’s face grew serious. He looked into my eyes, and by some miracle, I kept from cracking. Eventually, he nodded. “Okay.”
My eyes widened. “Really? Okay? I thought you were going to be way more difficult than that.”
His eyes narrowed. “Are you saying I’m a pushover?”
“No. No. You’re more of a tyrant.”
Both his brows popped this time. “A tyrant?”
“Well, yes. You’re bossy.”
He shook his head. “I think you should quit while you’re ahead, Sutton.”
I grinned and pressed my lips to his. “Thank you for giving in. I really didn’t want to give up the mind-blowing orgasms.”
Jagger chuckled. He looked so much younger when he was relaxed like this. “We have to get on the road by seven thirty. The social worker is meeting me there at eleven, and it’s a two-hour flight.”
“I need to run home and get a change of clothes, take a quick shower.”
“Sam will take you. I’ll have him drop you off, then come back and get me, and we’ll pick you up again on the way to the airport. How does that sound?”
“Perfect. Thank you.”
“I need to get in the shower and make a few business calls.” Jagger pulled back the cover and stood. I hadn’t really gotten the chance to check out his bare ass before. It was firm and sculpted like the rest of the man.
“Jeez. You must do a lot of squats.”
He turned, and apparently his ass wasn’t the only thing hard. I licked my lips without even realizing I was doing it.
“Stop looking at me like that or neither one of us is going to make it to the airport on time.”
I nibbled on my lip. “Good point. But save that for later. Maybe I can join the mile-high club.”
***
I’d never been on a private plane before.
Jagger was finishing up a last-minute work call before we taxied to the runway, so I took a moment to snoop around.
Supple leather seats that swiveled, two full-size couches that faced each other, a conference table in the back, not to mention a private bedroom.
And everything was so nicely coordinated—the navy piping in the cream seats matched the throw pillows, and the blankets on the couch and the velvet bedspread in the sleeping cabin had the Apex logo monogrammed in cream.
The captain came back just as Jagger finished his call.
“We should get going. We have wheels-up in seven minutes or we’re going to get stuck behind a band of traffic and get pushed to forty minutes.”
Jagger nodded. “Ready when you are.”
The captain went back to the cockpit. A minute later, the flight attendant came in holding two travel mugs with the Apex logo. She smiled. “Black for you, Mr. Langston, and cappuccino with one sugar for you, Ms. Holland. I’ll serve breakfast after we’ve leveled out.”
“Thank you, Renee.”
She smiled at Jagger and passed me a mug.
“Thank you so much,” I told her.
“I hope you don’t mind, but I have a few more emails to get out,” Jagger said.
“Once the girls are with us, I won’t get five minutes again until they crash tonight.
The first day they’re with me, they’re always extra hyperactive.
I think it’s their nerves, because they usually settle within a day or two. ”
“Not at all. Do whatever you have to do.”
I didn’t particularly love the take-off part of flying, so once the plane started to move, I shut my eyes and kept quiet, focusing on taking deep breaths and staying calm. After we leveled out, my grip on the armrest of my chair loosened, and I opened my eyes.
Renee returned with a tray and sat it in front of me. “Breakfast. Would you like another cappuccino?”
“No, I’m good. Thank you.”
She looked to Jagger. “I’ll be back with yours, and I don’t have to ask if you want more coffee.”
He smiled. “Thanks, Renee.”
I waited until we both had our trays to take the silver dome off the plate.
Jagger’s had a big omelet and sausage links, while mine had yogurt with a side of blueberries and honey.
I’d thought it was coincidence that the flight attendant had brought me my coffee exactly the way I took it, but this couldn’t be one, too.
“How did they know what I like for breakfast?” I asked Jagger.
“I texted them this morning after you left to go to your apartment and get ready.”
“But how did you know? We’ve never had breakfast together?”
Jagger smirked. “The eye in the sky in the office. I’ve spent waaay too much time watching that damn feed.”
Wow. Just wow. The busy CEO who not only watched me but remembered what I liked too. “What else did you learn about me from that thing?”
“Other than a member of my legal team has too much time on his hands and needs to be reminded of the no-fraternization policy in the employee handbook? I noticed that you often put your palms flat on your desk.”
I blinked. “You noticed that?”
Jagger’s eyes met mine. “I notice everything about you, whether I want to or not.”
My chest tightened. “Miles has never even noticed that I do that. Honestly, I didn’t realize it until a therapist pointed it out to me.
Dr. French noticed after two visits. The night I was drugged, my hands were at my sides, and I kept thinking if I could only get my palms flat, I could push up and bang my head against his and try to get away.
I sort of hyper-focused on it during the whole thing, but of course, I couldn’t move. ”
Jagger’s jaw flexed. “I’m sorry I brought it up.”
I smiled sadly. “It’s fine. I just can’t believe you picked up on it. My therapist said it’s called grounding. I actually do it with my feet as well. I don’t even realize it most of the time. But it helps me relax.”
Jagger nodded. He was quiet for a moment.
“I used to shower four or five times a day when my mother would stop taking her meds and go off the deep end, ranting about the government watching us or some other paranoia tirade.” He smiled.
“I don’t do it that often anymore, but it’s one of the reasons I picked an office space with a shower.
Every once in a while, when I’m feeling overly stressed, I take a shower mid-day at the office. ”
I smiled. “You must be clean as a whistle this week.”
“Actually…” His eyes dropped to my lips. “I think I’ve found something better to relax me these days.”
I knew Jagger was just talking about sex, but I liked the thought of being something that could help ground him. “Are you…feeling stressed now?”
His eyes darkened as they swept over me. “Finish your breakfast. Quickly.”
I nibbled on my bottom lip. “Have you ever…on a plane?”
He shook his head. “No. I’ve never traveled with a woman other than a business associate.”
“Not ever? What about on vacation or a weekend away?”
“I haven’t taken a vacation in five years, and my previous relationship arrangements didn’t include spending much time together outside of the bedroom.”
A surge of jealousy twisted in my gut. It was stupid—I knew that. But I couldn’t stop it from happening.
Jagger smiled. “I’m damn lucky you were a virgin, or I’d want to strangle every man who’d had you before me, too.”
“How do you know what I’m thinking?”
“You wear your feelings on your face, Sutton.” He pointed to my breakfast with his fork. “Now eat, and then get your ass to the back bedroom and strip naked.”
***
An hour later, I was buckling my seatbelt when my eyes met the flight attendant’s, who was in the front of the cabin. I quickly looked away and whispered to Jagger. “I feel like Renee knows what we did back there.”
“So?” Jagger shrugged. “Are you embarrassed? I’d fuck you anywhere and not care who knows it.”
“There’s a double standard for women. If we sleep around, we’re promiscuous, but if men do it, they’re studs.”
“I get it.” He reached over and took my hand, bringing it to his lips for a kiss. “But we’re also not sleeping around. We’re sleeping with each other.”
“Are we…exclusive now?”
Jagger had started to lower our joined hands but froze midway to the armrest. “Do you want to sleep with other men?”
“No, but I wasn’t sure if you did exclusive.”
“I wouldn’t expect anything from you that I wasn’t willing to give. And the thought of another man touching you? There aren’t enough showers in the world for that.”
I smiled. “Okay.”
The pilot came on overhead and announced that we were beginning our initial descent into Cleveland Airport. A few minutes later, Renee came to collect our drinks. I looked out the window as we lowered through clouds and the land beneath came into view.
“Do you have family in Ohio? Is that why your sister is here?”
He shook his head. “Catherine spent a week here in the summer when she was thirteen. NASA has a research center in Cleveland. My sister used to compete in these science competitions, and one year she won a week of Space Camp. She got to spend a week shadowing astronauts and learning about everything NASA was doing. Cat’s four years older than me, but I still remember my mom bringing us here that week.
I was so pissed that they gave her all these logoed NASA clothes, and I didn’t get any. ”
I laughed, and Jagger continued. “While she was here, Catherine found out that Ohio has more astronauts per capita than any other state, and she decided she wanted to be an astronaut and live here when she grew up. Things didn’t turn out exactly as she’d planned.
She’s bounced around to a lot of cities, but she always finds her way back here. ”
“Where does your mom live?”
I knew before he answered that he was about to say something bad.
“My mother died a few years ago.”
“Oh. I didn’t know. I’m sorry.”
He nodded and looked out the window. I thought that was going to be the end of the conversation, but a minute later, he surprised me when he turned back.
“She accidentally overdosed on her prescription meds. At least that’s what the death report said.
But I’ve always assumed it might not have been an accident.
Doctors always underestimated my mother because of her condition.
The only time they saw her was at her worst, but at her best, she was an extremely intelligent woman.
It was difficult for her to hold down jobs long term, but even working at the grocery store, she’d memorize the codes to key in for all the different fruits and vegetables the first day.
” He smiled. “She graduated high school two years early like some other smarty pants I know.”
“Yeah, I’m so smart, you had to let me win when we did the algorithm calculation face-off.”
“You’re young and haven’t spent years working through those like I have. Trust me, you blow the doors off my abilities at your age.”
I didn’t think that was true, but rather than say so, I squeezed his hand. “I really am sorry about your mother. I know from experience that it’s difficult to move past things when there are still unknowns in your mind.”
When Jagger and I first met, I’d thought we were complete opposites.
I was a young, inexperienced, virgin intern, and he was the older, billionaire CEO who met women on kinky dating apps.
But the more time I spent with him, the more I realized we had a lot in common—and not just the way we both seemed to like things in the bedroom.
It gave me hope that maybe there could be more to us than just what Jagger was adamant we were.