Chapter 17
I’m sitting in absolute shock, covered in someone else’s vomit, trapped in my window seat, cursing Reid and his bad airline luck that has now somehow transferred to me. Then it dawns on me that I am covered in vomit and all my clothes are in my checked luggage in the bowels of this plane.
I mutter to myself, using a flimsy napkin to try and wipe off the seatbelt buckle so I can get out. It disintegrates in my fingers and I fight the urge to gag. Unsuccessfully, but I’m doing my best.
“I am so sorry,” the girl says.
I wave her off despite my eyes watering. “Accidents happen.” And they do. It’s fine. Disgusting, but fine. I finally get my belt unbuckled and gesture to her. “Do you mind if I get up?”
“Oh, right. Sorry.”
The man next to her has been out of his seat and standing in the aisle since she turned to face me.
He backs up several steps as she gets out as if he’s afraid she’ll turn and yak all over him too.
The girl slides out just as the flight attendant finally approaches, rolls of paper towels in her hands to help clean the mess.
“I’m so sorry,” the girl apologizes again, this time to the flight attendant.
“Happens all the time,” she says. But I feel like the pulled grin on her face is too polite.
I get the feeling this is a tragic rarity she didn’t want to ever have to add to her resume.
“We’ll get this all cleaned up and figured out.
There’s a bathroom that way,” she reminds the girl, giving a pointed look at her own dirtied clothes, “and you,” she points at me with the towels, “can use the one up in first class.”
I look down at my ruined clothes, realizing I’ll have to walk through first class looking and smelling like a frat house floor. I chew on my lip as I stare up at the section, then turn to the woman. “I don’t suppose you have spare clothes on this flight for situations like this.”
“That’s what your carry-on is for,” she deadpans.
“No replacement clothes in there, unfortunately. They’re all in my checked bag.”
“Sorry,” she says, moving past me to start spraying the seats with a disinfectant spray. She clearly has bigger fish to fry, so I accept my smelly fate and slink off through first class.
It only hits me after I’ve opened the curtain that Reid is sitting here. I’ll have to walk past Reid in this state.
I could cry.
His eyes find me almost immediately, widening as he takes in the sight of me. I just walk faster, zeroed in on the salvation of a teeny tiny airplane bathroom. I quickly shut the door behind me and survey the damage in the mirror.
Now that I’m locked in a small space, the reality hits me and I’m gagging as I try to get the shirt off without getting it on my face or in my hair.
I honestly wish I had a scissors to just cut it off at this point, but we’ll just work with what we’ve got here.
Once I have it off, I toss it in the sink and douse it with hand soap.
I have no idea what else to do. I don’t have any other clothes.
My only shirt is soaking wet in a bathroom sink as I stand in my bra and leggings, which, upon further inspection, are also carnage now.
I sigh in defeat, pulling the leggings down my legs and tossing them in the tiny sink too.
I aggressively scrub soap up and down my arms and legs as I contemplate my next move.
What am I going to do? I can’t walk out of here in my underwear. Maybe I can crack open the door and at least get a blanket or something from the flight attendant. Maybe they have a spare uniform I can cram into.
I’m rinsing the third round of soap off my forearms when a knock sounds at the door.
“Occupied,” I call.
“It’s me.”
I freeze at the voice.
“I’m fine, thanks.”
The last thing I need is Reid freaking Matthews seeing me like this.
“I have an extra shirt. Just let me in.”
“Oh thank God.”
I crack open the door, ready to stick my hand out, but Reid shoulders in and shuts the door behind him.
When he turns back around he freezes. His eyes travel slowly down my body.
Once. Twice. The muscles of his throat work as he swallows hard.
His blue eyes finally find my face again and he seems to come back to reality.
“Sorry, I . . . didn’t expect . . .”
“Me to be in my underwear?”
“Yeah. I . . .” he clears his throat. Shakes his head. Drops his gaze to the shirt in his hand. And suddenly I feel just a little colder without his eyes on me. “Here,” he says, eyes still downcast. “I grabbed a shirt from my carry-on for you.”
I grab the cotton button-up and slide it on my arms. “Thanks, Reid. You’re a lifesaver. I almost had to walk out of here in my underwear.”
“Well, obviously we can’t have that.”
“I know. How mortifying.”
He shakes his head. “I’d have to fight everyone on here who looked at you if you walked out of here looking like that.”
“Vulnerable and naked?”
His eyes find mine again, a new fire burning in them. “Sinfully sexy.”
The breath leaves my lungs. My face flushes. My fingers pause on the first button as his words hit me. He swallows again. Both of us stand there, absolutely frozen, only an inch of space between us in this tiny closet in the sky.
“Oh, screw it,” he says, just as his fingers slide in my hair, pulling my face to his.
I drop the fabric, letting my arms wrap around his neck, pressing him closer to me until there’s barely even room to breathe.
But who needs to breathe at a moment like this anyways?
His lips are soft and warm and gentle, but they’re moving with a purpose.
His teeth graze my bottom lip and I’m not proud of the sound that escapes me.
I feel his lips turn up into a smile against mine.
“I know you’ve been dying to kiss me,” he murmurs against my mouth, the words coming out just as breathless as I feel.
“Oh, shut up.” My hand slides to the back of his head and I pull his mouth back to mine, not at all ready for this kiss to be over.
Reid gives me another soft, slow kiss before pulling back, resting his forehead against mine. His chest rises and falls against mine and I think I could stay here, in this ridiculously small airplane bathroom forever so long as he’s in here with me.
“Sorry,” he says. “It’s just that seeing you in my shirt was the best thing I’ve seen in . . . in a long time.”
“Better than me not even wearing a shirt?”
“Oh, no, that was a league of its own.”
A laugh bubbles out of me. “Spectacular.”
He hesitates for a moment. Long enough that I pull my forehead from his and look into his eyes. He stares back at me for a moment as he catches his breath, and I can practically see the thoughts swirling in his mind. After a beat, he finally says, “I . . . really like you, Jane.”
“Don’t say that like it’s a bad thing.”
“It’s not a bad thing. It’s phenomenal. It’s just . . . I don’t . . . I don’t date. I don’t get feelings for girls. I’m new at this and it scares me.” He huffs a laugh, running his fingers through dark hair that I want to tousle just as badly. “God that feels absolutely pathetic to admit.”
“It’s not pathetic.” I give into the urge and run my fingers through his hair, dragging them down until I’m touching his cheek. He leans into the touch like a cat being pet and I smile. “It’s honestly kind of flattering.”
“I just want to make sure I do everything right for you. You deserve that and more. A million times more.” A slow smile touches his lips and he leans forward, slowly this time, more patient and timid. When he presses a soft kiss to my lips it’s sweet and slow and I melt into it.
“I like you too, by the way,” I murmur. “In case that wasn’t obvious.”
He exhales. “Thank god, or this whole confession would’ve been really embarrassing.”
“Oh come on, I’m sure you picked up on it.”
“Well, yeah. You were practically throwing yourself at me this whole time.” I roll my eyes. He presses another kiss to my lips with another smile.
A knock at the door has us jumping apart and whatever small space is available in this tiny bathroom. Spoiler: it’s none. We’re still entwined together, my back pressed against the small sink and Reid’s against the door.
“Hey, two of you can’t be in there at the same time.” I recognize the flight attendant’s voice.
Reid’s still staring at me, his gaze completely unwavering from my face as he calls back, “Sorry, just delivering a clean shirt.” An amused smile touches his face and he drags his thumb across my bottom lip, almost like a promise that this isn’t over. This conversation. This moment. This kiss.
My lips burn at his touch, but he drops his hand from my face and grabs the bottom hem of the shirt and swiftly starts doing up the buttons.
The shirt thankfully hits mid thigh, considering how tall Reid is.
Not an outfit I would feel comfortable wearing on an airplane, but don’t know that I have another option.
“Okay, well if she’s done, she needs to come out.” The flight attendant’s tone is slightly more impatient and I briefly wonder how many times she’s had to break apart people trying to join the mile high club. Not that that’s what we’re doing here, but still.
He gives me one more kiss before turning to open the door.
I turn around, looking at my stained clothes in the sink.
There’s no point in salvaging them. They were both old and from bargain bins anyways.
I pick up the wet clothes and toss them in the garbage can.
Reid has already vacated the bathroom and when I finally come to the door, the stewardess stops me.
“We’re working on finishing cleaning up the seat, but I’d be more than happy to give you a new one. You don’t deserve to be crammed back there again.”
“You have an empty seat?” I can hardly believe my luck. I wish it was a little bit sooner so I wouldn’t have gotten thrown up on in the first place, but beggars can’t be choosers, and they have one now when it matters.
She nods at me. “Follow me.”