Grounded (Up in the Air #3)(52)

“Hey. Are we good?” Damien asked her, his voice worried.

“We’re fine,” Jessa replied in a flat voice, sounding anything but fine.

“I feel like a jerk. I didn’t know you felt that way. Frankly, I thought you’d forgotten about the whole thing, since you never mention it.”

“Don’t worry about it, Damien. One unhappy customer out of a thousand should hardly mess up your average.”

He cursed, and I couldn’t help it, I glanced over at them.

Damien’s back was to me, but Jessa was facing me, and I saw her face clearly as she rolled her eyes.

“I didn’t know it was bad for you. It wasn’t bad for me. In fact, it was pretty amazing. I’d like to…make it up to you, if you’d let me. You could show me what you didn’t like—help me work on my technique.”

Jessa snorted loudly.

Apparently, I wasn’t the only one shamelessly eavesdropping. Murphy started swaying and singing, “Player’s gonna play…”

“Here’s the thing, Damien. It was a hell of a lot more than your technique that wasn’t working out for me. The pining for a chick that’s never going to look at you twice thing was the biggest turn off, and the fact that you didn’t bother to clue me in about your little hang-up before we hopped in the sack. I never do the casual sex thing, and the way you turned into a stranger the second we were done reminded me very clearly why. Sex is not just a bodily function for me. I require some semblance of intimacy with the act, and you wouldn’t know intimacy if it punched you in the face.

“I hear you’ve been celibate for the last few months,” Jessa continued mercilessly. “Waiting for a chick that is never going to want you. You’re not an idiot, you know she’s not going to leave her drop-dead gorgeous, so f**king hot that they look like they want to f**k each other in public, billionaire boyfriend for you. It’s just another crazy-ass way for you to avoid real feelings. The only way you could be good in bed for me would if you became a complete person, not just some shell of a man that doesn’t have a middle ground between putting women on a pedestal and degrading them with meaningless sex.”

Murphy clutched his chest, falling to his knees. “I felt that right here, my friend!” he called out to Damien, not even bothering to hide the fact that we’d all been shamelessly listening to the entire exchange.

“How about we have this little chat in private,” Damien said, his tone hard. We all watched silently while he grabbed Jessa by the arm and led her resolutely away.

She went easily enough, just muttering one loud, “Neanderthal,” as they walked away.

I looked at James, who’d been silent throughout the exchange. “Maybe those two will work things out and start dating,” I said hopefully.

James studied me. “Do you want that?”

I sent him a baffled look. “Of course I do. Damien needs to move on, and Jessa would be good for anybody. She’s one of the most open and honest people I’ve ever met. Talking to her is like chatting with a really good therapist.”

“Nah,” Murphy said, getting back up. “Damien’s pretty clear about what he likes from women. He likes to be ignored, not yelled at. She’s not his type at all.”

I gave my little shrug. “Maybe he needs to find a new type.”

Murphy grinned. “Now wouldn’t that be awesome.”

Damien and Jessa never returned to the club, at least not before James and I left, and I took that as a very good sign.

We made our rounds, saying goodbye to everyone at around eleven. James was rather quiet but sweet on the short trip back to the apartment. He nuzzled into my neck, placing soft, sweet kisses there. It wasn’t his usual style, but I still melted.

He made love to me again before I sank into a deep and dreamless sleep.

I was pleasantly surprised the next morning when I realized that he was traveling to Vegas with me that day. I’d known that he was planning to spend part of his week there with me, but we hadn’t discussed when he was flying out.

We got dressed together, holding hands quietly while we made our way down to the waiting car.

“I discussed it with Stephan last night. You don’t have to take the airport shuttle with the crew. It’s at your lead’s discretion, and he gave us the green light, so you can ride with me.”

I just nodded.

The flight went well. The whole day did, in fact. There was a brief moment of tension when James found out that, though I was taking the furlough, I would still be working my regular schedule for at least two more weeks. He didn’t like that. I hadn’t thought he would, but I wouldn’t budge.

“This company gave me an invaluable opportunity that changed my life. That means a lot to me. They’ve asked us to stay on our schedules for two more weeks, and I won’t bail early and mess up staffing in the meantime. I won’t budge on this, James.”

My little speech was impassioned enough that he let it go pretty quickly, for him. Even if he couldn’t understand why I would have a feeling of loyalty towards a company that was on its way out, he at least respected it. That warmed me. He didn’t always understand me, but I could have no doubts that he tried to.

The next few days went like that. Every possible bump in the road gave us little resistance. He didn’t complain when I had to work for most of Sunday, just kissed me a lingering goodbye with a murmured, “I love you.”