In Flight (Up in the Air #1)(12)

I looked at Stephan, who was looking a little sheepish. “It’s an old nickname, from when we were kids. Bee will have to tell you the story sometime.”

“I look forward to it. Does she drink like this often?” James asked casually, but I thought there was a slight edge to his voice. He was still just talking to Stephan. About me, and in front of me. It was infuriating.

“All the time,” I said loudly.

“This is the first time she’s had a drink since the month she turned twenty-one,” Stephen said quietly. “At least two years ago.”

James’s mouth was at my ear again. “You remember what I told you about lying to me,” he warned softly. “That’s two.”

He’d said he’d put me over his knee. “He’s a kinky bastard,” I thought drunkenly.

Oops, I’d said that out loud. Luckily, only James had heard. He laughed, showing even white teeth. He hadn’t taken it as an insult. He nodded at me, making very solid eye contact. He agreed.

“I need to go to the bathroom,” I declared loudly.

“I’ll help you get there, Buttercup,” James told me. Stephan rose as we moved, as though to help. James waved him down. “I’ve got her.”

And he did. He wrapped my arm around him and took the brunt of my weight as he led me effortlessly through the crowd toward the restrooms.

“Why are you here?” I asked him bluntly.

“Well, I came here because I very much want to f**k you until neither of us can walk. I want you so bad I can’t see straight. But since that won’t be happening now, I’m staying to make sure you make it back to your room in one piece.”

“Why won’t that be happening now?” I asked him. I knew it was a bad question, one that implied that I was disappointed that it wouldn’t be happening, but I was just too drunk and curious to care.

He looked at me, brow raised. “I won’t touch you while you’re impaired. Never. I just don’t do that.”

“So you give up?” I challenged, but it came out as more of a whine.

He surprised me by kissing the top of my head. “Far from it. I still intend to f**k you senseless. Just not tonight, Buttercup. And I’d appreciate it if you could refrain from ever getting yourself into this condition again.” His arms and the kiss had been soft and sweet, but his words and his tone were icy.

What a strange man, I thought. How could someone sound so cold while calling me Buttercup?

I stopped suddenly. We were against the wall now, close to the hallway that led to the restrooms. I turned in his arms, pressing up against him. He sucked in a breath at the sudden contact. I looked into his eyes. He looked back, his eyes hard. “Yes?” he asked me sharply.

“My condition isn’t your business, James.” I emphasized his name. It was the first time I’d used it.

His gaze was steady. “I intend for it to be my business.”

“You don’t want to date me, you said,” I told him.

He sighed. “It’s true. But I want other things. I at least want the chance to talk to you about what I do want.”

“So talk,” I told him.

“We will talk. When you’re sober. And when we have some actual privacy.”

I wagged a finger at him, then stood on my tiptoes to be sure he heard me as I spoke directly into his face. “That doesn’t sound like talking.” My words were slurred, and he visibly flinched.

He hated how drunk I was, I could tell. He had a real serious problem with it. My extremely drunk mind started to hatch up a drunk scheme to use that to my advantage. If he didn’t like drunk, I would show him some drunk behavior that would scare him off for good. I nodded at him, turning away. Just as soon as I went to the bathroom, I was gonna make him run the other way in a hurry.

I used the restroom. It was a sign of how drunk I was that I was proud when I used the bathroom successfully and without a mess.

I was washing up when Melissa came bursting through the door, looking excited. “Who is that gorgeous man?” she asked me breathlessly. She was the most animated I’d ever seen her without a man she liked in the room. Of course, that’s just because she happened to be talking about one right at that moment.

I didn’t have to ask who she was talking about. “That is Mr. Beautiful,” I said. I was going for a breezy tone, but I heard my voice, and knew it just sounded drunk and slurred.

I walked out before she could ask me anything else. James took my arm before I could even locate him. “Have you ever been so drunk that you can’t look yourself in the eyes when you see a mirror?” I asked him. It was a serious question. I was really that drunk. He just looked at me.

“Answer me, James,” I tried to order him.

“No,” he said immediately.

“Dance with me,” I told him. Time for operation ‘Hot Mess’. He hated drunk. I’d show him drunk.

“No,” he said firmly.

“Fine. Somebody’ll dance with me. Just you watch.” His hand tightened on my arm when I tried to walk away.

“No, they won’t. If you have to dance, it’ll be by yourself tonight.”

I gasped at him in outrage. I was momentarily distracted when we walked back out into the huge bar and found it had considerably less people than it had when we went in.