Freedom (The F-Word #5) - E. Davies Page 0,5

didn’t work very well.

A bright, cheery face appeared next to him. “Nervous flyer?”

Oh, God. “Nervous liver.”

“As in liver of life, or liver that filters the alcohol out?”

It took Jaden a moment to come up with an answer to that. “At life. I’m a fucking chihuahua on a plane.”

He buried his forehead in the knapsack and hoped this frankly gorgeous guy with the stubble (just long enough to be pettable, but not a real beard) and blue eyes (he’d always liked blue best) went away.

He was gorgeous—the most gorgeous man Jaden had laid eyes on in real life in forever—and no doubt full of perky energy. “Enough of these motherfucking chihuahuas on this… no, doesn’t have the same ring,” the stranger said.

Oh, man. He also had muscles. His t-shirt arms stretched around those biceps, and his pecs were clearly nuzzle-worthy. Even his lips looked kissable. In short, he was Jaden’s type from head to toe.

Jaden snuck another look at the hottie, whose eyes twinkled with amusement. Belatedly, his gaydar started to ping. And he recognized those eyes. And the guy was flying to the same place as him…

He was getting an awful feeling about this.

“Are you on the Phoenix flight?”

“I am.”

“For a blind date with a stranger?” It was the kind of question that either would be a yes or, hopefully, a confused “no” followed by the stranger backing away and leaving him to panic here in peace.

Luck was not on his side.

“I am.”

“Fuck. Well, that’s my first impression made.” Jaden buried his face in the backpack as his cheeks burned. Great job, loser.

“Don’t worry about it. I’m Henry. Can I sit here?”

Jaden moaned and shrugged, wishing the floor would swallow him up.

Apparently Henry took that as a yes. He sat down and touched Jaden’s shoulder. “You all right?”

“Aside from having just made the worst first impression ever on you, and the chance I’ll projectile-vomit on the flight attendant, I’m awesome.”

“Hi, Awesome. Got a last name to go with that?”

Damn it, the cutie was trying hard. It melted something of Jaden’s defense mechanisms. He was used to people getting weirded out by him.

Then again, they were about to spend the next day together. May as well make it slightly less painful. The social equivalent of filing a broken nail after slamming his whole arm in a door. But even too little, too late would be better than sulking for the whole trip.

He gulped and looked up at last, focusing on Henry and not the expanse of the terminal behind him. “Jaden.”

“Jaden,” Henry repeated softly, and the smile that curved his lips was painfully attractive.

God, Henry was way out of Jaden’s league. “Sorry. I think I’m your date.”

Henry looked confused for a few moments, sticking out his lower lip in the most adorable way.

“Helicopter? Grand Canyon? Picnic in the great big vast outdoors?” Jaden prompted.

“Yeah. I’ve got that. Why apologize?”

Jaden just stared blankly at Henry. “I’m not… exactly… a hot commodity on the dating market.”

Henry smiled and clapped his arm. “We all have our quirks. Or we wouldn’t be choosing a date at a raffle, huh?”

“God. Don’t tell me yours is that you’re a serial killer. Or worse, serially optimistic.” That smile was suspiciously bright even after Jaden had done his best to fuck up the introduction.

“Killing ’em with kindness? You could say that,” Henry said, winking. “Guilty of at least one of the above.”

“Do you tell me which in the helicopter?”

Despite himself, Jaden suddenly realized that he hadn’t been nauseous in a few minutes. He had something—someone—to direct his attention toward.

His stomach had settled, and his brain had stopped whirling. Like he had tunnel vision, only now it was directed toward Henry and it was slowly expanding to include Henry within his bubble. He wasn’t cured, far from it, yet the situation was now within his tolerance range.

Was that Henry’s effect on him? There was something oddly trustworthy about his face. Probably a serial killer, Jaden decided.

They announced boarding, and Henry nudged him. “Here we go.”

One way or another, he was getting out on a date.

With a hot, kind guy who only had a fifty-fifty chance of being a serial killer.

He was going to kill Spence, if he didn’t fall in love first. What the hell? Anything could happen.

4

Henry

Henry had thought he was taking a pretty big leap out of his comfort zone. But as it turned out, Jaden was real, down-to-earth, and right now had a lot going on. Henry’s fear of rejection felt like a footnote in comparison.

And… Jaden