said in his manipulative voice.
“Don’t Avery me, Derek. Your kid or not, Addison stays with Jill, got me? I don’t trust your enabling parents, and I don’t trust you. Please, God, don’t do this to me.”
“I’ll do whatever I fucking want.”
“I’m getting a lawyer…”
“You can’t afford a lawyer,” he sneered. “So what’s next, Avery?”
A tapping to my right arm brought my angered expression to the man sitting at my right with a smirk, he rose his eyebrows and mouthed, “I can handle this if you’d like?”
I looked at him in confusion. I couldn’t take off and leave Addison, my foster mom, Jill, or my mind in this state. Derek could screw me over hard in the week I was gone. I had no other option—either trust the man dressed like a lawyer sitting next to me to bail me out, or get off the plane. My life only led to option two, so I decided to go for it with this guy.
I handed him my phone—his hands were even beautiful.
“Excuse me, Derek?” he said in a commanding, confident, and supreme voice. “Yes,” he paused, people staring at us while the plane started backing out. “I understand how you’d feel that way, yes.” I looked at the man as he frowned, “Are you done? Good. Now, all of this has been recorded for my team and me. We will keep this while we continue to look into the custody and your sanity as the father of Addison. Now, I’ll advise you to heed—” he looked at me and mouthed, “your name?”
“Avery,” I said with a smile, knowing Derek—the low life drug addict—was shitting his pants on the other end of the phone.
“You will regard Avery’s request in Jill watching over the child. If I learn that this has turned out to be more upon mine and Avery’s return from London,” he gave me a thumbs-up as if asking, you are going there, right? and I nodded. “Then you and I will be in court.” He paused while I heard Derek kissing his ass. “That’s fine. I would assume you would believe that. So, we’re clear? If there is so much as one phone call toward Addison…er, excuse me, Avery, while she is away, then understand this will get extremely ugly.” The gorgeous man who bullshitted my psycho ex handed me my phone. “Your friend hung up on me.” He smirked, “I believe he got the message, though.”
“I can’t thank you enough for that,” I said, my eyes captured by his, and his smile instantly made me grin like a girl, crushing on a Hollywood star.
“Not a problem. I couldn’t help but overhear you talking to him—a drug addict?”
“Yeah, long story,” I sighed. “And now I’m stuck with him because I was stupid enough to get knocked up by him.”
“I believe it takes two to make that decision. I wouldn’t carry the blame alone if I were you.” He smiled. “You appear to be a good mom. I’m sorry if I was overstepping boundaries—being a stranger and all, but I do hope it helped?”
“I’m Avery,” I said with a smile.
“I’m Jim,” he extended his hand out toward me. “I guess we’re no longer strangers, then?”
“Easy as that.”
God, I wanted to join the mile-high club with this guy, but we just became friends over me telling him that I made the mistake of screwing a drug addict and got pregnant with his kid. I mean, that was three years ago, but still. I highly doubted this guy would stoop to anyone less than a socialite, much less some random chick who got upgraded to first-class that was drooling over him. Who knew, free drinks were in first class, and he just ordered two for us.
Please, God, don’t let me start my trip off to London by screwing some guy while I was drunk on an airplane. I’ve done crazier shit, yes, but this trip was meant to be fun, but I suppose a girl could have fun, especially with a man like this dreamboat sitting next to her.
Chapter One
Jim
I sat in my office, going over the last of my emails from this long yet productive day at our London headquarters. My meetings with our associates and one new investor were finally over. The only shitty part of this day was that Alex and I couldn’t come to an agreement and sign with a new business we flew out here to acquire. We could’ve offered them a million fucking dollars as a promise to