Read Online Fight or Flight by Jamie Canosa - Free Book Online Page B

kind. “You come back and see me again tomorrow, Sweetheart.”
    With a quick nod, Em reluctantly followed Jay out of the warmth of the bakery and back onto the chilled street.
    “He must like you.” Em glanced at Jay as he chuckled. “He never tells me to come back. Then again, I’ve never groaned over his baking before, either.”
    Em smiled and Jay grinned back at her for a moment before the expression slipped into something more serious.
    “Em, listen. Sam’s a good guy. You can trust him. If you ever . . . If there’s ever a time you need something and I’m not around, you can go to him, okay?”
    Not around? Why wouldn’t he be around? Was this it? His way of saying goodbye? He was too nice to just dump her, so he’d brought her with him and introduced her to Sam to help soften the blow?
    “W-Why won’t you be around?”
    She could feel the panic rising up and Jay must have seen it, too. She’d never had much of a poker face.
    “No. Em, I will be. I’m not going anywhere, okay?”
    His fingers flexed like he wanted to touch her, and she couldn’t decide if she wanted him to or not. Last night things had been different. She’d been a complete mess, and his touch had been comforting—nice, even. But here, in the harsh light of day, on a public street, the thought sent waves of anxiety coursing through her.
    When Jay tucked his hands in his pockets, leaning back a bit to give her some more space, she breathed a sigh of relief. Crisis averted, she was able to concentrate again.
    “But, then . . . Why did you say—?”
    “Just in case of emergency, okay? That’s all. You can’t always be sure of things out here, and it’s good to have a backup plan.”
    Backup plan. That made sense. And he wasn’t leaving her. That was fine. Good. It was a little scary to realize just how dependent she’d become on him, but she’d worry about that later.
    “Hey, I’ve got an idea.” Em glanced nervously at Jay, wondering why that statement sounded more like a challenge. And he was grinning again. Oh boy. “You up for an adventure?”
    “An adventure?” Her nerves cranked up another notch. “What kind of adventure?”
    “The kind you’ll be glad we went on tomorrow.”
    That sounded . . . ominous . But what could she really say? She’d been asking him to take her out with him for a week. She’d finally gotten what she’d wanted; she couldn’t turn back now.
    “Okay.”
    ***
    Never in a million years did Em think their ‘adventure’ would include an airport, but that’s right where Jay led them.
    “What are we doing here?”
    “Shopping.”
    “Shopping?”
    “Well, more like . . . acquiring.”
    “Acquiring what?”
    “A new wardrobe. You need something besides that sweater to wear and I need to upgrade to some warmer stuff.”
    “How do we do that?”
    His gaze shot to the conveyor belt circling lazily through the baggage claim.
    “So by acquire, you mean steal ?”
    Jay grimaced at the word, but conceded to its accuracy. “Technically. But, anything lost during travel is compensated for by the airline, so really it’s the company that takes the hit and not the individual.”
    Em stared at him for a moment. He’d really looked into it. The thought of stealing bothered him that much. Now she felt bad for bringing it up at all. He was right, they needed something besides what was on their backs to wear and with winter on the way, they’d probably be needing a lot of it to keep warm.
    “All right.” She glanced back over at the baggage claim which was beginning to fill with harried looking passengers. “How do we do this?”

 
     
    Chapter Fifteen
     
     
    Jay
     
    She went for it. Jay honestly couldn’t believe it. He’d been sure he was going to be making another trip back here tomorrow to get what he needed after taking care of her today, but she’d stepped up. She was scared. He could hear it in her voice and see it in the way she kept running her fingers though her hair, but