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  “Uh-oh, I know that look! Alexa Marie, you’re planning something, aren’t you?” Aubrey asked in a sing-song voice.

  I grinned wickedly at her. “Hmmmm, maybe?”

  “Ack! What? Lemme help!”

  “I think it’s time I make it crystal clear to Drake that I’m ready to take the next step in our relationship. And the lingerie is going to help me send that message.”

  Aubrey clapped her hands together in excitement! “Yippee! Start with the white set, but add these to it,” she said and grabbed an unopened pair of sheer white thigh-highs from a drawer. “Throw these on and there’s no way he won’t realize that you picked the outfit with his viewing pleasure in mind.”

  I double-checked everything I had packed with a new goal in mind—to drive Drake wild.

  Drake: Ready?

  Alexa: Yup, all packed and ready to go! :)

  Drake: Be there in 5 minutes.

  I headed downstairs to wait for Drake so we would be at the airport on time. Nothing made my dad crankier than late people. He had a full weekend booked, too. He’d squeezed this flight in more for me than anything else. I felt a little guilty that he’d be working all weekend while I would be having fun, but he assured me that I worked hard enough between school and the Mile High flights. He wanted me to take time and enjoy myself, too.

  Drake pulled up in his car, and I rolled my bag towards the vehicle so I could put it inside. He hopped out and grabbed it from me. “No way, baby. You don’t handle your own bags with me around.” I was used to his ways by now and just gave him a quick kiss. “Hop in. We need to get moving.”

  I got settled into the car and smiled over at Drake when he climbed back inside. “Thanks for picking me up.”

  “Any time. You looking forward to seeing my family again?”

  “Yeah, but I’m a little nervous, too.”

  Drake reached over and squeezed my hand. “Don’t be. They loved you last time and they only spent a couple hours with you at a crowded party. They ask me all the time if I’m treating you right. Especially Drea.”

  “You’re lucky to have her for your little sister. She seemed really sweet, but I can easily picture Drea pestering you about me. She was very excited by the idea of you bringing a girlfriend home.”

  “Keep that in mind when she pounces on you. She can’t wait to see you again. She’s threatened to tell you all sorts of embarrassing stories about me growing up, so be prepared,” Drake warned.

  “Does she have baby pictures to go with these stories? Ones with your naked butt in them?” I joked.

  “You don’t need photos for that. You can see my ass anytime you want,” he offered.

  I leveled a flirtatious glance his way. “How about now?” The car swerved to the side of the road as he started to pull over. “No, wait! Save it for later, lover boy. We don’t have time right now, but I definitely want a rain check on that offer for tonight.”

  “Like I said, Alexa. Any time you want.”

  We arrived at the airport just in time for me to help Dad get everything ready for takeoff. Drake brought our luggage onto the plane and called his parents to let them know when we’d be there. As he talked to them, he waved a hand in my direction and pointed at the doors before he walked outside. We were just finishing up when he strode back inside with an unhappy look on his face. I walked over to him to make sure nothing was wrong with his family.

  “Hey, everything okay? Has there been a change in plans on their end?” I asked.

  Drake roughly ran his hand through his hair as he pocketed his phone. He gave me a reassuring smile and pulled me into a hug. “Not exactly. Nothing’s changed with the weekend in Connecticut, but my mom offered to do a favor for one of her friends. And you’re not going to like it.”

  “Why? If we still get to hang out, then why would it matter to me if your mom is helping a friend?”

  “Her friend’s daughter wants to come home for the weekend, too. When my mom mentioned that I was taking a charter home, she asked if there was room on board for her daughter to join me.”

  I pulled away from Drake so I could look him in the eyes. “No, please don’t say it was Sasha’s mom.”

  “Yeah, baby, it was. I am so sorry. I had no idea this was going to happen, and my mom is clueless about what a pain in the ass Sasha has been. I didn’t want to bother her with it and cause problems between our moms.”

  I took a step away to pull myself together. Drake knew how much I disliked Sasha because she was always such a bitch to me while she flirted with him right in front of me. I didn’t appreciate the bombshell he’d just dropped, but it wasn’t like it was his fault. Before I could answer, I heard a car door slam outside and her voice call out for Drake.

  “Yay! I’m so excited to go home with you this weekend, Drake,” she cooed at him. She turned to look at me, acting like she didn’t recognize me. “I have bags in the car that you can put on the plane. Be very careful with them. They’re expensive.”

  “Sasha, cut it out!” Drake snapped at her. “You can get your own bags onto the plane.”

  “But, Drake. They’re so heavy. Besides, having someone to help with things like that is one of the perks of flying privately,” she whined.

  “Well, it isn’t your flight. It’s mine and Alexa’s. And she doesn’t need to help you with anything. You’re her guest on the plane. Tell her thank you for letting you tag along and go get your stuff,’ he ordered in a hard tone.

  “Fine,” she huffed. “Your mom mentioned that they booked the flight through her dad. I just figured she was working and was going to let her do her job. But if you’re going to be that way, I’ll play nice.”

  She didn’t bother with the apology as she stomped back to her car and pulled out four suitcases. I watched her struggle with them and realized that it was going to take forever if she had to get them on board by herself. I nudged him in her direction. “This is ridiculous. Go help her with the bags.”

  Sasha practically squealed with delight when she realized Drake was helping her. I could hear her chattering on about his muscles as he brought three of the bags over while she rolled one of them beside her. I turned toward my dad, who had joined me, and explained the situation. We needed to update the flight plan since we had an unexpected passenger.

  “Want to ride in back with them instead?” he asked as he watched Sasha flirt with Drake.

  I shuddered at the thought of being stuck with her for a couple hours. “No way! I’ve had about as much of Sasha as I can take. Let Drake suffer alone during the flight. It was his mom who invited her along.”

  My dad chuckled as he walked away from me. I was glad someone was enjoying the situation because I certainly didn’t find it amusing. It wasn’t a great start to what I had hoped would be a romantic weekend.

  I let my dad handle getting our passengers settled for takeoff and just shook my head at Drake when I walked past him. We could talk about it after we’d landed and she wasn’t there listening. There was no way in hell I was going to let her know how much she irritated me because it would make her too happy.

  I wrapped up everything in the cockpit when we landed, allowing plenty of time for Drake and my dad to help Sasha and her ridiculous amount of luggage off the plane before I got off. My dad was heading farther up the coast to pick up another booking, so I gave him a hug and took some time to chat with him before heading outside.

  “Good luck with that one,” he said as we were saying our goodbyes.

  “I won’t need luck, Dad. It’s not like I’m spending the weekend with her. I just have to put up with her on the flights. That’s all.”

  “I hope you’re right, but I expect she’ll do her best to tag along as much as possible,” he warned before getting back on the plane.

  When I walked outside, Drake was standing next to the limo. Sasha wasn’t anywhere in sight, and he must have gotten our luggage into the trunk already. The car doors were closed, and I didn’t see the driver either.

&n
bsp; “So, that was fun,” I said.

  He shook his head as he strode towards me. “I hope you mean that, baby, because I have more bad news. Sasha’s riding with us to my parents. Her mom’s waiting there to pick her up instead of meeting us here.”

  “Seriously? Gah, that really sucks. I could ignore her on the plane because I was busy, but now I’m going to be stuck riding in the car with her, too?”

  “I wish I could say April Fools or something, but I can’t. Promise I will do my best to make this up to you. And I will book a car for her myself if I have to for Sunday.”

  He wrapped his arms around me as he spoke. From the comfort of his embrace, it didn’t sound that bad. It was a relatively short car ride. I just had to survive twenty minutes with her and then I’d have time with Drake.

  “I’ll add that promise to my rain check to see your ass. I’m sure I’ll think of something you can do to make it up to me.”

  He groaned in my ear. “Fuck, baby. The last thing I want is anyone else in the car with us, let alone Sasha. I was looking forward to all the naughty things I could talk you into doing in the back of a limo.”

  “It’s good to know I won’t suffer alone then. You can picture everything I would have let you do to me as we’re stuck behaving while she’s with us instead.”

  “Shit, don’t torture me like that,” he said as he led me back to the limo and helped me inside. He sat next to me and pulled me close to his body, like he was trying to place a wall around me for protection. I relaxed against his warmth and ignored Sasha’s chattering the whole way there. She didn’t try to draw me into the conversation, and Drake leaned over to kiss the top of my head several times throughout the drive. Each kiss was a reminder that he was talking to her while thinking about me.

  The drive to his parents’ had seemed so short during the last trip, but it seemed to take forever this time. Sasha just kept flirting with Drake the entire way. It didn’t matter to her that he didn’t flirt back or that I was practically sitting in his lap. I wasn’t sure why, but she didn’t seem fazed one little bit by our relationship. I didn’t know if I should be irritated or impressed by her persistence. The girl certainly had guts, even though she had no clue that her behavior was more likely to piss Drake off than attract him.

  By the time we arrived, I had a raging headache that was most likely caused by the combination of Sasha’s perfume and nonstop talking.

  Drake got out of the car first and then helped me out. “Gonna be okay?”

  I rubbed my temples tiredly and shielded my eyes from the sun. “Not sure. Can you grab my bag first? My migraine medicine is in my makeup bag.”

  “Sure, baby. Go sit down on the porch, and I’ll get you whatever you need. There are some chairs in the shade,” he whispered as he pulled his sunglasses off and gently placed them over my eyes.

  Sasha had climbed out of the car while we were talking. “Drake, can you help me with my bags?” she asked.

  “No, Sasha. I need to take care of Alexa first. You don’t even need to do anything with your stuff anyway. The driver will leave them on the steps so they’ll be ready to load into your mom’s car.”

  “Oh, but I thought we were all staying here for the weekend. It doesn’t look like my mom is here yet. Let me text her to make sure she packed to stay over also.”

  The pounding in my head increased at the thought of spending even more time in Sasha’s company. I raised pain-filled eyes to Drake before turning to walk away. I couldn’t deal with her antics right now. I needed to take some medicine and catch a nap. Anything else could wait until I felt better.

  As I climbed the steps of the main house, the front door opened and Drea bounced out.”Alexa!” she screeched. “Yay! You guys finally made it. I’ve been waiting forever.”

  I smiled weakly as I neared her. “Hey, Drea,” I greeted Drake’s sister.

  Drea’s smile fell from her face. “Oh, no. You’re sick. Here, come sit down.”

  She helped me over to the chairs and fluffed a cushion behind my back. “You didn’t have to come if you weren’t feeling well. We would have been disappointed, but we would have understood.”

  I closed my eyes and leaned my head back. “I’ll be fine, Drea. The headache just started. It hasn’t had a chance to get really bad.”

  She looked down to the driveway, where Drake was rifling through my suitcase in search of my cosmetics bag. Sasha stood there, tapping away on her phone, presumably trying to make sure that she got to crash our weekend plans also. “Aha! I get it. Your headache is of the blonde variety. She really can be the biggest pain in the ass. And she’s had a crush on Drake ever since we were little. I swear she was about to pee herself when she found out that he was transferring to Blythe.”

  Even through the pain, I laughed at Drea’s comments. “I’m sure she did. She’s made it very clear that she’s the one who should be dating him and not me.”

  “Like that’s gonna happen. If Drake was the least bit interested in her, it already would have. Besides, I think she’s more interested in her mom’s fantasies of having her daughter marry her best friend’s son than anything else.”

  “And does your mom have the same dream?” I asked, feeling disheartened by the idea of a pair of matchmaking moms.

  “No, my mom’s wish would be that Drake finds the right girl to marry. Doesn’t matter to Mom where he finds her, just that she makes him happy. Like you seem to do. Now, let me go detach the leech from Drake so he can take care of you. Let me know if you need anything.”

  Drea made good on her word and kept Sasha busy so Drake could focus on me. He found my Imitrex pills and brought me one along with a tall glass of cold water. He bundled me over to the pool house so I could lie down and take a nap. Before I knew it, I’d slept half the day away and awoke feeling a little better. I tilted my head from side to side to make sure there wasn’t too much pain. I felt a rush of relief upon realizing that I’d caught the headache early enough to stop it before it exploded into a full-fledged migraine. Hopefully I’d been fast enough that I’d be back to normal soon.

  The house was quiet with no sign of Drake. Our bags were at the top of the stairs, and he had left my cosmetics bag in the upstairs bathroom where I’d easily find it. I brushed my teeth, feeling a bit gross after traveling and sleeping. I was still groggy and pale, so I splashed some cold water on my face. As I dried off with a fluffy white towel, I heard the door close downstairs.

  “Drake?” I called.

  I heard footsteps on the stairs before he appeared in the bathroom doorway. “Feeling any better?”

  “I am, thanks. Sorry I conked out like that.”

  “No problem. You must have needed the sleep. Hungry?” he asked.

  “Yeah, I could eat. Did I miss anything while I was out?”

  “Nothing good. My mom invited Sasha and her mom to stay for dinner so I told her we were just going to eat here since you weren’t feeling well.”

  “Was she okay with that? We came here to visit your family. Not hide out together in the pool house.”

  He crossed his arms over his chest, looking uncomfortable. “She wasn’t happy, but she was more worried about how you were doing than anything else. She’ll probably stop by to bring over some dinner and check on you soon.”

  “Look, why don’t you just eat dinner with everyone and then bring me back some food later?”

  He shook his head in response. “No way, baby. You’re my priority here. You don’t feel good, and you need me. My mom will get over it. And hopefully she’ll take the hint so that Sasha and her mom don’t end up staying the whole weekend.”

  “God, I hope so too. So much for our fun weekend.”

  Drake walked towards me and stopped inches away. I could feel the heat from his body as he reached up to run his fingers through my hair, gently rubbing my scalp. “You. Me. No school. No work. No practice. Oh, we’ll have fun all right, just as soon as you feel up to it. Count on it.”

  I stepped closer, f
illing the small amount of space he had left between us. My body molded to his, I relaxed into him and rested my head on his shoulder. “You better deliver on that promise.”

  He wrapped his arms around me, holding me tightly. “I won’t ever make a promise to you that I won’t deliver on. You can take that to the bank, baby. Feel up to heading downstairs and resting on the couch? We can watch a movie. I brought some snacks.”

  “Drake, go have dinner with your family. I’ll be fine.”

  He swept my legs out from under me in a smooth motion and carried me towards the door. “Already said no. It’s nice to see my family, but this weekend was more about time for us than them. I’m not leaving you while you’re sick to go have dinner. Drop it, Alexa.”

  “Put me down. It was just a headache. I’m not really sick, and I’m certainly not an invalid. I can walk downstairs by myself.”

  “And give up my chance to show you how big and strong I am? Settle down and hold on tight before I drop you,” he teased.

  I wrapped my arms around his shoulders as he carried me down the stairs. Instead of putting me down once there, he crossed over to the couch and sat down with me on his lap. He reached around me to grab extra pillows and propped my feet onto them. Once he had us settle to his satisfaction, he turned on the television. “Anything you really want to see?”

  “Pick whatever you want.” I snuggled into his hold, getting comfortable.

  Drake turned on an older action movie I had seen before. I enjoyed cuddling with him on the couch and could barely to keep my eyes open as the movie played. About halfway through, there as a knock on the door right before it opened. Drake’s mom, Ginny, peeked through the opening and saw us on the couch. “Oh, good. You’re awake,” she said as she walked inside.