A firm knock on my door wakes me from my deep sleep. I look up at the clock to see it is six in the morning and groan at how early it is. I roll over and stare at the ceiling, memories rolling in from last night.

“Jenna?” An unfamiliar voice knocks on my door again. “It’s time to wake up. We need to catch the flight to New York.” I get up from the bed and move the chair away from the door to see Kellan standing outside of it. He looks me up and down and shakes his head at the condition of my dress. “That’s going to cost Cal a pretty penny.” He eyes the hole in the door and looks back at me with questioning eyes. “Remodeling are we?” he jokes.

I shake my head at him and rub my eyes. “Do I have time for a quick shower?” I ask. He nods his head and I proceed to get ready. Thirty minutes later, I come out and he has coffee, muffins and water waiting for me. He hands me two ibuprofens with a wink and some water.

“Don’t tell Morgan I’m letting you eat a muffin. She would absolutely kill me!” I smile weakly at his joke and devour the muffin, realizing that I haven’t eaten since lunch yesterday. No wonder I feel nauseous and shaky as I start to immediately feel better from the food and water.

I take a look around and notice that Kellan and I are the only ones in the suite. “Where is everyone?” I ask, more specifically, wondering where Cal is.

“Most of the crew took the studio’s private plane to New York late last night. Cal called saying you weren’t feeling well and needed to spend the night, so the studio had the jet fly back to Los Angeles after drop off in New York. Must be nice to have the studio’s balls like that!” Kellan laughs. If he only really knew…

“It’s a five-hour flight to New York and with the time change, we’re going to be cutting it close to premiere time. Fortunately they do everything later in New York, so I think we’ll be okay. We’ll have to get ready on the plane and then a car will pick us up and take us straight to the premiere.” I nod my head in acknowledgment, dreading a five hour plane ride. “Cal and Sean are waiting for us in the car, so if you’re ready, we can leave now.”

“Sean is still here?” I ask, shocked that he wasn’t on the plane last night.

“Seems like Sean also was not feeling well last night and decided to depart with you guys,” he says with a knowing smile. I smile back and help him load up the luggage cart he brought in with the dresses and luggage for tonight. We take it downstairs and a bellman helps Kellan load it into the awaiting car. I get inside the car and see both Cal and Sean sitting next to each other, sunglasses shielding their eyes.

“There she is, my beautiful dance partner. Did you sleep well, sweetheart?” Sean sarcastically smiles. I put my sunglasses on and push them up the bridge of my nose with my middle finger, which causes Sean to laugh. Cal chooses to ignore me, which is fine with me.

I stare out the window as the car takes us to the airport, wondering how I’m going to pull off another night of this. Fortunately Cal will be headed to London right after the premiere and I will take the last flight home to Chicago, not wanting to spend a night in New York by myself when I can be home with Avery by morning. I let my thoughts drift to last night in the car and marvel at how our sexual chemistry is still so intense, how quickly his sensual lips turn me on with just one kiss and how incredible he feels inside of me……holy fucking shit, we didn’t use a condom last night!

I don’t realize I groan out loud until Kellan asks me if I’m okay. Giving him a fake smile and a thumbs up, I go back to brooding about what a complete moron I am and how Cal Harrington completely annihilates all of my smart brain cells. I am on birth control, but it would be just my luck if I get an STD since I don’t know how many women Cal has even been with.

By the time we pull up to the private plane, my mood has blackened from my stupidity and I don’t want to be anywhere near Cal. I ask Kellan to sit next to me on the plane, making up a story that I need him to go through how he plans on styling me for tonight. He gives me a questionable look, but complies. The plane is incredible with couches, a large screen television and even a master bedroom with a bathroom in it. I never even knew planes like this existed and just shake my head in awe at the amount of money the plane must have cost. I take a seat in one of the cushy leather chairs, Kellan grabbing the one next to me while Cal and Sean decide to sit in the seats opposite of us. Out of all the places to sit on the plane, it is not surprising that Cal decide to sit in front of me. I pretend to ignore him and concentrate on Kellan as he goes through the plans for tonight. The plane swiftly takes off and we make our way to New York.

I jolt awake from my head falling forward, not realizing that I fell asleep while looking out the window. I glance at my watch to see we’ve only been in the air for an hour. I look around to see Sean laying on the couch asleep, while Kellan still sits next to me watching a movie on his computer with headphones in his ears. Cal has moved to the lounge chair in front of the plane, his legs stretched out before him, looking like he’s asleep but hard to tell with his sunglasses on.

“Jenna, why don’t you go sleep in the bedroom?” Kellan says, as he takes his headphones off to talk to me. “I’ll wake you up an hour before we land.” I nod in agreement, my body and mind so exhausted that all I want to do is sleep. I make my way to the bedroom, shut the door and drift back to sleep.

A little while later, I turn over and cuddle into what I think is a pillow, except it is very hard and has that intoxicating scent that smells just like Cal. I open my eyes to see I am staring at the front of his red cotton shirt, my hand resting on his chest. My legs are completely intertwined with his and his arms are around me. I don’t remember him coming in, nor do I remember feeling him get into bed with me. My eyes make their way up to his face, where I find him watching me.

He swallows as he looks into my eyes. “We need to talk,” he softly says, his voice husky and low.

I nod, knowing he’s right and am so tired of fighting with him.

“I understand how hard it is for you to trust me, given the circumstances you have been placed in. I probably would feel the same way if I were in your shoes. But while you hated me for all these years, I never stopped thinking about you. Anytime I saw someone who remotely resembled you, I always wondered if you were happy. And I can’t help but feel that we were given a second chance to try to be together because of Avery.”

“People shouldn’t be together just for children,” I say, trying to ignore the impact his words are having on my heart.

“Do you really think I want to be with you JUST because of Avery? Do you really believe that my desire for you is an act? You’re the most infuriating woman I have ever met, yet no woman has ever made me feel the way I do when I’m with you. I want a chance, Jenna! I want you to give me a chance to prove to you that we belong together. That my feelings for you and Avery are very, very real.” He wipes away my tears with his thumb and stares in my eyes so intensely that I feel my heart warming, the ice around is slowly thawing. “I want us to start over. I want to properly date you. I want to make you laugh. I want to go on adventures with you. I want to hold you in my arms every night and wake up with you every morning. I just want to be given a chance to TRY.”

A knock on the door interrupts him. “Cal, I need to start getting Jenna ready.” Kellan’s muffled voice is heard through the door.

“I’ll be right out,” Cal says back to him and continues to look at me, his thumb rubbing my cheek. “Please Jenna….will you please think about it?” he pleads. “If you don’t feel the same way for me after some time together, then I will walk away.”

I cannot keep denying the fact that it’s getting harder and harder for me to protect my heart, to deny that I’m falling under his spell. I’ve got to stop letting my past experiences dictate my present, despite him having the power to completely destroy my heart. I may not trust people, but I do need to learn to try to trust him.

“I’ll think about,” I say softly, my heart singing in victory while my head yells in denial. Relief floods his eyes and his smile is almost blinding. “Thank you.” He kisses me softly on the lips and before I can try to deepen it, he gets off the bed and let’s Kellan come in to get me ready.