Jessie Slaymaker's Rules of Engagement (The Jessie Slaymaker Series Book 2) by Jo Iles Page A

that she’d had enough booze. She was just so thrilled to be in Hong Kong with the love of her life, albeit without her luggage. Jack had even let her use his toothbrush, which she’d considered to be the most romantic gesture ever, in her inebriated state.
    Surprisingly, the morning after, Jessie didn’t feel too bad. She couldn’t remember precisely how they’d gotten home, but judging by the empty water bottles that littered her side of the bed, she must have done something right.
    She crept out of bed, leaving Sleeping Beauty snoring away lightly. It was alright for him to stay in bed for as long as he wanted. He had his bloody luggage. But Jessie had other plans. She still had a couple of weeks before she started work in the Hong Kong office of her bank, and her luggage was bound to materialise before then—well, probably—and hopefully in the next day or two. But that didn’t do anything to remedy her lack of clean underwear today, or solve her wardrobe dilemma in the interim.
    ‘I don’t feel so good,’ Jack groaned into his pillow.
    ‘I’m not surprised. We both fried quite a few brain cells last night,’ Jessie laughed as she wiggled into her jeans. Again. If she wore them much longer, they’d be able to walk themselves back to England.
    ‘How can you be so cheerful? You always have rotten hangovers,’ Jack pointed out as he slowly opened his eyes to look at her.
    ‘True. I must have drunk plenty of water when we got in,’ Jessie said, and finished off the rest of another bottle.
    ‘This isn’t just a hangover. I’m really sick,’ Jack moaned, putting a hand to his head.
    ‘Yeah, right,’ Jessie laughed unsympathetically as she jumped onto the bed beside him. Jack winced as the bed moved under him. ‘If this is your way of getting out of coming shopping with me, then it’s worked. I can’t have you traipsing around after me all day if all you’re going to do is moan.’ She planted a gentle kiss on his cheek.
    ‘You’ll probably be quicker without me anyway,’ Jack reasoned, a thin smile appearing on his lips. ‘But I really don’t feel well,’ he added as he twisted a tendril of her damp hair around his finger.
    ‘Probably,’ Jessie replied, and she leaped up off the bed and slipped on her shoes. Jack winced again, kicked a foot out of the bed, and planted it on the floor. Presumably to stop the world from spinning.
    ‘Take it easy and I hope you feel better soon. Maybe we could do something later?’ Jessie ventured, placing a packet of painkillers and a new bottle of water on his bedside.
    ‘Maybe,’ Jack replied as he rolled into a more comfortable position and closed his eyes.
    If truth be told, Jessie didn’t mind too much that Jack had bailed on her. She loved spending time with him, but she’d lived on her own for a long time and wasn’t afraid of her own company.
    Plus, she would be quicker without him, and it would give her time to get her bearings in her new neighbourhood. She was going to have to start going places by herself soon enough anyway, so she may as well bite the bullet and explore while she could do so at her leisure, rather than wait until she was in a rush to get to the office.
    She stopped at a little coffee shop for breakfast whilst she compiled her list of bare essentials and where to get them. Jessie had a reasonably good idea of the layout of her new home city and where she needed to go, and her handy smartphone did the rest. One thing she knew for sure was that her first stop was going to be to her mother’s mother ship. As her mum always said, ‘If in doubt, go to Marks and Spencer.’ Underwear was very much the first order of the day, and good old M&S would have that covered.
    A few hours later, laden down with the basics, which turned out to be more than she’d initially thought, Jessie trudged back through the door of the serviced apartment. She expected to see Jack up and about, maybe watching TV, or on his computer. But there was no