“Ah, the beauty of young love.”
The sound of the gondolier’s voice brought Amber back to reality and she regretfully pulled back.
“The ride’s over,” the man said. “Unless you’d like me to keep going?” he asked in a knowing voice.
She couldn’t be embarrassed over something so right. Besides, the man was probably used to people making out under his watch. She glanced at Mike. Though she’d love to continue their ride, she had other plans for him.
“We’ll get out here,” she decided for them.
Mike raised an eyebrow, obviously surprised, but he stepped out first, then helped her do the same.
“Ready for some more fun?” she asked him.
He nodded. “Though I can’t imagine anything being more fun than that.” He tipped his head back toward the gondola, his eyes glittering with unslaked desire.
Her stomach fluttered with answering need. “I’m not finished showing you my Las Vegas.” She grasped his hand and led the way.
She didn’t question the impulse that demanded she share the city as she knew it. She wanted him to know her better and this was the perfect way to do it. Because she and Las Vegas had the same spirit.
From the Venetian, they traveled to Circus Circus where she took him to the Adventuredome. “My dad used to love roller coasters and we’d go to carnivals all over the U.S. I grew up loving a fast ride.”
Mike heard the wistful tone in her voice. “Did your father pass away, too?”
“No. He has Alzheimer’s and it’s progressed fast. Sometimes it feels like…” She shook her head, unable to continue.
He squeezed her hand tighter. “I’m sorry. I know what it’s like to have a father who’s not all there.”
And he did. Edward Corwin had always been off somehow. Before his parents’ divorce, Edward had been withdrawn and eccentric, making it hard for Mike to bring friends home. Afterward, the older man’s behavior only got worse.
“Is your dad sick, too?” Amber asked.
“He doesn’t have Alzheimer’s, he’s just…not all there.” He tapped his head, unsure of how else to describe the eccentric oddity who was his father. They weren’t close. Couldn’t be, considering his father was a man mired in
the curse and the past. But Mike loved him, despite it all.
“Well, we have that in common. So do you like roller coasters?” she asked, obviously eager to change the subject. “They have the most amazing rides here. The Canyon Blaster goes fifty-five miles an hour with a full loop.” She circled her arm wide. “Or there’s the Sling Shot or Chaos…We could even get wet if we went on the Rim Runner,” she said, bursting with enthusiasm. “Which one will it be?”
He glanced in the direction of the huge rides and frowned. “None of them. I really don’t like roller coasters. In fact, I hate them.” He wasn’t comfortable admitting weakness, but better than having to get one of those contraptions held together by nuts and bolts.
“What do you mean you don’t like roller coasters?” She perched her hands on her hips and cocked her head to the side, clearly shocked. “Everyone likes roller coasters!”
“No, they don’t.”
“What? Did you fall out of one when you were a kid or something?” she asked, nudging him playfully in the ribs.
“No, I just can’t take the sensation of having my stomach turned upside down and inside out.” The reality was that they reminded him too much of his childhood, the incredible highs and devastating lows.
Mike would ask Edward to come to his baseball games and too many times, he’d take the muttered maybe as a hopeful sign. He finally learned not to count on his dad. Now it was Mike who had to care for his father, even though it had never been the other way around.
“Oh, really?” Her eyes glittered in disbelief.
“Really.”
She raised her eyebrows and stepped closer. The perfume that had been getting to him all day caused his gut to clench again now.
“Well, I bet I can turn your stomach upside down and inside out and not only will you like it, you’ll be begging for more,” she said, her meaning deliberately, seductively clear.
He wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her against him. “Oh, yeah?”