Adrenaline

“Up again,” I whispered.

He cleared his throat and placed his hand on my lower back, causing my entire body to tremble. I was almost positive he felt it.

I stole a glance at him as he stared straight ahead. As if he was concentrating on something very intently.

When the doors opened, he nudged me ever so slightly and led me out. I loved the feeling and had never had a man do that before. It was nice.

When his hand slipped down and took mine, I forced myself to hold back the moan.

One look around and I was even more confused. “We’re on a roof?”

“Is that a question or a statement?”

“Both!” I said with a titter.

As we walked around a small building, I let out a gasp at the sight before me. “A picnic?” I whispered as I forced the tears down. I’d never been on a picnic before with a guy.

Three quilts were laid out on the roof along with three picnic baskets. “Do you like picnics?”

I walked up to the edge of the quilt and stared down at everything. A small bouquet of flowers was lying on the quilt. I swallowed hard and went to look at Malcolm when I noticed the view.

Covering my mouth, I sucked in a breath and stared out in disbelief. “It’s amazing,” I spoke into my hand. The view from up here was beyond anything I could have imagined.

“I take it you like it and you’re not afraid of heights?”

Spinning back to fa

ce him, I smiled so big my cheeks hurt. “No! I’m not afraid of heights. Yes I love it, and I’ve never been on a picnic before.”

His smile faded as he narrowed his eyes. “Really?”

I shook my head. “No. Never.”

He took both my hands in his and guided me to the middle of the quilt. “Well then, I get to be the lucky guy to give you your first experience with it.”

The lump in my throat was hard to ignore. When we sat down, he reached into one basket and took out two bottles of water, and then took out some plates. I couldn’t help but wish that Malcolm had been the one to give me many of my first experiences.

Overcome suddenly with this strange emotion, I focused on anything other than the handsome guy who was making my heart pound so loudly in my ears I could barely hear.

I am so screwed with my vow of hating men.

So screwed.

PAISLIE SEEMED TO BE OVERCOME with emotion for a quick moment before slipping back into her carefree mode.

“This really is amazing. Deuce is missing out.”

I nodded in agreement. “His fault for eating that whole bone I gave him.”

She flashed me a dazzling smile as she asked, “Are you sure he wasn’t sabotaged? You know, by someone wanting to steal his date?”

I glanced over to Paislie. My blue eyes holding onto her green as we both got lost momentarily in each other. “I do believe there might have been a hidden agenda to that oversized bone,” I softly spoke as she chuckled.

Reaching into the larger picnic basket, I smiled when I pulled out the chicken salad on croissants. Janet knew how much I loved her chicken salad.

“Hmm . . . I love chicken salad!” Paislie exclaimed.

“Then you will really love this chicken salad. My assistant, Janet, makes it all from scratch. I’m not even going to ask her how she pulled this off because I’m pretty sure I’d be buying her and her husband tickets to some fabulous hotel in Mexico somewhere.”