“How about the wheel?” she said, breaking the spell.
I pulled my hand away.
“You hate the wheel,” I reminded her.
“You walked around with a massive toy bunny attached to your hip all morning. It would be poor sportsmanship if we didn’t.” She shrugged and took my hand. “Come on. Before I change my mind.”
The line for the Ferris wheel was short so we didn’t have to wait long. But when it came to our turn, Indy hesitated.
“No need to be afraid, Princess,” I teased, winking at the young ride attendant who was watching us. In her late teens, she had blonde pigtails and freckles, and a t-shirt that read, Sorry I wasn’t in church, I was busy practicing witchcraft and becoming a lesbian.
“I’m not afraid,” Indy protested. She turned to the ride attendant. “Really, I’m not.”
The girl grinned and held out a bucket of candy. “Some of the parents find it helps to preoccupy the little ones if they’re, you know . . . afraid.”
Indy gave the girl a traitorous look but took a lollipop from her anyway.
“What about the bunny?” she asked me, unwrapping the lollipop.
“Bunny’s coming with us.”
She raised an eyebrow at me. “It’s okay, Cade. Torture time is over. You can get rid of the bunny.”
I covered the giant bunny ears with my hands. “Get rid of him? No way!”
I couldn’t wait to see the look on Brax’s face when I gave it to him. Or the look on Isaac’s face when he realized the ears squeaked every time you tugged on them.
Every. Single. Time.
Indy rolled her eyes and climbed into the bucket. After securing the oversized, soft toy between us, I sat down next to her.
“Ready?” I asked as we started moving.
She nodded but gripped the safety bar so hard her knuckles were white. She could deny it as much as she liked, but she fucking hated heights.
Growing up, Indy was fearless. She was always getting into mischief. But heights were her kryptonite. The one fear she couldn’t hide. Or conquer.
When I looked at her, she was biting her lower lip and I felt like a real dick for teasing her. An all-too-familiar rush of protectiveness came over me and I slid my hand over hers. She turned her head, her large brown eyes gleaming in the light of the early afternoon, and a slow smile tugged at her lips as her gaze rolled over my face. When she didn’t pull her hand away, a spark ignited inside me. Her scent. The heat of her skin. They engulfed me.
Slowly, the town of Destiny came into view below us, but I couldn’t drag my eyes away from her. She slid the lollipop between her luscious lips and my cock hardened even more. I knew how they felt wrapped around me and my body ached to feel them again. I wanted them on me. I wanted to be in them.
“I’m sorry about what I said last night,” she said.
“You already apologized,” I replied, trying not to notice the way she sucked at the candy in her mouth. Or the fact that I was falling in love with her all over again.
Her eyes softened with regret. “I know. But I need you to know that I didn’t mean those things.”
“Some of them you did.”
She blinked and nodded regretfully, then turned her head to look out at the view. Golden sunlight danced on her beautiful face.
“This place . . . coming back. It’s been strange.” I could see the remorse in her expression. She looked sad. Lost.
I gently turned her chin to look at me. “I know.”
She licked her lips and I had to fight the craving to cover them with mine.
“Thank you for being so nice,” she said, a small smile tugging at the corner of her mouth.
Heat flared in me. There wasn’t one nice thing I was thinking in that moment. My eyes were focused on those lips. On that milky, smooth throat and how I wanted to bury my face in there and cover it in my kisses. I held back a moan. In my mind, I was already kissing her. Touching her.
And that was when I realized.
I wasn’t falling in love with her all over again.
Because I had never stopped.
I never would.
And I was fucking doomed.
INDY
Now
We didn’t leave the festival until after lunch. The hours just flew by. Before I knew it, the sun was getting lower in the sky and our date was almost over. As I climbed on the bike behind Cade, I couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed. Today had been surprisingly fun.
We rode back to the clubhouse and my heart began to sag a little. My hangover was finally catching up with me. I felt strange and reasoned it was because of all the alcohol my organs had marinated in the night before. Alcohol was a depressant and I’d had enough of it to make me depressed for a week.