CHAPTER 23

FERRIS WHEEL

Charlie

We had only gotten home from our camping trip this morning, but Brandon was insistent that he take me out tonight. I had planned on spending the evening looking over everything for the grand opening for the bakery. I had looked over it a million times before, everything was ready, but I was nervous, and I didn’t want Brandon to get tired of me.

We had just started whatever the heck this was between us, and I didn’t need him changing his mind about me because we were spending every hour of the day together. He thought I was crazy.

He also wouldn’t tell me where we were going on this date. Instead, he made me guess, which were all wrong, and he laughed as I apparently guessed wrong after wrong.

When I guessed Olive Garden, he looked at me like I was crazy.

Instead, he pulled up outside a fair that was one town over from ours, and I stared out the window at all the lights.

“You’re taking me to the fair?” I screeched like a ten-year-old girl who was jonesing for a bag of cotton candy. I was, but he didn’t need to know that.

“Do I look like the kind of guy that would take you on a first date to the Olive Garden?” He sounded so offended, and I guessed he was right. Nothing with Brandon had been ordinary at this point.

“I like their breadsticks,” I said as I climbed out of the car.

He leaned against his doorway and looked at me over the hood of his car. “Do you want to go to Olive Garden?” He looked so unsure of himself, so unlike him, and I smiled at how concerned he was about our first real date.

“No.” I shook my head and smiled. “This is absolutely perfect.”

He took a relieved breath and grabbed my hand as I laughed. “You’re also going to be this difficult. Aren’t you?”

“Oh. For sure.” I tugged his hand to force him to stop. He looked down at me and I pressed a gentle kiss to his lips. “I’m going to kick your butt at the water gun game.”

It was the first place he took me. Brandon refused to allow me to pay for anything even though the fair was ridiculously expensive, and he bought me a second ticket at the water gun game when I lost the first round.

“That thing is rigged,” I huffed and swirled around to face him.

“Says the sore loser.” He was carrying a tiny teddy bear that he had won for me by beating some stupid high score.

“You say loser. I say that you must have known that guy.”

He laughed. “I cased this place out earlier to make sure they helped me look as good as possible.”

“I figured.” I tapped the side of my temple, and he rolled his eyes before he grabbed my hand and pressed a kiss to my knuckles.

“Ferris wheel time.” He pointed to the spinning circle of death that the workers probably put together in about three minutes flat.

“Are you sure?” I hesitated and tugged on his hand.

“Charlie Grace, you are getting your chicken shit ass on that Ferris wheel.”

“I’m not a chicken.” I pushed my elbow into his side.

“Prove it,” he dared me, and I knew that he wouldn’t drop it until I did.

“Fine.” I marched up to the man accepting tickets and handed him our tickets before I climbed into the un-sturdy seat. “Are you coming?” I looked at him expectantly.

He grinned and climbed in beside me before he pulled down the small gate that locked us in. “Ferris wheels are supposed to be romantic.” He put his arm over the back of the seat and turned into me.

“Tell that to the millions of people who have fallen to their deaths.”

“You are so full of shit.” He laughed and pulled my face close to his.

I grabbed the handle in a death grip as we started to move, but Brandon pressed his mouth against mine and ever so slowly bit down on my bottom lip.

I moaned, and he tilted my head back to get better access. His thumb traced over my jaw back and forth as he consumed my mouth and my every thought. I should have been at home freaking out over my bakery opening that was just two days away, but I was at the top of a dang Ferris wheel kissing Brandon as if I had no other worry in the world.

He made me feel like I didn’t either.

He continued to kiss me, his hands tangling in my hair, and my thighs hit the gate as I tried to get closer to him.

“That’s how people fall to their death,” he whispered against my lips before he ran his tongue over them.

“I don’t care,” I mumbled and kept kissing him. He chuckled, but I swallowed the sound. I pulled my mouth from his and kissed the stubble on his jaw before I made my way to his neck.

“Charlie,” he groaned, but I didn’t stop. I bit down on his skin that was hypnotizing me with whatever cologne he was wearing. It was addicting. The feel of him, his smell.

I tried to lift my leg again and the loud bang of the gate echoed somewhere in the back of my brain. I didn’t care. I just needed him. I ran my tongue along that small dip at the base of his neck, and he shifted in his seat.

“Charlie,” he said my name again, but I didn’t answer. “Charlie.”

“What?” I gripped my hand in his hair and brought his face back to mine. I sucked his bottom lip into my mouth.

“Ummm… Would you all like to go again?” That voice finally registered in my brain, and I finally looked up to see the attendant and another couple waiting to take our spot. I could feel the blush rising on my cheeks as I tried to straighten up, but Brandon pulled the gate to make sure it was still in place then held out two more tickets.

“Yeah.” He nuzzled his face in my neck. “We’re not done yet.”

Then the Ferris wheel took off again, and Brandon and I made out like a couple of horny teenagers who couldn’t get enough of each other.