Headlights bounced off a chain-link fence, an empty, overgrown parking lot, and not much else. The sky was dark and not a lot of stars shone overhead.

“Is this the part where you kill me?” I joked.

He said nothing as he turned off the engine, climbed out, and came around to the passenger door. Once it was open, he leaned into the opening and offered me his hand.

“This is the part where I ask you if you trust me.”

I did. I didn’t even have to ask myself or question if my trust in him was misplaced. Slipping my hand into his, I allowed him to tug me out of the car and slam the door behind us.

Quickly, Nate jumped the fence, making all the metal clang and wobble. I stared from the other side. “You want me to do that?”

“Come on, then.” He beckoned.

I put my foot into one of the links and hoisted myself over. Nate held out his hand again, offering balance, and I took it. He caught me when I leapt off the fence, both his arms wrapping around me.

I laughed as he took my hand and pulled me along. “Seriously, where are we going?”

“You don’t see it?”

I glanced all around. There wasn’t much to see. Grass dotted here and there with stray litter.

We continued, and a few moments later, a dark shape loomed up ahead. My steps faltered. He gave my hand a squeeze. “Trust me.”

As we got closer, I could make out the shapes. “It isn’t…?” I whispered, my steps quickening.

Nate stopped walking, jolting me to a stop. I looked back, impatient. With a warm chuckle, he came in front, bending low, offering his back.

I leapt on, draping my arms around his neck. My body bounced against his as he jogged, giving me a piggyback ride toward the dark destination.

“This is amazing!” I said when he stopped in front of the short fence surrounding it.

“You ain’t seen nothing yet,” he quipped, setting me down and then hopping that fence.

I got a little nervous when he disappeared from sight, but the feeling evaporated the second I heard him throw what I guessed was a heavy switch.

Lights burst across the grass and livened up the dark. Music began playing softly, slowly, almost as if, given a fresh battery, the song would speed up and be clearer.

It didn’t matter, though.

Nate had brought me to life in the center of this dead field.

Covering my mouth with my hands, I felt my eyes grow wide as I watched the painted animals begin to bob up and down as the entire structure slowly turned.

Lights blinked and music played. I watched the carousel turn slowly. As it did, Nate came around with it, standing in the center of a few bobbing horses. His hair blew playfully when he jumped off the platform, walked to a gate in the small fence, and opened it wide. I ran through, taking his hand, and he swung me up onto the ride, jumping up behind me.

I didn’t see the fading, somewhat chipped paint or notice how a few of the lights blinked on and off instead of staying lit. All I saw was magic.

Nate pointed to a white horse with a blue saddle, and I rushed forward, wrapping my hand around the brass pole. He palmed my waist and lifted, and I scrambled onto the horse as it was rising.

Beside the white horse was a black one with a red saddle and a white mane. Nate climbed on, and together we rode a few turns without saying anything at all.

“What is this place?” I finally asked, gazing out into the dark.

“Used to be a fairground. They had carnivals here every spring, and sometimes the circus would come to town. In the summer, they’d set up a county fair, and this place would be packed.”

“They don’t do it anymore?”

He shook his head. “Nah. Not sure why they stopped, but no one ever took down the carousel.”

“I love it,” I said, leaning my cheek against the pole as the horse dipped down.

“I thought you might.”

“We probably aren’t supposed to be here, are we?”

He smiled. “I won’t tell if you won’t.”

“I like your friends,” I said after a moment as the horse I was on rose toward the ceiling.

“You have any friends, princess?”

I swallowed the lump suddenly stuck in my throat. It hurt going down, as though I’d swallowed a shard of glass. “The closest thing I have to a friend is Mac, and I pay him to be around.”

His voice was soft, not demanding. Just curious. “Why are you so isolated?”

I gazed out past the carousel and into the night. It felt as if we were on our own little planet and beyond us was an empty galaxy. Like we were the only two people in the world.

“I didn’t notice it was happening at first, but after, it just seemed easier that way,” I replied.

The horse Nate sat on creaked and squeaked as he got off. I turned toward him as he stepped up so close he brushed the side of my horse and my leg. The intensity of his stare made my stomach wobble and my fingers tremble. He didn’t say anything, but our eyes locked. His stare followed mine as the horse rose, carrying me away from him.

Saying nothing, his hands wrapped around my waist, and I let go of the pole. Without any effort, he lifted me off the seat and stepped back to make room as he slid me down the front of his body.

I shivered with the contact. His closeness made me feel lightheaded.

“Are you cold?” His brows drew together, and he reached for my hand.

I started to tell him I wasn’t, but the second our fingers brushed, he winced. “Shit, princess. Your hands are like ice.”

I hadn’t even noticed. I’d been too preoccupied with him.

“I’m sorry,” I murmured, trying to tug my hand free.

“What are you apologizing for?” he asked, snatching my hand back. “Let’s warm them up.”

I frowned, wondering what he meant, when suddenly, Nate lifted the hem of his T-shirt and pressed my icy hand to his midsection. His skin was sinfully warm, and I had a momentary flashback to the night at my house when he’d be wearing only boxers. My palm flattened as blissful heat wrapped around me.

He made a sound, then yelled, “Yikes, woman!”

I jerked away, but he only laughed and towed me back. Grabbing my other hand, he added it beneath his shirt, tugged down the hem, and rubbed his hands briskly over mine.

“You really don’t have to do that,” I murmured. Will always winced when I touched him with cold hands. He certainly never offered to warm them up with his own body heat.

His voice brushed over me, and goose bumps pricked my skin. “Any opportunity to get you close, princess, is an opportunity I’m going to take.”

“Even at the expense of my freezing hands?” I tried to tease, but the words sounded more awed than anything.

He smiled. It was such a genuine one, the skin around his eyes crinkled. “Even then. Besides, you don’t feel so cold anymore.”

Against his stomach, my fingers flexed. He was right. I warmed right up.

That’s how I knew. How I knew one hundred percent I could tell him my secrets.

“I’m ready to talk now,” I whispered, nerves colliding inside me as though we were in bumper cars and not standing on a carousel.

Nate took my hand and led me carefully between horses, under twinkling lights, with slightly wonky music floating around us. On the outer edge of the ride, there were a few sleighs where more than one person could sit together. Nate stopped beside one and held my hand as I stepped in and settled on the wooden bench. Settling beside me, I noticed his legs were much longer than mine. His knees nearly bumped the front, while mine weren’t even close.

In front of the sleigh, a couple horses led the way. The leads connecting them to our seat had long since fallen away, but it was charming just the same.

It seemed safe here somehow. Even though we were in the middle of some old field on a ride everyone had forgotten about that was chipping and weathered. I wasn’t scared, and all the fear I had about telling Nate the things I didn’t want to say didn’t seem as pronounced.

If this piece of left-behind history could withstand time, then perhaps all the things I thought I’d lost of myself were still there after all. Weathered but still there.

“Tell me,” he said, settling back against the bench, making the wood groan a bit.

I sighed. “I don’t even know where to start.”

“At the beginning, princess. I want to hear it all.”

“You’re not going to like me so much.” I worried.

Nate put a hand to his chest, feigning hurt. “You think so little of me.”

I smiled wistfully. “Actually, it’s quite the opposite. Which is exactly why I’m worried.”

Nate’s arm fell between us. Delving between our bodies, he found my hand, pulled it into his lap, and wrapped it tightly in his.

“Tell me,” he said again.

I took a deep breath. When I exhaled, so did everything else I’d been holding inside.