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I take her hand and lead her through the admissions counter—she doesn't fight me about paying. She walks straight to the window looking out on the bay. She gets close enough to press her nose to the glass.
Her eyes go wide. Her smile spreads to her cheeks. I get why Violet tries to convince everyone she's a stone cold bitch, but I'm surprised she's as good at it as she is.
This—the girl squealing with joy over the fantastic view—is the Violet only I know. But this is Violet. Her guard is down. She's utterly without pretenses.
She's mine now as much as she was mine when she was coming on my hand last night.
My hands are itching to be between her legs again. I shove them in my pockets to keep them in line. This isn't the time or the place.
She locks arms with me and guides me through the exhibit. Every angle of the view fascinates her. It's a hell of a view. Seattle has everything— miles and miles of suburbs, a smattering of skyscrapers, puffy white clouds and a gloomy grey sky, deep blue water in every direction.
Hell, we can even see the Space Needle from here.
Once we've seen every angle the observatory has to offer, we start at the beginning and do it all over again.
Violet takes in the view of the pristine suburbs. "You think I'd like it in Seattle?"
"Cali girls need the sunshine."
She laughs. "You have got to stop with the Cali girl thing. It's ridiculous."
"Worried about your reputation?"
She shoots me a please look. "My reputation is doing just fine." She tugs at the flared skirt of her corset-top dress. Her eyes go to the grey sky. "It is gloomy here." Her voice drops. "I miss the sun when I'm in New York."
"You know where you want to go after school?"
"No." She turns to look at me. "I like New York. And Los Angeles. But I'm not sure what I want to do yet. I thought about staying in school to get a PhD, but I'm sick of academia. I want to be in the real world."
"You could stay our tour accountant."
"You don't need someone full time."
I stare into her green eyes. "What if I want you full time?"
Her brow furrows the way it always does when she's working something out. Her voice gets soft. "That wouldn't work out. I'm not studying anything like accounting. You're better off with someone who knows the ropes."
"What if I don't care? What if I want you?"
She stammers. "Well, I… um… the field that interests me the most is genetics. It has a lot of different real world math applications. A lot of models of probability. And it's becoming a bigger industry. I did an internship at a genetics lab last summer and I liked it a lot. But that could really put me in any major city."
"Orange County?"
She sticks her tongue out. "Hopefully not."
"Nothing you like about home?"
"There were some things. It's clean."
"Safe."
She nods. "We have great beaches."
"Important to a Cali girl who loves to surf."
Her laugh shakes off all the tension in her expression. "You're ridiculous."
"Orange County has a lot going for it," I say. "They keep adding to the Spectrum."
