“There wasn’t a lot of room in the budget for things like cotton candy and carnivals and—” her eyes averted, taking in the nighttime crowd below us “—laughter.”
“It’s a good thing you found me, then.” I snaked her fingers in mine.
“I think you found me.” Her bright smile returned. “This big fluffy elephant you won me thanks you too.” She petted the soft gray stuffed animal in her lap. “I’ve had so much fun tonight.”
She popped another cloud of periwinkle cotton candy into her mouth and savored it as it melted on her tongue.
“I don’t think I’ve ever had this much fun at a carnival.” The metal cage we were locked in shifted into gear, moving us slowly around the wheel as riders exited at the bottom. “The last time I was here, I had pimples and Coke-bottle glasses.”
She burst into a quiet giggle. “I can’t imagine you with nerd glasses.”
“Good. Don’t ever try again. I’ve long buried all the photo evidence.”
“Surely I can sweet talk your mom into sharing the goods?” She was teasing, but it sparked a thought in my mind.
“Hey, why don’t you come the next time my mom does family dinner?”
Her eyebrows rose, eyes swirling with some inexplicable emotions. “And like”—she tipped her head adorably—“meet your people?”
“Yeah, I guess that’s what I mean.” The Ferris wheel moved forward a few more places.
“Are we really ready for that step?” She was kidding me, I could tell, but I liked it.
I adjusted in my seat. Just the act of her bare thigh being pressed against mine for the last ten minutes of this ride was enough to remind me what she tasted like riding my tongue.
“Oh, we’re definitely ready, Peaches.” The pad of my thumbs settled on her full bottom lip, gently sliding across the tender flesh before I pressed our lips together in a tender kiss.
I didn't give a damn if we did look like lovestruck teenagers. Iwaslovestruck, well and twisted head over heels for this woman.
“You make me so happy, Arkin. I didn’t know it was possible to feel so —” she licked her lips “—safe.”
My heart collapsed at the use of the word safe. It wasn’t the first time she’d expressed sentiments like this one and wasn’t the first time I’d wondered about the details of her life before I’d come into it.
“I’m vowing to you right here and now, on my word as a man, you’ll always be safe as long as I’m around, Daphne. You never have to worry about that.”
She nodded, happiness splitting her cheeks in a grin. “You keep proving that to me, over and over.”
“I’m a man of few words but a lot of action. It takes some getting used to.”
“Not for me.” She spread her palm on my cheek, her thumb tracing the arch of my cheekbone. “It’s just one of the things I love about you.”
“Mm.” I placed another hungry kiss on her lips. “Let’s talk more about all those other things you love about me.”
The rusted metal door creaked on its hinges as a teen carnie swung the door wide, gesturing us out. I clasped her hand, and we ran out and down the steps, laughter and the scent of frieddough filling the night air.
“The comedy show just started at the stage. What do you say we throw popcorn at him every time he cracks a corny joke?”
“Sounds like the best idea yet.” She grinned up at me, eyes dancing with fire and amusement and everything sweet in life that I wanted more of. Whoever had wronged this woman in the past would have a one-way ticket to hell if I ever crossed their path.
Pushing my fingers into her hair, I held on to her for extra-long beats while the chaotic world spun around us, lost in her hair, her eyes, down deep to her sweet soul.
“It’s weird when I’m with you… I’ve never felt like more a changed man and my true self at the same time.”
Her eyes hung heavy, silence weighted like raindrops as we lost ourselves.
“I’ve never been the kind of person who needed other people to make me happy, but you make me laugh, and smile, and want to dance and sing and every other crazy thing on earth,” she confessed. “And eat cotton candy in bed every day.”
I snagged a pink tuft, dusting it along the button of her cute nose and then teasing it at her lips. She nipped it, and it dissolved on contact, turning her lips a deeper shade of pink than before.
