We walked over slowly, letting the castle fully inflate before we reached it. Then we stopped to pull off our shoes—I was amused to see that Horst wore a pair of socks printed all over with images of gummy bear candies—and Horst helped me through the opening to the bouncy portion of the inflatable. Around me the walls of the castle rose up, printed with climbing roses in so many shades of pink. The surface under me undulated as Horst climbed in behind me, his eyes fixed on my face.
“It’s something, isn’t it?”
“It’s gorgeous.” I had to keep shifting my weight around to remain steady as I turned in a slow circle, imagining what it would be like to see all this as a child.
If it was this magical for me...
“What is this place?” I asked.
“Bounce Bounce Bounce,” Horst said. “They sell smaller inflatables—that’s what was on the shelves in the back—and they rent out these big ones.” He bounced a few times, making the bottom of the castle ripple under my feet. Then he tipped hishead toward the back. “Want to take a look at the view from up top?”
The back of the castle was whatever the bouncy house version of climbing wall was, with generous hand- and footholds to get us to the turret on top. That was where the slide was, but it also offered a view of the place.
Not that it was much of a view. Despite his charm and fairy dust, not even Horst could change our surroundings, which remained a bland gray box broken up only by the deflated bounce houses around us.
“It’s beautiful up here,” Horst said. I thought at first he was making a joke, but then I turned and realized he was watching me intently. Carefully, he reached out one hand and wrapped a finger with one of the pastel locks of my hair. “You fit right in here. You look like a unicorn princess.”
I blushed. “I’m still not always in control of my magic.”
He tugged gently on the strand of hair, then let it fall to my shoulder. Moving closer, he tipped my head up with two fingers beneath my chin. “You don’t have to believe in yourself all the time. Even I don’t always have faith in my magic.”
“You? Mr. Pied Piper himself? He of the big pipe and all the other sexy hashtags?”
He lowered his gaze so his eyes were hidden from me, but not before I saw the flash of something that looked suspiciously like doubt or even fear in those honeyed depths. Then he swallowed, and when he looked back at me again, he was as poised and collected as ever. “Don’t mistake stupidity for confidence.”
“Whatever it is, it’s working for you.”
He raised his other hand, framing my face with his palms, and leaned closer. “If I have confidence in anyone, it’s you. You may not always believe in yourself, but I believe in you enough for both of us, Glory O’Bryan.”
And with that he kissed me, my heart fluttering in my chest as I lost myself in the moment—the whoosh of the fan keeping the princess castle inflated, the warmth of Horst’s fingers on my jawline, the familiar scent of sandalwood almost completely overwhelming the strange plasticky smell of the inflatable, the taste of Horst’s lips on mine, the fireworks bursting behind my closed eyelids.
This was exactly the kind of adventure I wanted. Breaking into warehouses after hours so I could make out in a princess bouncy castle with a man who made me believe fairy dust is real and that I was stronger than I thought.
I mean, I supposed it would have been better without the breaking and entering part, but sometimes you have to take a few risks to find magic.
Horst’s hands slid down my back and tightened on my hips. “Want to test out the slide?”
He managed to make it sound much dirtier than sliding down a bouncy castle slide should sound. “By ‘test out the slide,’ what exactly do you mean?”
His fingers slipped under the hem of my shirt. “You know what a slide is,” he said, trailing kisses from the spot under my ear down my throat.
“I know, but you seem awfully excited for a guy who’s about to zip down a pretty short slide.”
“Hmmm. Good point. It does seem a little boring, doesn’t it?” He drew back, his face scrunching up as he made a point of looking like he was deep in thought. “Hey, you know what might make it more interesting? If we weren’t wearing clothes.”
“We’re not having sex in a bouncy castle,” I said.
His eyes widened in faux shock. “Glory O’Bryan! You and that dirty mind of yours. Who said anything about sex?”
“Your hands are certainly doing a lot of talking at the moment.”
“Really?” He leaned back in to nibble my ear. “Do you find them persuasive?”
“Sir, this is a kids’ princess castle.”
“Didn’t sound like a no to me.” He started to sweep his hands upward, taking the fabric of my shirt with them.
“I’m not sure I meant it to.”
