Page 139 of Power Play

I looked down. “I don’t.”

“I know.”

“I only notice you.”

Ryan’s thumb stopped. The tenderness moving through his expression almost undid me.

“And I only notice you.”

The Ferris wheel stopped at the top while music floated up from below and the gondola swayed gently beneath us.

I leaned closer, and Ryan met me halfway.

The kiss started softly, his hand sliding into my hair while mine settled against his chest. The privacy created by darkness and height stripped away whatever restraint had kept the rest of our kisses appropriate for families. His mouth deepened over mine, and I shifted toward him until my thigh slid partly across his.

Ryan made a low sound against my lips as his hand moved from my hair to my waist.

I kissed him harder.

The safety bar was the only thing preventing me from climbing completely into his lap. Ryan broke the kiss long enough to look down at the metal separating us.

“I hate this ride.”

I laughed breathlessly. “You were the one who suggested it.”

“Poor planning.”

I kissed the corner of his mouth, and his head turned immediately to catch me again. The kiss grew hotter until the gondola jerked and started moving.

Ryan pulled back, his breathing rough enough to match mine. He rested his forehead against me while his thumb moved slowly beneath my jaw.

The pause felt too familiar.

My body recognized the invisible line before Ryan said anything, and the old fear arrived before anything had happened. I had spent the night watching him touch me without caring who saw, yet some part of me still believed every moment of restraint was the beginning of rejection.

Ryan’s gaze narrowed. “What happened?”

“The ride moved.”

“You just disappeared on me.”

“I’m right here.”

“Your body is. The rest of you went somewhere.”

I forced a smile, but he didn’t believe it. I could tell from the way his eyes searched mine.

People became visible in the gondola below us, and the closer we moved toward the ground, the more my body remembered we weren’t alone.

Ryan looked toward the lights. His hand stayed around mine, but he didn’t kiss me again.

I hated how much that hurt.

The rest of the night should’ve fixed it, and in almost every way, it did.

Ryan bought me cotton candy because I said I hadn’t had it since I was a kid, then laughed when the first piece stuck to my lip and kissed the sugar away. He let me drag him onto a spinning ride he claimed violated several laws of physics and emerged looking mildly offended by gravity.

When the temperature dropped after ten, he went back to the truck for a lightweight black hoodie and pulled it over my shoulders himself. I drowned in it, and Ryan looked pleased.