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“Whoa, silence?” She leaned forward. “Does that mean you’re thinking about it?”
“What?” I snorted. “No. No. Of course not. No.”
She tipped her head and laughed. “Liar! You are thinking about it! Oh, my God, Ivy. Do it! You’ve already conquered so much today. Time to scale that man like Mount Everest and friggin’ remember banging him this time.”
The older woman passing by spun and speared me with a disgusted look before she hurried away. I shrank a little lower in my seat. “So, I’ve thought about it. Okay? Happy?”
Iris clapped. “Yes. Happy. How are you gonna do it?”
Anxiety wound its way through my insides. “I’m not gonna do it! I was justthinkingabout it.”
“Well, going for it again definitely gets my vote.”
“I’m not doing it with him again. And even if I wanted to, I wouldn’t even know how to go about it. What would I say? Just, ‘Hey, wanna go again?’ or ‘I don’t remember the first time, so can we do this again so I’ll remember?’”
Iris snorted. “Uh. NO! Jesus, Ivy. Definitely don’t say that. Just walk back into that room, wait for the right moment, and then just kiss him. Trust me. The rest will come naturally afterward.”
“Just kiss him?”
“Yep. Just kiss him.”
I tipped my head, contemplating her suggestion. “That’s it, huh? Just kiss him.”
“You’re a hot chick. He’s a hot, single guy. You don’t need some big ploy to get him interested in doing the deed. Trust me. All you gotta do is walk in and kiss him. Then it’s game on.”
The picture on the screen froze up, and I sat forward. “Iris?”
She came back to life for a second. “Ivy? You there?”
“Iris?” I said again, but this time she froze for good when the call failed.
“Damn it,” I whispered, then sent her a text.
ME: Bad reception here. Sorry, I lost you!
IRIS: No worries! Time to stop talking to me anyway so you can go and KISS HIM! Then bow-chicka-wow-wow!
ME: Shut up! I don’t even know if I have the balls to do this.
IRIS: You just spent the day riding huge roller coasters, which ever since we were kids and you saw that news piece about the guy who fell out, you vowed never to do.
I didn’t respond as I thought about her words. Ihadjust done something brave and bold today, and I’d conquered one of my greatest fears. What was having the nerve to kiss a guy I’d already slept with compared to plunging down a roller coaster?
ME: Okay. I’ll try it.
IRIS: Yay! Gah! Good luck! Try to remember details this time! I want a full rundown of that man’s hot body!
ME: You’re a perv. But yeah. I’ll do my best to remember it this time! Wish me luck!
IRIS: Good luck! Go get him, tiger!
I took a deep breath and looked out the window one last time, then stood up and started marching back toward the sleeper car where I was going to face my fear and ride Ethan just like I’d ridden the roller coaster earlier. This was my chance to embrace doing the things I wanted to do, and right now ... that was Ethan. I walked with purpose, cheering myself on with encouraging words as I passed back through the dining car and then the coach car. By the time I reached the sleeper car, my steps had started to slow.
Could I seriously just walk into our room and kiss him? Just grab him and go for it? My confidence faltered as I started imagining him pushing me away, horrified I had overstepped so badly. But then I remembered the sweet way he’d held my hand throughout the day and the way he looked at me. This man had used his body as a shield to protect me from harm on the plane, and he’d given up his airline ticket to rent a car to drive me halfway across the country because I was scared to fly again.
No. This wasn’t the kind of man who wasn’t open to having another kiss with me. But I just needed to overcome the last step keeping me out of his arms.
Me.
