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The invitation slips out so easily, I don’t realize the implication until I see the blush color on Jenn’s cheeks.
“Oh, look: You can see Lanie’s logo from here!” she points as the wheel slowly moves us higher.
From up here, the festival is just pulsing sound and color, people receding into the crowds below.
I wonder, did she just change the subject on purpose?
But it’s not like we’ve talked about, well, us. We had better, sexier things to do last night. So what if she thinks this is just a one-time deal?
“Listen, Jenn…” I say.
Fuck, am I really doing this now? I guess so. “I don’t want to play games,” I begin. “Especially after getting cheated on last year, I’m all about honestly. Just laying your cards on the table, you know? No secrets, or bullshit lies.”
Jenn makes strangled murmur. She’s looking mildly horrified, like I might propose marriage while she’s trapped on a Ferris wheel with me.
“Look, Austin—” she starts, but I interrupt.
“I’d like to see you once we’re back in the city,” I blurt out, before she gets the wrong idea. “Date you, I mean. This isn’t a ‘what happens in Palm Springs’ thing for me, or some random fling. I think this could… Be something.”
Be something?I try not to wince. Way to be vague, Banks.
Jenn is still looking at me, wide-eyed, like she’s about to say something.
“I know what you’re thinking,” I add, before she can speak.
“You… do?” she blinks.
“You’re thinking that it’s complicated, because we work together. And I’m your boss.”
“Right.” She swallows. “There’s that.”
“But it doesn’t have to be weird,” I promise her. “I will totally respect your boundaries. Whatever you want, this can move at your pace. I just know, this feels… real to me. I want to get to know you, the real you.” I pause, bringing my hand to stroke her cheek as I gaze into her eyes. “Is that something you might want, too?”
“Yes!” Jenn blurts. “Of course. I mean…” she laughs, blushing. “This is something. It’s definitely something.”
Yes.Yes. I refrain from punching the air. “Good,” I say instead, but she still looks uncertain, like there’s something on her mind.
“We can start slow, if you want?” I offer, even as it goes against every lustful bone in my body.
And one in particular.
“We can—I don’t know—just date, to begin with.” I continue. “We can even take sex off the table, if you want.”
She jolts up at me with a horrified look. “What? No! Sex stays.”
I laugh. “Thank God. I mean, not that I wouldn’t be a gentleman if you wanted to hit pause,” I add. “But… That would be a waste of some mind-blowing chemistry.”
“And you want to get blown?” she smirks.
I choke. “I… uh… No comment?” I manage, pulse pounding at the flood of filthy images she just put in my mind.
Jenn, on her knees. Eyes gazing up at me. Lush mouth opening to—
I wheeze a breath—and then realize Jenn is giggling at me. “You can’t say things like that to a man,” I recover, laughing. “Not unless you want to send him to an early grave.”
“Aww, we wouldn’t want that now, would we?” Jenn squeezes my thigh.
I lean in to kiss her, and fuck, it’s hot as hell. “I may have misjudged this whole Ferris wheel thing,” I say, drawing back. We’re still only half-way through the ride, trapped at the top of the wheel.
