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Then let my breath out slowly as she started taking pictures out the other side.
An eternity later we were descending, thank fucking god. I was glad I hadn’t eaten anything before picking Astrid up, because if I had, it would have come back up and painted the floor of the helicopter.
That would have been fun for no one.
“All right, guys. I hope you had a good time,” Edward’s voice crackled over the headsets as we touched the ground. It was probably a really smooth landing; however, I felt every jolt in my bones as I gritted my teeth.
I’d just unlocked a new fear for myself. Though, I should at least fly on an airplane before I nix the entire flight experience. Maybe it was just these small things. I knew studying for debates that smaller planes weren’t as steady as the large ones. Helicopters were much smaller, so maybe the same logic applied. Their flight trajectory was also much different.
“I loved it!” Astrid said next to me as she whipped the headset off and handed it back to Edward. I gave him mine too.
“Great! I hope you got some great shots, and keep in mind, if you book another flight while you’re here, you get half off. And,” he drew out the word. “There’s a thirty percent discount if you book classes while you’re here.”
Fat chance of that.
Not that we had the money to do that kind of thing anyway.
“Thanks, man. It was a memorable experience.” I nodded to Edward as he opened the side for us to get out. “Did you get some nice pictures?” I touched Astrid’s arm once we were standing back on solid ground.
She looped her camera bag over her arm and gripped my shoulders. “Jonah, that was so freaking cool. I might just be sold on landscape pictures. At least when the mountains are snowy and the sky is made up of cotton candy clouds. What are we doing now? Because I kind of want to go home and upload them to my computer.”
“Ouch,” I said through a grimace and placed my hand over my heart.
She laughed and kissed the underside of my jaw.
I froze at the intimate touch. We’d shared a few hot and heavy kisses, but this familiar touch was burning me up from the inside. I’d seen her be affectionate with the guys like this, and I’d sat in a vat of unaggressive jealousy. I was happy for them, but I wanted that for myself too.
“Okay. How about we grab some food to go, and then go sit at the reservoir. We can watch the moonlight on the water while we eat. Who knows, maybe I’ll snap some pictures there too.”
“Done.” I’d love that. I’d be watching her while she watched the water.
Before we left, I tipped the pilot nice and big. He probably looked back at some point to check on us, and never let on that I had my eyes closed. That was very kind of him if he did, not to call me out in front of my girl who had no issues with flying.
We grabbed burgers and shakes close to the reservoir, and Astrid started parsing out the food as soon as we parked. The salty smell of the French fries made my mouth water, this time in a good way.
“You got some good shots?” I asked, popping three fries in my mouth.
“Mmhm,” she hummed around a mouthful of burger as she wiped her fingers off. “I think so. Let’s look.” She carefully pulled the camera out of her bag and turned it on. The pictures were small because the digital screen wasn’t very large, but as she started clicking through pictures, I stopped eating.
The first few had glares across the screen, probably a reflection off of the glass, but she figured it out somehow. Because I would never have known the other pictures were taken from the inside of anything. With each shot, the colors of the sky grew brighter, the sun sank lower.
The mountains were majestic, half cast in light as marshmallow fluff clouds sat quietly around the peaks. There was a serene vibe about the shots that just made me want to take a deep breath and enjoy the view.
This was what I missed? Damn it. We’d have to do that again, but I’d be taking Dramamine first.
“Those are breathtaking.” I leaned closer to her shoulder to get a better look.
“They really are, aren’t they?” She turned off the camera and tucked it away in the bag before she turned to me.
I hadn’t moved, so when her head tilted toward me, our noses grazed.
We paused, breathing in each other’s air.
I wanted to press my lips against hers, to soak up some of the essence that made her…her. As if I could gain insight into her thoughts and feelings through intimate touch alone.
Astrid’s hand slowly raised to brush my hair away from my forehead. Then she closed her eyes and moved a fraction of an inch closer. Her top lip brushed against my bottom, and I waited.
For months, I’d wanted her. More than I cared to admit to myself. But I wanted her to make the first move. At least right now, I wanted her to be the one to close the gap between us. I’d already built the bridge by setting up the date, now it was her turn.
