Page 58 of The Love You Win

ISLA

I’m living in a fairy tale. Maddox guides me to a large field lit up by hundreds of twinkle lights. They illuminate a massive basket attached to a balloon in the colors of the sunset. It glows against the darkening evening sky. A kind-looking older man with gray hair and thick-rimmed glasses waits for us with a welcoming smile.

“Good evening,” the pilot says, offering us a handshake. “My name is Tim, and I’ll be your pilot tonight.”

“Hey, Tim, good to meet you,” Maddox says easily. “I’m Maddox, and this is Isla.”

If Tim recognizes my hockey player date, he doesn’t show it. It helps squash some of the self-conscious awkwardness filling me since we arrived. I couldn’t help wondering if anyone who saw us together would wonder what a guy like Maddox was doing with a woman like me. Now, I breathe deeply and relax my spine.

“Have either of you been up in a balloon before?” Tim asks.

Maddox and I both answer that we haven’t, and Tim nods. He runs through a list of facts and precautions before telling us there are drinks and pastries in the basket.

And then Maddox helps me climb into the basket. Tim talks us through what he’s doing as he prepares to launch the balloon, giving us some last-minute safety tips and pointing out the parts and mechanisms. Our ascent is smooth, but my heart beats a heavy rhythm in my chest and I clutch the side of the basket with white knuckles.

“Hey,” Maddox says in my ear. He presses close to me, the weight of his body grounding and keeps me from panicking. “It’s okay. We’re safe. Just breathe, beautiful.”

I try to suck in a deep breath, but this is so much more nerve-wracking than I thought it would be. I’m not afraid of heights, but floating off the ground beneath a giant balloon while we’re braced in an open basket is freaky as hell. It’s exhilarating, but it’s freaky. And much warmer than I thought it would be. The burner throws off enough heat to remind me of summer evenings spent lounging beside bonfires and roasting marshmallows as a kid. Wind buffets us, twisting my ponytail in an erratic dance as the ground gets further and further away.

It’s a symphony of sensation, and I couldn’t be more grateful for Maddox’s oversized presence at my back.

“This is both amazing and terrifying,” I tell him. I have to raise my voice to be heard over the bursts of flame and the hum of the wind.

Maddox wraps one arm around my waist as he grips the basket with the other. “It really is. The view’s stunning, though.”

We’re so high, everything beneath us looks surreal and miniature. He’s right. It’s beautiful. I twist around and look at him to agree, but Maddox isn’t looking at the shrinking world beneath us. He’s not looking at the sky, which is a riot of pinks and oranges. No, Maddox is looking at me. Me.

He smiles at my wide-eyed realization. Then he leans down and presses his soft lips to mine in a kiss. It’s so reverently gentle I forget all about my fear or the fact that we’re floating a thousand feet above the earth. Floating feels natural when Maddox kisses me.

Lips parting, I release my hold on the basket to tangle my fingers in his sweatshirt. He’s all the tether and safety I need. The thought should terrify me, and it probably will when I get home and over-analyze every moment of this date, but for now, it feels right. Maddox is right. We’re safe. I’m safe. Because he’s here.

Our tongues dance, and our lips move together. I’m hyper-aware of every hard inch of him pressed along the length of my body. He’s all corded muscles and strength. Maddox Graves is power personified, which makes the gentleness of his kiss such a heady experience. He’s the most beautiful contradiction, and I have the passing thought that the women who hurt him are idiots. Who could be with a man like this and not see how lucky they were? Not because of his money or his fame or any of the materialistic things he could give them, but because he is so good.

We’re both breathing hard when we break apart. And even though we should be drawn to the stunning sunset unfolding before us in vivid hues, our eyes remain glued together. Maddox breaks the spell when his lips twitch into a smile that soon overtakes his face. He’s so freaking handsome.

“I can’t decide if I’m light-headed because we’re so high in the air or if it’s because you just kissed all the sense out of me,” I blurt.

His eyes crinkle in the corners as he laughs. “Both?”

“Both,” I agree. I turn in his arms so my back is pressed to his front because if I don’t, we’ll spend the whole ride making out and poor Tim will feel awkward. I glance at the pilot, but he’s a professional. If he noticed our mid-air make out, he doesn’t show it. Soon I’m relaxing into Maddox again. Any awkwardness about Tim is wiped from my brain as the scene around us registers fully for the first time.

I’ve always been a dusk kind of girl. I love watching the sky paint itself in shades of pink and purple as the day gives way to night. But watching it from the ground has nothing on experiencing it from the sky. This high in the air, we’re a part of the sunset. It washes over us, suffusing Maddox’s face in warmth. The world is awash in soft pinks and oranges, and my breath catches.

It’s breathtaking. I’ve never seen anything like it.

“This is…” My words trail off. Nothing I could say seems adequate.

“Yeah,” Maddox says. “I know exactly what you’re feeling.”

We fall silent after that, both of us lost in the views and each other as the sun descends sleepily beneath the horizon. We take a few photos of the spectacular view with our phones, more than a few selfies—including some of us kissing, or Maddox kissing my cheek—and the pilot offers to take a nice one of us together. Then Tim lets us know we have another thirty minutes before we’ll land. He also reminds us that there’s champagne and treats in the picnic basket at our feet. Maddox pours us each a glass, and we munch on cookies and brownies that melt in our mouths as we soak up each other and the impending night.

As the balloon begins its descent, I wonder if the magic we found two thousand feet in the air will last once we’re firmly back on the ground. Could we just live up here together? There are no exes, no pressures, no curious reporters and fans, and no worried best friends to drag me back to reality at two thousand feet.

But if Maddox and I are only good in a romantic little bubble, is this worth protecting? Alex and I were great when it was just us. He was funny and sweet, and I felt like I mattered to him. It was once we stepped out of our little college ecosystem and into the real world that we fell apart.

I don’t want that again. I want something real. Something that’s magical when we’re cloistered away from the world, but is also magical when we’re moving through the mundanity of daily life.

Our landing is a bit bumpy, but reality always is, right? We thank Tim profusely for the amazing night. When the pilot tells us to come back again, Maddox shoots me a smile and says he’s sure we will.

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