Page 115 of Kiss Me Tonight

“I’m not sure—”

“C’mon, Miss Levi. Do you want to be the reason they smile for the rest of the day or not? Also, how are you going to let them up on The Monster without being a good coach and leading the fun brigade yourself?”

I’ve been strong-armed by a seventy-five-year-old hustler and he knows it.

With a pep to his step, Arthur McKerron ushers me along to the group and tells everyone to pair off into twos. I find myself heading for Topher, but then he catches my eye, twiddles his fingers at me, and whirls around to go find one of his buddies.

I’ve been ditched by my own son.

Feeling like the last kid picked in freshman-year gym class, I stand in the shadow of The Monster and watch everyone find their other half. Mina loops her arm with Nick, staring up at him with an adoring expression on her face. They’re ridiculously cute together. Harry chooses Tim, while Topher bumps fists with Bobby. Matthew Wilde looks miserable when his mother, Belinda, tucks her hand into her fourteen-year-old’s grip and keeps him rooted by her side. Even Timmy’s mom, who surprised me by helping out all day, since she requested off from both jobs, hurries to claim Meredith before another parent steals her away.

I’m an island floating in the middle of the ocean.

Then again, this is ideal. What’s the fun in tackling The Monster when you have to do it alone? Not fun at all. Clearly, I’ll need to pass on the ride and hang out with Arthur instead.Perfect.

“Waiting for me, Coach?”

Oh, boy.

My heart pounds a mile a minute at hearing that dark, smoky voice. Dominic doesn’t hold my hand, not in front of the team and all the parents, but I feel his heat at my back as his hand folds over my shoulder.

“I’ve missed you,” he husks out, bowing his head so he speaks directly into my ear. “You know, I haven’t been on one of these things in at least twenty-five years. And the last time I did, it certainly wasn’t with a girl as pretty as you.”

Flattery means nothing in the face of The Monster.

I open my mouth, fully prepared to let Dominic down gently and, oh, I don’t know, suggest we sneak away to the unicorn carousel instead, when Arthur ruins everything. “You!” he shouts, pointing two fingers at me and Dominic. “You two go up together.”

I dig my heels into the cement as Mr. Super Bowl Champion himself swoops forward like he’s ready to tackle another team for the ring. Dominic is all in and I am so,soout. When he realizes I’m not at his side, he turns on his heel and plants his hands on his hips.

“You gonna let me go up there alone?” he asks, serving me with a daring onceover.

Coward,that one looks reads.Find the bite of the thrill.

It’s one thing to have sex on top of a mountain when I’m more than thirty feet away from the edge of a cliff. Another thing entirely to put my fate in a monstrosity nicknamed The Monster.

Arthur skirts past me, ducking his head to whisper, “Don’t make me tell all your players what happened when you were seven.”

My jaw drops. “That’s blackmail!”

“No, Miss Levi, it’s called telling you to have a little bit of fun. Now get up there. I can’t put anyone else on board until I strap the both of you in.”

Like I’m being led like a lamb to the slaughter, the soles of my sneakers drag across the concrete. I would face down a million clowns before one round on this thing. Dramatic, maybe, but what isn’t dramatic at all is the way my temples pound and my head feels all sorts of woozy. I don’t want to do this. Ireallydon’t want to do this, but then I hear Topher call out, “Be brave, Mom!” and any option of fleeing goes right out the window.

I can be brave—right?

Show the team and my son and crazy, sadistic Arthur McKerron that I candothis.

Except, as I sit beside Dominic and fold my hands in my lap, my split-second bolt of bravery has apparently taken off for greener pastures.I’m going to be sick.Sweat dampens my palms as Arthur clicks the seat belt across our laps, then folds down the metal bar that is meant, I guess, to provide the illusion of safety. He waves good-naturedly, wishes us luck, and practically skips away to rope some other sucker into taking a ride on The Monster.

Tall as Dominic is, he has no choice but to sprawl out his legs before us. Actually, there might be such a thing astootall for this ride. He drapes an arm over my shoulder, his body positioned for maximum room, while his right thigh presses into my left. Never mind the fact that his massive, six-foot-six frame is cramped beside me, he still manages to look insanely comfortable and delicious while I’m on the verge of a meltdown. Suddenly, this moment feels not unlike our first one at the Golden Fleece. Face-into-crotch falling, notwithstanding, of course.

“The pictures are comin’ out well,” he says. Nothing about his expression signifies that he’s as freaked out as I am about the sudden jerk of the Ferris wheel as we inch up, up, up so the next seat can be filled.

“Mhmm.”

My hands clutch the metal bar in a death grip.

Clang. Clang. Clang.

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