Page 75 of Playoff

“I’m curious and excited.”

He grins. “We’re going to Beauty and Essex for dinner. From there we can walk to your real surprise.”

Dinner is wonderful, but not knowing the surprise is killing me.

He knows I’m terrible when it comes to secrets and surprises, so he’s doing this on purpose. But it’s fun, and I love the fact that he remembers so many little things about me. He’s working hard to show me that he’s invested in whatever this is between us, which is both wonderful and scary. If I wasn’t having so much fun, I’d definitely be overthinking all of it, but I am so I won’t. At least, not now.

And I’m still confused when we get to our destination after dinner.

He has a shit-eating grin and as we approach a check-in area, I realize what’s happening.

“Oh my god. Blake!” I stare at him. “Are we… did you… are we going on ahelicopterride?!”

“Yup.”

“But how…” I don’t want to ask him how he could afford that since I know it’s expensive.

“Surprise.”

“Blake, this is so cool!” Since we’re already here, and there’s no point in being a jerk, I put the cost out of my mind and let excitement take over.

“Yeah?” His eyes meet mine with a combination of enthusiasm and concern, as if he’s not completely sure I’m happy about this.

“You remembered!” I whisper, throwing my arms around his neck.

We’d talked about taking a helicopter ride when we were in high school, and it was one of the top five items on our bucket lists. I just hadn’t gotten around to it.

“Of course, I remembered.” He presses his lips to mine.

“Blake, how did you…” I cut myself off. I’m not going to embarrass him by asking about his financial situation. Not now. “Let’s go.”

Flying in a helicopter is everything I could have dreamed of. The Strip is lit up since it’s dark out, and it’s absolutely breathtaking.

The fountain at the Bellagio.

The Formula One Pit building.

The Sphere.

Downtown.

Some of the best parts of Las Vegas, from an aerial view.

He’s so getting laid tonight.

Not that there was ever a question of that, but I should probably let him do butt stuff or something.

“This is amazing,” I gush, leaning over to kiss him.

“It’s pretty cool, right?”

“Oh, yeah. Definitely in the top three things I’ve ever experienced.”

“Top three?” he asks.

“Well, number one is Greece. I went there a few summers ago and it was truly the trip of a lifetime. The sunset in Santorini is magical…”

“And number two?”

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