Page 68 of Tangled Up

“My favorite restaurant, my favorite flowers, dancing, riding the Ferris wheel.”

“I talked to a guy about skywritingI’m sorry, Carlyacross the beachfront, but I was worried you wouldn’t see it before the wind carried it away.”

Her eyes roll, and she shakes her head. “You did not.”

“I did. He asked what time I wanted it done, and I didn’t know what to tell him.”

“Oh, Beck.” Her chin drops. “What am I going to do with you?”

I reach out to touch her jaw, gently lifting her face. “Forgive me?”

Her soft lips press together, and a curl drifts across her cheek. The ruffles along the V-neck of her dress flutter as we soar up into the night, moving steadily now that every car is full.

Her pretty, pretty eyes blink up to mine, and I ache at the glisten of tears there. “I want to.”

Reaching out, I slide the curl behind her ear. “I swear, I’ll never hurt you again.”

“You swear?” She blinks, and I catch her tear on my thumb, sliding it between my fingers.

“With everything I am.”

She sniffs, touching her eyes with her fingertips before reaching out to cup my cheek. “You’re quite a lot.”

My chest swells, and I wrap my arm around her shoulders. “I really want to kiss you. Can I?”

“You’d better.” A smile splits her cheeks, and her cute little pink tongue wets her lips. “Or I’m going to kiss you first.”

Leaning down, I meet her smile with mine, crashing lips, clinking teeth. Hope floods my veins. It’s been so long since I felt this optimistic. Shifting in my seat, I wrap her up in my arms, lifting my chin to look out over the ocean as her cheek presses against the base of my neck.

It feels so good. The fist in my chest unfurls, and I’m at peace. Her head moves, and I relax my arms.

Her eyes are so bright, and that little pinpoint dimple appears at the corner of her rosebud lips. “What now?”

The wheel pauses, and I lean forward to kiss that little indention. We start our staccato descent, and I watch the attendant opening doors and hustling people out of their seats.

“Now I think we get off this Ferris wheel.”

Her hand is in mine as we step out of our seat, and I pull her close to my side to walk down the midway. Barkers call to us to play games, and I end up winning her a giant, striped sock puppet. She buys a bag of cotton candy, and we stop in front of the swings to watch as I share it with her.

“Want to ride that?” I nod towards the spinning wheel.

“And vomit? No thanks.”

Grinning, I give her another piece of spun sugar before putting some in my mouth. “It always made me nauseated, too.”

“I’ll never forget when we were all on it and Jessica lost her cookies.”

“Oh, shit. I’d forgotten that.” I groan, feeling ill all over again. “It was flying through the air at us.”

“It was so gross.” She squeals with laughter, bending at the waist. “We were ducking and dodging.”

Her eyes sparkle with happiness, and I reach up to brush a curl away before kissing her slow. Her lips are soft, and she tastes like sugar.

“I only ever want to see you this happy.” My voice is husky. “I promise to do everything I can to keep it this way.”

She wraps her arm around my waist and rests her head on my chest. “If we both promise, I don’t know what can stop us.”

CHAPTERNINETEEN

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