Chapter Twenty-Six #2
They came to his truck, and he looked at her, standing so close, she could kiss those tempting lips if she went up on her toes. “Darlin’, it includes anything your sweet heart desires.”
Her heart wasn’t acting very sweet at the moment. It was begging her to throw caution to the wind and say she desired him. She tried to push that urge away with a smirk but couldn’t manage it and rolled her eyes instead, breaking their connection before she gave in to it.
“Careful, Wicked. You’re getting a little too good at making fake feel real.”
His lips curved into a tantalizing smile caught somewhere between enticingly sinful and charmingly playful, seriously hindering her ability to think clearly.
He still hadn’t moved, just stood there looking at her like he was waiting for something to happen.
For her to make a choice? For permission?
An act of God? Or maybe she was misreading him again, and he was just being the flirtatious guy everyone seemed to know him to be.
Between her racing heart and that look, she was too confused to figure it out.
Get a grip, Flores. Don’t make things weirder.
“Are we having a staring contest, or do I get to see the surprise?” Way to go, Weirdo.
His lips quirked ever so slightly before breaking into his naturally warm smile, taking down the tension a notch. He opened the truck door and stepped aside, offering his hand. “Your chariot awaits, my queen. Your surprise is an up-close-and-personal view of the falls.”
“Are you planning on tossing me over them in a barrel?” she teased as she settled into her seat.
“Something like that.”
They drove to Niagara Falls State Park and took an elevator from the observation tower down to a dock at the base of the gorge, where they were given ponchos to wear before boarding the Maid of the Mist, a massive boat that provided tours of the falls.
They stood on the upper deck among throngs of other people wearing matching ponchos as the boat moved away from the dock. Zander kept Shauna close with a tight hold on her hand. A loud horn startled her, and he pulled her against him with a chuckle.
A voice boomed through speakers as they glided past the American Falls, crashing down in a thunderous curtain illuminated by a spectacular blend of vibrant blue and purple lights, and beside them, Bridal Veil Falls, which was smaller but every bit as gorgeous.
Spray drifted in the breeze, wetting their faces and hair.
Zander took out his phone, but instead of taking pictures of the falls, he leaned in and took one of them.
Then he pulled her hood over her ponytail and snapped a picture of her before it flew off.
As he started to pocket his phone, she said, “Wait. I want to take one of you,” and snagged it from him.
He tried to grab it, but she turned away, glancing at the screen to hit the camera icon, but it was locked.
She was shocked to see a picture of them kissing at the wedding as his lockscreen.
They didn’t look like a fake couple. He had one arm belted around her, his other hand in her hair, and her arms weren’t just draped over his shoulders.
They were crossed behind his neck like they’d not only kissed a million times before, but they were celebrating their coupledom in front of everyone.
That rattled her as much as seeing the picture of them on his phone did.
Her pulse raced as she turned back to him. He looked like he was standing on a tightrope, afraid to speak or move for fear of tripping up something tenuous between them. Or more likely, she was imagining it. She wasn’t exactly thinking straight right now.
Of course she was imagining it. “When did you make us your lockscreen?”
“The other day. I figured it would help sell our relationship to everyone. Does it bother you?”
“No. It just took me by surprise. It’s just a picture.”
His gaze didn’t waver from hers. “A pretty great picture.” He held out his hand. “I’ll unlock it so you can take a picture.” He unlocked it and handed it back.
She tried to play it off like she hadn’t gotten so rattled she’d forgotten she wanted to take a picture, and said, “Give me that Wicked smile.” And boy did he ever.
He pocketed his phone, finding her hand under their ponchos again.
Between that picture, their closeness, this incredibly romantic trip he’d planned, and the enormity of the river stretching out before them like a surging path drawing them into something wild and untamable, her emotions were all over the place.
Rock walls loomed on either side of the river, greenery clinging to the cliffs.
The observation tower and other buildings, though visible, felt a world away as the boat moved deeper into the river.
The wind picked up, and the temperature dropped as they neared the most powerful waterfall.
The roar of the falls amplified with the strengthening current, and their ponchos whipped and billowed around them, soaking their clothes.
The mist was now a cold blast in her face.
She huddled into Zander’s chest, the boat rocking with the pounding of the falls.
He put a hand on the back of her head, his other arm snaking around her, protective, strong, safe.
The roar of the falls was almost as deafening as the pounding of her heart as she looked up and found Zander watching her.
They squinted against the stinging mist, droplets clinging to their lashes.
His hand slid from her head across her jaw, cupping her cheek, and the world around them silenced.
He gently tilted her chin up, his thumb brushing over her cheek, his piercing blue eyes searching hers, giving her a moment to pull away.
They had an end date, and getting too close would complicate things, but pulling away was the last thing she wanted.
He must have sensed it, because his mouth came down over hers, fierce and possessive, taking her in a merciless kiss.
Her fingers fisted in his poncho, steadying her not against the wind and rain whipping around them, but against the damn breaking inside her and the surge of white-hot desire overtaking her.