Chapter 8 #2
It isn’t the convertible that has me feeling like I’m flying. It’s her. All fucking her.
“Wow.”
“Wow is right.”
The view is like none other. Breathtaking. Awe inspiring. Ethereal.
If I never make another good decision in life, I know I made a fucking fantastic one bringing Jordan here.
It’s been hard to keep my eyes on the scenery when she looks moved beyond words.
I’m certain that if there weren’t a bunch of other people milling about she would have tears streaming down her cheeks.
She’s never been more beautiful.
“Thank you,” she whispers, her eyes scanning over the vast expanse of the canyon surrounding us. “I don’t know if I ever told you, but I did this school project back in elementary about the seven natural wonders of the world. I told myself I’d visit every one of them in my life.”
Ah, that makes her desire to visit the Grand Canyon make sense. No wonder she was so disappointed when Savanna decided not to include it. She was so close she could practically touch it, but not close enough.
“Have you made it to any of them?” I ask curiously.
Glancing at me, she waves her hand beyond the railing at the scene before us. “Yep.”
The smile of gratitude she gives me makes my stomach twist in a strange, indescribable way.
It’s not unpleasant, but it’s not something I’m familiar with either.
Swallowing the lump that’s suddenly grown in my throat, I nod, my eyes darting back out over the canyon.
I can handle a lot as a man, and a firefighter at that, but the intensity of her stare is too much.
“We need to commemorate the occasion with a picture then,” I say, using her words from the other night at the top of the tower. Pulling my phone out of my pocket, I take a few steps back. “Give me a smile.”
“We need a selfie! Get in here!”
“After. I want one of you first.”
Something to look back on. Something that I get to keep from today that is just her. Just this moment.
Rolling her eyes at me, she rests back against the railing, her arms up on either side of it, and flashes me a brilliant smile.
I swear it’s nearly as bright as the midday sun the way it radiates at me, heating me from the inside out.
Except the heat isn’t the type that makes me want to take her to bed.
It’s the kind that makes me want to go over there, take the damn selfie, and then kiss the ever living daylights out of her.
“Perfection,” I tell her, grinning when she shakes her head, clearly finding me ridiculous.
But she’s laughing as she does it. It’s a flawless picture. I never realized how gorgeous she would look against the red rock background in her white tank top and jean shorts, with her summer kissed skin.
Fuck. I wish I could stare at her in this moment forever.
“Okay, come here. Take a selfie with me,” she calls, waving me back to her.
Like a moth to a fucking flame, I close the distance between us, wrapping an arm around her shoulder.
But instead of standing beside her, I pull her in front of me so our faces are side by side.
Angling my phone out, I get us both in the frame, along with as much of the background as I can, and we both smile our signature smiles.
Hers reaching her eyes. Me with my smirk.
It’s a good fucking selfie. I’m a great fucking photographer if I do say so myself. And I’m not done.
Pressing my palm against her chest so she’s flush against me, I turn my head and press my lips to her cheek, taking another. And a couple more for good measure, just in case I happened to surprise her and can’t see it while my head is turned.
“Oh, let me see, let me see!” she says with delight. “Those looked good.”
Chuckling, I hand my phone over to her, resting my chin on her shoulder as she swipes through them.
“Aww, Liam, these are adorable.” Twisting around to face me, she grins. “You need to send these to me.”
With my phone back in hand, I do just that while I lean against the railing, and Jordan stands against me. After a few moments I nod. “Done.”
“Am I allowed to kiss you outside of the bedroom if no one is around?” she questions out of the blue.
My eyes jump to hers, startled by the question. Shoving my phone back in my pocket, the corner of my lip raises. “You never need to ask me that. Kiss away. But maybe keep it PG in public, yeah?”
Jordan’s laughter is music to my ears. Her arms loop around my neck as mine settle around her waist. She’s halfway to me when an intrusive thought pops into my head and blurts out of my mouth without permission.
“Is this a date? I mean…” Fuck. I cringe at myself. That sounded stupid. “I mean, is this what a date feels like?”
Yeah, ‘cause that was so much better, bozo.
Her brows furrow. “What it feels like? Haven’t you ever been on a date?”
I shake my head.
“You’ve never been on a date?” she questions again, astonished. After another head shake she asks, “What about in high school? Didn’t you go on any dates?”
I laugh. “Definitely not. I was the biggest asshole in high school.”
“Huh.”
It’s a statement, not a question, and I can see the gears turning in her mind. But with my question still unanswered, I try again. “So, is this what a date feels like?”
The words are hardly out of my mouth when she completely ignores me, instead asking, “Why did you break your rule for me?”
“Fireball,” I say, reaching up to push a whisp of stray hair out of her face and behind her ear. “You’re gonna need to be a little more specific on that. I’ve broken a number of them.”
“The big one. The one everyone talks about.” Her brows are pushed together in deep concentration like she’s trying to figure the answer out on her own without my help. “You never sleep with someone twice.”
I’ve been struggling with an answer to this myself. When I woke up yesterday morning and she was gone, unexpected disappointment exploded in me like a propane tank in a fire. I figured it was because I wanted another round when we woke up. One last fuck for the road.
But as the day went on, and we talked and hung out at the pool, I realized maybe I wasn’t finished with her.
I hadn’t had my fill of Jordan yet. Which has never happened, so I figured maybe it was because we were out of town, and I wasn’t in my normal stomping grounds.
Not to say I couldn’t find pussy elsewhere, but the thought of bringing anyone back to the hotel last night didn’t bring the normal thrill or pleasure I usually get.
When the girl giving away body shots at the bar came around, it held no interest. To any of us, to be honest, which the guys razzed me for because typically I would have been all over that. But nothing about the woman appealed to me, and it wasn’t because she wasn’t fine as hell.