Chapter 4
FOUR
DOUGLAS
I arrive ten minutes before I said I would.
This time, I’m going to finish the date. No interruptions. No calls.
No—
The door opens. And every thought I had disappears.
She steps out in a dress that hugs her curves in a way that’s meant to tempt and tease.
And it’s working.
My chest tightens.
She walks toward me, a slow smile building like she’s already amused.
“Okay,” she says, stopping in front of me. “I have a strategy tonight.”
I push off the truck. “Do you.”
“Mm-hmm.” She gestures down at herself. “I figured if I dressed to kill, you might actually stick around long enough to finish the date.”
I huff out a quiet breath.
“That your plan?”
“Seemed solid.”
“It is.”
She blinks. “It is?”
“You look…” I pause, because there’s a word for it, but it doesn’t feel like enough. “You look good.”
Her mouth curves. “Good?”
“Yeah.”
“Not great? Not amazing? Not ‘wow, Kathryn, I’ve made several mistakes in my life but letting you walk away would be the biggest one’?”
I step closer.
Close enough that the teasing fades just slightly.
“You’re stunning,” I say.
I can see it in the way her breath catches just a fraction. The way her eyes hold mine a second longer than before.
Good. Because I meant it.
Something shifts between us again—familiar now, that pull. Stronger this time. Less tentative.
I don’t overthink it.
“Can I kiss you?” I ask.
Her brows lift, surprise flashing across her face.
“Wow,” she says softly. “I didn’t take you as an ask permission guy.”
“Well, I am.”
“That’s… nice.”
“Is that a problem?”
“No.” She shakes her head. “To answer your question: Yes.”
Thank fuck. I close the distance.
My hand comes to her waist, steady, grounding, giving her time to pull back if she wants to.
She doesn’t. So I kiss her.
Every second of restraint, every delayed moment, is worth it.
She’s warm, responsive, just enough bite to keep me from taking over completely.
I could very easily take more. So I don’t. Because she deserves to be wooed.
I keep it controlled. Measured.
Even when she leans into it. Even when her hand slides up my chest like she’s testing how far this goes.
I pull back first. Not because I want to.
Because I have to.
Her eyes open slowly, a little unfocused.
“Okay,” she says, a little breathless. “That was… ”
“Yeah.” I grin. “It was.”
“Come on.” I take her hand. “We have a date.”
The ride is easier this time. Less inquisitive. More open.
She still asks questions. I still don’t answer all of them.
But it doesn’t feel like an interrogation.
By the time we arrive, my body is thrumming from close proximity to her. I want to kiss her again. And I know just where we’ll do it.
I pull up to the curb, open her door, and hand the keys to a valet. She pauses just inside, looking up.
“Wait,” she says slowly. “I know this place.”
“Do you?”
Her eyes widen. “Are we going to the top?”
“We are.”
“Douglas.”
“What.”
“That is… so high.”
“You’ll be fine.”
“I might not be.”
“Don’t worry.” I squeeze her hand. “I’ve got you.”
She studies me for a second.
“Okay,” she says quietly. “I believe you.”
On the elevator up, she continues to study me.
“So,” she says finally, leaning back against the wall. “Tell me something normal about you.”
“Normal.”
“Yeah. Like a regular person. Hobbies. Pets. Favorite cereal. Anything that makes you seem less like a man who disappears mid-date.”
I huff out a breath. “I had a dog.”
Her face lights up immediately. “You did?”
“Yeah.”
“What kind?”
“A brown one.”
She laughs. “That’s not an answer.”
“It’s the only way I can describe him. He was a mutt.” I grin. “Is name was Ranger.”
She smiles. “Of course it was.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means you’re exactly the kind of man who names his dog Ranger.”
I shake my head. “What about you?”
“Oh, I had a whole rotation,” she says. “Cats, mostly. One very aggressive hamster that I’m could hold a grudge.”
My eyebrow shoots up. “Against you?”
“Against everyone.” She grins.
“Do you have any pets now?” I ask.
“I wish. My apartment doesn’t allow them, but just as soon as I buy my own place, I’m adopting a whole zoo.”
“A zoo?”
“Well, maybe just a cat and dog.” Her eyes sparkle and my gut clenches. “Until then, I’m loving on as many as I can at the animal shelter where I volunteer.”
Before I can ask more, we arrive. The doors open.
The view hits. Hard. Vegas, stretched out below us, all lights and movement and energy.
It’s the kind of thing you don’t get used to, even if you’ve seen it a million times before.
“Okay,” she breathes. “This is… incredible.”
I watch her instead of the lights. The way she takes it in. The way she forgets, for just a second, to be guarded.
Totally worth it.
“Come on,” I say, nodding toward the platform.
Her smile falters slightly.
“Oh,” she says. “Oh, we’re not just… looking.”
“No.”
“We’re doing something?” she asks.
“We are.”
“What are we doing?”
I gesture toward the harness setup.
Her eyes follow.
Then widen. “Ziplining?”
“Yeah.”
“Down”—she gulps and points—“there?”
“Precisely.”
She turns to me slowly. “I hate you.”
I smirk. “No, you don’t.”
“I don’t,” she admits. “But I might.”
“You’ll be fine.”
“That’s what you said about the height.”
“And you believed me.”
“I did.” She exhales, stepping forward anyway. “That was before I knew I’d be flying off a building.”
“I’ll keep you safe.”
The words come out before I think about them.
She looks at me again. Really looks.
“Okay,” she says. “I believe you.”
That matters more than it should.
They start getting her harnessed first. She talks the whole time abuzz with nervous energy.
I stay close, watching, stepping in when she needs grounding, even if she doesn’t realize it.
“You’re not allowed to leave me mid-zip,” she says as they tighten the straps.
“Wasn’t planning on it.”
“Good. Because I don’t think I can emotionally recover from being abandoned on a wire.”
“That would be a new low.”
“It really would be.”
They finish with her. I do a once-over to check their work. I know they’re professionals. But her safety matters.
I give a nod. She’s secure.
Now it’s my turn. I reach for the harness—
My phone rings. Everything in me goes still.
Because I know that ringtone. It’s one I’ve specially set.
I answer. “Yeah.”
“Doug—” Panic lances my heart. “We’re at the hospital,” Anna says, her voice breaking. “I—I didn’t know who else to call—”
My chest tightens. “What happened?”
“Bella—she won’t stop—” she chokes on the words “they took her back and I—”
“I’ll be right there.”
I hang up. Turn.
Kathryn is watching me. Eyes wide.
“I’m sorry,” I say, already stepping back. “I have to go.”
Her face—
Fuck me.
There it is. That flicker. That disappointment she’s trying not to show.
“Yeah,” she says, too quickly. “Of course. Emergency, right?”
“I—”
I don’t explain.
Can’t.
“I’ll come back,” I say instead.
The words sound thin even to me.
She doesn’t respond.
Guilt rushes over me. “I’m sorry.”
Then I turn… And leave her there.
Hanging by a God-damn wire.