Chapter 9

A fter they left the tuxedo rental shop, they stopped for dinner at a deli, where Maggie had the best chicken salad sandwich in her life, plus the best conversation with the sexiest guy. When they were back in his SUV after the meal, she held his hand and stared out the window. It was surreal that she'd just been doing her job and chaperoning her class on their field trip, and now she was on a second date with literally the sweetest guy she'd ever met in her life.

And hottest.

Holy crap.

Just looking at him made her heart flutter. And he smelled so good, like thunderstorms and rain.

"What would you like to do now?" he asked, his voice low as he maneuvered the SUV out of the parking lot and onto the street.

"I haven't seen your place yet," she said. "Or we could go back to mine, watch a movie?"

She wasn't really a direct person, but Alistair made her feel like she could tell him anything and he wouldn't judge her.

"I just realized," she added, "that you never said where you lived."

He hummed. "I live at the park. There's an apartment complex at the back."

"No kidding. I didn't know there were apartments there."

"Just for employees, and it's not where park visitors can get to."

"Have you lived there long?"

There was a moment where he didn't say anything, and it was a long enough moment that she looked at him and saw his jaw was working. She frowned. What was taking him so long to answer? It was a pretty straightforward question.

Before she could ask what was up, he answered, "Not too long, actually. The apartments are fairly new. I used to live away from the park."

She stared at him critically for a moment, but the jaw tension was gone now. He glanced at her with a smile, and it made her insides go all melty and she nearly forgot that he'd seemed to be holding back something.

But she didn't forget. Because she'd been lied to a lot in the past and she didn't want to start anything off like that.

"Is there something going on?" she blurted.

"What?"

"You seemed to be thinking really hard about an easy question. I told you I've got some trust issues, which I'm aware is a me problem and I'm working on it, but you just gave me some mild red-flag warnings right now."

"Sorry," he said, "I was feeling kind of…too old to be living in an apartment, I guess."

"I live in an apartment," she pointed out.

"Your apartment is a townhouse and really nice, and not the same as the complex at the park. I wish I had a house to take you back to."

"Oh." She let that roll around in her head. "I don't mind. I would like to have a house someday, though. Like a real one. Where I could plant flowers in flower beds and fight over what color to paint the walls."

"You could paint anything any color you like in my place."

"That's very sweet," she said with a chuckle. "In the abstract, anyway. Since neither of us has a house, you can promise whatever you like."

"Good point, but I promise that if we ever have a place together, I will keep my lips zipped about wall color."

Her mind spun quickly with the beach-themed bathroom she'd always wanted, with sand-colored flooring and pale blue walls like a summer sky.

"I can practically see the wheels turning in your head," he said, laughing.

"I've never had a place of my own to really decorate. It's fun to think about."

He pulled down a side road next to the park.

"True. I've always wanted a yellow kitchen," he said.

"Really? That would be pretty. Like sunflowers or daisies or bees? That would be neat."

"Just anything yellow, I guess. My mom's kitchen was yellow. I grew up in a trailer and we moved around a lot, but the one constant thing was that yellow kitchen."

"Where is she?"

"She passed away about ten years ago. I never knew my dad, but I do have a sister. Rowena travels with her family in a circus. They have an elephant act which is pretty cool."

"A traveling circus? Elephants? That does sound really cool! Where are they now? Do you ever get to see them?"

He explained they were currently in the northwest and wouldn't be around New Jersey until the fall. "My nephew, Kelley, he's a vet tech here at the park. He used to work with the elephants in the shows, and I think it's why he went into veterinary medicine. His wife, Rhapsody, works with him now."

"That's neat."

"Why did you go into teaching?" He stopped at an empty guard station and swiped what looked like an employee badge into a box and then a gate lifted to let them in.

"Well, I went to college for elementary education for two years, and then my college fund got depleted when my sister was in a bad car accident and my parents nearly lost their house because of the medical bills. I dropped out and finished with an associate's degree I paid for myself, and then I got a substitute teaching certificate so I could start working and pay for my degree, but I never continued."

"Why?"

"Well, I like substitute teaching. I get to move around in the district, and I also have a pretty good side hustle tutoring in English, which is my favorite subject. I just didn't see a need to spend the money on the degree to teach full time."

"That's interesting." He parked in a lot and she realized they were still outside of the park. When he opened her car door and she climbed out, she said, "Where is the complex?"

"The other side of the park. There used to be a way to drive up to it from the back of the park, but we had some concerns with safety for the park employees living there, so we closed everything up. Sorry about the walk, are you wearing good shoes?"

She looked down at her booted feet and smiled. "Yeah, they're comfy."

"Good. So you have a side business?"

"For a while it was my full-time job," she said. "I love it, though. I've even helped out with homeschool co-ops."

"Kind of like how I'm a vet tech and could have gone to vet school, but why since I like what I do."

"Exactly. My parents offered to help pay for college after everything was settled with the medical bills and they weren't in danger of losing anything, but I didn't want to stress their financial situation when they needed to worry about retirement."

"And Penny's wedding."

"That too."

He entered a code at a gate and let her in. Then he took her hand and they walked through the park. She'd never been at the park at night before. They passed several security guards as they walked, as well as the now-dark carousel and several food kiosks and a candy shop.

"I remember you saying you didn't want to ride the carousel because you didn't want to take time away from the kids," he said as he stopped next to it.

"Yeah, they were all so eager to ride it as much as they could."

He smiled at her and opened a clear plastic box that covered the control panel. "I spoke to the people who run the carousel and they left it unlocked so you and I could take a ride."

"Seriously?"

"If you want," he said.

She did, very much. "Alistair." She didn't say his name so much as breathe it.

"Yeah, sweetheart?" He turned the key and the carousel lit up.

"You're just…pretty amazing."

"I'm in good company, I promise. Now go pick out a horse to ride."

"You'll ride with me?"

"You bet."

She hurried through the little gate and picked out her favorite from when she'd been at the park before: a beautiful gray horse with a flowing mane. She hauled herself up, barely containing the grunt that wanted to break free, and smiled at him.

"Ready?" he called.

"Yep."

He pressed a button and the carousel started to slowly move. He jogged to her and jumped up, grasping a bar to steady himself. As the carousel picked up speed, he made his way to her and settled on the horse next to hers, a dark brown one with white legs.

The carousel sped up, the horses moving slowly up and down. She let her head fall back and closed her eyes, feeling like she was flying.

They stayed on the carousel for a long time, the same song playing softly over and over as they spun in a circle on their wooden horses. By the time she'd had enough of the spinning, she was fully enchanted by Alistair. He was very sweet.

And this date had been even better than the first one, and they hadn't even done anything but talk, try on tuxes, and ride the carousel.

She was a little dizzy as he helped her from the carousel, leaning against him with a laugh.

"This was so cool," she said as the dizziness faded.

"I'm glad you enjoyed it, I thought it would be fun."

"It really was."

She gazed up at him, lost in his storm-gray eyes.

And then they were kissing, and everything drifted away from her mind except for him. The way his whole body was warm against hers, the tenderness of his touch as he held her close, and the way his cologne made her think of a sky full of stars, all dark and cool.

She wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed herself closer, letting go into the kiss that made her feel like she'd found the guy she could spend the rest of her life with.

How was that even possible? How could she feel like Alistair was her forever guy, when she'd known him for a day?

He let out a low growling sound that made her skin prickle as the kiss deepened, and her whole body heated. She couldn't stop the moan in her throat as he slid his hand up the front of her body, under her top but over her bra, his warm hand cupping her breast and squeezing gently.

His fingertips were rough, but the friction felt good and she wanted more.

Wanted all of it.

All of him.

He eased from the kiss and she whimpered and bit her bottom lip, tasting the sweetness of him again.

For a moment, she swore his eyes changed color, the storm-gray eclipsed by amber.

But that wasn't possible—she must be in some kind of lusty haze and seeing things.

Eyes did not change color randomly.

"Stay with me tonight," he said gruffly, rubbing his thumb gently along her bottom lip.

His eyes were gray now.

She hadn't seen a change, and she hadn't heard him growl. She was at a safari park with animals and had just spent the last twenty minutes or so riding around a carousel on a horse. Of course she had animals on the brain.

But more important was all his sexy gruffness and the statement he'd just made.

Would she stay with him? Could she?

Why did things feel so right with him when she'd never felt an attraction so instant and so deep this fast?

"Sweetheart?" he asked, his eyes darkening as he brushed his lips over hers.

Her skin felt electrified, her heart clenching as she thought about what might happen if she said yes.

Or if she said no.

But she didn't want to say no, she only ever wanted to say yes to him.

"I will. I'd love to."