“Well, that’s just...you know, you surp
rise me all the time, Noel Gamble. As soon as I discover something good and altruistic about you, you go and top it with something even better.”
Instead of flattering me, her words only fed my guilt. Because bringing her here today had been incredibly selfish and wrong, threatening both her future and that of Caroline, Colton and Brandt. What was worse, it didn’t bother me enough to take her home quite yet.
We were already here; what was another couple hours? Besides, I wanted her to experience the one thing I’d brought her here to do.
“Come on.” I took her hand and helped both of us to our feet. “I think it’s about time for the main event.”
“Main event?” Her smile was curious with a hint of eager excitement. “What’s the main event?”
I pointed to the lights behind us on the other side of the vendor’s market strip. In the distance, the brightened outline of a Ferris wheel rotated slowly.
Grinning, I lowered my mouth to her ear. “You’re about to experience your first carnival, Dr. Kavanagh.”
Her beautiful lips parted with awe. The colorful lights from the amusement park reflected in her dazzled eyes. Spinning to me, she sputtered. “But how did you know I’ve never...?”
Damn, she must not remember anything from the drunken conversation we’d had together, which was too damn bad, because I couldn’t forget a single detail of it.
Lifting her fingers laced with mine to my mouth, I kissed her knuckles lightly and winked. “It’s an old ESP trick I learned from my literature professor.”
CHAPTER NINETEEN
“Love is like the wind, you can't see it but you can feel it.” - Nicholas Sparks, A Walk to Remember
~NOEL~
She loved it. Aspen didn’t say anything aloud, but all I had to do was watch the expressions flit across her face to know the whole experience thrilled her.
“Oh, my God. Look. They do actually sell cotton candy at carnivals. I thought that might just be one of those movie clichés.”
I felt like a dog walker who was being drug around by my overeager pet when she took off, hurrying toward the food stand, her hand tugging me along behind her. I laughed and hurried to keep pace. She was so freaking adorable, letting her inner child free. As she ordered a ball of big pink sugary fluff, I got a Coke because I knew she’d need a drink soon.
“Oh, funky.” She smacked her lips together after the first taste and scrunched up her nose. “I didn’t realize it would melt like that as soon as it hit my tongue. But, wow, it really is pure sugar, whipped into a fluffy ball, isn’t it?”
“Here.” I handed over the drink and she gave me a grateful thank you before snatching it away and sucking down half the contents.
She nursed the cotton candy a lot slower after that, and together, we browsed the carnival stands, watching a short sock puppet show before another vendor called out to us, coaxing us to try his ball throw.
Aspen nudged me in the ribs. “Come on, Mr. Quarterback,” she teased. “Why don’t you show us what you got?”
“Hey, you’re the champion ball thrower now; you’ve had an entire day of practice. Why don’t you try it?”
“Ooh.” The vendor eyed us with relish. “I smell a challenge. You two want to go head to head?”
So, we did the ball throw. I kicked her ass, of course, and she called me a sore winner. I just shrugged and told her I’d go easy on her here whenever she decided to go easy on grading my essays.
She murmured, “Touché,” and then rolled her eyes, laughing.
When the vendor congratulated me and thrust a blue stuffed bunny with floppy pink ears into my chest, I stared at him as if he’d lost his mind.
Aspen held her belly and laughed harder. “Aww. You two look so cute together. And look, his fur’s almost the same color as your eyes. I think it’s a match made in heaven.”
“Okay, smartass. You better take this thing because I’m sure as hell not carrying it around.”
When I pushed it at her, she looked at it as if it had rabies. “But...I’ve never had a stuffed animal before.”
Her arms fumbled to keep it from falling to the ground when I let go of it.