Cay was waiting for me, and he paced back and forth outside of the Willis Tower. The fading golden sunlight enriched his dark brown hair, and the pale blue collared shirt he wore placed his muscular torso in clear outline. He was smiling at folks who passed, offering nods, too damn much of a Boy Scout for this cynical city, and damn if that didn’t make me fall for him more.
“Move, asshole.” A guy barreled past me, knocking me off-kilter.
Case in point.
I yanked myself out of the stupor of simply seeing Cay. Whether he liked my date idea or not, we were locked in now.
When I walked into view, Cay’s gaze snapped in my direction, and the way his eyes crinkled with his broad grin, how his whole face lit up, fuck, I was so smitten.
No onelooked at me like that.
Cay surged forward and licked his lips, like his brain was running in the same direction as mine on the kiss front, but then he stepped back. I opened my arms instead, needing to feel him against me any way possible. Cay strode into my space, crushing me into a hug that almost knocked the breath from me, pure enthusiasm. If we hugged for a few moments longer than normal, I didn’t fucking care.Tonight might go badly, and this might be the last time I’d get to feel his body against mine.
“So, what are we doing?” Cay asked as he stepped back at last. He cast a glance to the Willis Tower in question.
“The tourist thing,” I said, squeezing my nape. “At least for the first part of the date. We can grab dinner at the Riverwalk after. I thought we could do the Skywalk and the ledge here. Unless you absolutely hate the idea, and then we’ll ignore the tickets, and I can just go jump in the Chicago River instead.”
“Anyone ever tell you you’re dramatic?” Cay said, that easygoing grin on his lips.
“No, because most people don’t hear my internal thoughts,” I muttered back, my cheeks heating.
He leaned in close. “You look really good tonight.”
Fucking hell. My whole body immolated at that low-voiced comment. “You too,” I forced out gruffly, as if it killed me to admit. Truthfully, I was a bucket of nerves and anxiety held together by a few flimsy threads.
“Let’s go,” I said, striding past him for the door, lest I stay any longer and get hard. We were already going to be rising to the top of the Willis Tower. We didn’t need any more rising. The inside of the Willis Tower bustled, but I shut it all out in my focus to get to the elevators for the Skydeck.
“Shockingly, I’ve never done this,” Cay said as I handed over my phone with the tickets for scanning to the clerk,and we made our way to the back elevators. “And I’ve lived near here my whole life.”
“Same, but I was never really interested in pushing around a small space with a bunch of tourists,” I said as I pressed the button for the elevator.
“So, why pick it for tonight?” he asked, hooking a thumb in his pocket. We stood close enough for our shoulders to brush, and I wanted more of it. I wanted to walk around holding his hand in public, to not hesitate to kiss him.
“Just an idea I had,” I said, trying to keep my tone light, even though my heart was in my throat.
We settled into the elevator with a handful of other folks, which made sense, since this time of day the attraction was pretty crowded. I found a spot along the very back, settling there so the cool metal of the elevator pressed in. Cay slipped beside me, not hesitating to get all up in my space.
When the elevator lurched upward, Cay leaned in close enough for his lips to tickle my ear. “I came out to my parents the other day.”
I blinked in surprise. “You did? How did it go?” With all the other conversations going on in the elevator, no one was paying attention to us.
A small smile lifted his lips. “Really well. My folks have always been the goal for me relationship-wise. Just rock solid in everything.” He leaned back,resting his head against the wall and staring up at the ceiling. The warmth vanished from his eyes, enough that I was paying closer attention. “I honestly thought I would’ve found that for myself by now. I’ve been looking for so long, but I end up dumped and set aside every time. I don’t know. I guess no one ever found me worthwhile enough to keep.”
Those words struck me square in the chest.
Cay was one of the kindest people I’d ever met, so damn easy to like. Falling for him had been as simple as riding the L, something I’d been doing since childhood. How he could ever believe he wasn’t worth keeping mystified me.
“None of those assholes deserved you.” My words came out a bit snarlier than intended, as if my emotions leaked out of me at this point.
Cay’s dark eyes met mine, glowing with a raw, undisguised hope I couldn’t believe I hadn’t seen before. As if he’d been waiting all this time for me to catch up.
My throat bobbed as I swallowed hard, so many words bubbling to the surface, but I wasn’t ready for those yet. No, first we were going to head up to the Skydeck and enjoy what I had planned.
The elevator zoomed up higher and higher, the numbers ticking on the top as we passed the floors on our way to the 103rd. The closer we got, the more my nerves simmered, transforming into pure adrenaline. We settled into a quiet silence as we hit the 80s, then the 90s, our shoulders pressed against each other, the physical contact enough.I couldn’t help but steal glimpses of him—his plush lips, those long lashes, and the muscles I’d felt moving with mine so many times now—and he was doing the same with me.
The higher we rose, the lighter I became until it was a wonder I didn’t float away.
The numbers at the top finally ticked past 100, and when we settled on 103, my heart rate was at a gallop.
