I moved to stand beside her and leaned against the railing. "I've done this a few times before. It's better when no one else is around." Being rich had its perks, though if "getting the girl" relied on me doing stuff like this, I'd never have landed a single one. My time and my wild exploits like this mostly revolved around me and my buddies getting drunk, not me impressing girls, but Lainey was worth it.
She turned to look at me and her face was full of awe. "How did you even think of this?"
"My whole life I had to do crazy things just to get my parents' attention." Every time I opened up to her it got easier. Something about her made me feel comfortable to bemyself. "Sneaking out of boarding school, breaking into places I shouldn't be, doing anything that might make them notice me. Sometimes I wish I was normal like you and had never done a wild thing in my life."
She was quiet for a long moment and I wondered if I'd said too much. But then she reached over and touched my arm.
"I'm sorry that was your life experience," she said softly. "But I'm glad I met you. We can do wild things together now."
I sighed contentedly and thought about what that might look like, but I knew deep down that wasn't the path we were on. I turned to face her fully and she looked up at me. Emotion sparkled in her eyes, but she hadn't said a thing. Maybe it was just the cold air, but I swore I saw her really studying me. The wind picked up and blew her hair across her face, and I reached up to brush it back without thinking.
"Can I ask you something?" I said, my hand still near her face.
"Okay."
"Why did you look so disappointed when I gave you those annulment papers?"
She blinked and I saw her walls go up immediately. "I didn't."
"You did." I moved closer and she didn't back away. "You've been pushing me away since we met, but tonight you looked sad when I handed you those papers. Why?"
"I don't know." Her voice was barely above a whisper. "Maybe because once we sign them, this all goes away. You go back to your life and I go back to mine and we pretend Vegas never happened."
"Is that what you want?"
She looked down at her hands on the railing. "I don't know what I want anymore."
I understood that feeling better than she probably realized. I didn't know what I wanted either. I'd come here for an annulment and ended up spending time with her family and bringing her to the Hoover Dam at night. None of this was part of the plan, but I wasn't ready for it to end.
"My whole life has been wild," I continued, taking my hand back. "Parties and tabloids and doing whatever I wanted without consequences." I moved closer, putting one hand on either side of her against the railing she leaned on. "I've been skydiving, and bungee jumping. I've toured the African Savannah and seen the pyramids. I've been in over a hundred countries and almost all fifty states and I'll tell you, life can be massively wild."
She smiled nervously and I watched her throat work as she swallowed. "And?" she said softly.
"And I've been wild for long enough. Lainey... can you be the normal thing I do instead of being wild?" I asked. I was so close I could smell her cherry lip balm even though the breeze threatened to whip it away from us.
"Yes," she whispered.
"Good." I grinned at her. "We're just getting started." My lips claimed hers, and I felt her smiling into the kiss.
My God, I didn't know what I was doing with her, but I didn't want to stop it. Lainey Rowan was like crack. I couldn’t get enough of her no matter how hard I tried.
A month ago that had been a problem.
And today, it felt like the most sane thing I could ever do.
16
LAINEY
Kade kissed me harder, pinning me to the railing so firmly there was no way to avoid feeling how hard he was. This was insane; it wasn’t me. I wasn't the sort of girl who took risks like this. But the longer he kissed me, the more I wanted him to kiss me.
My hand rose up and rested on his chest, the other still clutching my purse strap where the annulment paperwork was tucked away. Guilt started to needle away at my conscience. Kade's hands rested on my hips now, thumbs brushing the skin under the edge of my blouse, but it wasn't the sensation of being touched that was on my mind. It was the guilt rushing in.
I liked him. I really really liked him, and I was pregnant with his baby, and I couldn't tell him either thing. He wanted an annulment to satisfy his parents. He'd brought me the papers to fill out and sign, which meant he was serious about the annulment. But there I was keeping a secret from him that would change everything, most likely. We couldn’t just pretend nothing ever happened, not when a baby would change everything.
"What's wrong?" he asked, biting my bottom lip and pulling it gently before letting it spring back.
"Nothing," I mumbled, continuing to kiss him eagerly, but he pulled back.
