“Because everyone here has known me forever. It feels like I’m trapped inside each embarrassing thing I’ve ever done. Nobody lets you become someone new when they already decided who you were back in high school.”
With her sparkly tiara, Candi’s easy to pick out in the crowd. Her arms are crossed. Even at this height, I can feel her staring daggers at us.
“How long has that been going on?” I ask, motioning toward the festival grounds. “With Candi.”
Lila stiffens. “It’s complicated.”
“I wish I could protect you from that, too.”
She pulls away enough to look up at me. “Let’s forget about Candi.”
“Done,” I say. “Already forgotten.”
Her smile plumps her rosy cheeks. “I’m on a Ferris wheel with a very attractive man who gave away a small fortune in ride tickets so we could be alone. I refuse to waste that.”
“What I heard is that you think I’m attractive.”
Slowly, her gaze travels slowly over my face. “You are.”
Her buttery-sweet scent deepens, warm vanilla and spun sugar turning richer with her desire. It fills my lungs and slides beneath my skin, rousing my fox with one tantalizing breath.
Heat ripples through my chest. “So are you.”
The gondola reaches the top of the wheel, and the ride stops.
Lila makes a small sound and grips my arm tighter.
“I’ve got you.”
We sway in the cool ocean breeze, the pink clouds breaking across the waves, painting them like stained glass.
“Okay, wow,” she breathes. “It’s beautiful.”
“It is.”
But I’m not looking at the view.
She catches me watching her, and her lips part.
The festival noise fades until all I can hear is the wind and the soft rhythm of her breathing.
I lift my free hand and brush a loose curl from her cheek.
Lila leans into my palm.
“Max,” she whispers as I lower my head and she tilts her face toward mine.
Vanilla and sugar fill my lungs as her breath ghosts against my lips.
A faint pink glow catches at the edge of my vision.
My body tenses.
Magick snakes around the safety latch.
“Lila—”
The metal bar jerks open, and the gondola pitches beneath us.
