It’s the strength game. One of those with a hammer, bell, and a rigged spring under the pad that’s calibrated so nobody ever makes it to the highest level.
I look at the game, then at her face, then I take off my jacket.
The kid running the booth takes one look up at me, and his face pales. “Uh,” he mumbles. “Sir, it’s… uh… you might want to… uh… take it… easy?”
I hit so hard the puck nearly takes the bell clean off the post. People around us hoot and clap, Esme’s giggling, joining in the applause, and I shake my head at her, grinning.
“That one,” she tells the kid, pointing at the biggest, most ridiculous prize.
It’s a stuffed orca, ugly as shit, nearly as big as her. She wraps both arms around it and looks up at me over the top of its stupid grinning face, fucking beaming. Fuck, I’d ring that bell a thousand times, buy the whole fucking fair. Do whatever it takes to put that look on her face. For the rest of our lives.
“You’re terrifying,” she giggles.
I smirk, cocking an eyebrow her way. “I know.”
“I freaking love it!” She hugs the whale. “His name’s Gary.”
“Gary,” I nod.
* * *
My fucking brothers find us at the Ferris wheel…
“NO!” Bjorn’s voice is carrying across the whole damn fairground. “No. Way. Vidar. VIDAR! Look.”
And here they come… Bjorn, Vidar and Kase, the three nosiest ones, shouldering through the crowd grinning like fucking madmen. I slap my forehead, muttering under my breath.
“It’s HIM,” Vidar bellows, like I had disappeared or some shit. “He’s at thefair!With awhale!”
“That’s not his,” Bjorn jumps in. “Sven, who’s whale…” Then he notices Esme at my side and stops. His expression gentles. My family hasn’t met her yet, but they all know who she is to me. “Oh.”
“This is Esme,” I say, flat and resigned. “Esme, these are three of the idiots. Bjorn, Vidar, Kase. There are more. I’m sorry in advance.”
She giggles, waving at them.
“You’re real,” Bjorn says to her, sounding incredulous. “He talks about… well. He doesn’t talk about anything, he’s a stone, but he came to dinnersmilingand we’ve been…”
“Okay,” I cut him.
“…we’ve been DYING…”
“Bjorn.”
Esme is dying laughing, and I can tell all three of my brothers fall for her on the spot. I watch my loud, impossible brothers take one look at her and go fucking soft, the same way I did. And I can tell this is how it’ll be. Esme at my mother’s table,surrounded by my big, loud family, smiling, laughing, chatting. Belonging…
“We’re getting on the Ferris wheel,” I announce, mostly to make them leave.
“Romantic,” Vidar singsongs, wiggling his eyebrows.
“Goodbye,” I rumble, hooking an arm around Esme’s waist to pull her toward the line.
They only walk away after Bjorn makes me promise she’s coming to dinner and Esme enthusiastically agrees before I can stop her. Then it’s just us again. We climb into one of the monster-sized Ferris wheel cars, and the wheel lifts us up into the night sky. We can see the town’s small, golden lights spread out under us, the dark water of the bay. Esme is holding Gary on her lap, and she’s pressed against my side with her head on my shoulder. She lets out a breath.
“This is amazing,” she says softly. “Thank you.”
I look down at her, her beautiful face, happy over a silly fair and a stuffed animal, and the raging want inside me isn’t even about her body right now. It’s bigger than that. It’s about fucking everything.
Eleven
