Page 8 of Wrong Number Right Grumpy Navy SEAL

A girl in a crop top stops mid-stride to stare at him when we reach the ticket booth. My hand almost reaches for his arm before I catch myself, but Cole doesn’t even see her. He just holds up two fingers at the ticket booth, and looks back at me and smiles. Just me. The girl looks at me, her eyes lingering on my soft stomach, and shakes her head before walking away.

As if.

“Let’s go,” he says, holding up two long strings of tickets. “Rollercoaster, first.”

The rollercoaster drops and my stomach launches into my throat. I grab Cole’s arm with both hands and scream until my ears ring, and he’s just sitting there like it’s nothing, but he’s always smiling when he looks at me. The coaster whips us sideways and throws me into his shoulder, and when he glances down at me the corner of his mouth twitches.

“I’ve jumped out of helicopters,” he says when we stumble off the platform. “This is nothing like that. It’s fun, though.”

I shove his arm and he doesn’t budge, and a laugh rips out of me so big and unexpected it startles us both.

“You know,” I say, bumping my shoulder against his arm, “I almost didn’t come today.”

“I know.” He hands me a water bottle from his back pocket. “That’s why I didn’t give you a choice.”

“You literally said get dressed, call in sick to work, because we’re going out. Like you did yesterday.”

“I wasn’t going to let you have a hard day and mope over a man who wasn’t worth your time. I’m showing you there’s fun to be had, and Jason isn’t worth thinking about. He’s the past. This is now.”

He’s already walking toward the Scrambler before I can argue. And damn him, he’s right. I’m remembering what it is to smile and laugh. Cole is doing an excellent job of getting me out of my head.

The Gravitron pins us flat and I scream so loud the people next to us flinch. Cole’s shoulder shakes against mine, and when I twist my head his lips are clamped shut and his jaw is trembling.

“Are you laughing?”

“No.” He won’t look at me.

“You’re laughing.” I poke his arm and his chest convulses.

“I don’t laugh.”

“You’re literally laughing right now.” I’m grinning so wide my cheeks hurt.

He loses the fight, and his whole body shakes with it. I laugh so hard that the G-force feels like it’s going to crack me open. When we get off, my legs buckle, and his hand catches my elbow. I lean into him while my eyes stream.

“So?” He looks down at me, his hand still on my arm. “Was I wrong to drag you out here, or was I right?”

I wipe my eyes. “Yeah,” I say, still grinning. “I guess you were right.”

“Didn’t hear that.” He’s close enough that I can feel the warmth coming off his chest.

“I said you were right.” I swat his arm.

He catches my wrist just long enough for the heat of his fingers to burn into my skin before he lets go. “One more time.”

“Cole.”

He smiles, and my stomach drops straight through the ground.

The Ferris wheel line is packed. Someone bumps into me and I stumble backward into Cole’s chest, and he’s so warm against my back that my whole body locks onto it. I should move forward, but instead, I stay, enjoying the heat and strength of him behind me. I keep expecting him to step back, but he’s just silent and still. He wraps his arms around me, and white-hot lust sizzles across my skin.

The seat pushes us together, his thigh flush against mine. The wheel lifts us until the midway noise falls away, and all I can hear is the creak of the gondola and my own pulse. His arm stretches along the back of the seat, and when I lean into him, neither of us says a word.

We stop at the top.

“Are you having fun too?” I ask, turning to look at him. “Or are you tolerating this for my benefit?”

He looks out at the lights for a second. Then he turns to me. “Fairs aren’t my thing.” His voice is low and unhurried. “But seeing you smile and laugh? That’s my thing. There’s nothing I wouldn’t do to make you smile. Today and always.”