Vote Then Read: Volume III

by Aleatha Romig

  “No, ma’am, you’re not. We’re doing this. You’ll be fine.” He reaches for my hand. “I won’t let anything happen to you, I promise, and this is where I collect my prize. Come on.”

  I look from his hand, to his face. His eyes seem full of emotion, but I don’t know quite what because it’s another one of these damned new looks of his that I don’t know. He looks at me pleadingly, almost like a little boy. My heart melts, my shoulders drop, and I take his hand.

  Twenty minutes later, I’m walking through a wooden labyrinth of stairs and boardwalk that reminds me of snaking through a maze of metal barriers to get on a roller coaster.

  Jesus! I hope there’s not a roller coaster up here.

  We step out onto the walkway, and I can’t look down. I’m holding Noah’s hand so tight that my knuckles are white.

  “I don’t think I can do it,” I tell him. “Please don’t make me do it.”

  “You can do it.” His words are soft, quiet, but commanding at the same time. I suddenly imagine him using that tone with his kids and the idea of him as a dad is suddenly the hottest thing ever.

  “No. No, I can’t.” I turn and walk back a few steps. He quickly follows me and jump in front of me, blocking my retreat.

  “I’m right here. I’ve got you. Just…here,” he steps in front of me, turns me toward the walkway and takes my hands.

  I stare at him for a long moment. Ever fiber of my being wants to run. There must be safer places to be; The middle of the desert at noon, for example. At the same time, the person I rely on most in the world, my best dude, my every-good-thing, is standing in front of me asking me to trust him.

  He turns his back to me, and says over his shoulder, “Put your hands on my waist, close your eyes if you need to, and follow me.”

  I slide my hands around the firm muscles of Noah’s waist and I feel a twinge deep in my core. I shut my eyes, and press my forehead to his back.

  He pats my hands where they rest on his waist so sweetly, and turns his head to the side. “You’re okay, Elle. I’ve got you. I promise you’re safe. I’m going to step forward now. Just hang onto me as tight as you need to.”

  My heart is pounding like a jackhammer. Partly due to the fact that I have my hands wrapped around the hottest body on the planet, to which I can now testify firsthand, and to an equal degree because I know I’m walking out into the canyon on nothing but a piece of glass.

  Reluctantly, I draw a deep breath, and step forward.

  Chapter 22

  It takes all the concentration I have to keep my dick from getting hard.

  My girl has her arms wrapped tight and low around my waist. Her forehead is firmly planted against my back, just between my shoulder blades. Her breasts are grazing against the middle of my back—breasts I know aren’t bound by a bra today. When I saw her this morning, I remember thinking how beautiful she looked. When I was putting the sunscreen on her shoulders and back all I wanted was more; more touching, more kissing, more everything with her.

  On top of that, the text I got from Andy at the gas station has had me walking on air all day.

  Andy: She confessed. Go for it.

  I compulsively tap the pocket of my shorts one last time to make sure the items I put there this morning are still where they’re supposed to be. I walk slowly forward on the skybridge. One step at a time. I’m rubbing the back of Elle’s hand with my palm to soothe her. She’s scared, but she’s okay. I’ve got her.

  The spot I’m headed for is at the center of the walkway, where it juts farthest out over the canyon. I’m going to have her open her eyes, and read what I put in the envelope. Then, here, high above the canyon floor in one of the most beautiful spots I can think of, I’m going tell her I love her and ask her to be mine.

  We get to the spot in the center of the walkway, and I hold Elle’s hand tightly as I turn around to face her. I don’t let my hands leave her so she knows I’m still here. Her eyes are still shut tight. I move my hands up to her face, and cup it in my palms.

  “Okay, Elle. You’re good. I’m right here. Open your eyes and look at me. Just look at me,” I say it sternly so she doesn’t look down and freak herself out.

  She opens up her eyes and looks up toward the sky, then moves her eyes down to meet mine.

  “There you go. You’re doing great,” I’m smiling ear-to-ear. She’s starting to smile, too.

  “I did it? We’re on the walkway, aren’t we?” Her gaze is glued to mine.

  “You did it! I told you, you could.” I stroke her cheeks with my thumbs.

  She puts her hands up rubs my forearms with her fingers. Her smile is ear-to-ear now and it makes my heart soar.

  “Okay, now, I want you to open the envelope. It’s time.” I feel kind of like an idiot, but I can’t stop grinning. Partly because she looks so sweet and proud and a little terrified all at the same time. Mostly, though, it’s because I think I might be about to get what I want more than anything. I think I might just be about to get the girl of my dreams.

  “Okay, I think I can do that.” She uses her most determined voice.

  Her handbag is draped across her body, shoulder-to-hip. She drops her hands from my arms and starts to unzip her bag.

  “I think I’ll be okay. I need to look to find it in here.”

  She pulls her bag up, unzips it and starts to dig through it. I see her eyes move and when she glimpses the canyon beside us, her confidence begins to waiver.

  “Um…I think maybe I should go back.”

  “No, sweetheart, you’re fine. I’m right here. I’ve got you.”

  “Yeah, but, who’s got you? We…,” I see her chest start heaving up and down and she lets her bag drop back to her side, grabbing the railing so hard her knuckles go white. She starts stepping backward. “We’re up so high. So very, very high.”

  Her brows are furrowed now, panic beginning to set in. Fuck.

  “Elle, listen to me. You’re totally safe. We’re so close. Just come back here and open the envelope.” I reach out but she slips my grasp, still backing up.

  Her head is moving side to side as she moves faster. She’s not looking where she’s going at all and bumps into a kid that’s sitting on the glass behind her taking a selfie.

  I can’t believe how fast it all happens.

  She tumbles over the little boy. As her feet fly up, her eyes go impossibly wide and her mouth opens into a terrified circle. She turns as she’s falling and when she sees the glass beneath her, or more specifically, through the glass, her eyes roll back in her head, and she just collapses onto the floor in a tiny heap.

  The kid is apologizing, saying he didn’t trip her on purpose. Several people come running over as I kneel down over her. I scoop her up and quickly carry her around the other side of the walkway and back inside the visitor center. The clerk behind the desk calls the security guard, who arrives, bringing over some smelling salts with him, just as I sit her int he rickety desk chair in the little office the clerk directed me to. Apparently this sort of thing happens up here from time to time so at least they were more prepared than I was.

  We sit Elle up in a chair in the office, and he snaps the smelling salts and places them under her nose. After a moment, she sucks in a deep breath, coughs, and comes-to. I make her drink from the bottle of water the cashier brought in for her.

  “What happened?” She looks around, dazed.

  “You passed out, Elle. How are you feeling?” The security guard, who is apparently also trained in first aid, shines a flashlight in her eyes and seems satisfied with her reaction. She looks a little pale, but overall fine.

  “I feel okay. My stomach is a little iffy,” she winces and looks up at me.

  “Okay, I’m going to go get the car and pull it around and we’ll head back to Vegas, okay?”

  “I’m so sorry, Noah,” she shakes her head, her eyes growing moist. “I ruined this for you.”

  “No. Don’t say that. You didn’t ruin anything. You just scared me, tha
t’s all. I’m just happy you’re okay.” I smile at her and she gives me a sad smile back.

  “I’m going to get the car. Can you stay with her?” I ask the guard and he nods his agreement.

  It takes about two hours to get back to the hotel. We stopped at a little drive-in along the way so I could get Elle a soda and an ice cream. I thought the sugar would help with the lingering lightheadedness she was still experiencing from having fainted. By the time we pull up to the valet, she seems to have perked back up and is basically back to her normal, adorably cranky self.

  “I still feel like an idiot,” Elle drops her handbag on the sofa and kicks off her flats as we walk in. “Leave it to me to pass out at the Grand Canyon, where millions of tourists go each year without incident.”

  “I told you, forget it. Really, it’s no big deal.” I chuckle, hoping my light tone will reassure her. In truth, it was one of the scariest things ever—seeing the woman I love completely fall out and there was nothing I could do about it. I’m just glad she’s all right.

  “Can I at least buy you dinner or something to make it up to you?” She gives me a soft look.

  “Well…,” I don’t get to finish because she suddenly gasps as she looks out toward the view beyond the French doors.

  “Look at the sunset!” She points to the balcony, and rushes over to the door, stepping through it to get a better look at the watercolor sky.

  I look out to where she’s standing, and the colors of the sky are turning orange and purple behind her.

  I walk over to her purse and grab the envelope from it, then step out onto the balcony to join her.

  She is leaning forward, looking out over the twinkling lights of the strip. The muted light from the sunset is playing off her fiery hair and her pale skin and I swear she looks more luminous than I’ve ever seen her before.

  “Isn’t it just amazing? I mean, the colors out here are just…wow, ya know?” She shakes her head and smiles up at me one of those broad, megawatt Elle smiles I love so much.

  “Most beautiful thing ever,” I reply, looking only at her.

  I check my pocket one more time, and I’m ready.

  “So, since you’re feeling better…I think the time has come.” I hold up the envelope, shaking it back and forth in the air.

  “Right,” she wags her head back and forth, rolling her eyes.

  I hand her the envelope marked Noah’s Prize and she tears it open. She takes the piece of paper from inside, unfolds it, and her eyes dart back and forth over the words—once, then a second time. She turns it over, then back again, and reads it a third time.

  “Are…you…sure this is the right envelope? Because what’s in here? I don’t think it’s for me.” Her voice is cracking a little, and she looks so unsteady.

  I step a little closer. “Why don’t you read it to me if you’re not sure.”

  “Oh-kay,” she clears her throat a little. “It says, Elle, we’ve done so much together but I want to try something we never have before. I’ve realized, these last few months that I want something more in my life. When I started thinking about who I want to spend all my days and nights with, I realized, it was always you. What we have is the best, but I think it could be even better. I want something real.” She looks up at me, then says, “The word real is underlined. Twice.” She clears her throat again and continues. “Take a leap with me, Elle. Let’s build a future together.”

  Her brows furrow as her eyes scan the paper again, and she shakes her head. “See? I think this must be for a different Elle. One who’s not me.”

  “Nope. It’s definitely you.” When she looks up at me, I have both fists outstretched, something closed tightly in each one. She looks from one of my hands to the other, then up at me, brows furrowed. “Pick one, Elle.”

  Elle always chooses her right side when presented with two options, so that’s the hand where I have the key. She taps my left hand, just like I knew she would.

  I turn my hand over slowly, and open my palm. On it sits a small keychain that I snuck back down to the Disney Store and picked up earlier this week. It’s Ariel, The Little Mermaid, and attached to it is a house key.

  “What’s this?” She points to the key, but doesn’t touch it.

  I hold it up and extend it to her. She reluctantly opens her palm and takes it.

  “It’s a key.”

  “I already have a key to your apartment.”

  “It’s a key to a house. Our house.”

  She stares at it for a moment, then her eyes scan the space around us as if there is some additional information here somewhere that she has missed.

  “I bought a house, sweetheart. For us. The little Tudor and brick cottage on Clapham Street. We’ve driven by it a dozen times.”

  “You bought a house? Wait, the one with the same kind of rosebush like my parents have out front?”

  “Just like the rose bush you and your Dad planted when you were twelve. Yep, that’s the house. That’s what I’ve been up to the past few months. I bought a house for us to start our life together, if you’ll have me.”

  “What does that even mean? We’re not a couple.” Her head shakes back and forth like I’m nuts, but I know she loves me back. Everything I’ve seen, everything she’s said and done in the past few days has confirmed it. She loves me just like I love her, she just has to get her head wrapped around this change.

  “Elle, we’ve been a couple for a long time now. This platonic friendship thing is getting completely in the way of our relationship.” A soft laugh escapes. “It’s time for us to take the next step.” I step closer. “I love you, Elle, and I think you love me back.”

  “You—you think you love me?” Her eyes are starting to water now, and I want to scoop her up into my arms, but first, I have to finish what I’ve started.

  “I know it with all certainty, beyond any shadow of a doubt. I love you, Ariel Bailey. I want you to move in with me. I want to spend every day laughing and having fun with you, and every night making love to you. I want to decorate our new home together. Maybe adopt a kitten, or a puppy, or both if you want. I want to have adorable little red-headed kids with you who know I’m a total pushover because they own my heart just like their mom does.”

  I grin, my eyes locked on hers as I slowly sink to one knee. I reach forward and take her left hand in mine. “I want you to say yes to everything.”

  When I open my right palm, her eyes go wide. It wasn’t the biggest ring in the shop, but it’s a respectable size, and more importantly, the diamond is perfect, just like my girl.

  I slide the ring on her finger. “Elle, sweetheart, I love you. I need you. I want you in my life forever. Will you please marry me?”

  Tears are running down her cheeks now, and she doesn’t reply. She just pulls me to my feet. She cocks her head to the side just a little, then she reaches up, wraps her arms around me, and kisses me. She kisses me deep, hard, and with that amazing intensity with which she does everything she cares about.

  I fucking knew it!

  No man has ever been as happy as I am in this moment. She loves me back. My girl loves me back. This is really going to happen. My arms are wrapped around her so tight as our lips knead and our tongues slide together. My dick is on high alert and my body is begging me to take her inside and fuck her until neither of us can think straight, which is exactly what I plan to do.

  After a long, sensuous kiss that can never really be long enough, Elle untangles her limbs from my body and pulls back. I’m looking at her, panting, flushed, and pretty visibly turned on. I see she feels it too, so I smile.

  Then, Elle being Elle, she does something I didn’t plan for.

  She runs.

  Chapter 23

  I considered that I might not have survived at the Grand Canyon.

  Maybe I didn’t just faint, after all. Perhaps I had a stroke. Maybe I fell over the railing. Or spontaneously combusted. I was convinced, for just a split second, that I had died on that sky bridge. I had
the sensation I was on the other side, experiencing a perfect existence. Heaven. Nirvana. Noah.

  Then, a millisecond later, I was kissing him. I clutched the fabric of his shirt with a death grip. His lips tugged gently at mine. I could taste his lips—his skin—and they tasted like he smells. Musky, masculine, sweet, and just a little tart like that candy he’s always eating.

  If he has kissed every woman the way he kissed me, I cannot understand how they survived. Every woman he has ever kissed probably obsesses over him to the point of needing therapy and medication for the rest of their lives. They might have surveillance on him at all times. Both of our apartments are probably bugged.

  My body was powerless against this force of nature. My bones dissolved, and my flesh began to collapse. As I sighed into the sweet perfection, he responded in kind. He moved to slide his arms around me. He placed one broad palm on the center of my back, and one hand slid around the back of my neck. My hands instinctively slid around his back to pull him closer. He could’ve been radioactive. Contaminated. Poisonous. It wouldn’t have mattered. He would still have been irresistible to me. I would’ve pulled him closer with everything I had.

  It seemed to go on forever, this magical, transcendent experience. When he finally pulled his lips from mine, we were both panting. He looked down into my eyes and after finding something he was searching for, his lips turned up, his cheeks grew full, and he smiled the biggest, brightest smile I’ve ever seen. This was another new Noah look, but this one was by far one of the most intriguing.

  This kiss was not like the experimental, sexy, sin-fest from the night before. This kiss felt deep. Real.

  Then, suddenly, it all began to sink in. The words that had seemed hazy before came into focus.

  “I love you, Ariel Bailey. I want you to move in with me. I want to spend every day laughing and having fun with you, and every night making love to you.” That was what he said, wasn’t it? I wasn’t sure, at first, because it made no sense, but now, I realize the words he was saying formed these exact sentences, as impossible as it seemed. “Elle, sweetheart, I love you. I need you. I want you in my life forever. Will you please marry me?”