I stared up at the huge Ferris wheel above us in disbelief.
“Surprise,” Jesse said from somewhere behind me.
I spun around. “Are you serious?”
“What’s wrong? I thought this would be awesome. You and me alone on the High Roller, looking at the Vegas lights. What’s not to like?”
“Sounds like the making of an indecency charge to me,” I muttered. I was deflecting. Mostly. I just really didn’t want to get on it.
“Funny story.” Jesse grabbed my hand again and pulled me toward the entrance. “But when it first opened, a couple was arrested for fucking in a pod. Dumbasses. There are security cameras everywhere. I think they ended up with public indecency charges like you said.”
“It’s all fun and games until you end up with a felony charge,” I joked weakly as we approached the loading zone.
It looked like the approach for a ski gondola—a metal railing ran along the pods’ approaching and snaked through the lobby to contain the line that led to the active loading area where staff held a stationary elliptical pod open. What I’d thought were tiny little pods from a distance were actually fairly large. I bet they could stack us in twenty or thirty people deep inside.
It felt like an out-of-body experience as I let Jesse tug me toward the front of the line. The staff member who had been escorting us—where did he come from?—yelled to the staffer at the front of the line. “VIPs walking in!”
I heard gasps and flinched at the barrage of camera lights in our direction as everyone held up their cell phones.
Jesse cursed under his breath. “Shit, I didn’t think this through. Sorry, Ella.”
My heart was about pounding out of my chest. If the pod was that big down here, why did it look so small up there?
I couldn’t do this.
I didn’t want to do this.
Why wasn’t I saying anything?
“So sorry, Mister Mala.” The attendant at the front of the line gestured to the pod. “Let’s get you guys loaded.”
The next thing I knew I was standing inside a pod and the door was sliding shut behind us.
“Jesse? What—” The ground lurched underneath us and I shrieked, latching onto his body.
“Fuck.” Jesse wrapped his arms around me held me with my front pressed against him. “It’ll be a little unsteady until you get your sea legs. Air legs? Whatever. There’s a rhythm to the ride, but it’ll be worth it once we get over these buildings.”
I squawked and clutched his shoulder harder.
“What the fuck, sweetheart?” He waited a beat, but when I didn’t say anything, he sighed. “Are you afraid of heights or something?”
“Yes,” I whispered, ashamed.
“Shit.” Jesse huffed out a breath, and I felt his head rest on top of mine. “Wish you would’ve said something sooner. We’re kinda stuck here for the next half hour.”
I groaned and buried my head in his chest.
“How didn’t I know about this?”
My breath was a little unsteady when I exhaled. “No one does, I think.”
“What? Really?”
“I mean, yeah. It’s not something I’m proud of.”
“You’ve got nothing to be ashamed of. I just wish I would’ve known. This is gonna be a long half hour.”
“Uh huh.” The pod rocked as it stopped for the next loading, and I clutched Jesse’s shirt in my fists.
“The way I see it you have two—no wait, three options.”
“I’m guessing option one is to close my eyes for the next thirty minutes.”
“Yup. Not very fun, in my opinion.”
I laughed weakly. “Kinda already doing that. What else you got?”
“Option two is we head over to that bar and get you blotto drunk, and then you won’t know where on or above the earth you are.”
I tipped my head and took in the fully stocked bar on the other side of the pod that I hadn’t even noticed.
“Usually there’s a bartender, but I greased the wheels so we could be alone.”
Honestly, option two had merit. A drink would definitely calm my racing heart, although Jesse had already had some effect on me. I’d gone from hummingbird heartrate to jackrabbit. His touch had a way of making every thought drop out of my brain. “And option three?”
“Is where you let me distract you from all this.”
“You’re already doing a good job on that front.”
“That’s not what I meant.” Jesse pressed two fingers under my chin and tipped my head up until I met his eyes. He stared into my eyes for a moment then jerked his chin in a nod like he’d come to some conclusion. Then he closed the distance between us and kissed me.
Jesse Mala was kissing me!
I froze in disbelief for a second before I kissed him back. My hands ran from his shoulders up to his hair and held him there like I was afraid he was going to disappear. Because I was. If this was a dream, I seriously didn’t want to wake up. His lips moved over mine confidently. After a few seconds, I felt his tongue probe into my mouth, and I groaned.
It was everything I’d dreamt about for so long, but so much better. Jesse tasted of cinnamon and faintly of the cigarette I know he’d smoked after the show. But oddly, I didn’t mind. My heart thudded unevenly and my nipples tingled. I wanted to be closer to him. I wanted more of this. Him.
A flash of light burst over my closed eyes. I opened them for a second and immediately regretted it. I’d forgotten where we were, but the Vegas lights dancing beyond the glass quickly reminded me.
I pulled away from Jesse’s kiss and buried my head in his chest again.
“Fuck, sweet girl. I’m so sorry.”
“It’s okay,” I muttered into his chest.
“That’s sweet, but it’s really not. I don’t know how I’ve known you for this long and never knew about this.”
I sighed and burrowed into his chest. He smelled fantastic, like a blend of wood and cinnamon with an underlying tinge of cigarette smoke that almost spoiled it. “It’s not like it’s something I advertise. And…”
“What?”
I groaned. “I haven’t always been afraid of heights, okay?”
“What?” Jesse pulled me back and stared into my eyes. “What the hell happened?”
I groaned again. “Do you remember that traveling carnival my mom took us to every year?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, when I was in middle school, I think? I didn’t have any friends with me, so I was tagging along with you guys. You and Noah had split off to ride that one crazy, spinning thing with some girls, and I’d begged Chase to take me on the Ferris wheel.”
“Oh shit.”
“Everything was fine until we got to the top. I think they’d stopped it to let some people off at the bottom or something. But the motion of the start and stop made the car sway a lot which hadn’t bugged me at all until we’d heard someone from the ground yell up, “Hey you kids in the green car!” Since we were in a green car, Chase and I looked down, and it was the craggy carnie operating the ride. Then he yelled at us, “stop rocking the car! It fell off yesterday!” I don’t think I’ve ever been so scared in my whole entire life. I held onto Chase the whole way down like a cat—all claws and hissing whimpers.”
“Holy shit, Ella. I had no idea. I don’t remember Chase saying anything about it.”
“We never really talked about it. After a few minutes, you guys met up with us, and we hit the midway games, so you all could impress your fan club.”
“I’m sorry, sweetheart. If I knew, I swear I never would have made you come on this stupid ride.”
“It’s okay. It’s not so bad when you have your arms around me.”
I could hear the grin in Jesse’s voice when he spoke. “Then that’s where you’ll stay.”
And I did. He held me the entire time we were in the pod. He didn’t try to entice me into a drink or a felony, he just held me. It might’ve been my favorite date ever. Just me, Jesse, and the sound of his heartbeat against my ear. I never even noticed the sparkling Vegas lights outside the windows. I was too busy holding onto Jesse.
When it was finally over, I almost didn’t want to leave.
Almost.
Honestly, I was hella happy to get off that thing. I jumped over the gap and grinned at Hyde.
“We survived,” I crowed, holding my arms up triumphantly.
Hyde’s gaze bounced between me and Jesse before surveying our surroundings. He grunted then tipped his head toward the exit. “Have the plans changed or are we heading for the car?”
“Car! Get me the hell away from that death trap.” I headed for the parking lot but froze when Jesse grabbed my hand again.
“How about you wait for me? I’m gonna start taking it personally here in a second.” Jesse turned to Hyde. “Is it me, or is she always running away from me?”
“Don’t look at me. I’m just the muscle.” Hyde’s gaze continued to rove our surroundings. “I’m more interested in heading to the car before you’re spotted.”
“Yeah sure. We can do that.” Jesse tugged on my hand. “Come on.”
“I’m not running away from you,” I protested as I let the guys lead me to the SUV.
“At least tell me it wasn’t that bad.”
“So many sex jokes swirling in my brain. Can’t not make fun of you.”
“Oh Christ.” Jesse laughed. “You’re starting to sound like Noah.”
I shoved his shoulder. “You take that back! At least tell me that I smell better than him.”
Jesse boxed me in against the side of the SUV, my back against it while his arms were braced against the side. “I don’t know. You’re going to have to remind me.”
His nose ran playfully from my neck up my jaw and into my hair. He did an exaggerated inhale that would’ve made Pepé Le Pew proud. “Mmmm, yeah. Definitely better than Noah. But then again, it’s not hard to beat BO and Axe Body Spray.”
I giggled and weakly punched his stomach. “Nice to know I rise above the bare minimum.”
“I think we can both agree you soar above all of us plebs.” Jesse raised his head and stared intently at me. “You are the very best of all of us.”
I melted against the vehicle behind me. “Jesse.”
He shook his head. “It’s times like this I wish I was better with words, but all I got is this.”
Then he ducked his head and kissed me. Again. I reached up and wrapped my arms around his neck. We kissed like he was returning from service. Like we hadn’t seen each other in months. Years. And maybe that was true. I definitely didn’t know this side of Jesse, and I knew for certain he’d never seen me like this before either. We’d known each other for years, and yet didn’t know each other at all.
In minutes, Jesse had me aching and wanting. And he hadn’t done anything more than kiss me. But whoa boy, could this man kiss. I arched my chest, rubbing against his firm body. I wanted, needed, to get closer to him. Suddenly my clothes felt so damn itchy. Like they were a barricade holding me back from what I really wanted—him.
On me.
In me.
Jesse broke the kiss and leaned his forehead against mine, breathing heavily. “Fuck me, sweet girl. You should warn a guy before you go all sexy siren on him.”
“Me? That was all you. I was just trying to keep up.”
“Well, I’m assuming you don’t want an indecency charge, so we should move this little party somewhere private.”
“Yeah, good idea. No felony for me, please.”
Jesse smirked as he stepped away. He grabbed my hand and pulled me to the other side of the car where Hyde was holding the door open.
I didn’t want to think about what Hyde saw or thought of me. I just hoped he wouldn’t tell my brother until we were ready.
“You’re really worried about being a felon, huh?” Jesse asked as he settled into the backseat next to me.
“Call me crazy, but I’m not eager for a prison sentence or to lose so many rights that are taken from you when you’re a felon.”
Jesse smirked. “Well, if it helps, a first offense of obscene or indecent exposure is only a gross misdemeanor in Nevada. You gotta be a repeat offender to get a felony charge.”
“Really?” Despite the darkened interior, I turned in my seat so I could face him. “And you know this how?”
Jesse rubbed a hand over his jaw while he kept facing forward. “It turns out what happens in Vegas, doesn’t always stay in Vegas. Especially if you’re in a rock band.”
“Oh, so this is something I can google and find out?” I shifted to pull out my phone from my back pocket.
He grabbed my arm. “Please don’t.”
“Don’t google you?”
“Yeah. I uh, I really don’t want you making conclusions about me based on what people have written. There’s stuff there that…won’t make you like me.”
“Okay.” I lifted my palms to placate him. “I won’t google you.”
“Thank you.” Jesse sat back against the seat but kept his hand on my arm, moving it down until he held my hand. Then he murmured to himself, “I guess it turns out I care what one person thinks.”
But I still heard him. And I smiled to myself the rest of the drive back to the hotel.