Page 77 of The Love Dare
“You’re supposed to give a speech.”
“Five minutes.”
“You’re supposed to start at the overlook with all the girls.”
“Five minutes.”
“You’re—”
“Five minutes. You can edit it out later. Or better yet, don’t film us. No one will ever know. It’ll be our little secret.”
She sighs and throws her hands in the air. “I tried. Let them go.”
The attendant hesitates, then pulls a lever. With a creaking wail that does little to instill confidence, the Ferris wheel putters into motion. It’s the sweetest sound he’s ever heard.
“Thank fuck.”
Not wasting a moment, Tyler wraps an arm around Winnie and pulls her onto his lap. He finds her lips, needing to lose himself in her. She runs her fingers through his hair, returning his kiss, but he can tell she’s not fully in it.
“Ty?”
He grunts, stealing her mouth again.
“Do we need to talk about it?” she arches her head back to ask. He trails his lips down the side of her throat instead, uninterested in talking.
“I know it was your mom’s birthday. Did she?—”
“No,” he quickly interjects.
“So this?—”
“No.” He pulls back and meets her concerned gaze. “This has nothing to do with that. She’s fine. I just miss you. I miss holding you. I miss touching you. And if we only have five minutes, I want to make the most of them.”
She grins, eyes twinkling. “Do you think we should at least spare a second for the view?”
“Make out with me for the rest of this ride, and I promise one day I will fly you back here and we will spare at least thirty whole seconds for the view.”
“Deal.”
Winnie grins against his lips as they crash back together. His hands find her hips, fingers digging into her skin, holding her to him. There’s a desperation to the gesture he can’t ignore. Her words from Iceland flutter through his thoughts.I want to believe I’ll be able to handle anything, but what if I can’t?
She can.
He knows she can.
He trusts her.
But the talk with his mother, the time apart, all of it has him on edge. He’s used to people leaving. He expects it. Even from his own mother, time and time again. The uncertainty is so certain it’s like its own strange foundation, the one rooting most of his life.
Winnie will be different.
She’ll be a new foundation. Steady. Solid. Petrifying.
He’ll do anything to keep them from crumbling.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
winnie
