16

Gina
Thesunshoneaswe stood at the entrance booth to the carnival. Brandon passed the worker the money for two wristbands. I grinned once the piece of plastic was wrapped around my wrist.
“I haven’t been to a carnival since I was a kid,” I said as I tilted my face to the sun, absorbing warmth while Brandon got his wristband on.
“You know, people are going to talk if they see us together,” Brandon said as we walked through the entrance and entered the carnival grounds. “What do you want to tell them?”
I sighed and ran my hand through my hair. Since I agreed to go to the carnival, that had been all I thought about. We needed a believable story in case someone saw us together. Especially if news of anything we were doing got back to Amalia.
“We were working on another listing and decided to take a break together. You and I are still colleagues.”
Brandon smirked as he looked down at me. “Technically, I’m your boss. That’s more of a scandal.”
“You look like the thought of a scandal excites you.”
“If Amalia were entirely removed from the situation, it would. However, we have to consider Amalia.”
“We do.”
I looked around the carnival, taking in the scent of funnel cake and popcorn while children ran around screaming. Their parents chased behind them, looking exhausted and carrying collections of cheap toys won from game booths.
“What do you want to do first?” Brandon asked, his gaze locking on one of the rides that flipped you upside down and spun around. “That looks like fun.”
“You’re going to scream like a little girl,” I said as I led the way to the ride.
Brandon laughed and followed me. When I looked over my shoulder at him, there was warmth in his eyes. It had been long since any man looked at me that way.
It was nice to feel like I was the only woman in the world that existed. He made butterflies erupt in my stomach.
Brandon’s hand landed on the small of my back. He could pass it off to anyone who looked at us as moving me out of the way of someone else. Instead, his thumb drifted up and down the small of my bare sparks flying against my skin.
I adjusted the hem of my crop top as his hand slid a little lower. Finally, his fingers drifted along my waistband. Tingles raced through my body. For a moment, I thought about hauling him off into a corner and having my way with him instead of getting on the ride.
However, I was determined to think with my head and not my body.
“You’re going to get us in trouble if you keep doing that,” I said softly as I looked up at him.
Brandon gave me a cheeky smile before his hand dropped. “Nobody is going to be able to see us in the cage they put us in.”
I glanced around the carnival, looking back up at the ride. There were colorful cages that you sat in, and from where I stood, I couldn’t see through them at all. Nevertheless, excitement flooded through me at the thought of being able to be alone with him.
“Fuck,” I said, my gaze locking onto Amalia as she weaved through the crowd with her boyfriend. They looked like they couldn’t be more in love.
“What?” Brandon asked, his body stiffening beside me as I stopped. “Is something wrong? Are you alright?”
“I’m fine, but Amalia is right over there.” My voice was barely more than a whisper as I took his hand and pulled him behind one of the little buildings.
Brandon grinned as he pinned me between his body and the wall. He rested his forearms on the wall, his head dipping to mine. I wondered if he could hear the rapid beating of my chest against my ribcage.
“Well, it looks like we’re alone now,” he said as he leaned closer.
His lips brushed against mine in a soft kiss. When he pulled back, the heat in his gaze made me think about everything else we could be doing now.
“You know, I was thinking we could stay here for a while.” Brandon kissed me again, longer this time, capturing my bottom lip between his teeth.
I moaned softly, my hands sliding up his torso. My fingers weaved through his soft hair as he deepened the kiss.
When he pulled away, there was a goofy smile on his face. The rest of the world faded away as I lost myself in him. The scent of his cologne wrapped around me, and the heat from his body warmed mine.
“Let’s go on a couple of rides, grab a funnel cake, and then head out.” I grinned and kissed him again. “I think I have something else I would rather spend my afternoon doing after that.”
Brandon smirked and kissed me again. “I can arrange that.”
When I got home later that night, exhaustion took over my body. I had a great time with Brandon at the carnival. It had been years since I last spent hours on the rides, laughing and having a good time.
Going to carnivals was one of those things that stopped happening the older you got.
Brandon started making me feel like having fun and acting like a child again was okay. Then, finally, there was no more wondering what my partner would think if I allowed myself to have fun.
He encouraged it in a way that several of my exes never had.
I’d just finished changing into biker shorts and a soft-cropped tank when there was a knock at my door. I pulled it open to see a crying Amalia in my doorway.
She pushed me into my apartment, her words jumbled together as she tried to speak. Amalia dropped down onto my couch, burying her face in her pillow. I could smell the alcohol rolling off her in waves as I shut the door before joining her on the couch.
“What’s wrong?” I asked as I lifted her feet and sat down. I pulled her feet back into my lap and massaged her calves. “You smell like a dive bar.”
“Jaxon dumped me.”
I sighed and tried to find some compassion. It wasn’t that I didn’t feel for my friend. I did. Breakups were miserable, and if I could keep her from going through another one ever again, I would.
Except Jaxon was an ass. I had met him on more than one occasion, and each time he had been one of the rudest people I’ve ever met.
“I’m sorry to hear that,” I said as I grabbed a throw pillow and put it over her legs, making myself comfortable. “Maybe it’s for the best, though. I know that you believe that everything happens for a reason.”
Amalia lifted herself off the couch long enough to look at me. “I don’t know what reason there would be for him breaking up with me. We were having a great time at the carnival. Then after we went home and he fucked me, he told me we were over. I didn’t even have my clothing on yet.
My hands clenched into fists against the fabric. “What an asshole. He’s never been good enough to deserve you.”
“But I loved him,” she says, her words slurred. “I thought that he was the one and we would get married. I thought that we were going to have babies together and that we could name them things that rhymed with Jaxon.”
I bit down on a laugh, making a soothing noise as I rubbed her back. “Everything is going to be okay.”
Amalia sobbed and flipped over, sending the pillow flying. “Can you call my dad? I want to go home.”