Reluctantly, I swivel back toward Alec. My eyes meet his easily, as though I never turned away, never turned my attention back to the stage. I can’t help but wonder if he would’ve looked away at all had I not. I don’t know what he thinks he sees or what he’s hoping to see when he looks at me so intently, but I find it both unnerving and exciting.
Without a word, Alec reaches for my hand. After a few seconds, he turns and leads me away. I don’t ask where he’s taking me, I just follow.
He pulls me across the crowded pavement to The Tunnel of Love. The line is short and moving quickly. In no time, we are loaded into a small car, the last one in a string of many, which carries us into a dimly lit passageway.
Our bodies are pressed together from shoulder to knee within the confines of the open-air compartment. I’m beginning to become uncomfortable with the protracted silence when he finally leans in close to my ear and speaks.
“You’re hiding something,” he says. “And it intrigues me.”
My heart is fluttering wildly. I want to start making excuses, rationalizations and denials, but I don’t. I hold my tongue.
“I think I’ve underestimated you,” he admits. “I think you might be more ready than I first thought.”
Before I can stop myself, the question is out. “Ready for what?”
“Ready for me.”
I feel like every nerve beneath every inch of my skin is waiting at attention—waiting for him to move, waiting for him to touch me.
“Would it make you feel better if I confessed something to you?”
I glance over at him. Despite the low red glow of the tunnel lights, his face is still the most handsome I’ve ever seen. And his eyes… Dear God, his eyes!
I nod my answer.
“I think about doing things to you. Some of them might scare you. But others…might not.” His lips are so close to my ear, his breath moves my hair. He angles his body toward mine and drops his hand onto my leg. “I don’t think it would scare you if I told you that I’d like to kiss you again.” As he speaks, his fingers are making circles on my bare thigh. “I doubt it would scare you if I told you that I’d like to take you into the grass right behind this ride, where you could still smell the popcorn and hear the Merry-Go-Round, and peel these shorts off you.” His fingertips are working their way up my leg, the circles getting larger and larger. “I’d say it wouldn’t even scare you if I told you I’d like to slide your panties down your beautiful legs then stuff them into your mouth so no one could hear your moans.”
I’m breathless. The only two things I can hear are his voice and the sound of my own blood rushing through my veins. My whole world is focused on his words. And his hand, as it rises ever higher on my thigh.
I feel the backs of his fingers graze the edge of my shorts. “You’re not afraid, are you?”
I can’t answer. My mouth is too dry and some unidentified emotion is lodged in my throat. But I can shake my head. And I do. I shake my head in denial of my fear, even though it’s a lie. He does scare me. More than he could ever imagine.
“Then it probably won’t scare you when I tell you I want to kiss you right here.” His fingers fall to the inside of my thigh, where my legs are pressed together. Reflexively, I clamp them together harder. “But it might scare you when I tell you that your resistance makes me want to…press the issue.” His fingers slip beneath the hem of my shorts. I feel them trace the edge of my panties, moving inexorably closer to my core. “It makes me want to push your legs open until I hear you gasp. It makes me want to hold your struggling body still while I put my tongue inside you. Because I know what I’ll taste. I’ll taste desire. I’ll taste that you wanted me to force you. Just a little. I’ll taste your sweet body as it betrays you. I’ll taste it when it pours out onto my lips. Mmmm,” he purrs into my ear. “Samantha?”
When he doesn’t continue, I whisper my response. “Yes?”
“Your panties are wet.”
Slowly, he pulls his hand from beneath my shorts and straightens in his seat. Within a few seconds of his retreat, the ride slows and another Carnie appears in a pool of light at the end of the tunnel. I look over at Alec. His face is a stony mask.
When the ride stops, Alec helps me out of the car and places his hand at the small of my back to guide me toward the exit.
“Did you enjoy your ride folks?” the Carnie asks when we reach him.
“Very much,” Alec answers.
I look at his face again. And again, I see nothing.
CHAPTER TWENTY - Alec
The tangle of damp sheets twisted around my legs wakes me. It takes me a few seconds to clear my head of the remnants of the dream. It was so real, I find myself repeating over and over and over it was just a dream. It was just a dream. It was just a dream.
But it felt so real. Too real. I felt myself turning the corner from erotic pleasure to terror. And it felt just like it did then.
It’s been a long time since I’ve dreamed like this. And it’s not a welcome return. I’m not sure what it means, but I’d be willing to bet it has everything to do with Samantha and how I’m luring her in.
Or is it how she’s luring me in?
Either way, I’m going down a road I know to avoid. I’ve come a long way and going back now is lunacy. And yet here I am, passing all the familiar scenery, traveling the same path again.
I thought I was past this. I thought I was better than this. That I was better period.
But I guess some wounds never heal. Not completely. Just like some ghosts never stop haunting.
It’s a good thing I’ll soon be leaving. This place is bad for me right now.
And so is Samantha Jansen.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE - Samantha
“Til when?” Chris screeches.
“Next Saturday. Sunday at the latest.”
“Sweet mother of hell, that’s an effin’ week!”
“I know, I know. And, trust me, if I could get out of it, I would. But this is part of the business, Chris. You know that. And you know how much I hate it.”
She growls into the phone, but I know she’ll come around. Although we’re not blood related, we’re sisters in all the ways that count, including having each other’s back.
“Fine. But you’re gonna owe me so huge. Like first-born huge.”