One Texas Cowboy Too Many (Burnt Boot, Texas #3)(61)

Her smile turned to laughter. “My knight in shining motorcycle.”

“I’ll have to practice my war maneuvers. I can see Mavis standing on the porch, swearing at me as she fires a shotgun toward the cycle as I haul you off on the back of it,” he said.

“Who says I’m going to be on the back? I might be riding on front, holding on to the horns.” She dropped his hand and pointed at the shooting gallery. “Look, there’s a stuffed bull. You think it’s an omen?”

“I’m a fair shot. Want me to win it for you?”

“Maybe later. I’d rather go for my Ferris wheel ride.”

“I thought we were going for funnel cakes,” he said.

“After we ride the Ferris wheel. So if I get sick, I don’t hate them forever,” she said.

“Have you ever gotten sick on one before?”

“I’ve never been on one.”

He came to a halt right there in the middle of a crowd pushing their way to the Ferris wheel line. “Never?” he asked.

“I’ve never trusted anyone to keep me safe before,” she said.

“Darlin’, I promise I will keep you safe.”

“Want to seal the deal with a kiss? I like the way we do that.” Her eyes sparkled.

“You sure?” His eyes darted around to see who might be watching them.

She raised up on tiptoe and wrapped her arms around his neck. He could almost hear the phone lines buzzing as he bent his head and her lips touched his. It was a sweet kiss that only lasted a few seconds, but while her lips were on his, the whole world disappeared. For that short span of time, they were the only two people left in the universe.

“Now you have to hold me tight and not laugh at me if I get scared when we get to the top,” she said.

“I give you my promise, but we could seal it with another kiss.”

She rolled up on her toes and brushed a quick kiss across his lips. “There, now you have to take care of me, because the deal is sealed.”

They were the last ones that the attendant allowed on the wheel for that ride. When he pulled the bar down, Leah slid over close enough to Rhett that she could lay her head on his shoulder. One of his arms was around her; the other was crossed over in front of his body to hold her hand.

“Want me to stop it at the top for you two lovebirds?” the attendant asked.

“Yes,” Leah answered. “He’s going to keep me safe because we sealed the deal with a kiss.”

“I’d keep you safe if you’d kiss me,” the elderly, gray-haired man teased. “But like usual, I’m a day late for the pretty girls.”

“I bet you’ve known lots of pretty girls.” Leah smiled.

“Oh, yes, I have, but when the carnival moved, I left them behind.”

“A handsome but fickle fellow,” she teased.

“You better hold on to her, cowboy, or I’ll sweet-talk her into leaving with me when we tear this place down tonight.”

“I plan on it,” Rhett said.

The old guy flipped a switch, and the swing moved up. “Next,” he called out.

They moved a few feet at a time as he filled the wheel with more passengers. As the buckets went higher and higher, Rhett could feel the fear tensing Leah’s muscles, so he drew her even closer to his side, his arm tight around her shoulders.

“I’m afraid of heights,” she whispered.

“Don’t look down. Just look into my eyes,” Rhett said. “Think about last night and the stars outside the hayloft.”

“I didn’t look down from the doors,” she admitted.

He kissed her on the nose and kept his eyes locked on hers. “Right now, it’s me and you, and I’ll tell you when you can look down.”

When they made the first round and were on the way up again he said, “Now look to your right. There’s your dad and Mavis over there at the funnel cake wagon.”

“She’s pissed,” Leah said and then turned to lock her eyes with his again.

“Oh, yeah, but she’ll get over it. Next time we go around, I’ll tell you to look when we’re a little bit higher up.”

She kissed him on the cheek, and he turned so that their lips met in a sweet, quick kiss. “And then the next time a little more, until we are on top, right?”

“You’ve got me figured out,” Rhett said.

“Have you ever made love on one of these?” she asked.

He chuckled. “No, ma’am, but I’m willing, even if it means a night in jail, if you are.”

“Tell me when to look. I like the feeling of knowing that we’re going up and you’re right here. Hey, you think if we did have sex on this thing that Orville would let us share a cell?”

“It’s our story, Leah. We can tell it any way we want, and in this story, they’d put us in the same cell where there is a king-size bed strewn with mimosa petals,” he answered. “Okay, now look to your right again. There’s Finn and Callie at the fried pickle wagon. I guess it’s true about pregnant women.”

When the ride stopped at the top, she peeked over the edge. “It’s a long way down there.”

“Look at those big, white, puffy clouds up in the sky, not at the ground,” he said.