Our perfect moment was interrupted when the Ferris wheel started moving again. My hands fisted his shirt out of fear, and I immediately pulled back and tucked my head back on his chest. He chuckled and started playing with my hair again.

“Do me a favor, Kacie. Just keep your eyes open, okay?”

I watched as we slowly got closer and closer to the ground, relief washing over me when the ride came to a stop at the bottom. My body was exhausted from the combination of tension and lust I had just experienced. I didn’t even know if I could walk anymore. As the metal bar lifted and we stood up, I looked around realizing that there was no one else on the Ferris wheel. We had been the only ones. I looked up at Brody who enveloped my hand with his and smiled down at me sweetly. He shook the hand of the kid running the ride as we walked by.

“Thanks, kid.”

“Thank you, Mr. Murphy.”

We walked for a few minutes, still hand in hand while I came down from my latest high.

“What just happened? I don’t … how did you…” I couldn’t get the words out.

“Eh, he’s young. Most young kids would do just about anything for a hundred dollar bill.”

My heart soared like those airplanes we just saw and I squeezed his hand, when reality hit me.

“Oh my God, the girls. We need to look for everyone.” I scanned the nearby benches and lemonade stands but saw no sign of them.

Brody took out his phone.

“Are you texting Tommy again?” I asked, still looking through the herds of people.

“Uh, I will in a minute.” He looked up at me with a devilish grin on his face. “After what you just did up there, I’m ordering a Ferris wheel to be installed at your mom’s place tomorrow.”

Ever since we got off that Ferris wheel, Kacie had been very different with me—more affectionate. I was ecstatic about it. I offered to let her drive again on the way home.

“No freaking way! I don’t think my nerves can handle one more thing today.” She climbed up into the passenger seat and snuggled up for the drive home. “I was thinking we could lounge around and watch a movie after I put the girls to bed?”

“Sounds perfect.”

She reached over, laced her fingers in mine and closed her eyes.

Once home, Kacie took the girls to their rooms and tucked them in while I took Diesel out for a long walk. He gave me the cold shoulder, clearly annoyed that I’d blown him off all day for a girl. He’d better get used to it because if it were up to me, Kacie was going to become a permanent fixture in my very near future.

Diesel and I played some make-up fetch and then he pranced around the lake for a while, trying to prove his masculinity by biting fish. I was also stalling. I didn’t want to smother Kacie. We’d had a monumental day, in my opinion, and I didn’t want to pressure her to hang with me and have her freak out again. After a little bit, D and I headed back up to the house.

We walked through the back door. Kacie was already curled up on the couch under a blanket, a sexy, sleepy look on her face as she looked up at me. I walked over and sat down on the other end of the couch near her feet. She immediately sat up and crawled over, lying back down with her head on my lap.

“What are we watching?” I asked her, not even remotely interested in the TV.

“You’ve Got Mail.” She looked up at me, nervously awaiting my response, which she got when I rolled my eyes and fake snored.

“Come on,” she argued, batting her long eyelashes at me. “It’s romantic, the way they fall in love without ever meeting?”

“I’ll watch anything you want. I’ll even suffer through the Kardashians, as long as you stay right where you are.”

She beamed up at me, struggling to keep her pretty green eyes open.

“I think we should talk later, you know … about stuff. I’m just too tired now,” she murmured, cozying up to me.

“I know, we will.” I threaded my fingers in her hair, rubbing her forehead with the pad of my thumb. “Not now though, tomorrow. Just rest.”

She didn’t resist. The corners of her plump, pink lips curled up in a half smile and she blinked one last time. I watched her, waiting to see if her eyes would flutter open again. It’s a very relaxing thing watching someone fall asleep, that moment where they lose all control of their minds and surrender to their subconscious. They say you often dream about something that happened in your day, good or bad. I was pretty sure I’d be dreaming about Ferris wheels later, I hoped she was too.

I quietly propped my feet up on the coffee table, careful not to disturb her head and slowly shimmied the remote from her lifeless hand.

Kacie asleep on my lap and SportsCenter on the TV… heaven.

“Brody. Brody, wake up.”

I pried my eyes open and lifted my head to see who was calling my name, as pain shot up the right side of my neck. I must have fallen asleep in a funny position, but I was groggy and last thing I remembered was watching Baseball Tonight’s Web Gems with Kacie sound asleep on my lap. Where was she, anyway?

“You okay?” Fred asked in a loud whisper.

I rubbed the pain away. “Yeah, I’m fine, Fred.”

“Let’s go fishing again.” A wide grin crossed Fred’s face, making him impossible to turn down, even though I wanted nothing more than to crawl up the stairs to my room and go back to sleep. I grabbed my phone to check the time but all I noticed was the little envelope lit up in the top right corner signaling a text from Kacie.

“Sure, Fred, I’m up for fishing again. Just give me a minute to use the bathroom and grab a quick bite and I’ll meet you out there.”

His face lit up as he reached down and patted my shoulder. “Sounds good, see you in a few minutes.”

I gave him a little wave as he disappeared out the back door and then turned my attention back to my phone.

HEY! I WENT TO BED BUT I DIDN’T WANT TO WAKE YOU BECAUSE YOU LOOKED SO PEACEFUL. SEE YOU AT BREAKFAST. :)

Relief washed over me. I was slightly worried after her little nap last night, she would wake up feeling like she’d made a huge mistake and possibly regret last night, especially that kiss.

Holy shit, that kiss.

“Thought maybe you’d bailed on me,” Fred said as I sauntered down the hill toward his run-down red canoe.

I ran my hand through my hair and forced a smile at him. “Nope, just moving slow this morning, sorry.”

“No problem.” He hopped out of the canoe and walked around next to me, motioning to his small wooden death trap. “Let’s push her off and hop on in.”

Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t mind fishing with Fred at all, it was actually really relaxing. We just had a really long day yesterday, both physically and mentally exhausting, and I didn’t exactly sleep well sitting straight up on the couch overnight.

I liked Fred, but I loved sleep.

It really was a beautiful morning out on the lake though. The fog was still sitting just on top of the calm water, the birds were just starting to chirp, not a soul around. Fred and I paddled about fifty yards from the shore before he spoke again. “This look good?”

“Sure. Looks great,” I said in between yawns.

“You’re gonna let the flies in,” he teased.

“I don’t know what’s wrong with me today, I’m never like this.” I reached down and scooped up a small handful of lake water and splashed it on the back of my neck, hoping the shock of the chilly water would wake me up.