by Jae
Yes.
Me too, Denny answered.
With shaky fingers, Eliza texted, Where are you?
A text bubble with the same question from Denny popped up beneath hers.
Main entrance, both replied at the same time.
Eliza dropped her phone into her purse without paying attention to where exactly it ended up. She had never considered her five-foot-six height short, but now she wished she were taller as she hopped up and down in an attempt to see over the people around her.
A guy ahead of her gave her a funny look, probably trying to figure out what the heck she was doing, but she didn’t care. All her senses focused on scanning the area for a glimpse of Denny.
A group of teenagers shoved their way inside, and the crowd parted.
As if guided by a magnet, Eliza’s gaze zeroed in on a figure standing next to the ticket booth.
Denny.
A smile formed on Eliza’s lips as she took her in.
Her short hair was tousled, as if she had run her hands through it repeatedly, and she kept reaching up to adjust her glasses. She hadn’t bothered to pull up the collar of her worn, chocolate-brown leather jacket. Had she even noticed the rain?
Eliza took one step toward her.
As if sensing her approach, Denny looked toward her.
Their gazes connected.
Eliza’s steps faltered, but at the same time, she felt like rushing toward her to engulf her in a bear hug. She had to remind herself it might not be the best idea.
But then Denny walked toward her, and the timid smile on her handsome face broadened more with every step she took.
To hell with a more polite greeting. Eliza jogged the last few yards between them and launched herself into Denny’s arms.
Denny’s pulse pounded as if she had run a mile at full speed instead of standing around for the past twenty minutes because she’d been early. When she caught sight of Eliza, her heart thrummed even faster, yet at the same time, a strange calm overcame her.
She no longer heard the music or the laughter of the people around them. All worries about her cowlick and her love handles fled from her mind as Eliza sprinted toward her.
Denny’s arms rose by pure instinct, and she caught Eliza as if she’d done it a million times before. They were the same height, even though she had always imagined herself to be taller. Despite their different builds, their bodies fit like two pieces of a puzzle. Denny tightened her hold and breathed in Eliza’s light, floral scent, with a touch of something smoky. Gentle, gentle, she reminded herself.
But Eliza wrapped her arms around her and hugged her back just as strongly.
Denny had no idea how much time had passed when she became aware of rain dripping down her collar and someone jostling her. Quickly, she let go and took a step back. “Sorry, I’m wet.” Damn, that sounded wrong. “Uh, I mean, it’s raining.”
A smile curved Eliza’s lips.
Jesus, those lips. Having lips that sensuous should be illegal. Denny forced herself to look into Eliza’s eyes. Not that they were that much safer because they were the warmest brown she had ever seen.
“It’s Portland,” Eliza said. “Of course it’s raining.”
Denny continued to drink her in. The photos hadn’t been able to capture how vibrant Eliza really was. In a denim jacket and a pair of skinny jeans that emphasized her slim hips, she managed to look equally graceful and down-to-earth. Shit. She stared at Eliza, not saying a thing! “It’s so nice to finally meet you,” she squeaked.
“You too.” Unless she was imagining it, Eliza was staring too. “You look exactly like your photo.”
Denny slid her glasses higher up on her nose. “Is that good or bad?” She hadn’t meant to ask, but apparently, when it came to Eliza, her filters were nonexistent.
“Good,” Eliza said. “Very good.”
They gazed at each other for several seconds until Denny couldn’t stand it anymore. “Uh, shall we?” She gestured toward the entrance. “I already got us tickets.”
“Oh, thanks. Then the food is on me.”
Denny stuffed her hands into her jacket pockets, not knowing what to do with them, as they entered the festival grounds and strolled along the white tents. “You’re wearing the infamous sneakers.” She pointed at Eliza’s footwear.
“Of course.” Eliza smiled that devastating smile again. “I don’t think I’ll be forced to make a quick escape today, but I have to live up to my nickname.”
The time when she had called Eliza “Sneaker Woman” seemed like a lifetime ago, not a short few months.
“So, are you ready for the three Fs?” Eliza asked as they veered right to make room for a person in a clown costume taking photos with a little girl.
“Three Fs?”
“Food. Fun. Fireworks.” Eliza ticked them off on her fingers.
Denny nodded. She’d been too nervous to eat anything since breakfast, and by now, she couldn’t tell if her stomach fluttered because she was nervous or because she was starving.
The sugary scent of cotton candy mingled with the aroma of chili cheese fries and corn dogs. Eliza stuck her nose in the air and sniffed like a coyote catching the scent of its favorite prey.
Did she have to be so adorable?
“Don’t let me eat too much. I want to try at least one of the rides, and I can’t if I’m stuffed to the gills.” Eliza dug in her purse and pulled out her wallet. “What are you in the mood for?”
Denny studied the various food booths. “I’m not sure yet. What are you getting?”
“A corn dog,” Eliza said without hesitation. “It’s been an annual tradition ever since my parents took me to the Rose Festival for the first time as a kid—well, minus the year my oldest sister convinced me they’re made of dogs.”
Laughter bubbled up, chasing off most of Denny’s nerves. “That’s just mean.”
“Don’t tell me you never did anything like that to your sister.”
Denny shook her head. “Never. I’m too nice to play mean tricks on my baby sister.”
Eliza eyed her skeptically. “Is that what she would tell me?”
“Well, if you don’t believe me, you can ask her. Bella asked me to invite you to her birthday party next weekend. I said I would. It was the only way to convince her to stay home instead of coming to the festival with us, but I know spending the afternoon with a dozen giggly preteens might not be your idea of a fun Saturday, so don’t feel obliged to come.” Great. Now she was babbling. Denny snapped her mouth shut.
“I’d love to come.” Eliza emanated such sincerity even Denny didn’t wonder whether she was just being polite.
They smiled at each other before getting in line for a corn dog.
“Want me to get you one too?” Eliza asked.
“No, thanks. I’m thinking of getting an elephant ear. Wait. Let me guess. Your sister told you they were made of elephants.”
Eliza laughed. “It was my brother who told me that, but I was a year older and wiser, so I didn’t fall for it.”
Once they each had their chosen food, they ducked beneath a tent, out of the drizzle, and shared like old friends. It was strange to feel as if she had known Eliza for years, yet at the same time not be able to shake the impression they were on a first date, no matter how often she told herself it wasn’t one. She couldn’t stop looking at Eliza, drinking in every little detail.
Unlike most of the women Denny had gone out with, Eliza wasn’t shy about digging in. She finished the biggest corn dog Denny had ever seen, then stole the last bite of Denny’s elephant ear and unashamedly licked a dusting of cinnamon off her fingers.
Damn, why did she have to look so sexy doing that? Denny averted her gaze.
They strolled along the booths, taking in the goods and games. Whenever their shoulders brushed, Denny’s entire body blazed with awareness.
“Hi, Eliza,” a guy selling airbrush hoodies and T-shirts called from his booth.
A woman sketching a caricature ve
rsion of a customer waved a greeting too.
Eliza waved back and exchanged a few words with them but didn’t stop to talk to them for long.
“Wow,” Denny said after it happened the third time. “Did you forget to tell me you’re a local celebrity or something?”
“God, no. The craft people in the area just tend to know each other.”
Denny doubted other craft people would be greeted so enthusiastically, but she couldn’t blame them for wanting to catch Eliza’s attention.
The Ferris wheel loomed in front of them. They walked beneath the Morrison Bridge, which marked the start of the carnival portion of the festival.
Children and a few adults spun on a swing carousel to their right while various games promised stuffed animals and other prizes to their left.
“Want to try your luck at one of these?” Eliza gestured toward the games.
“Yeah, bring your girlfriend over here and try to win her a teddy bear, sir,” the man in the basketball toss booth called over to them. “If you sink three out of five, you can pick whatever prize you want.”
Denny gritted her teeth. It wasn’t the first time she’d been mistaken for a man, even though she wasn’t sure how anyone could miss her breasts. She resisted the urge to pull up her jacket collar to hide her blush and peeked at Eliza. How would she react to being called Denny’s girlfriend?
Eliza looked back at her, probably waiting to see if she would correct the guy’s assumption about her gender. When Denny didn’t, she shrugged and pointed at the hoop. “Want to try?”
Denny would have loved to win a giant teddy bear or another prize for Eliza, but that was what couples did on dates, wasn’t it? She held up her right hand to show Eliza the brace sticking out of her jacket sleeve. “I think I’m out of commission.”
At the sound of her voice, the guy stared at her. “Oh, sorry, ma’am. I—”
She waved him off. All she wanted was to move on.
But Eliza seemed unfazed and not in a hurry. She eyed the hoop and the stuffed animals hanging behind it. “Then I’ll win you a prize.”
Denny hadn’t expected that. No one had ever tried to win her a stuffed animal. “You don’t have to do that. It could end up costing more than buying it in a store.”
Eliza didn’t listen. She was already handing over some money. The basketball looked huge in her delicate hands. She took up position behind the line spray-painted on the ground. Her stance wasn’t exactly NBA-approved, but Denny knew better than to break her concentration by trying to correct her. In the end, winning a prize didn’t matter. The important thing was Eliza having fun—and that seemed to be the case.
Her eyes flashed with determination, and she laughed as she gave a hop and let go of the ball.
It sailed through the air in a wide arc—and went through the hoop with a soft whoosh.
Denny knew she was staring, slack-jawed, but she didn’t care. “What was that?”
“Luck,” Eliza said, but the little grin skirting her lips gave her away. She received another ball and took up a stance behind the line.
Her foot positioning would have made an NBA player shiver with disgust, but to Denny, her slim body was poetry in motion as she tossed the ball again.
This time, she wasn’t surprised as it swished through the net without touching the rim.
“Uh-oh,” the guy in the booth said. “I think you brought me a hustler.”
Eliza smiled, then sank the ball a third time. Her attempt to look casual lasted all of one second before she cheered and engulfed Denny in a celebratory hug.
Once again, Denny had her arms around her before she became fully aware of it. She told herself to politely pat Eliza’s back and step away to a safe distance, but her body had different ideas. The way Eliza felt against her was impossible to resist. She held her close for a second, then, aware of her thudding heartbeat, let go.
“Looks like she won you a prize,” the guy said to Denny. “Which one do you want?”
Dazed, Denny stared at the rows of stuffed animals. “Um, you pick one,” she said to Eliza.
Eliza stepped next to her, so close their shoulders brushed and her perfume teased Denny’s nose. “Hmm, how about…this one?” She pointed at a foot-long orange dragon.
The guy took it from its perch. His gaze flickered to Denny before he pressed it into Eliza’s hands.
“Um, it’s got an underbite,” Denny said.
Eliza ran one finger along the tooth sticking from the dragon’s mouth in a gesture so tender that goose bumps rushed across Denny’s skin. “So? It’s cute.”
“Guess we’ll take it,” Denny told the guy.
As they continued on, Eliza held out the dragon. “Here.”
“Uh…”
“What?” Eliza asked with a grin. “Is carrying a stuffed animal destroying your street cred?” She gave Denny a nudge with her elbow. “Be grateful I didn’t pick a pink bunny.”
Denny took the dragon from her. It was kind of cute. “My street cred is nonexistent anyway. Thank you.”
“You’re very welcome.”
“So,” Denny glanced back over her shoulder at the hoop shot, “how did you do that?”
“I’ve always been good with my hands,” Eliza said with an impish grin.
Denny tried hard to not imagine what else Eliza’s hands might be good at.
“Telling me scary things about the food wasn’t all my siblings did when we went to any of the festivals. They taught me all the little tricks,” Eliza said. “They hang the hoop at an angle, so you have to shoot accordingly.”
“No wonder I wasted thirty bucks on the hoops when I tried to win Bella Olaf, the snowman plush from Frozen, two years ago!”
Eliza gave her a grin and a wink. “Stick with me, and I’ll teach you all the tricks.”
God, this woman would be the death of her!
The powdered sugar melted on Eliza’s tongue as she popped the last chunk of the funnel cake they shared into her mouth. “Yum, so good.”
Denny hummed her agreement. She, however, appeared to have gotten more powdered sugar on herself than in her stomach. Her beautiful brown leather jacket was sprinkled with white dots.
Eliza itched to wipe it off. Are you out of your mind? Most of the powdered sugar had ended up on Denny’s ample chest. No way would Eliza help clean that up. Deep down, she knew it was an excuse to see if the well-worn leather jacket was as soft as it looked anyway.
Once Denny was done, she held up her sticky fingers and then pointed at her chest. “Eating funnel cake without making a mess is clearly an art form neither of us has mastered.”
Eliza glanced down. Oops. Her own jacket hadn’t fared any better.
They grabbed a handful of paper napkins from the funnel cake stand and cleaned themselves up.
“Where to now?” Denny asked once they were presentable.
Eliza noticed that she’d let her make most of the decisions tonight. What a nice change of pace from the guys she’d gone out with! She wondered if Denny was like this with her dates too.
They strolled past the bumper cars, and Eliza pointed at a huge Viking ship swinging back and forth like a pendulum. Serpent heads snarled at them from the ship’s bow and stern. “How about this? Unless it goes upside down. That’s where I draw the line. I don’t want the funnel cake to make a reappearance.”
“Don’t worry,” Denny said. “It goes pretty high, but not upside down.”
“You’ve tried it before?”
Denny nodded. “You haven’t? I thought you were the Rose Festival pro between the two of us.”
“I think this is pretty much the only ride I’ve never tried.” Eliza glanced at the brace peeking out beneath Denny’s jacket sleeve. “Is it okay to do with your arm?”
“Sure. I’ll be back at work on Monday, lifting forty-pound banana boxes, so braving the high seas should be fine.”
“Great. But let me hold on to him for you.” Eliza pointed at the stuffed dragon in Denny’s gri
p.
“Her,” Denny said as she handed it over. “I think Ms. Underbite is a girl.”
So she had named it already, after pretending she didn’t really want it. Eliza held back a grin. Denny was a lot like the little dragon—tough on the outside, but a total softie on the inside.
Before she could comment, Denny led the way toward the ticket booth.
Luckily, the line wasn’t too long. Within a few minutes, they climbed the metal steps to the ship.
Most of the rows were still empty, so Eliza hesitated, unsure where to sit.
“Let’s take the last row,” Denny said. “It goes up the highest.”
So there was a bit of a daredevil in her after all. Eliza grinned.
With a soft touch to the small of her back, Denny guided her toward the stern, making sure she didn’t slip on the wet metal.
When a guy she went out with touched her like that, it often made her weak in the knees—at least if it was a man she was attracted to. Apparently, her body was on autopilot, because now it reacted exactly the same. The spot where Denny’s hand rested heated up until she thought Denny would feel it. When they reached the last row and Denny took her hand away, Eliza wasn’t sure whether she was disappointed or relieved.
“Wait,” Denny said before Eliza could slide onto the yellow bench seat.
The rain had stopped a few minutes ago, but the seat was still wet. Denny took off her jacket and put it on the bench for them to sit on.
Aww, what a gentle…um, woman. Eliza studied the short-sleeved button-up Denny wore beneath. Once the ship started moving, it might get too windy in the last row. “Won’t you get cold?”
Denny laughed. “No, I’m really warm.”
Yeah, me too, Eliza thought.
The rows in front of them filled while they took a seat next to each other. The leather jacket beneath Eliza was still warm from Denny’s body. The lap bar lowered, locking them into place shoulder to shoulder, with their thighs softly brushing. Even through her denim jacket, Eliza felt the heat emanating from Denny.
Or was it coming off her own body? What the hell was going on? She might be the first person to die from a heatstroke on a rainy spring day in Portland.