Page 9 of The No Try Zone
The ground beneath my feet shifts, the metaphorical cliff beginning to crumble. But instead of worrying and wondering how I can fix it, or stop it, or at least control the rate of my fall, I ignore all of it. I jump.
We hold each other’s gaze as we drink. My body warms to a pleasant hum beneath her study, and I clench my free hand to stop myself from reaching for her. Touching that soft skin once more.
“You know, we may as well keep this going.”
“How’s that?” I ask.
“More coin tosses.”
I pocket the quarter and aim for a counterargument. “What about a simple dare?”
Her eyes flash. “We’re in Vegas. Seems more bets are the way to go.”
“Oh, we’ll get there,” I promise, then lean close, needing to catch the scent of her. I’m in free-fall now. “But let’s have some fun while we do it.”
Her laugh is sultry and low, sending shivers down my spine. “You’re trouble.”
I wink. “Tonight I am. With a capital T. Just remember that you started it.”
She leans closer. “I have another rule.”
My heart kicks in my chest. This woman might be the absolute ruin of me. Forty-two years of living on this planet, and all I’ve been doing was marching toward fifteen minutes with a gap-toothed whirlwind of a woman. But I don’t care that I’m going down. If anything, I’m eager for it. I want to taste what this feels like. Experience something I’ll never experience again. Feel what it’s like to be in this amazing woman’s orbit for just a little longer. I steady myself and prepare for my doom. “And what’s that?”
“To always finish what I start.”
Fuck. Me.Here lies Colin Matthew Thicke. Cause of death: Sam. I twist on the stool so that my knee touches hers, and of course, she doesn’t move. I laugh, a singular puff of air leaving me. “I think I might be falling in love with you, Sam, watch out with those sexy words.”
She tilts her head back as she laughs, her neck on display and making me want to lick it. “What’s the first dare, Matthew?”
I consider. “Swap something with me for an hour.”
She doesn’t waver, her fingers trailing along the gold of her necklace as she pins me with a look that I swear says,“Is that all you’ve got?”
I hesitate for a moment, then pull my watch off and drop it into her hand as she pools the delicate necklace into my palm.
“It’s heavy,” she says, holding my watch up for inspection. “A Rolex? What do you do for a living, Matthew?”
“It was my grandfather’s,” I answer, my throat tight with the last vestiges of grief that never seemed to abate. He gave it to me for safekeeping when I was twelve, knowing I’d keep it hidden away from my alcoholic father. When he died a month later, the last tether my family had to anything safe was gone. Giving her the whole story is too much.
Her face softens. “He’s…passed?” At my nod, she thrusts the watch back. “This is too precious. I can’t.”
“Scared?” I tease softly.
Her chin lifts. “Fine.” She clasps the gold watch onto her wrist, and again, my heart ka-thunks at the view. It’s far too big for her delicate frame, but I have no doubt she’ll keep it safe.
I inspect the necklace she handed over. “A sea turtle?” It’s small and gold, resting on a simple gold chain.
“They’re the most wonderful creatures,” she says, a note of something almost childlike in her tone. “And there’s still so much we don’t know about them. Their early years, why they travel such lengths between feeding and nesting grounds, how they know to make their way back to their birthplace to mate and lay eggs. They’re magical.”
Her unabashed love for them is so clear, so unvarnished, that it utterly charms me. I grin as I secure the necklace behind my neck. “So, not your grandfather’s?”
She takes a drink of wine and grins back. “No. But it is from home, and it’s the one piece of jewelry I never take off.”
“Another rule?”
“Mm-hmm. It suits you.”
“The necklace?”
