Maybe he could have asked her, but he didn’t want to take the chance that she’d be daring enough to jump off a building over eight hundred feet up in the air. His heart couldn’t take it.
Anything that spun around was taken out of his plans. Since most of those rides were also at a ridiculous height, he was more relieved than disappointed that they’d miss them. He’d done them all before—never having stopped to consider the risk to his own person because the rides were as safe as they could be. It hadn’t been a big deal when he’d done it himself on previous trips. Having Kristin dangling off the side of a drop that would definitely kill her if something happened was another matter altogether.
So he’d opted for a more sedate schedule, something his heart could handle. “We’re going for a ride. That’s why I gave you some pills.”
He’d given her the motion-sickness pills at the end of the show.
For once, she didn’t argue. “The show was amazing. I’ve never seen anything like that before.” Her voice was elated and happy.
Her blissful tone slammed Julian right in the gut. It was an emotion he’d never heard before, and he wished to hell he could keep her exactly like that for the rest of her life. How often had Kristin really been pleased or relaxed? Her life had pretty much been about work, and although she seemed to take everything in stride, he wanted so much more for her.
“I’ve been wanting to see it for a while. It’s been a few years since I’ve been here, and I’d heard it was fantastic,” he answered hoarsely, the cheerful tone of her voice still affecting his response.
“Did it live up to your expectations?” she asked, still sounding breathless with excitement.
“Oh, yeah,” he replied. Anything that made Kristin that enthusiastic was fucking amazing in his opinion.
“This has been a magical night for me, Julian,” she said in little more than a dazzled whisper. “Thank you.”
The sincerity in her voice touched a place inside him that he wasn’t certain had been reached before. “You’re welcome. But the night isn’t over yet.”
He pulled onto a road near the airport and parked next to one of the white buildings as he announced, “We’re here. How are you feeling?”
After unbuckling his seat belt, he reached over and undid hers since she wasn’t moving.
“Are we flying again?” she asked as she stared at the helicopter that sat ready to take off on the heliport behind them.
“If you get the slightest bit queasy, you tell me,” he said insistently before he got out of the driver’s seat and walked around to open her door.
When he pulled her out of the passenger seat, he tried not to look at the shapely amount of leg she was showing as she swung both feet out of the car. She hadn’t changed out of that damn sexy dress, high heels, or black stockings. They’d been too busy to change, but he’d yanked off the bow tie of his tuxedo the moment they’d gotten into the theater, tired of feeling like he had a noose around his neck.
Her face lit up like a damn tree at Christmas. “Okay,” she agreed as she beamed up at him.
One smile and Julian was toast. He wanted to see that happy expression on her face for the rest of her fucking life.
It didn’t take long for them to get settled into the helicopter, since the pilot was a friend who’d flown Julian previously, and he’d made damn sure she could see out the front window in addition to the side views. The aircraft was spacious and state-of-the-art. He also trusted the man at the controls, who had plenty of hours and experience logged in his twenty-year history as a helicopter pilot.
He noticed Kristin putting a hand to her belly as they lifted off, then started to head for the Vegas Strip.
Unconsciously, she grabbed for his hand and squeezed, an action of trust that made Julian’s heart soar.
“Okay?” he asked her huskily.
“Yeah. Fine. It just feels weird going straight up,” she answered excitedly.
Julian had ridden in so many helicopters in his lifetime that he couldn’t really remember his first time. Probably with his dad when he was a kid, since his father had preferred that mode of travel whenever possible. “You’re going to tell me if we need to land,” he grumbled, watching her for any sign of sickness.
There was none.
“Oh, my God. Look. That’s our hotel!” she exclaimed, squeezing his hand harder as she pointed out the landmark. “The lights up here are amazing. I’ll never be able to explain how it looks from the air to somebody else. There are no real words for how beautiful it looks right now.”
It was a nice night for flying over Vegas. It was clear and the lights were spectacular. But what made it special was sharing it with the woman next to him, even if she was cutting off all the circulation of blood to his fingers right now.
He grinned at her, knowing that even if he lost a few digits, her reaction would always be worth it.
CHAPTER 7
Kristin gnawed on her bottom lip as she looked at her cards, then at the black chip in the circle in front of her.