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“I’m sure it is.”
The plane lurched, and Nara squeezed his hand, and then laughed. “It’s like we’re on that Ferris wheel again.”
“Let’s make a pact.”
“What?”
He ran his thumb over the skin on her hand. It was so soft. He leaned closer to her. “Let’s not mention the Ferris wheel. Ever.”
She poked him in the side with her free hand, her eyes smiling. “You liked it. Admit it.”
He hid a smile. She was right. He did like it. Not the part about being embarrassed that he was on a kiddy ride, but the part about being pressed up against Nara, so close he could smell her shampoo, and the part where they joked around with each other. He loved that part. “Never.”
She pointed at him. “You’re so totally smiling right now.”
“Am not.” He had to bite his cheek to stop himself from totally proving himself a liar.
“Oh, my gosh. You can barely hold it in. I see it. Right there.” She touched the corner of his mouth.
He pushed her finger away. “You don’t.”
She giggled. “I do, too. And now you’re not even doing a good job of hiding it anymore.”
He knew he wasn’t. But he liked this flirty side of Nara. “Where?”
Her finger gently touched his lips, causing his heart rate to speed up. “There. And there.”
He grabbed her finger and pressed his lips to it, in an impulsive gamble. He kissed the tip of her finger, and then the back of her hand. Nara stared at him, the mood shifting.
Could she feel the same thing he was? An electric current ran between them. It hummed and made his hair stand on end. He couldn’t tear his gaze away from hers.
She reached out, slowly, and cupped his cheek. Her thumb grazed over his lips. “It’s gone,” she whispered.
Her words made no sense to him. All he could think about was how warm her fingers were, and how much he wanted to capture her lips with his. But the way things had gone last time deterred him, and he broke eye contact.
Nara pulled back and cleared her throat. “Well, what time will we land in L.A.?”
“Four o’clock.”
“Oh.”
He looked at her. “Why? Did you want to do something?”
“Yeah,” she said, quietly. “But I can’t have it.”
His heart jumped. Was she implying what he thought she was? Could it be that Nara felt something as well? He shifted to hear her better. “What do you want?”
For a split second, he thought she was going to say him. But then she smiled and a laugh came out of her. “I want a really great steak. I haven’t eaten beef in over a week.”
He shrugged to cover his disappointment. “You can have that. Let’s go visit your father in the hospital, then I’ll take you out to eat.”
She nodded, the mention of the hospital turning the edges of her mouth down. “Okay.”
Chapter 20
It was a chilly afternoon, and Nara pulled her jacket tighter around herself. She entered the hospital with Derek, her stomach turning and twisting. The smell of antiseptic stung her nose. Apprehension curled through her. What would she find when she walked into her father’s room?
Part of her was still angry at him for calling Derek. The other part felt like her past self, hanging on to the image of her father when she was a little girl. How could that strong man be sick? He couldn’t. It didn’t compute.
