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I’m completely dry by the time we drag Seth out of the water and bury him deep in the soft dirt under the trees surrounding one of the run-down roller coasters.

I re-dress and take Jasmine’s hand in mine. We wander the theme park and take turns guessing the names of the fallen, faded roller coasters. She gets fully into character at the abandoned food court, and we role-play buying hot dogs and popcorn. Then we play the ring toss until I win a prize.

Which is a kiss.

Our wandering stops when we reach the old Ferris wheel, and Jasmine tips her head all the way back as she stares upward. “Wow. What the view must be like from up there.”

“Let’s take a look.” I waggle my eyebrows. “Unless that’s tooscaryfor you.”

She scrunches her nose and her hand tightens in mine. “There’s no way that’s safe to climb.”

“Not with that attitude,” I chuckle. “But in all seriousness, this isn’t as old as the rest of the park. They started replacing all wooden Ferris wheels with steel to reinforce them with how bad the weather was getting. This thing is the sturdiest thing in the park, but if you’re too chicken to climb the frame, then Iguess?—”

“Hey!” She shoves against me with a laugh. “I’m not chicken. I just don’t want to die. I’ve seen disaster movies.”

“I’ll catch you,” I say. “Promise.” Her doubt melts away when I hop the railing and start to climb the inside ladder that leads up the center of the Ferris wheel. “Look, it holds me easily. You’re nothing. Trust me.”

And she does. Jasmine hops the rail and climbs up behind me, obediently following me all the way up the ladder and then across the Ferris wheel framework until we’re as high as we can go. From here, it’s easy to pull up into one of the top compartments, and we flop down against the hard seats, panting.

“Wow…” Jasmine immediately leans forward and grasps the metal railing, staring out at the city that stretches out below us like a sea of stars. “It’s so beautiful. And so…quiet.”

Moving up behind her, I press my lips to the back of her neck and murmur softly in the back of my throat. “So how does this stack up as a first date?”

Jasmine presses back against me, then swivels in my arms and loops one hand around my neck. “My highlight was seeingyou take all your clothes off to get in the water,” she says softly, her eyes darting around my face. “But I’m still undecided.”

“Oh really?” I don’t know if it’s adrenaline or the excitement of the night or the sheer enjoyment of spending time with Jasmine, but I’ve never felt this good. Every part of me sings high, every nerve is on cloud nine, and I’ve never felt more alive than I do right now. “Is there a way I can adjust your score?”

“I’m open to suggestions.” Then, after a night of fighting and killing, of jokes and games and teasing, Jasmine finally kisses me.

I can’t keep my hands off her after that, and up in the sky, hidden away in a Ferris wheel box with only the moon as my witness, I take her clothes off and fuck her like it’s our last day on earth. She claws at my back, bites into my shoulder, and her pussy clenches around me like a vice each time my thrusts rock the cabin back and forth. I hold the metal pipe and her hips as I repeatedly drive my cock hard into her, pouring all my desire and adrenaline into making sure her legs will be too shaky to climb down.

She leaves trails of fire down my arms, bites my nipple so hard that I almost come on the spot, and screams out her pleasure as I fuck her through not one, but two orgasms. It becomes a game where I hold myself back just so I can keep fucking her, which quickly becomes an erotic rush of insane overstimulation, but it’s thrilling. Metal creaks and groans, skin slaps against slick skin, heat blooms from every point of contact, and soon we’re nose to nose, lips to lips, with mouths open and a mantra of gasps and moans falling from both of us as I fuck her with hard, rapid thrusts. She comes apart beneath me with a third orgasm barely a minute after her second and that’s my final straw.

I come with a roar, slamming hard into her and pulling her hips snugly against my own. My heart pounds, the cold nightair does nothing to dampen the heat in my veins, and nothing matters except the open, honest pleasure across Jasmine’s beautiful face.

When I kiss her, it feels like our first and our last, and I never want to part.

Because I like her.

No, it’s more than that. It’s so much deeper than that.

“Holy shit,” Jasmine gasps, resting back against one of the seats as she lies naked in my arms. “Was that so exhilarating because we killed someone? Or because we fucked in this death trap.”

“I don’t know,” I murmur, nuzzling against her hairline. “But I’m up for testing this multiple times until we get answers.”

“Oh I bet you are,” she replies, laughing breathily. “Oh, and I meant to say, my mother wants to have an autumn wedding and wants to know your thoughts.”

Right. The wedding. How easy it is to forget about the actual act. “What do you want?”

“It’s just a business agreement, right?” Jasmine says quickly. “So I’m not concerned about the details.”

Her words cause an unexpected spear of pain through my chest, like I’ve just heard some terrible bad news, but how can I be surprised? She’s right. Putting my crazy feelings aside, the wedding is just an agreement.

Despite that, disappointment weighs down in my chest and the air around me suddenly grows cold. “Yes, it is,” I reply after a moment. “But we can still have fun with it, right?”

How foolish of me to lose myself in this. Jasmine’s right. Sex and fun aside, this is just business.

Nothing else.