“I’m deathly afraid of them.”

“Aw, gorgeous, you have me. I won’t let anything happen to you.”

“You can’t save me from falling to my death.”

I grabbed her hand and looked into her eyes as we stopped at a red light. “We’re not going to fall to our death. Trust me.”

“I trust you. It’s whatever’s in the sky I don’t trust. Which is …?”

“The world’s largest observation wheel.”

“The Ferris wheel on the strip?”

“It’s not a Ferris wheel.” I laughed, shaking my head. “Each pod’s enclosed and can hold up to forty people. Worse case, you can go to the middle and not look down.”

“I don’t know about this, Paul.”

I squeezed her hand. “We’re going to dinner at The LINQ first. You have time to prepare. If you really don’t want to do it when we get there, you don’t have to. But I promise it’s not that bad. Plus it’s the best view of Vegas, especially at night.”

She groaned and turned her head to look at the window and I smiled. She was going to go up on the High Roller even if I had to carry her. I could have taken Andi to any number of nice restaurants on the strip, but we were wined and dined all the time, so I wanted to take her somewhere casual. I wanted to show her Vegas and not have to drive out of town to see the view.

After valet parking, I grabbed Andi’s hand and led her through the casino to the restaurant where we were going to eat. I was starting to get used to having her hand in mine. It felt like a natural thing for us to be doing. Maybe it was because the casino was crowded and it was easier for her to follow me. I didn’t care. I loved the feel of her skin, and if I needed to enforce a death grip, I would.

A few minutes into our walk through the casino, Andi turned her head to me. “First you told me to dress up and then you changed your mind and you told me to dress casual.” It was as if she’d just remembered I said we were going to dinner and not only to The High Roller.

I smiled. “I know.”

“Where are we going to eat then?”

“Why do you always ask so many questions?” We stepped around a group of rowdy drunks trying to decide where to go or something.

“I always know the plan before I do things.”

“Even on personal dates?” She nodded and I stared at her for a beat, trying not to run into people as we walked and then I glanced up. “We’re here.”

“Guy Fieri’s restaurant?”

“Do you watch the Food Network?”

“Sometimes.” She licked her lips and I groaned.

“Hungry?”

“Starving.”

We waited twenty minutes at Guy Fieri’s Vegas Kitchen & Bar to be seated in the rustic bar type restaurant. I chose the place because the High Roller was only about a five minute walk outside the doors. Once we left, Andi could look at the wheel and make her final decision. It was 550 feet tall and took thirty minutes to make a full turn. I knew I could talk her into doing it for thirty minutes, even if I had to wrap her in my arms the entire time.

“Do you always order a margarita?” I asked her after the waiter left from taking our order.

“I’m not much of a drinker, but you can get a lot of different flavors with margaritas and tequila. How about you, what’s your poison? I see you ordered tequila, too.”

“That’s true. I’ve always been a tequila man myself, especially when I can lick it off of you.” I smirked.

She laughed, placing her hand over her stomach. “Wow … okay. How often do you use that line?”

The waiter came back and placed our drinks down. “I’ve never used the line on someone before. Body shots just happen.” I winked at her before I took a sip of my tequila and coke.

“You might have to show me that talent one day.” I choked a little on my drink but before I could respond she asked, “So how long have you been in the business?”

I wasn’t sure why she’d changed the subject. I liked the flirty Andi, and I wanted to lick tequila and salt off of every inch of her, but I didn’t press her on the matter. Instead, I answered her question with a sigh. “Long enough.”

“You sound like you don’t enjoy it.”

Looking into the eyes of the woman asking me the question felt like a million light bulbs going off. I wanted to tell her how I felt about her, but it was hard because I didn’t know how she felt about me. I really liked her. I wanted to see where things could go between us since we lived together. I didn’t want it to be awkward at all. I’d already gotten my heart broken once and I was ready to move on with my life, but I wasn’t sure I was ready to tell a woman I was ready to move on with her. I wanted to get to know her—in more ways than one, but was I ready to actually quit S&R?

“I’m starting to realize I want more out of life.”

“You’ve never been in a serious relationship before?”

I sighed then took a long sip of my drink, contemplating if I wanted to tell her about Vanessa. After a few seconds, I realized that getting into a deep conversation about Vanessa wasn’t something I wanted to do on a first date even if Andi and I lived together. If we did want to give whatever this was between us a chance, then maybe I would eventually tell her that I was in love once. Everyone had been in love before.

“It’s been a long time, gorgeous. A really long time.”

Before she could ask me to elaborate on the subject, the waiter dropped off our food and the subject was changed—thank God. We ate our food for a bit and then we picked up on more of the conversation.

“How are you liking Vegas?” I asked moments later after we’d gushed about how delicious the food was.

“It’s definitely different. D.C.’s nothing like it is here.”

I smiled behind my straw. “I heard through the grapevine that you’re going to titty bars with some of the girls. You into girls, too?”

She snorted as she tried to contain her laughter. “Definitely not. The girls claim it’s a good way to pick up clients, and seeing as I’m new to the area, I guess I’m trying to pull whatever tricks are out there.”

“So you’re not out there having threesomes with your clients and the girls?” My smile hadn’t faltered as I thought about Andi with another chick.

“I’ve never slept with any of my clients. Do … Have you?” Her gaze avoided mine as she waited for my answer.

Would she not want to be with me because of something I’d done before I met her? I took another long sip of my tequila and coke, slurping the remaining content. “Honestly, gorgeous, I have. I have with a lot of them. But since you barged into my house—literally—I haven’t. I haven’t wanted to. I’ve been looking forward to this date since before I knew I wanted to take you on it, and hearing that you don’t sleep with your clients … Fuck, that makes me so happy. You have no fucking idea how much that makes me happy.”

Before we could continue, the waiter came and dropped off the check. “We can talk about this later. Let’s go check out the High Roller.”

“What if I freak out?”

“I’ll wrap you in my arms until it’s over.”

She stared up at the metal wheel. “It’s … so high.”

“Look how big the pods are. Nothing’s going to happen. We’ll stand in the middle if you’re scared.”

She tore her gaze to mine. “Promise?”

I smiled and grabbed her hand, missing the contact that was only brief from me paying for our tickets. “I promise, gorgeous.”

We waited in line to enter onto the white pod. Occasionally the wheel would change colors from pink to green to blue and so on. Earlier I thought I would be the one that needed to have the death grip on Andi’s hand, but she was the one that had one on mine.

“Don’t worry, it’s going to be okay,” I promised, pulling her closer to me. I got a whiff of her hair and I noticed that she smelled of coconuts. “You smell like paradise.”

She looked up at me. “Are you trying to distract me?”