“We’d only have this afternoon.” His words were careful, eyes examining as he spoke.
I shrugged. “That’s okay.”
“What are you guys talking about?” Sutton asked, drawing my attention his way. From the corner of my eye, Ryan’s focus seemed to still be on me.
“We’re going to head to one of the theme parks this afternoon as soon as you guys are done.” This time my shit-eating grin appeared, and I side-eyed Ryan, maybe loving a little too much that his gaze was narrowed on me.
A ridiculous glee unfurled in my gut, knowing I was being a bit of a cock, but I did genuinely want to go to a theme park. Not only that, but with the obvious tension between us, this was the relief I thought we both needed.
“For real?” Surprise lifted Sutton’s words. His “Huh” pulled my attention toward him. “I thought Ryan here hated theme parks.”
With my smile still in place and very real, I shrugged and paid attention to the man at my side. Ryan stared at me for a beat before huffing out a defeated breath.
“Nate here loves the damn things.” He lifted one shoulder in a “what you gonna do?” gesture.
“That’d be cool. Maybe we could stay, watch Ryan squeal like a baby pig.” Jayden chuckled and earned a flipped middle finger from Ryan.
“Nope.” Sutton shook his head, and I didn’t know if I was relieved or disappointed they wouldn’t be coming. “You promised your cousin you’d be at their house tonight for dinner.”
Jayden groaned, and I couldn’t help but think they behaved like an old married couple at times. “I could say the flight was canceled.”
“You’ve canceled the last three times. Just suck it up and go.”
The grumble that followed was enough to get us all laughing. “Fine, but if I’m going, so are you.”
“And it’s time to go,” Ryan said quickly, standing and slotting some cash in the folded bill that had arrived a few minutes back.
A few hours later, I was grinning like a fool, high on sugar and having a blast. At my side, though, Ryan was looking a little peaky. “Seriously, you don’t have to go on the ride with me.”
Ryan’s focus was solely on the monstrosity before us. The roller coaster looked epic. It was all loops and twists and set so damn high, I imagined you could all but touch the clouds.
Not that there were any in the sky. There was only vivid blue holding together the bright sun up above. The humidity wasn’t all that bad either. It was mild compared to spring back home. My hair, though, was plastered to my head underneath the baseball cap I’d swiped from Ryan, courtesy of the rapids that drenched us.
The man at my side didn’t seem to be coping as well.
Sweat coated every visible inch of his skin, and his shirt stuck to him in such a way, my attention was constantly drawn to it.
“You hot or just shitting yourself?” I asked, aware he still hadn’t answered me.
Finally, he tore his gaze away from the 450-feet-high beast. “Both.”
I laughed at his honesty and clapped him on the shoulder.
“You going soft in this heat? Has the Australian been whipped out of you with all of the air con you’re used to, mate?” I ribbed.
Ryan quirked his brow, sending me the stink eye, and I was so glad we’d done this. Messing around at the theme park effectively cut through all the tension. It made it easier to file away the conversation we needed to have for another day.
“Minnesota is as cold as a polar bear’s asshole in winter. I may have acclimatized a little.”
“It’s a good job that when we get home, it’s the end of autumn at least. A nice twenty-seven degrees Celsius should sort you out.”
“Fuck, that’s what, almost ninety degrees Fahrenheit or something?”
I laughed at how shocked he looked.
“Laugh now. When I left Minnesota a few days back, it was just about sixty degrees Fahrenheit.”
My smile slipped. “At night?”
