that, anyway. Hands that felt protective and caring but also hands that made me feel like Amanda had felt when Sheik Khalifa had pulled her into his bed. When he’d put his hands on her and . . .
Something that had being lying dormant for long inside her, maybe even forever, had been ignited. A passionate fire that blazed with the intensity of a thousand suns. She’d never felt the heat of a man like this, as it pulsed through her entire body.
That’s how I felt right now, as Noah and I climbed. I forgot about the height! I forgot everything that I was afraid of. His hands had a way of dulling that. His hands seemed to be a cure for everything that was bad and scary in this world.
“Almost at the top,” he whispered. His voice had taken on a different tone now and I wondered whether he was feeling something too. But I had no way of knowing. I had no idea how to interpret anything at all. I’d never had to interpret a man’s feelings before and figure out if there was a spark between us. I’d only been with two men my entire life, and it had been nothing like it had been in my romance book.
Instead, it had left me feeling that sex, in real life, was not even the slightest bit worth pursuing. But now I was starting to wonder if that was really the case. I was starting to think about sex. With Noah, and well, that was a very unusual thought for me!
CHAPTER 59
We finally reached the top of the slide, and I think I was starting to feel a little better about the whole thing, until I looked down.
“Oh my God!” I slapped my hands over my eyes and shook my head. “I can’t do this!”
Noah pulled my hands away from my face, but I kept my eyes closed. “Look at me,” he said. I opened my eyes and looked at him. “We can do this!”
I tried to nod, but I think my head actually gave a shake instead, which had not been my intention at all.
“Turn around, sit down and I’ll sit right behind you.”
“Okay.” I lowered myself nervously, immediately getting wet as I sat down. And then I felt Noah come up behind me. I felt a pressure on my lower back and then saw his two legs come out on the sides of me. I felt his breath on my neck as he leaned forward.
“Can I put my arms around you?” he asked. “Like this?”
I nodded. I didn’t think I could speak. He brought his big arms around the front of me and, before he had a chance to wrap them around me, I grabbed them and pulled them close, tightening them and holding on.
“You ready?” he whispered.
“Yes!”
And with that, I felt him push our bodies forward into the spray of the water and then I felt like I was flying. I opened my mouth to scream, but no sound came out. The wind was rushing into my mouth and pushing the sounds back down, and so was the water. The water that was flying up off the slide and spraying into my face. I grabbed onto Noah tighter as the slide turned sharply, and we went riding up the side of it, lifting towards the sky, as if we were about to take off into the blue above. My heart pounded out of my chest. But it didn’t pound with nerves or anxiety, it pounded because it was alive. Adrenalin rushing through my veins alive. My senses were sharp and awake and I was terrified in the best kind of way possible, a way I didn’t even know you could be terrified in. I let go of Noah’s arms and threw mine in the air and was finally able to scream.
“Whoooo-hooooooo!” We picked up pace as we went around and around and then, a tunnel. We were plunged into darkness and my shouting turned to laughter, which echoed in the tunnel. It smelt of warm chlorine, fiberglass and coconut sun cream. I think it was the best smell I’d ever smelt before. This was the smell of all the things I had missed growing up. This was the smell of hot, sticky summers spent by the pool, of friends’ birthday parties and eating too much cake, of running through sprinklers laughing and going on merry-go-rounds until you’re so dizzy that you fall over. This was the