Page 233 of The Carnage We Keep

I chuckle. “I think it’s about to be raised even higher.”

She scoffs. “Well we’ll see about that.”

“Why do I get the sense that you’re already leaving me a Yelp review?”

She laughs and turns toward me, and my pulse heats as she feels her away across the center column, bringing her lips near my ear as I shift into third.

“You know, I seem to remember the last time I was blindfolded by you also ending up with your cock being in my ass.”

I chuckle. “Well, play your cards right…”

Chuck, the guard on the main gates tonight, whistles when he sees the car. He’s also a little thrown by the blindfolded girl sitting next to me, and Bella truly does not help the situation when she hears me talking to him and starts screaming that I’ve kidnapped her and am going to sell her into sexual slavery on the Dark Web.

But when I explain to him that A, I have no plans to traffic anyone, and B, the little weirdo sitting next to me is my wife with a tragic sense of humor, he waves us through.

“You are a menace,” I sigh as I arrive at our destination and cut the engine.

Bella giggles. “Yeaaah, but you love me, so…” She shrugs. Then she squeals when I pinch her nipple through her hoodie and give the barbell a little twist.

“Yeah,” I murmur, making her breath catch when I cup her chin and lean in close to ghost my lips across hers. “I guess I do.”

“You guess?!” she blurts with a big smile. “Oh my God, when I take this blindfold off, I’m going to stab⁠—”

“Hey, little nightmare?”

She faux-pouts at me, which is extra adorable with the heavy black blindfold over her eyes.

“Yes?” she says testily. “What do you—mmmm…”

She moans low in her throat when I kiss her.

“I love you,” I growl against her mouth, making her grin. “Now sit tight.”

I get out of the car, walk around to her side, and help her out. Then I escort her across the tarmac until she’s standing right in front of my surprise.

“That night up on Griswold Hill…” I turn to smile at her, even though her eyes are still covered. “You told me you wanted to be an astronaut when you were little.”

“I mean,” Bella grunts in what I assume is supposed to be a “me” voice, “Astronauts tend to have a military service record and, like, multiple PhDs, minimum.”

I sigh. “You done?”

“Doubtful. Keep going, though.”

I chuckle. “Well, I can’t take you all the way to the stars, unfortunately.”

I tug at the knot at back of the blindfold, and it drops away.

“But I can get you a little closer.”

Bella blinks her eyes open, then gapes at the Cessna Skyhawk single-engine plane parked in front of us.

“What…?” She rips her eyes toward me. “You…” She swallows. “We’re going flying?!”

When I nod, Bella’s face lights up as she looks around.

“When?!”

I shrug. “Right now?”