I copy his stance.
“Now, just push off the platform with your feet, and propel yourself forward.”
I meet his eyes.
“You can do it,” he whispers. “Trust me.”
Something happens in this moment as I stare into those eyes that I once thought were so cold. I realize that I do trust him.
Then, I just do it. I push off the platform, and I jump.
My feet land soundly on the other platform.
“I did it.” I beam.
“Yeah, you did.” He smiles.
“No, I told you so?” I grin up at him.
“As if I would be so arrogant as to say something like that.”
He chuckles, and I laugh.
“Do you want to go again?” he asks.
“Okay.” I nod.
We spend a good few minutes with me jumping from one platform to the other, and Kas watches.
Honestly, I’m really enjoying myself.
This is the best date I’ve ever been on, and it’s only just started.
“You up for trying anything a bit harder?” Kas asks.
That stops me in my tracks. “Harder? Like how?”
He gives me a secret smile. “I’ll show you.”
“How about you show me what you can do, and then I’ll do something harder?”
He stares at me, a panty-melting grin appearing on his face. “Okay. Deal.”
He moves off the platform we’re on and walks over to another climbing frame. I pick up my bag and follow him over.
He climbs up the frame until he’s about ten to fifteen feet high. Then, he gets up onto a platform and stands at the edge. He front-flips off the platform, landing on his feet, into a crouch, his hands touching the floor. He pushes up and takes off running toward a pommel horse. With his hands on it, he does an almost cartwheel-like movement. He lands on his feet on the other side where he proceeds to do a couple of backflips in succession, and then he lands on his feet, stopping.
“Show-off.” I smile, walking over to him.
He smirks at me.
I stop a few inches away from his body. He’s barely out of breath.
“That was seriously impressive,” I say.
The smirk vanishes, and a smile touches his eyes as he lifts a shoulder.
I love how modest he is about this.
He reaches out, taking ahold of my hand, and pulls me into his body. He wraps his arms around me and brings his lips down to mine.
He softly kisses me, brushing his lips back and forth over mine. It’s a teasing kiss. A kiss with a promise of more. He gives a gentle sweep of his tongue over my lower lip, eliciting a soft moan from me. My hands grip his waist. He grazes his teeth over that same bottom lip, and then all too soon, he’s moving his lips from mine. I almost grumble in displeasure.
“Your turn,” he says, a husky lilt to his voice.
“For what? More kisses? Because I could totally go for that.”
He laughs softly and rubs his nose over mine. “More parkour.”
“Oh, that.” I give an exaggerated groan. “You sure you don’t want to kiss some more?”
He presses his lips to mine again. “If I kissed you as often as I wanted to, I’d never get anything done,” he murmurs against my mouth.
“I could live with that.”
His laughter rumbles against my lips. I smile, loving the sound and feel.
“Come on.” He gives my butt a light slap, making me jump, before he releases me.
“So, what am I doing?” I ask, following him over to the pommel horse.
“I want you to jump this.” He taps the pommel horse with his knuckles.
“Um”—my eyes go to the pommel horse and then back to him—“are you insane?”
He laughs. “Not certifiably but quite possibly borderline.”
“Funny,” I deadpan. “But no bloody way am I jumping that thing.”
“Why not?”
“Because I like breathing. And I’d like to see Jesse finish school and go to university and graduate, at the very least.”
He laughs again, and it rumbles through his chest. “You won’t kill yourself from jumping this, Daisy.”
I fold my arms over my chest. “Maybe not kill myself but very likely break my neck.”
The laughter starts back up again, his whole body shaking with it.
And, now, I’m fighting a smile because of the infectious sound of it.
Bastard.
His shining eyes meet mine, and he walks over to me. “You won’t hurt yourself, gorgeous, I promise.”
He called me gorgeous.
I puddle.
Yeah, I’m that girl right now.
I clear the simpering girl out of me and stare up at him with a slight frown on my face. “Well, if I do break my neck, I’ll expect sick pay for the rest of my paralyzed life.”
I can see he’s fighting a smile.
“Deal.”
“Fine. Let’s get this over with then.”
I drop my bag onto the grass and walk toward the pommel horse. Kas follows behind me.
“What do I need to do?” I ask him.
“Just take a good run at it. Then, when you reach it, put your hands on the top, and vault yourself over.”
I glance over my shoulder at him, giving him a skeptical look. “That easy?”
“Yeah.” He smiles. “That easy.”
I take a deep breath and walk backward, putting plenty of space between the pommel horse and myself.
Kas steps off to the side, smartly not saying a word.