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out and smiled.
    “I’ll help you win,” he said, walking toward
Dani.
    Looking directly ahead, he could focus on the
top floors of buildings but each step brought the city streets into
view. A gust of wind blew and his long reach caught Dani’s bicep as
he yanked her back. Cradled in his arms, he felt better, like she
was his security blanket.
    “You’re scared of heights?” she giggled.
    “Can’t prove it,” he replied and rested his
head on hers.
    She took a giant step forward and he couldn’t
keep his balance without going with her.
    “I think it’s pretty easy to prove.”
    Snatching her back, they quickly fell against
the glass wall on the side and she rolled out of his arms.
    “Come on, scaredy.” She opened the door and
he gladly stepped back into the regular observation floor. “What
else are you afraid of?”
    “This part of your getting to know me
questions?”
    “You could have a fear of the color yellow or
poly-blends.”
    “I don’t think I would last long playing
football with those issues.”
    “True.”
    Dani smiled and warmth spread across Rome’s
chest. There was something about Dani that had settled his nerves.
Even being so far up in the air, looking anywhere but straight
ahead, could cause him to fall to the ground and crawl like the
floor itself wasn’t a thousand feet in the air. Standing next to
Dani, fear was the last thing on his mind.
    “Do we need to go?” she asked and Rome looked
around at the twenty or so people milling around. The couple from
before was gone and maybe he got away without an alert going out a
Grizzly was in the building.
    “No,” he replied and followed her back to the
steps to sit and watch the lights.
    People were keeping their voices low as Dani
sat on the top step again with her legs stretched out in front of
her. When she laid back and looked at the ceiling, Rome became
confused. Wasn’t the point of being so high to look out at the
world, not a ceiling in a random building?
    “Why do you need a stylist?” she asked with
her eyes closed.
    “I don’t,” he confessed. “To me it’s a
needless expense.”
    “Then don’t pay for one.”
    “You offering free styling advice?”
    Dani opened her eyes and gave Rome a shy
smile. “Not the way I work.”
    “Then why are you here with me?”
    “You didn’t want to go to the beach.”
    “Not when it’s forty degrees.”
    “Pussy.”

    The night had not gone the way Danika
expected. When she’d finished her class, she pulled on her yoga
pants and track jacket with only relaxation on her mind. The
Tuesday lectures by Dr. Kent were particularly draining. If she
wasn’t the head of the business department at Northwestern, Dani
would have avoided her classes like the plague they were. Instead,
she found a way to cope.
    Reaching your goal will require
stretching. If I handed it to you, you’d never see how tall you can
really be. Her father’s words seemed spiteful when she was
younger. Now, having lived it she understood. Her father made his
fortune and he felt she’d been given enough growing up. She didn’t
need his money to get what she wanted out of life.
    Jerome Speed was one of those hiccups she’d
tried to avoid over the years. Not that she hadn’t dated, she just
never made it a priority. She could take or leave guys most days,
but Rome had a crook to his smile she’d missed when his helmet was
on. Sure the tight pants were good to ogle, but now she discovered
the mystery that was football players.
    Better yet, from what Dalton had told her
over the year, Jerome was a gentleman. Tonight at least he’d proven
that. She eyed his firm frame with the idea of total relaxation
from a much needed orgasm.
    “Hyper planner,” Rome’s deep baritone took
her to another place in her erotic fantasy. “How far off your plan
are we?”
    “Plan?” she asked as she sat up a bit too
quick, catching a head rush.
    “You seem pretty good at regimenting your
life.”
    “Do I?” She cocked