"Come on," Karma begged. "At least gimme a hint!"

"Not a chance."

"Why not?"

I smiled and kept my eyes on the road in front of me. "Because, gorgeous, it's a surprise. You do know what a surprise is, don't you?"

Karma huffed from the passenger seat and I bit back my smile. She hated surprises. She always said she couldn't stand the anticipation of waiting. Clearly, that hasn't changed. That was one reason I didn't want anyone to know about my plans tonight. She would have called Harper and Lanie and gotten it out of them.

I jumped a little in my seat when Karma reached across the center console and laid her hand on my thigh. She leaned towards me and placed soft, teasing kisses to my neck before tugging on my ear lightly.

"Nathan, please tell me where we're going." She moved her hand up my thigh towards my now throbbing dick. It didn't help that the yellow sundress she was wearing had a deep V neck and I could see her breasts from the corner of my eye.

"Tell me," she whispered in my ear, sending chills throughout my body. "Tell me and I'll give you a surprise."

I stopped her hand before she could stroke me through my jeans. "Nope. Nice try, gorgeous."

She groaned and returned to her normal sitting position on her side of the car. "Fine, but I'm mad at you now."

I snickered but didn't say anything. She wasn't mad. Not really. She was just dying to know what I had planned. She didn't have to wait much longer. Ten minutes later, I turned into a very familiar parking lot.

"Nathan..." Karma sat up in her seat and looked out of the window with wide eyes. "This is-this is..."

"The Coney Island Carnival," I finished for her.

The last time we were here was for my birthday a few weeks ago. But everything between us was different then. The last time we were at the actual Carnival was when we were eighteen. We had come here several times when we were dating, but this is where I first got her to go out with me.

"I can't believe it!"

I got out of the car and went to her side to open the door. When she stepped out onto the pavement, she covered her mouth with her hand.

"I can't believe we're here." She turned to me with a sparkle in her eyes. "I thought you said you didn't want to come back here. You said it wasn't a good idea."

I closed the small distance between us and cupped her face in my hands. "I said that because, at the time, we weren't together. At the time, I was trying not to fall in love with you again. Coming back here-to a place that held so many memories for us-would hurt to bad. I knew that if we went down memory lane one of us would get hurt."

Karma wore her hair braided tonight. The long plaited rope kept me from running my fingers through it. Instead, I stroked her cheek with my thumb and let the feeling of her soft skin give me the strength to say what I needed her to hear.

"I was trying so hard not to fall in love with you again, that I was blind to the truth."

"What truth?" Her voice was so low I almost didn't hear her.

"The truth was that I never stopped being in love with you. Not for one day, baby." I stepped back and held my hand out to her. "So, what do you say?"

She sucked her bottom lip between her teeth before she took the hand I offered her. "Let's do it."

I didn't miss the squeal of excitement she made when I bought our tickets and we went inside. Her eyes datred everywhere from the Wonder Wheel to the game tents to the vendors. She wrung her hands together, barely able to contol her joy.

"What are we doing first?"

"Follow me, gorgeous." I started wallking past the churro vendors and kept going until we made it to the tent.

Karma gasped and looked at me. "Really?"

I reached in my pocket and pulled out my wallet. "Yep. I think it's fitting that we start our new relationship similarly to how we started the old one."

I paid the vendor employee the required ten dollars and he handed me a bucket of rings. I eyed the variety of stuffed animals that hung around the backboard of the game. I saw a big white teddy bear and smiled. I won her a black one last time. The white one would fit perfect. Kind of a Yin and Yang thing.

I stepped away from the rings and walked over to Karma-her eyes never breaking from mine. "Remember the first time I won you a teddy bear?"

"Yes," she said with a smile. "You kept pestering me to go on a date with you."

I laughed. "Yeah, that was because you kept dodging me and trying to push me away. And you kept acting like our real 'first kiss' didn't happen."

Karma rolled her eyes and playfully pushed at my shoulder. "That's because you were a pig back then."

I tilted my head to the side. "That's not the only reason and you know it." I mean...yeah, I was a fucking shameless womanizer before I fell in love with Karma; but that wasn't the point of this story.

She let out a shaky breath. "No, it wasn't the only reason."

"Tell me."

"I was scared of how you made me feel. I didn't know if I could trust you or if I was just another one of your Hap-"

"Karma," I interrupted, "please do not finish that sentence. I've made it almost eight years without hearing those two fucking words." I knew how my voice sounded, but that was a trigger for me. A big one.

"I'm sorry." She placed her hand on my chest. "What I was trying to say, was that...I was not expecting you, Nathan." The smile she gave me was going to be seared into my memory forever. "Falling in love with you was the best and worst thing that has ever happened to me."

"Wow. This is not going how I thought..."

"Nathan," she chuckled, "it's a good thing."

"How is that a good thing?"

"Because the love I have for you-it changed me. It became apart of me. You became apart of me. I said it was also the worse because if I ever had to live without you, it would be like losing a part of myself."

She locked her arms around my neck. "You're everything, Nathan. The air in my lungs and the pain in my ass."

We both laughed. "You were doing so well until that last part, gorgeous." I searched her eyes for the answer I always needed to know: how did I become so lucky? "You are more than everything to me, Karma."

She placed a soft kiss to my lips and squealed with delight. "Let's play!"

I walked back to my bucket of rings and cracked my knuckles before I reached for the first one. "Alright, let's see if I still got it."

I threw seven rings in a row...and missed.

"This isn't looking good for you, Nathan."

Nostalgia field me at the familiar words. "I'm just warming up. Be patient, gorgeous."

After the next few rings, I finally made it. "Yes!" I slammed my hand on the table-just like before.

"Congratulations, sir," the game worker stated, "which one would you like?"

I shot Karma a wink. "The white one."

I took the bear from the gamekeeper and handed it to the love of my life. "For you, baby."

Karma's face glowed as she clutched the bear to her chest. "Thank you. So, what's next?"

I arched a brow. "You should know the answer to that already."

Karma tapped her chin as she sifted through her memories. "Chili dogs!"

She turned and made a bee-line to the nearest chili-dog vendor. Obviously it's been thirteen years and it wasn't the same one, but it was still sentimental. That's what I wanted tonight to be about.

After we ordered our chili dogs, I followed her and smiled when she gestured to the white bench.

"Wow. I can't believe it's still here," she breathed."

Neither could I. It was the infamous white bench that Karma and I sat on when I convinced her to give me a chance and go on a real date. I remembered every single thing I was feeling that night. Panic. Excitement. Hope.

I may have seemed confident, but I was so convinced that she would tell me to go to hell. But she didn't.

Karma cleared her throat. "So, out of curiosity, what would we do on this date?"

"I want to pick you up and go to dinner. A real dinner with candles and a dress code. I want to see you wearing a dress that shows off your beautiful body. I want to share a meal with you and talk." My heart started beating faster in my chest. "Then when we're through, I'll take you home and walk you to your door."

Her chest rose and fell with each deep breath she took. "Why are you doing this to me, Nathan?" she whispered.

"Doing what?"

"All this time, you never showed interest in me. Not once. All of a sudden, you want me to be your newest conquest? Why?"

"I don't think of you as a conquest, Karma." She needed to understand that. I didn't look at her like I did other girls. Hell, I couldn't blame her for thinking that, though.

She briefly looked away from me. "Nathan, I've known you a long time. I know who you are, and that's fine. Be you. But I'm having a hard time believing what you're saying."

I didn't blame her for that, either. She knew more about me than most people. "Then let me prove it to you, Karma. Let me take you to dinner Saturday night."

My gaze never wavered from hers. I wasn't going to rush her answer. I could tell she felt something for me by the look in her eyes and everything that happened over the summer. Or didn't happen, I guess. I just hoped my past didn't come back to bite me in the ass with this.

Then she surprised the hell out of me. "Okay, Nathan. Once chance."

"Shall we sit?" she asked, pulling me out of the memory.

"Yeah."

We sat and ate our chili dogs in a comfortable silence. Well, a comfortable silence between us. In the background, I heard the roar of a roller coaster and the humming of people's voices. The scent of buttered popcorn and freshly made funnel cakes filled the air around us. It was perfect.

"Can I tell you something, Nathan?"

My eyes met hers and my brows drew together. "You know you never have to ask me that."

She smiled and tucked a strand of hair that came loose from the braid behind her ear. "Do you remember when I left you that message? It was...after your parents passed. I told you I was going to be in the city for a few days."

Did I remember? I remembered fucking everything. "Yes, of course. You said I could come by your hotel." I glanced away from her. "I regret that I didn't accept the offer. I really wanted to see you."

Karma hesitated before she finally met my stare. "I saw you. When I was here, in the city, I saw you."

I forgot how to breathe for a second. "You did? Where? When?" With who? I had a feeling I wasn't alone.

"A random bar. You were dancing with a blonde woman. I thought about walking up to you, but you..."

Fuck. "I left the bar with her."

I was shocked when there was no accusation in her eyes. None.

"I was jealous," she chuckled. "I wanted to dance with you that night."

Her words hit me like a blow. I glanced down to the beach. It was dark out now and everyone was enjoying the carnival. I took her hand and pulled her along behind me.

"Where are we going?"

"To dance, gorgeous."

I led her onto the sand, going far enough away from the dock to have our privacy. I took the teddy bear I won for her and sat it down on the sand.

Even though there was no music playing, I extended my hand to her, "Dance with me, Karma."

I wrapped my arms around her waist and pulled her body flush against mine. Fuck. Nothing felt as good as Karma in my arms. Well...maybe one thing-but that was for later.

"This reminds me of Florida," she whispered as she looked into my eyes.

She was talking about that summer trip before we got together. That was one reason I brought her down here.

I brushed my thumb across her lip. "Me too."

She leaned up on her tiptoes and kissed me. It started out soft, just her lips against mine. As always, I got lost to her kiss. I deepened it, swallowing her gasp of surprise as my tongue flicked into her mouth. Her little moan of pleasure had my dick hard in seconds.

I wanted her. Now. I pulled away from her kiss long enough to ask her if she wanted to go to her place.

Before I could open my mouth...the sky opened.