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The night arched overhead, a million stars watching the folly playing out on the cliffside.
He couldn’t let his brain circle back to his words about the fire in the mountain.
Nope.
His grip burned against the metal cable, the frayed, rusty edges ripping at the flimsy gauze he’d tied around his hands. But Tia fought to do her part and hold herself up as he worked them down the edge of the cliff.
One terrifying step at a time.
In his arms, Tia also trembled, but she hadn’t cried, hadn’t gotten angry?—
He should also get out of his head the impulsive kiss she’d given him.“Don’t let your brain get tangled up with this. I just... panicked.”
He could get behind panic if that was how she handled it. Because for that moment, everything in his head had shut down—yes, panic, but also fear and maybe anger and even grief—and he’d simply kissed her back.
No, it had been more than a kiss. A surrender, perhaps, to the what-ifs. To hope and trust and the fresh start that suddenly felt so tangible that it swept him up like the waves below and carried him away.
Too late.His brain was way tangled up.
“How much farther?” Tia asked, and he glanced down.
The light illuminated the cliffside, and from his guess, they’d traveled almost thirty agonizing feet. “About halfway.”
She turned to look and her foot slipped. “Oh?—”
Thankfully, it caught on his, and she moved it back to the rock face.
But she’d nearly dislodged his stance, and the very last thing he needed was to lose his footing and have to carry their entire weight by his hands. The slick, rusty rope would slice through his grip and?—
Yeah,they’d end up in the ocean. Then the waves would carry them inland to smash them against the rocks.
He stilled, his arms around hers, his stance tight. “You good?”
“Sorry.”
“Slowly.”
“Mm-hmm.”
He moved his foot down, then his grip on the cable, then his other foot, and she moved with him, almost like a dance.
“You really used to rock climb?”
“I took it up the summer Juliet broke up with me. A buddy of mine was headed out west to climb, so I went with him and took some classes in the Tetons, spent about a month climbing every day. Practiced at a few climbing gyms in Minneapolis and then at Taylors Falls and even Palisade Head in northern Minnesota.”
He moved again after she’d settled herself, and she followed.
“I’ve been up there. Beautiful.”
“Yeah. You start by rappelling down the cliff face, then climb back up. There’s no room for failure. After Juliet and I got back together, we worked with a youth camp that took kids up there, climbing. I once held a girl on belay for two hours as she tried to conquer the cliff.”
Tia seemed to relax into his movements. He let go of the cable, stretched one hand, switched and stretched the other.
The waves sounded less ominous.
“Juliet liked kids?”
“Wanted a big family. And she wanted to adopt. She was...”