by Rachel Lacey
“I can see why.” She tightened her grip on his hand as she looked down. She wasn’t afraid of heights, but…whoa. “Maybe I’ll try it this summer once the water’s warm.”
“Em—” His brow bunched.
“Will you stop with the overprotective act?” She gave him a friendly nudge.
He captured her fist with his free hand, drawing it against his chest. “Can’t.”
Her breath caught in her throat as the low rumble of his voice vibrated through her fingertips. “I’m going to jump.”
He groaned, casting his eyes toward the cloudless sky above. “You’re killing me here. Okay, but just know I’m going to try my damndest to talk some sense into you between now and then, and don’t you dare jump without me if I don’t succeed.”
“I’d rather jump with you anyway.”
He looked down and met her eyes, scorching her with the heat of his gaze. She gulped.
“It’s time for us to have that talk,” he said.
She scrunched her nose. “I’m trying to have fun, Ryan, and this does not sound fun.”
He chuckled. “Maybe not. Look, I have no idea what’s going on between us all of a sudden, but here’s what I do know: I fuck up relationships. I sleep with women, but I don’t date them. And you’re too important to me to risk losing you when I inevitably fuck it up.”
She fought to keep her face impassive. “Are you always this romantic?”
He groaned. “Hell, Emma. I’m just trying to be honest.”
Her inner hopeless romantic wrestled with the new, cooler, more adventurous Emma. “Chill out, Ryan. I never asked you for a relationship. I just wanted you to help me have a little fun this summer.” And now that she’d made out with him, she knew exactly what kind of fun she wanted, but she’d had enough rejection from him to last a lifetime.
“I am totally down with that.” He grinned. “As your friend, you’re welcome to go for a ride with me anytime you like.”
“Okay.” Except her hand was still on his chest, and nothing she was feeling toward him at that moment could be defined as friendly. But whatever happened next between them, it had to come from him.
* * *
Ryan desperately needed to get his hands off Emma before he completely lost his mind and kissed her again, but to let go of her now would make him look like even more of an ass than he already did. “I’m just trying to do the right thing. For Derek. For you, and for me.”
She gave him a long look then stepped backward out of his grasp. He’d been half expecting her to sucker punch him the way she’d been looking at him a minute ago so it caught him completely by surprise when she smiled. “I know.”
Huh. That was easier than he thought it was going to be.
Emma looked down at the lake sparkling below them. She let out a little laugh and twirled around on the rock, making his breath catch in his throat.
“This summer,” she said, pointing a finger at him, “we’re jumping. Or I am anyway. You can suit yourself.”
“If you jump, I’m jumping with you.” In the meantime, he was just glad to be back on semi-solid ground with her. He wouldn’t put it past her brother to come back from the grave and give his sorry ass a ghostly kicking if he ever hurt her.
She shimmied down the rocks ahead of him to the path below. “Thanks for bringing me,” she said when he’d joined her.
“I have a feeling you’re going to make me regret it.”
She grinned at him over her shoulder. “Oh, I fully intend to.”
Chapter Five
Um, this is a lot harder than it looks.” Emma clung to a knob on the rock face as her fingers burned and her legs shook. Ryan had made it look so easy when he’d demonstrated the climb for her before he’d hooked her up in a harness. Now that she’d left the ground, the rock seemed sheer and daunting, determined to pitch her backward onto the ground.
“You’re overthinking it,” he said from below her. “Move your right foot across to the ledge there with the inside edge of your shoe. Remember to angle your legs so that your hips stay close to the rock. If you stick your butt out, gravity’s going to pull you right down.”
She brought her body closer to the rock and turned her head to give him a look. “Do you talk about all your clients’ butts?”
He grinned, looking so at ease there with his harness on, holding on to the belay rope to catch her if she fell. And at this rate, chances were high that she’d need catching.
“I might choose my words more carefully with a client I don’t know well, but the overall message is the same. Keep your body close against the rock or gravity will do its thing.”
Gravity was trying awfully hard to do its thing right now. She slid her right foot over, feeling blindly for the ledge he’d said was there. Her toes connected with a ridge barely wider than her big toe. “That’s not wide enough to hold me.”
“Sure it is. You’re wearing climbing shoes. They’ll grip just about anything.”
She shifted her weight onto her right foot, keeping her belly pressed against the rock, and sure enough, it held. Her fingers were about to give out, though, and she’d only made it about three feet off the ground. “I suck at this.”
“Not even a little bit. Learning to climb takes time and patience. Keep your weight in your feet or your arms will tire out. You want to be using your hands to steady yourself, not to hold yourself up.”
“Um…” She was pretty sure if she loosened her white-knuckled grip on the rock, she’d tumble right off.
“Trust your shoes, Emma.”
She loosened her grip with her left hand, reaching up with her right for a crease in the rock above her head. The shoes held.
“Atta girl,” Ryan encouraged from below. “Now look for your next foothold.”
Feeling rejuvenated now that her fingers weren’t about to fall off, she scooted her left foot over to another little ledge and stepped up. And—
“Oh no!” She toppled backward off the rock.
Her stomach flopped, prepared for the fall, but the harness caught her, and she swung against the rock face, bumping her shoulder on it. “Shit.”
“Happens to everyone,” Ryan said as he lowered her to the ground. “This was your first fall. Won’t be your last.”
“Good to know.” She gripped the rock and hauled herself back up. The first few moves were easy, and it didn’t take her long to get back to the spot where she’d fallen. After a few false starts, she found her next foothold and shimmied her way up a few more feet, finally daring to take a glimpse over her shoulder. “Hey, look! I’m finally far enough up to actually need the harness.”
He laughed. “You’re doing great.”
Then she looked up and realized the top wasn’t even in sight yet. She let out a groan.
“Don’t expect to get there on your first day. I started you on the easy end of the rock, but this baby is still a beast. It makes victory that much sweeter when you reach it.”
“If you say so.” She scooted her left foot toward a new ledge, missed, and fell…again.
Her stomach dropped in that disorienting moment between losing contact with the rock and the reassuring yank of the harness behind her thighs.
“I’ve got you,” Ryan said.
Umph. She winced as the harness dug into her legs, but yeah, he had her. In every way that counted. He stood there, so solid and strong as he eased her to the ground.
“You ready to call it a day?” he asked.
She shook her head, even though her arms were trembling with fatigue. “I’d rather end on my own terms.”
He nodded. “Sure thing.”
She grabbed the rock and stepped up, wincing at the ache in her forearms.
“You’re going to be sore in some interesting places tomorrow,” Ryan commented.
“Fabulous.” She glanced over her shoulder at him, and their gazes locked. His eyes got all dark and smoldery while her insides heated up. Oh, how she wished she would be sore in those places tomor
row, instead of her forearms and calves.
Ryan cleared his throat. “So, I hear Ethan and Gabby and a few other people are going to Rowdy’s after work tonight.”
“Yep.” She boosted herself up, scraping her belly on a jagged edge of the rock in the process. It had been almost two weeks since she and Ryan had kissed on his motorcycle. They’d seen each other a handful of times since and kept things totally professional—on the outside at least. Inside, she was still tying herself up in knots for him, but he’d played the friend card so now the ball was in his court.
And she got it—really, she did. Having sex could and probably would totally mess up their friendship. Ryan was practically family, and she had precious little of that to spare. She hauled herself up to the point where she’d fallen, then went one step higher. “I’m going to jump.”
“Brace with your feet and keep your knees bent,” Ryan said.
“Okay.” She jumped, ready this time for the familiar catch of the harness. Her hands were shaking like crazy, the muscles in them completely spent. Ooh yeah, he was definitely right. She was going to be sore tomorrow.
She touched down, and Ryan unfastened the harness from around her legs and waist, allowing her to step out of it. He worked quickly and professionally, but still the warmth of his fingers through her thin knit pants left her feeling hot and restless.
“So what did you think?” he asked as they started hiking together back toward Off-the-Grid’s main building.
“A lot harder than I was expecting it to be.”
“The most worthwhile things in life usually are,” he said with a smile. “And I’m not kidding, take some ibuprofen and a hot bath before you go to bed tonight. You’re going to be sore in muscles you don’t even know about yet.”
She could already feel the truth of his words in her aching limbs. “Will do.”
“So, I’ll see you at Rowdy’s later?”
“Yeah, I’ll be there.”
* * *
Ryan settled back in his chair and took a long drink from his beer. To his right, Trent was deep in conversation with Ethan, chatting excitedly about some new DJ technique he’d tried out. The kid had some kind of software on his laptop that let him mix and dub tracks, and he spent hours each day messing around with it.
Ryan respected Trent’s enthusiasm for his craft, but he needed to get an education, too. Or at least hold a steady job. Since he’d hired him at Off-the-Grid, Trent often showed up late or spent excessive amounts of time in the break room playing around on his cell phone. The kid was bright as the day was long and funny as hell, but he needed to grow his ass up. Pronto.
“How are you liking Haven so far?” Gabby asked Trent with a warm smile.
The kid shrugged. “It’s pretty cool. There’s this club in Silver Springs that’s eighteen and over.”
Ethan grinned. “Oh yeah? The Music Factory’s still around?”
Trent’s head bobbed. “Yeah. I’ve been hanging out there most nights.”
“Most nights, huh?” Ryan turned his head to give his little brother a look. No wonder he had trouble getting to work on time.
“Yeah. The DJ last night was totally sick. She played this new mix that was seriously, like, the coolest thing I’ve ever heard.”
“This why you dropped out of school?” Ryan asked. “To spend every night at the club?”
The chatter around the table stopped as everyone tuned in. Trent scowled. “Music is my passion. College is so not relevant to me right now.”
Ryan wondered when he’d quit being the troublemaking kid and started being the adult wanting to smack some sense into the troublemaking kid. “Then find classes that are relevant. Music classes. Business classes. Becoming a DJ means going into business for yourself.”
Trent just shrugged and chugged the rest of his Dr Pepper.
Ryan glanced across the table. Emma caught his eye and smiled. Her hair was down again tonight. She’d worn it down almost every day since that night she’d hung out at the bar, the night he’d given her a ride home. The night she’d first started messing with his head.
He’d settled them safely back into the friend zone. No harm, no foul. Except just being near her made him hot. Her smile did weird, warm, and fuzzy things to his insides. And the image of her climbing up that rock face this afternoon was etched forever in his brain, her sweet ass in his harness and her victorious whoop just before she’d jumped off and let him bring her down…
He had it bad for Emma Rush, which was absolutely ridiculous. He needed to get her out of his head. He fucking needed to get laid, but no other chick had caught his eye in far too long. No one could when he only had eyes for Emma.
She had on a bright blue top tonight, with a silver necklace that dipped into her cleavage, and it was taking every bit of his self-control to keep his eyes on her face.
“I think it’s great that you’re so passionate about DJ’ing,” she said to Trent.
“Thanks.” Trent blushed, shooting Ryan a wary look.
“I do, too,” he said with a sigh. “I just don’t want you to have regrets, that’s all.”
Mark, seated to Ryan’s left, had remained quiet throughout the exchange, but his dark eyes were watchful. He’d enlisted after high school, let the Army iron out his kinks and make him into a man. Maybe he could have a chat with Trent about his priorities sometime.
“So, um, the DJ last night…her name is Iris,” Trent said, as stars practically began to dance in his eyes. “She let me hang out in the booth with her, and after they closed for the night, she let me mix a few tunes on her equipment. The manager said he’ll let me play for an hour next Tuesday night, see how it goes.”
“Really?” Emma’s eyes were wide, her pride palpable. “That’s so amazing, Trent. This could be your first break!”
Trent bounced in his seat. “It’s just an hour, but maybe if it goes well, they’ll let me mix again. Maybe it could turn into a regular gig for me.”
“We’ll all come to hear you,” Emma said. “Right, guys?”
“Of course!” Gabby was grinning from ear to ear.
“Wouldn’t miss it,” Ethan said. “Haven’t been to that joint in years.” He turned toward his fiancée with a smile. “Got a few moves to show you on the dance floor, sweetheart.”
“Likewise,” Gabby said. “I used to go clubbing in Charlotte, you know.”
Ryan turned to his brother. “And this Iris, she’s a friend?”
Trent fiddled with his glass. “Yeah. A friend. She’s cool.”
And he was obviously crushing on her. Which was okay, but…“How old is she?”
“Twenty-two.”
Ethan gave him a fist bump while Ryan bit his tongue. He was Trent’s brother, not his father, and he needed to act like it. He took a deep breath and let it go. “Can’t wait to hear you play.”
“You mean it?” Trent looked at him with a new light in his eyes.
Emotion socked Ryan in the gut. “Yeah, man. Of course.”
“And we all have an excuse to go dancing.” Emma wiggled in her seat with a smile.
The thought of Emma on the dance floor in a cute dress hit Ryan with an entirely different kind of punch to the gut, the kind that let him know he was in big trouble where she was concerned.
* * *
“So what’s the deal with you and Ryan these days?” Gabby asked as she and Emma stood together in front of the mirror in the ladies’ room at Rowdy’s, touching up their lipstick.
Emma lifted her shoulder. “No deal. Just friends.”
“Really? Because that kiss on his motorcycle sounded hot. I thought it was going to be the start of something for you guys.”
“Yeah, so did I, but he was afraid of messing up our friendship if we took it any further.” Emma ran her fingers through her hair, smoothing a few fly-away strands. “Honestly, he hasn’t so much as looked at me funny since, and it’s been weeks. Obviously there was a spark, but I think he’s moved on.”
“And y
ou?”
Emma fidgeted in front of the mirror. “I got kind of infatuated with the idea of a thing between us, but I think it’s time for me to move on, too.”
Gabby was silent for a moment, her lips pursed. “Actually, I think you’re right. We need to set you up on a date. It’d be good for you, plus if Ryan does have feelings for you, it’ll totally make him jealous.”
“Got anyone in mind?” She’d never been fond of blind dates, but maybe Gabby was right. She needed to quit pining after Ryan and put herself back in the game.
“No, but let me think on it.” With a wink, she led the way back to their table.
Emma spent the next fifteen minutes thinking about her conversation with Gabby, and the more she thought about it, the more she liked it. She’d get herself a hot date, maybe even a couple of hot dates. She was so done with waiting for Ryan to make a move he was never going to make.
“I think we’re going to head out,” Gabby said, gathering her jacket as Ethan stood from the table. “See you guys at Off-the-Grid tomorrow.”
Emma would be there installing flowers along the walkway, and yeah, it was fun that she’d get to see everyone. With Trent working there and her landscaping gig, right now she saw her friends at Off-the-Grid more often than anywhere else.
Mark said his good-byes, too, and headed for the door, with Trent following close behind.
Emma looked across the table at Ryan. “I guess we should get going, too.”
He nodded and stood, resting a hand on the small of her back as they walked toward the front door. Outside, the weather was cool but not cold, the stars above shimmering in the cloudless night sky.
“You did great today, you know,” he said.
“Thanks. I had a good teacher.” She turned her head to smile at him, and gah, the sight of him there beside her in the dark, his eyes twinkling in the moonlight, was too sexy for words.
His hand lingered on her back as he walked her to her car, parked a hundred feet or so down Main Street. It felt so natural because it was Ryan and she’d known him forever, but at the same time, it felt so romantic, like she expected him to lean in and kiss her when they got to her car. Like he was hers, and not just her friend.