My Best Friend's Brother

by Mia Madison

  She’d still take that as abandonment, but there wasn’t much I could do about that at this point. And if we went down separately, I wouldn’t have to fake being asleep the whole time. That would be pretty hard for her to believe since she’d seen me consume so much coffee today.

  A shapely brunette in a uniform came over to me when I neared the station. She pegged me as an American right away and greeted me in English with a welcoming smile. A very welcoming smile. Which was the last thing I needed at the moment.

  I asked her about the schedule for the cog rail.

  “I’m sorry, Sir, but it’s not running right now.”

  “How often does it run? Every sixty minutes? Ninety?”

  She shook her head. “My apologies, I should’ve said it’s not running anymore today. A large branch fell across the tracks, and it’s in a spot that’s hard to get to. It should be up and running tomorrow.”

  My eyebrows shot up. “So there’s no way to get back down?”

  She giggled. “It’s no problem, Sir. You can go down the other side of the mountain. There’s a good view that way, too.”

  “Thank you.”

  “I can take my break in thirty minutes. If you’d like, I could show you around… and you could buy me a drink?” Her smile was an invitation now.

  “Thanks, but I came here with someone.” I gave her a polite nod and walked away. Good thing she didn’t know that the person I’d come here with no longer wanted anything to do with me.

  By three, I was starting to worry. I’d texted Lanie a few times, but she hadn’t answered. Yeah, she was an adult—ish—but she wasn’t used to this altitude. Or traipsing around steep mountain paths. I’d seen the postcards in the gift shop… some of the walking paths were on the edges of cliffs with just a small rope rail lining the walkways. I didn’t know what I was going to say when I saw her, but still, I wanted to know she was all right.

  Dammit, it was almost time to go back down. My muscles were tight and I realized I was making fists, so I forced myself to relax and drink some water.

  At three-fifteen, she walked in, her coppery-red hair windswept, her cheeks flushed with color.

  And she looked breathtakingly beautiful.

  I’d always had a soft spot for redheads, but I’d never met one as gorgeous as Lanie. But as always, her looks were tangled up in my mind with her youth. Her innocence. I was the last person who should be a part of her life. Which was probably for the best since she was thoroughly mad at me now and would likely be disgusted with me at some point in the very near future.

  I stood up as she neared, but she whipped past me, heading for the cog rail train. In spite of the circumstances, I had to stifle a grin. It was strange to see sweet little Lanie striding past me with her nose in the air and a “fuck-off” expression on her face. It was strange… and somehow a bit of a turn-on for some reason.

  After catching up with her, I tried to take her arm, but she wheeled around and stepped out of my reach. “What?” It was almost a snarl.

  “You can’t go back down that way.”

  “Why not? It’s supposed to be open for another two hours.”

  “A tree fell across the tracks. We have to go back to the other side to get down.”

  Nodding, she set off, and I caught up with her, determined to walk side by side, not in her footsteps. But I slowed when we reached the waiting area. A large gate was open, and people were allowed to board.

  Lanie gasped. “It’s an aerial cable car?” She moved forward eagerly, getting in line behind a few other people. I followed, standing behind her. I nodded at the conductor who didn’t look too happy to see me. Perhaps it had something to do with the fact that I’d yelled at him a few hours ago. He examined our tickets without comment and let us pass.

  Lanie strode confidently onto the platform. I followed, but each step I took was smaller. Each movement slower. It’s just like getting on a fucking elevator, I told myself. No different.

  I took another step… and then another… and then no more. Because I could see it now. The gap between the platform and the large cable car dangling from a steel cable. When I looked in that gap, I could see what was below the cable car, which was… absolutely nothing. Just a sheer drop down the side of a fucking cliff.

  “Parker?”

  “I’m coming,” I said, which was probably not entirely believable given the fact that I was just standing here like a fucking idiot.

  “I think they’re getting ready to leave. Are you okay? You don’t look so good.” She stepped to my side and put her hand on my forehead. “Are you getting sick or something?”

  Or something. But I could do this. I’d been in the army, for Christ’s sake. I could do this. I just had to put one foot in front of the other and get on the dangling deathtrap.

  “Parker?”

  I looked into her wide brown eyes, and I knew this was the moment. In another minute, she’d figure it out. “I think I’ll wait and take the next one.” It took everything I had not to back away.

  “The next one? Why? Are you sick?”

  Maybe I should tell her that. Or… a sudden imagine of that women who worked over on the cog rail side materialized in my head. I could tell Lanie I had a date. That I was staying up here to take that woman out to dinner. But as soon as that thought came, I dismissed it. I’d already hurt Lanie enough today.

  “I’ll be okay. You go ahead.”

  “I’m not leaving if you’re sick.”

  “I’m not sick. I’m fine.”

  “Then come down with me now. I’m sorry for what I said before. I know that arranging for an interview a more important than keeping your little sister’s friend occupied.”

  She was apologizing to me? Now I felt like even more of a bastard. “Just go. I’ll be okay.”

  She looked up at me, worry in her luminous eyes. “Please come with me.”

  “I can’t.” My voice was barely a whisper, but she heard. And understood.

  With a gasp, she looked from the spot where I stood frozen in place to the door of the cable car five feet away.

  She knew.

  She knew what I’d hoped she’d never find out. I could practically see her putting it all together. Why I wouldn’t go explore the mountain top with her today. Why I kept my eyes closed for the ride up here on the cog rail. For a moment, anger coursed through me. While I hadn’t been thrilled when I found out how steep the track was, I could’ve handled going back that way. And now the fucking thing wasn’t running.

  “You should’ve told me.”

  I couldn’t even look at her. “I didn’t want you to know.” The bitterness in my voice was evident, even to me.

  Lanie’s frustrated exhalation drew my attention. Her nostrils flared as she glared at me. “Even after yesterday with all those spiders? I completely fell apart, I was scared out of my mind, and you helped me. Yet today you can’t even admit to me that you’re afraid of heights?”

  “It’s not the same.”

  “Why?” she demanded. “Because I’m a girl and we’re supposed to be scared of things and you’re a man and you’re not?”

  “Because I was in the army for ten fucking years! I’m supposed to be tougher than this.”

  She recoiled a half step back at the misplaced anger in my voice, but then held her ground. And reached over and picked up my hand, speaking in a firm voice. “You should’ve told me. That’s what friends do.”

  I shook my head. The conductor was behind her, watching us impatiently. He’d closed the gate to the waiting area and was apparently just waiting for me to get my damn act together. But that wasn’t going to happen, and he could just fucking deal with it. I could only handle disappointing two people at the moment, and that was myself and Lanie.

  Apparently, Lanie had noticed my glance behind her. She, too, took a quick look at the conductor and then turned back to me. “You can do this.”

  Like I hadn’t tried to will myself into doing this all afternoon. “No, I can’t
.”

  She took my other hand, so now both of her small hands were in mine. “Let me help you—like you helped me yesterday.”

  In spite of the situation, I snorted. “Should I close my eyes while you carry me onto the cable car?”

  “No,” she said, refusing to be riled. “It’s not always about strength. You helped me yesterday because you supported me. Mentally, not just physically. You were there for me, and today I’m here for you.”

  God, where the hell had this take-charge attitude come from? The woman in front of me didn’t look anything like a scared little mouse. Guess I was going to have to retire Squeak from her list of nicknames.

  And I wished I could reward her courage by following her onto the cable car, but I still couldn’t move. I wanted to. I did. But I just couldn’t.

  Lanie slid her hands up my arms until she was grasping either side of the collar of my jacket as if she were about to start shaking me. “There was another thing you did yesterday to get my mind off those creepy little things. You distracted me.”

  Like anything could distract me enough to make me forget that we would be dangling thousands of feet above the ground. “Unless that dragon you claim used to live up here makes a reappearance, there’s no way I’d ever be distracted enough to—“

  Lanie tugged on the collar of my shirt, stood up on her tiptoes… and kissed me.

  For a moment, I was too shocked to respond as her lips met mine. But then my brain shut down and my body came alive, and I wrapped one arm around her waist, pulling her against me. My eyes closed and I grabbed a handful of her hair with my free hand.

  Lanie didn’t hesitate. She wrapped one slender hand around my neck and pulled my head down, her tongue slipping into my mouth. She lifted one knee, wrapping her leg around my mine as if she were going to try to climb me right here and now.

  She was overwhelming my senses in the best possible way. All I could see, smell, feel, and taste was her. The strawberry scent of her soft, silky hair. The sweet taste of her lips on mine. The feel of her body pressed against me. There was no doubt that Little Lanie was all woman now.

  Her breasts smashed against my chest, and I could feel heat from where she pressed her pelvis against me. She lifted her knee higher, almost hooking it around my hip, and without thinking about it, I lifted her up.

  Without breaking her kiss, she wrapped both legs around me and if there’d been a wall right there, I would have pressed her up against it so that I could devour her mouth, her throat, her neck. But instead, I moved forward, instinctively seeking a better position in which to more fully enjoy this gift she’d given me.

  And some corner of my mind was aware that I’d carried us onto the cable car, but I didn’t dwell on it. Not when the most beautiful young woman in the world was baring her soul to me. Showing me she wanted me as much as I wanted her.

  Vaguely, I was aware of the door shutting behind us, but I was more interested in steering Lanie toward a sturdy metal pole in the center of the car. Without breaking contact, she wiggled out of her backpack and lowered it to the floor while I pressed her body back against the metal pole. She ran one hand up above her head to grab the pole. That made me instantly hard. There was nothing sexier than a beautiful woman with her hands stretched above her head making her back arch and her chest stick out.

  There was a giant lurch, and I broke off the kiss as I fought for balance. When I was steady, I looked to the side and saw—good God, we were in midair, and there was nothing but—

  “Don’t stop,” Lanie whispered, and I heard real desperation in her voice. She pulled herself up a few inches and ground her core against the hardness in my jeans. “Please, Parker, you have no idea how long I’ve wanted this…”

  She had?

  Lanie wiggled in my arms again, and all thoughts of our precarious position receded. Her gyrations reminded me that my hands were cupping her sweet backside, and as I dipped down to kiss her again, I squeezed, making her squeal with pleasure. And making me even harder.

  When she ground up and down against me again, someone behind me cleared his throat loudly, and I figured it was the conductor, warning us to be good.

  Lanie took the hint—unfortunately—and slid her legs down my body. But as soon as she was on her own two feet again, I pressed up against her, capturing her mouth again. I ran a free hand up her body, letting my thumb brush the side swell of her soft breast, then capturing her hand above her head, imprisoning it against the pole.

  For most of the rest of the ride, we stayed that way, pressed against each other, alternating between kissing and staring into each other’s eyes. I felt the oddest combination of arousal and peace. Fear was there, but it was in a distant corner of my mind. Lanie had set out to drive it away, and she’d succeeded like the smart, determined, amazing young woman she was.

  Lanie

  If you’d told me, a year ago, that right now I’d be in the middle of the Swiss Alps, I wouldn’t have believed you. If you’d said I’d be in the middle of the Swiss Alps kissing Parker Grant, I would’ve told you to get your head examined.

  Because while I’d dreamed all my life of visiting the mountains—and dreamed half my life about being Parker Grant’s girlfriend—the former had seemed at least remotely possible. The latter had seemed like a completely unobtainable dream.

  Yet here I was, in his arms. For the last few minutes of the ride, I’d leaned against him, my back his front, and his back against the metal pole I’d been so recently pressed up against. His arms were around my midsection, just under my breasts, and his face was buried in my hair, occasionally nuzzling my ear or neck. This left me free to admire the astonishing view of the mountains and the amazing sensations of his touch.

  I didn’t want the ride to ever end, though I imagined Parker did. Not the making out part, hopefully, but just the dangling in midair part.

  Eventually it did end as the cable car docked at the half-way point high up in the hills. Parker put his arm around me and led me out. The other passengers gave us a wide berth, and the conductor seemed glad to be rid of us, but I was too happy to care. I remembered how good it had felt to walk holding hands the other day—his arm around me felt even better.

  We followed the small crowd to the next part of our descent, a smaller version of the aerial cable car we’d just ridden in. This one was referred to as a gondola, and it was a small enclosed compartment that would hold, at the most, two people on each of its two benches.

  Parker barely broke stride as we lined up for the gondolas. Unlike the cable car, they didn’t stop. Like a ski lift, each gondola came up the hill and made a slow U-turn at the station. During this time, its current passengers hopped out and new ones got on.

  As we waited our turn, I felt I was beginning to get a handle on the extent of Parker’s fear of heights. It seemed that if he started off on solid ground, like with the cog rail train, it didn’t bother him as much as when he had to step onto something that was visibly hanging over nothing, as with the cable car on the way down. Or something that was high up to begin with, like the viewing platforms at the top of Mt. Pilatus.

  The second part of the equation seemed to be distraction. On the airplane, he’d slept—and, I suspected, drank. On the cog rail up to Mt. Pilatus, he just didn’t look. And on the way back down, I’d found a way to distract him all on my own.

  That part made me smile. I still couldn’t believe I’d done that. That I’d kissed a man like Parker Grant. Ran my hands up and down his warm, hard muscles. Practically climbed up his body right there in broad daylight. Normally, I could barely say my name without blushing. But that? For some reason I wasn’t embarrassed about that. Maybe I would be at some point, but right now my skin sizzled with excitement about what we’d done. And the thought of when we might do it again.

  When it was our turn, Parker hesitated, but then moved in front of me and opened the door to the nearest empty gondola as it glided slowly by. I climbed in, a little bit alarmed by the way it swayed from
front to back. The Parker crowded in behind me, and it swayed even more. His face whitened, but he held onto either side of the small compartment until it stopped rocking.

  For an awkward moment, we both tried to sit on the same side. I’d been hoping that I could spend the rest of the ride down in his arms, but the gondola was too wobbly for that. He must have been thinking the same thing, because he said, “Guess this means I have to keep my hands to myself for the ride down.” I grinned, though I sincerely wished that wasn’t the case.

  Parker ended up facing forward, his long legs sprawled in a large Vee. I sat facing him, with a magnificent view of Mt. Pilatus behind him.

  He smiled at me as we got settled in. His face was still tight, though, and I knew we must be approaching the drop off where the gondola left the platform. Sure enough, we were soon dangling in midair again, but this time we were level with the treetops, not hanging thousands of feet off the ground.

  Still, it seemed like a good idea to do my best to keep Parker’s mind off of it. Kissing him again wasn’t possible at the moment—unfortunately. So that left conversation. “How long have you had this… issue with heights?”

  He gave a wry chuckle. “You can call it a fear. Or a phobia, because it definitely is. Like your thing with spiders. At least that’s classifiable as arachnophobia. I’m not sure what the fear of heights is called.”

  “Acrophobia.”

  “Right, I forgot I was talking to Ms. Genius. Is it really called that? I guess it’s sweet that our irrational fears have similar names.” His smile was self-deprecating. “But in answer to your question, it started gradually and it’s been getting worse the last few years.”

  “Was it a problem when you were in the army?”

  “No, thank God. In basic training, you have to climb these ropes up these really high wooden towers. That would've been a nightmare.”

  I nodded, but my mind was distracted by the image of him climbing a rope, pulling himself up arm over arm, his biceps bulging, his furrowed brow beaded with sweat. In my vision, he had his shirt off—which I doubted was how he’d really climbed the rope, but hey, it was my fantasy. I could have him wear—or not wear—whatever I wanted.