Page 22 of Crazy for You

“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 woman 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.”

---