Page 37 of Rebel Romeo

She had a point. The scaffolding had seen better days.

I guided her gently toward the ladder and put my hand on one of the rungs. “What if I go up with you?”

“So we can both fall to our deaths? Then the whole school will blame me for losing the game this weekend, too. No, thank you.”

I pressed my lips together, smothering a laugh.

“It’s not funny!”

“Sorry. You’re cute when you overreact.”

Her gaze landed on my arms, and she was quiet for a long moment before saying, “You think I’m cute?”

I arched a brow, but still, her eyes remained on my arms. Leaning down, I whispered, “You know I do.” Heat fired up the nerve endings beneath my skin, and all the intense feelings I’d been suppressing for her flooded into me like a dam breaking loose. Based on the way that she was looking at me, the energy pulsing from her was just as potent. “This is your dream role, right?” I asked, changing the subject.

She snorted. “Sort of. Juliet is my dream role… Julie is sort of a nice consolation prize.”

“Well, what are you going to do when you finally land the real part of Juliet? Tell them you can’t be bothered to accept because the balcony is too damn scary?” I wracked my brain for what little I knew about other shows. “Or what if you’re cast as Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz. Or Elphaba in Wicked?—”

“Okay. I get it. I need to get over my stupid fear.”

I was well-aware of how much easier said than done that was.

I braced my foot against the base of the ladder, steadying it. “I’ll be right here, okay?”

Tucking her script under her arm, she took a shaky breath before climbing the first few steps of the ladder slowly. Out in the audience, Addison’s laugh shrieked, echoing in the otherwise silent theater.

Kate froze halfway up. From this angle, her smooth legs stretched on for days, her muscled calves bunched into two tight balls.

Heat crept up my neck as I glanced up at her white-knuckled grip on the rung. “You’ve got this, Juliet.”

As she nodded, taking another step up, the microphone check screeched in the amps. Katherine jerked back. Her feet and hands slipped from the ladder, and she fell backwards.

With outstretched arms, I caught her easily.

I’d always be ready to catch her.

But ease was the farthest thing from my mind. Nothing between Kate and me was easy. Especially not with her pressed so closely against me like this, breasts heaving with each gasping breath she took.

My lungs seized, refusing to exhale.

That was close. Too close.

“You okay?” I asked.

She nodded. “You caught me.”

“I told you I would.”

“I didn’t believe you.”

“Ouch. That hurts.”

I should have put her down, but she felt so delicate and soft in my arms.

She sighed. “Don’t be like that. It’s not about you as much as circumstances. Most people intend to do the right things, but the circumstances make it so they can’t. It’s not even their fault half the time. Me not trusting you actually has very little to do with you.”

“And what about now?” I asked. “Do you trust me now?”

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