Page 25 of Free for Adventure

She mumbled the address, and he grinned. “It’s further along than you thought. The first dance class is up.”

She groaned and grabbed her pack, calling the drone in. When she had it in her hands, she replaced the depleted battery with the new one.

Dorian crouched near her. “How long do you need to recover?”

“Why? Can’t I just live here now?”

“First, get the drone up, stand up, and look at where we are.”

She released the drone and stuck her hand out to him. “Up?”

He grinned and helped her to her feet. She stood and focused on looking around. “Oh. Wow.”

Stretched out in front of her was the entire green, growing island chain. She was standing on a wide, stone plateau that had a spring bubbling and tumbling downward to a wide pool.

“How high did we climb?”

“About six hundred feet. We drove up over fifteen hundred feet.”

“Okay. This is where I live now. I am not going to be able to climb down.”

“Shush for just a moment, and look at the world around you.”

Amby shushed and slowly turned to see that on this island, she was on top of the world. She steered the drone in a slow pan of the world around her and sighed. “So, there is a nice, safe way to get me down, right?”

He chuckled. “Normally, we do a controlled descent, but I will carry you down. Okay?”

She swallowed and got her pack on again. “Um, okay.”

Dorian double-checked his rigging and hers. He crouched and clipped her onto him directly.

She muttered, “You have no idea how happy I am that this is on camera.”

He laughed, verified his link, backed off the plateau, and said, “I don’t mind screaming.”

He jumped.

She closed her eyes and gasped like a fish as he sent them toward the ground. She clutched at him and held him tight as they dropped. Air rushed past her, but she kept her eyes screwed shut until they started to slow. The controlled fall and the spray from the water opened her eyes. She looked to one side over his arm as they descended at a safe pace, and then he was standing up. “There. All alive and everything.”

She threw her arms around his neck and kissed his cheek. “Thank you.”

He froze, and when she leaned back, he held her head, and his kiss was not short and not on her cheek. She felt like she was being consumed by fire from the inside out.

Amby sighed and tried to figure out what she was supposed to be doing. The heat that was stirring in her made her press her thighs together as well as she could given the harness.

When he lifted his head and licked his lips, he smiled. “So, that’s what a mate tastes like.”

“So, you are the waterfall.”

“I am the waterfall.”

“How does that work?”

“It can have special properties for locals. They just need to ask.”

She wanted to ask more, but instead, she said, “Can you unhook me now? This feels all kinds of weird.”

Amby licked her lips softly as he undid the carabineers that held them together. When she dropped to the ground, she staggered back, but she quickly got her footing and smiled. Then, she brought the drone back and got it ready for travel. She undid her harness and dropped it to the ground. She stepped out of it and massaged her inner thighs.

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