Page 25 of Mountain Security

“Pull!” Alex said.

It took her a moment to understand Alex had slipped the rope around the man’s middle. The men pulled hard. The man’s shoulders came first, then his trunk, his legs, until, eventually, his whole body was out of the water.

Beau shouted at him to roll, repeating the word in several languages. Then Ry was there, tugging him away from the ice.

Yvette’s brain wasn’t firing on all cylinders. She wanted to scream for a medic, then remembered Rywasa medic. She watched him set the victim down on the snow before turning back to Alex, who was still in danger.

Without the man’s added weight, Alex seemed to have less trouble treading water, but by now his lips had turned blue.

Beau made some kind of reassuring sound. “Don’t worry. Alex can tread water at this temperature for a good long while.” He seemed to read something in her look. “But of course we’re getting him out now,” he said quickly.

“Hold on,” Alex gasped. “I think I can climb up myself.” His muscular forearms gripped the edge of the ice. He used impressive upper body strength to pull his upper body out of the water. Then the ice broke again beneath his hands, dunking him in the icy water to his nose.

Alex sputtered, swearing in between gasps.

Yvette forced her fist against her mouth to stop herself from crying out.

The rope sailed through the air again, falling into the water right beside Alex. As soon as Alex had grabbed on, Lorenz and Beau began pulling. With their combined strength, they easily pulled Alex out of the hole and onto the ice.

As soon as they deemed it safe enough, both men released the rope and kneeled down to grab Alex under the arms and pull him out the rest of the way.

“You just can’t seem to stay out of trouble, can you?” Beau asked.

Alex made a pained sound. It took Yvette a moment to realize he was chuckling.

Chuckling.

Yvette wanted to kill him, for nearly giving her a heart attack.

“Fuck, I’d forgotten this kind of cold,” Alex said through chattering teeth. Then his eyes met hers. “You okay, beautiful?”

9

* * *

Yvette

The list Alex had asked her to draft was longer than she’d expected it to be.

A lot longer.

In the end, they’d ended up going to the hospital with the man—Yvette’s first time in a helicopter.

First time skiing.

First time in a helicopter.

She wondered how many other firsts awaited her, if she stuck close to Alex. And it was interesting, because she’d never thought her life was lacking in excitement. In fact, the concept wasn’t even in the top ten of things she valued in life.

Responsibility.

Hard work.

Those were the things she valued most.

Not excitement.

And yet …

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