Page 38 of Texting My Secret Santa

“As your business manager,” I say, but I know why she repeated it. She knows I was talking about more than business. “I’ll guarantee your passion projects don’t hide away on your computer. If they make you this excited, I’m sure they’d make other people just as excited.”

“Maybe,” she shrugs. “Shall we get started?”

As we walk toward the briefing room, the urge to loop my arm around her waist is real. I want to advertise to everybody in this busy building that we’re together. When we were getting hot and heavy, thinking aboutowningher, felt all too natural. Now, she’s not even naked or moaning, and the same deluded thought hits me.

Sitting through the safety briefing is boring, but soon, we’re in our harnesses, ready to climb the walls.

“I’ll get a video of you first,” she says, spots of red blooming on her cheeks.

“You’re not scared of heights, are you?”

She shakes her head. “Not heights.”

Something’s holding her back from thoroughly enjoying this experience. I walk up to the wall of fabric made to look like ice, clip myself in, and then turn to the camera, winking at Holly. “Wish me luck, Snowflake.”

She drops the camera. Luckily, it’s on a strap around her neck.

“Crap. Sorry,” I say. “I shouldn’t be calling you that on video.”

“It’s … fine.”

But it’s not. She’s lying to make me feel better. I turn toward the wall, scaling it quickly, looking down at her from the top, then abseiling down as the automatic system slows my descent. Unclipping myself, I offer my hand to Holly.

“Your turn. I’ll get some footage of you.”

“I don’t know. Maybe we should get some more of you first.”

“Holly, what’s going on? You were excited to come here.”

She lowers her voice, moving closer to me. Her Christmas sweater hugs tightly onto her curvy shape. That, combined with her perfume and closeness, almost makes me kiss her out of instinct. “What if I can’t do it?”

“You can. I promise. The slack is so tight that it almost lifts you up. It’s not real climbing. Just a bit of fun.” I lean forward, whispering. “Just remember how confident you were last night.”

“Asher …”

“I know. It never happened, but the fact is,thatversion of Holly didn’t give a crap. She knew how sexy she was. How capable she is. I bet you felt like you could do anything.”

“That’s true,” she admits. “But there’s a difference between seducing my brother’s best friend and this.”

She’s right. Seduction is far more dangerous.

“You can do it. I promise. If it makes you feel better, we don’t have to record this part.”

“Okay.” She hands me her camera.

“But—”

“But?”

“I think you’d regret it if you didn’t let me record. You’re nervous, but you’re going to do this. You’re going to kick ass. I think you’ll want that on video. If things get as bad as you think they will, you can delete the video later.”

She smiles shakily. “You’re making too much sense for my liking. Let’s do it, Asher.”

I aim the camera at her. As she straps herself in, I have to remember this isn’t a home video for my viewing later. If it were, I’d zoom in on the harness, biting into her curvy shape, squeezing her voluptuous body, highlighting her perfection.

Her hand trembles as she takes the first handhold.

“Go on, Snow—Holly,” I say. “You’ve got this.”

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