Page 31 of Memories with Fire

“And it’s working,” he says, and I realize that I’ve taken the first step off the platform. Which means he moved backwards and I didn’t even notice.

Fear seizes me in that moment, and I gasp, looking down at the ground directly beneath me. My fingers tighten around the cable, my knuckles surely turning as white as my face feels as all the color drains from it.

“Eyes up here, Hailey,” Luke says firmly, in a tone I can’t ignore, and my eyes lift to his. “Good. Don’t look down. You can do this. One step at a time.”

My head shakes. “I can’t.”

“You can. You’ll be fine. This one is easy.”

Again I shake my head.

I watch him restrain himself from sighing. “Just come across. All you need to do for this one is walk. It isn’t that bad.”

One more shake. The fear and defeat is clear, even to my ears as I say, “I changed my mind. I can’t do this. Call Nate and have him be your partner, I’m going to sit on a picnic table and wait for you guys.”

“You’re not changing your mind. You can do this, even if I have to carry you across every single obstacle in this park,” he tells me, crossing his arms in challenge.

My eyes widen, and I curl my lip, sneering, “You wouldn’t dare.”

When he steps towards me onto the same plank I’m on, I scramble backwards onto the platform, yipping in surprise when he bends at the waist, still pushing forward, wraps his arms around my thighs, and lifts me into the air.

“Lucas Colton Reyes,” I scream, hitting his backside, my entire world upside down. Anger boils inside my veins, ready to unleash itself on him in worse ways than just hitting him in the ass. “Put me down. Now!”

“Nope,” he says, so calm that he’s lucky I can’t claw his face off right now. “We’re going across the bridge.”

“I’ll walk! I’ll do it! Just fucking put me down!”

“You promise?”

“Yes, you asshole! I promise. Just put me the fuck down,” I growl, and when my feet hit the platform and he lets me go, I swat him in the chest. “Don’t you ever manhandle me again, you big goon!”

He does nothing to protect himself, instead trying to hold his grin back from me as he steps aside and waves to the bridge. “After you, Freckles.”

“I can’t wait until we’re back on solid ground and I can send Liam after you,” I tell him, eyes narrowed, before setting off across the planks like I promised I would.

Behind me, I hear the park worker say, “Uh, hey man? That’s a big no-no.”

Luke responds to the worker, cheery as can be, “Noted.”

Stupid, stupid asshole. How dare he pick me up like that. Does he know what could have happened? We’re on a platform, high in the air, and he thinks it was just safe to throw me over his shoulder? Like I weigh nothing.

Goodness. He really did pick me up like I weighed nothing.

My stomach swirls for a different reason than being this high up. Luke, even with all the weight I’ve put on since we last saw each other, had zero issue picking me up, and that heats me from the inside out.

No. Absolutely not. That’s not where my thoughts need to go. He’s a firefighter. He’s in good shape. That’s it, that’s all, there’s nothing more to the story.

My hands come up against resistance, and I blink in surprise, realizing I’m at the end of the plank bridge. Just like that, it’s over. I’m across. And yet, I can’t move. Because I realize in moving, I need to let go of the cable handles I’ve been holding the whole way across, and there’s nothing else to hold onto.

There’s a light touch on my elbow that makes me jump, and then Luke’s soft voice right behind me. “What’s wrong?”

Anger all but dissipated, I whisper, “I can’t move. I was so mad at you that I didn’t think when I crossed, I just did it.”

“And you can keep doing it,” he encourages, and then both his hands are on my shoulders, slowly moving down along my arms.

“No,” my voice ratchets up in pitch, pulse racing, and my eyes squeeze shut. “I can’t move because I can’t let go.”

“You can,” he murmurs, sliding his hands to the underside of my forearms. His fingertips skim along the heel of my palms then, and I whimper, leaning backwards when his body heat is suddenly against my back. “Are your eyes open?”

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