Page 90 of Love You
He wasn’t aware there was a dress code. Eyeing her khaki shorts and polo shirt, he said, “You’re afraid to do it, aren’t you?”
“No . . . yes.”
“I’m not going to let anything happen to you, Darce.” He’d take care of her, even though for all intents and purposes she’d dumped his ass.
“Maybe it’s a better idea for me to go back to the office and print up materials with all the programs we offer.”
He glanced at the bathroom and back at her. “Do. Not. Leave. Me. Alone. With. Her.”
She had the nerve to snicker. “Since when are you afraid of horny women.”
“Since I met you.” He went outside and waited by his Jeep.
A few minutes later Darcy and Madison followed.
“I left my car at GA,” Darcy said. “I’ll walk over and get it and meet you at the zip-line park.”
“Nah.” He opened the back door for her. “We’ll all go together and reduce our carbon footprint.”
She sneered at him when she thought Madison wasn’t looking but climbed in. Madison, who seemed completely oblivious to his and Darcy’s pissing match, got in next to Win and away they went.
The zip line—there were actually seven of them—was part of a private park near the lake and went through a forest of trees with peekaboo views of the water. It was about 250 feet above the forest floor, moved at forty miles per hour, and was a total of fifteen-hundred-feet long. GA had a contract with the owners to use it whenever they wanted, which was pretty righteous.
He found parking in the shade and they hiked up to the staging platform where they harnessed up. Darcy’s face turned green as they climbed a circular stairway up to the tops of the trees.
“You scared of heights?” he said in her ear.
She gave him the finger. Real mature.
Madison, on the other hand, didn’t know where to look first. She wore a gooey smile on her face like she’d just discovered the world wasn’t concrete. “Wow. This is something.”
He gazed across the horizon, trying to see it through the eyes of a person who hadn’t grown up here. Yeah, it was pretty freaking amazing. He wished Darcy wasn’t petrified so she could take it in. It was like flying through the trees. Win lightly touched the back of her neck and she squeezed her eyes shut.
“I don’t think I can do this.” It came out like a whisper.
He stopped and turned to face her, settling both hands on her shoulders. “You don’t have to do anything you don’t feel comfortable doing.” He hated jack-off guides who pushed people into shit they didn’t want to do. Parachuting out of planes, bungee-jumping, riding bulls, or any other sport. You let people go at their own pace and they have a good time. Otherwise you ruin it for them.
Madison had gone ahead of them, once again unaware of anything outside of her own personal sphere.
“You really don’t want to be alone with her?” Darcy asked, trying not to look down.
“I can probably hold her off for a couple of hours. After that, who knows?”
She pinned him with a glare. “Because you’re so irresistible.”
Tired of the word sparring, he wasn’t going to do this with her. He’d made it abundantly clear he wasn’t interested in Madison De Wolk. Only Darcy. If she couldn’t believe that she was no better than the rest of them.
He searched around for a staff member to take Darcy down. If he couldn’t find one, he’d do it himself. Madison could wait.
She saw what he was doing and said, “I can get down myself. Being up is the problem.”
“You sure?”
“Yes. Go. I want my promotion!” She turned around and began the long stairway down, calling to him that she would meet them on the other end.
But when he got there she was gone.
Chapter Twenty
