Page 18 of Jump or Fall
Chapter 7
Gordon
Mara grabbed his hand.
He wasn’t sure if it was intentional, but she wasn’t letting go. Gordon held on, heat rising to his face. Obviously, it wasn’t the first hand he’d held—but for some reason, this one had him flustered.
Don’t get all sweaty.
Too late. He could feel it at the nape of his neck.
Thank God for the pitch-black tunnel. His face was probably a ridiculous shade of red. Hopefully, it would be back to normal by the time they made it out.
Your face isn’t fucking normal.
Maybe she meant to grab his coat again and missed. Maybe she didn’t want to make it awkward by pulling away.
Yeah. That had to be it.
There was no way she’d actually want to hold his hand. A woman like her could have any guy she wanted once she was free—someone without a hideous scar.
Still, she hadn’t let go.
He liked the way her eyes had gone wide, her lips parting in awe when she’d seen the ocean. The moment had been more breathtaking than the view itself.
He wanted to show her everything she’d been missing.
They reached the door too soon. Her hand was still lightly wrapped around his as he pushed it open. Only when the light from inside hit them did she let go.
Even without her hand in his, the warmth lingered.
Gordon blinked, adjusting to the light. “Quite something, huh?”
“It was incredible!” she said, beaming. “Why do we have that stupid wall?”
“No idea.” He returned a small smile. Mara kept getting those out of him, even though he tried not to. If he kept his face still, it was less obvious he couldn’t move all of it.
He led her back into the maintenance tunnels, the metal door groaning shut behind them. The walk out here had been long, and he still had courier runs to make—but she was easy to be around. Even with the tension at the start, he’d relaxed more than expected.
Giddiness was still plastered across her face, and it was hard not to stare. The screen he’d watched her through to find her apartment hadn’t done her justice. Of course she was beautiful, but she hadn’t smiled once in that short time—and it couldn’t capture the sharp mind beneath the surface.
He hated that he’d had to watch her like that. Follow her like an animal. Mara didn’t deserve to have another guy tailing her. Her life was difficult enough.
“How often do you come out here just to look at it?” she asked.
He shrugged. “Not too often. Sometimes it’s hard to look. Like a reminder that we’re stuck.”
“Is Naxos as far as you went?”
“Yeah,” he said with a sigh. “There are a couple smaller cities outside it, but I only lived in Naxos. Never made it to Cygnus or anywhere else.”
“Do you plan to travel more?”
“Maybe… I wanted to see everything when I was younger. But now it’s all about the mission.” He glanced at her. “What about you?”
“I’ve always been curious about what’s out there. It’d be nice to see it someday.”
“They have open networks in Naxos. I remember being shocked at how many cities there were in the Western Domain, let alone the world. We only get some names here, and barely any details.”
