Page 22 of Reckless
“How am I supposed to be daring and risky if I don’t even know how to get three feet off the ground?” she asked from a few paces away, and he scaled back on his stride until she fell into step next to him. Damn, getting her relaxed enough to enjoy their climb was going to be a tall order with how she was all buttoned up tight enough to bust a seam. But he’d worked with worse, and anyway, there wasn’t a whole lot he loved more than a really good challenge.
Alex stopped just shy of Vertical Climb’s front door, glancing up at the six-story building before shifting to look Zoe right in the eye. “Oh, you’ll be taking plenty of risks. Because not only are you going to learn how to climb,” he said. “But you’re going to trust me to teach you.”
Her lips parted into a pretty, pinkObefore pressing back into a flat line. “I suppose you’re some kind of expert.”
“You could say that.” He pulled his employee badge from the side pocket of his backpack, palming the door handle to usher a shell-shocked Zoe inside the lobby. “Hey, Joss,” he said, tipping his chin at the tall, willowy blonde sorting rental equipment behind the counter. “This is Zoe. She and I have a one-on-one. I put it on the schedule a couple of days ago.”
Jocelyn pushed back from the counter, her eyes brightening with enough interest to tell him he’d get the full court press over this later. “Hi, Zoe. Kyle’s waiting for you two by the north wall.” She aimed a catlike smile at Alex before tacking on, “He says to tell you that you owe him.”
Alex laughed, the anticipation of both the climb and winning this bet with Zoe starting to hum through his veins. “That might work if he didn’t already owe me. That birthday party full of ten-year-olds last weekend was brutal.”
“Yeah, you looked like you just hated it, with all the cheering and high fives you were dishing out.” Jocelyn gave her eyes a playful roll before turning her smile back to Zoe. “You’re in great hands. Have fun climbing.”
“Thanks,” Zoe said, waiting until Alex had led her down the hall and out of earshot before turning to look at him. “You’re a rock-climbing instructor?”
“Lots of firefighters have second jobs. I spent so much of my downtime here that Jocelyn suggested I get certified as an instructor, so a couple of years ago I did. I fill in whenever I can when I’m not on shift at Eight.”
“Yeah, she certainly seemed happy to see you.” A wash of pink crept over Zoe’s cheeks, and even though Alex knew he shouldn’t mess with her, he stopped short to face her anyway.
“Let’s just say I’m not Jocelyn’s type. Although I’m pretty sure she was happy to seeyou.”
Zoe blinked a few times in quick succession, and then bingo. Her blush went for broke. “Oh.Oh.I’m sorry. I just assumed you two were…um…”
Ah, hell. If he didn’t let her off the hook, she was liable to start a fire with the flush on her face. “Nah. Even if Joss wasn’t gay, she’s still my boss. I don’t mix business with that kind of pleasure. And speaking of pleasure”—he reached out to open the door leading to the main climbing room, gesturing Zoe inside with a quick jerk of his head—“we should probably get started.”
Her cross-trainers shushed over the compact rubber sports matting that covered the subfloor beneath, and she stopped just past the threshold of the large, high-ceilinged space. The climbing room was empty of people, but that wasn’t necessarily a huge shock or concern. Kyle was probably in the back, grabbing the gear they’d need to get this party started, and other than the classes they held over the summer and the occasional weekend warrior playing hooky from work a day early, Fridays at Vertical Climb were usually pretty quiet.
Fine by him. More room to spread out and enjoy the top of the boards that way.
Alex watched as Zoe examined the walls, with their black matte background and healthy explosion of rainbow-colored hand and footholds that made the place look like a challenge athlete’s Jackson Pollock. The free-standing tower, and Alex’s personal favorite as far as badass climbing went, stood off to the south side, where it connected into the ceiling at sharper pitches and angles than the far less advanced northern wall. His pulse jumped in his veins, the familiar tingle of adrenaline heating him up from his blood to his balls at the thought of anchoring in and getting vertical.
“So, I guess that’s half the risk, isn’t it?” Zoe asked, giving the tower one last hard look before turning toward him. “Not just being here with you and doing something risky, but having to rely on you to teach me the ropes.”
“Yup,” Alex said, and the way her pupils darkened her stare as he fired off his no-bullshit answer felt better than it should. “That’s the deal. You get a little reckless and let me teach you how to rock climb. If you don’t hate it, I win. But if you do…” He paused, watching her eyes glitter darker still as he added, “Then I’m yours in the kitchen, and I’ll let you teach me how to cook.”
“Fine,” Zoe breathed, her voice at odds with the conviction of the word she’d just let out. “Let’s get this over with.” She pivoted on one heel to head further into the room, but something dark and forbidden and totally delicious made him snap up her hand just shy of movement.
“Uh-uh, Gorgeous.” Alex cupped her knuckles against his palm, shock working through him at the strength in her fingers as she reflexively wrapped them around his in return. “Fair’s fair. You don’t like it when I don’t give your kitchen an honest shake. The least I can ask is that you head into this with an open mind.”
Her eyes traveled up the sixty-foot expanse of the main climbing area, fingers tensing even harder as her gaze neared the top of the south wall, with its jutting overhangs and expertly placed, hard to reach and harder to hold onto hand and footholds. “Sure,” she said, even though she looked anything but. “Because that’s not going to be one hell of a trick.”
Alex paused, his brows pulling tight with confusion. Zoe was batting a thousand on both showing up and following through so far, and it wasn’t as if she was short on determination. Clearly, she wanted to win this bet. So why would she get right up to the starting line only to balk? Unless . . .
His eyes traveled upward at the same time his gut took a nonstop trip in the opposite direction. Damn it.Damn it.He’d been so gung-ho to get to the forest that he hadn’t seen the one tree that might hang him.
“You’re afraid of heights, aren’t you?”
“No.” Her mouth cranked shut too hard and too fast for it not to be a lie, and she exhaled in defeat. “Okay, maybe. A little. Or, you know, a lot.”
“Jesus, Zoe.” He let go of her hand in favor of stepping in toward her. “How come you didn’t say anything?”
“Because I didn’t think it would matter. You said no skydiving, and even though I knew you’d still pick something crazy, I figured we’d stay at ground level and I’d be able to manage. Even just now in the parking lot, rock climbing didn’t sound so bad; plus, I didn’t think I’d get far enough off the ground for it to really matter. But of course you’re a raging expert, and I know better than to think you’ll settle for anything less than teaching me to climb all the way to the top. Not that I had any clue the top would be—what, five stories up?”
Alex hesitated, but there was no point in scaling back from full disclosure now. “Six.”
“Right.” She pinched the bridge of her nose between her thumb and forefinger. “So, if you want to go ahead and call this a draw and pick some other risky thrill mission, I understand.”
“Is that what you want?”
