Page 37 of Into the Lion's Den (Secrets of the Northland Shifters)

“Josh from the trail guide crew is sick.” Reese straightened. “Sam needs a fourth person to help harness the guests this afternoon.”

“Ah.” This was—fortunately or unfortunately—making more sense now. The Omni-Vantage employees had come up from Minneapolis for a three-day corporate retreat. I had planned the welcome dinner for when they’d arrived last night, as well as the inspirational speaker I’d found last minute.

For the next two days, the guests would be participating in events designed to inspire trust and team building: canoeing, horseback riding, and...navigating the ropes course.

“I’ve never done a ropes course, so I don’t know how much help I’d be.”

“Mel, Toby, and Sam will be doing the demonstrations and providing the supervision,” Reese said. “All you’ll have to do is collect the liability waivers and help get everyone harnessed quickly so there’s time to get them all through the course before their afternoon meeting.”

“Who’s going to show me how to do the harnesses?”

“I ca–” Angel started.

But Reese cut him off saying, “I’ll show you how to do it. As soon as you’re done eating. Meet me at the equipment barn.”

Anticipation wriggled through me and, fifteen minutes later, I’d made it outside. Reese was waiting for me inside the building. One wall had racks of canoes. Rope-climbing harnesses and hiking backpacks hung from hooks on the opposite side. At the back were shelves covered in snowshoes and huge duffel bags full of what I presumed were tents and other camping accessories.

Reese turned as I entered. He was holding a harness in his hands. “Good. You’re here.”

“So I guess this is what it means to ‘learn the ropes’?’” Then I rolled my eyes at my own stupid joke.

Reese’s lips quirked. “We have two courses—the low ropes course and the high one. They’ll be doing both, so they’ll need full-body harnesses. The first thing you need to do is lay it out loose on the ground.” He demonstrated by laying the harness on the ground. “Then you have the participant step backward into the leg loops.”

I nodded, looking down at the loops. “How high is the high course?”

Reese didn’t answer me, and the silence stretched on. Eventually I looked up to find him staring at me impatiently.

“What?” I asked.

He raised his eyebrows.

“Oh! You want me to actually get into the harness?”

“It’s the best way to learn.”

“Why didn’t you say so?” I stepped backward and put my feet through the loops.

“The high course is twenty-five to forty feet,” he said, answering my question, “depending on where you’re at.”

“And the low one?”

“Thirteen.” Reese moved in front of me and raised the nylon straps to my upper thighs. Tingles ran up and down my spine.

“Melanie, Toby, and Sam will double-check your work and confirm the carabiners are properly positioned and locked. Once everyone’s ready to go, you can come back to your office.”

“Okay.” The word came out breathy because Reese’s hand was now on my hip, holding the harness in place.

“Next, you have them reach back and slip their arms through these straps, like they’re putting on a backpack.”

I did as he instructed, then reveled in our proximity, studying his full lips while he adjusted the straps over my shoulders.

“The courses are designed to break through people’s mental blocks,” he said, giving the straps a tug.

“It might be safer for them to break through mental blocks by doing a group crossword puzzle. Or better yet, Sudoku.”

His hands paused, and he looked up to meet my eyes. “Are you making another joke?”

I bit the corner of my mouth. “Kind of?” The truth was, he had me too agitated to do or sayanythingintelligent. In fact, I worried what might come out of my mouth next.

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