Justin

by Kris Michaels

  The drive to the lodge was uneventful, which didn’t give him any relief from his thoughts of Danielle. He parked his car in the guest parking area and grabbed his small overnight bag out of the back seat. As his flight was the last one into Hobart, darkness had long since fallen. The lodge was sturdy and boasted exposed timbers, a cavernous foyer, and warm earth tones. The yellow jewel tones of the gas lighting and the roaring fire in the fireplace made the lodge feel warm and inviting. The chill from the outside night air stalled as soon as he stepped across the threshold.

  “Good evening, sir. How may I help you?” The clerk behind the counter was dressed in what was no doubt the lodge’s uniform—a black polo and khakis with cargo pockets. Justin glanced at the woman’s name tag. Abbie smiled up at him.

  “Reservation for King.”

  “Yes, sir, one moment.” She started tapping on her computer and nodded to herself. “Yes, sir, right here. We have a note that states the package you sent ahead was placed in your room.”

  “Good, thank you.” The crate held his rappelling gear. Not that he didn’t trust the company he contracted through to abseil the dam, but his equipment was the best. He’d need to inspect it to make sure nothing had happened in transit. Justin handed over his black Am Ex and waited for his key card.

  “Our restaurant is open until ten o’clock, after that there is limited room service. I see you are leaving us tomorrow. Will you require one or two keys?”

  “One.” Justin glanced over at the intimate dining area. There was a freestanding fireplace in the middle of the tables. He noted the time. He wouldn’t be able to dine down here if he wanted to do a thorough inspection of his equipment. He’d had some spectacular food at small mom-and-pop type establishments and lodges were known for their use of local proteins, but he had equipment to check so a sandwich from room service would have to suffice.

  The sun warmed the top of the vast concrete expanse, but the breeze down the cut of the canyon that housed Gordon Dam was cool. Justin walked toward the middle of the dam carrying his rappelling gear. He noticed a small cluster of people standing around the abseil anchors and glanced down the sheer drop of the dam. The one-hundred-and-forty-meter drop guaranteed a good time. The hundreds of stairs leading back up to the top and his exit, not so much, but it would count as his cardio for the day.

  His guide spotted him and waved him forward. Not that he was hard to miss. At his height, carrying rappelling gear, he was an easy mark. Justin lifted his chin acknowledging the man and continued at his leisurely pace. He wanted whoever was on the anchor to start and finish their rappel so he was unimpeded in his descent.

  His guide came over, extending his hand. “Mr. King?”

  “That would be me.” Justin took the man’s hand and nodded over at the people gathered around the anchoring devices built at the middle of the dam. “I assumed I’d be alone.” He’d actually paid so he would be.

  “Yes, sir. As soon and my partner’s guest finishes her descent we will clear the bottom, and you can go. I got your certifications. Impressive. Do you abseil for a living?”

  “More like moonlighting. How much longer?” He moved his chin toward the people they were approaching.

  “The woman is a little nervous, maybe a couple minutes. Or, if she is still working up the courage, you could go before her.”

  “First timer?” Justin knew the spike of fear and need to conquer it. He almost envied the woman her first rappel.

  “At this level, yes. She has smaller abseils, but you have to admit our little descent is amazing.” The guide threw his head back and laughed drawing the attention of the small group. Justin laughed along with the guide until he saw who was on the anchor. Danielle Grant. The woman’s eyes grew wide before a radiant smile broke. “Funny meeting you in a place like this.”

  Justin swallowed hard. The sight of her in rappelling gear went straight to his cock. “I thought you were flying back to the States?” Justin’s feet moved one in front of the other until he was beside her. His presence pushed back the smaller men who were working the anchor.

  “I may have fibbed.” She winked at him.

  “Really? You think?” Justin laughed and reached to her gear, inspecting her equipment. “You enjoy rappelling?”

  “I do. But this is the highest I’ve attempted.” The pause and huskiness in her voice gave away her nervousness.

  “Do you want me to go down it with you?” Justin’s plan to rap rep solo down the face of the dam disintegrated. Reality as he knew it had been redefined as of ninety seconds ago. If he hadn't been infatuated with Danielle Grant before, he was now.

  She snorted and shot him a glare of independence. “I don’t need you to hold my hand.”

  “Fine, do it yourself, but wait for me at the bottom.”

  She lifted an eyebrow and smirked at him. “I have a flight to catch. I can’t wait long.”

  Damn, that attitude when straight to his cock, too. If he wasn’t careful, he wouldn’t be able to wear his rappelling harness without flashing his hard-on to the entire staff. He watched as her handlers got her out onto the face of the dam. He let the staff give her last minute advice. Her intense concentration and determination as she nodded and gave them a verbal ‘go’ was a beautiful sight. Justin moved up onto the rail after she disappeared down the side. She had good form and steady descent. About halfway down he heard her laugh—a full, joyous, delightful laugh. He smiled and gripped the fence line, watching her to the base.

  Justin turned and put on his gear. It was a practiced dance he could do in his sleep. The mandatory safety briefing completed, Justin stepped over the railing.

  “Sir! You can’t do an Australian rappel! It’s against policy!”

  The shock of his guide’s voice made him smile despite himself. He glanced over his shoulder and spoke, “It’s a good thing I’m not doing an Australian rappel.” A laugh from deep inside him emerged at the look of instantaneous relief on the guide’s face. He leaned forward so he was at ninety degrees facing the ground. “I’m doing a rap rep.” He yelled the words as he crouched against the wall, pushed forward and launched, letting the rope fly through his gri-gri. The ground sped toward him. The only sound he could hear was the hiss of the rope against his equipment and the buffeting of the wind through his helmet. The thrill of the rappel was quadrupled because the woman of his fucking dreams was waiting for him at the bottom.

  Chapter 9

  Danielle extracted herself from her harness. Her heart pounded against her chest; adrenaline coursed through her veins; she felt like she could crawl out of her skin with of the excess energy that danced through her system. Justin King was at the top of the dam, and he was going to abseil down it. She shook her head in disbelief and glanced up as she unclipped and stepped out of the rented harness.

  A radio clipped to the waistband of the staff member who met her at the bottom of the rappel crackled. Words she couldn’t decipher shouted over the airwaves.

  “Shit, shit, shit!” The staffer straightened and looked up.

  She did the same, shielding her eyes against the morning sun. She snapped her head up just as Justin leaned, squatted against the dam and launched into the air. She froze as he fell in an arc. His legs met the concrete base of the dam, and he flew out and down again. Awe spiked through her at the speed of his descent. That was what she wanted to be able to do. To let go, to fly. He landed against the vertical concrete face again and launched. As he approached the bottom, his speed decreased, and he straightened. As the bucket holding his static rope hit the ground before his feet, he landed in a crouch.

  Wonder and amazement transfixed Danielle in place until Justin lifted into a standing position, looked toward her and grinned like a boy on Christmas. She sprinted to him, launched up, and wrapped herself around him, nearly knocking them to the ground. Justin recovered and swung her around as he laughed. He dropped her to her feet and grabbed her face holding her still. Dani swore she could see excitement swirling in the gre
en depths of his eyes. He dropped his lips to hers and consumed her. Her body exploded with an urgent need to be as close to this man as she could get.

  “Sir, excuse me…sir!”

  Justin groaned and pulled away but kept her close to him. She had to strain to turn her head toward the flustered guide.

  “You can’t do that! It is against policy. We have safety standards we must adhere to and uphold.” He pointed with a waving arm toward the dam. His face was ruddy, and a vein bulged on his forehead.

  She watched as Justin slipped into the professional businessman’s veneer that he wore so well.

  “You’re right. I’m sorry, I promise I won’t do it again.” He kissed her one more time, hard on the lips, before he stepped back and started unhooking from his equipment.

  “You are out of your mind! That was the stupidest, most awesome thing I’ve ever seen in my life. You have to teach me how to do that!”

  “Not here. Never here. You will be banned,” the guide sputtered behind her, but she didn’t care.

  Justin looked down at her with a broad smile. “We could do that, or we could do something else.” He held his equipment in one hand and extended his other.

  She took it without a second thought. “Like what?”

  Justin shrugged as they headed toward the base of the stairs leading back up the one-hundred-and-forty-meter drop. “How about suit jumping off Mount Everest?”

  Danielle stopped, pulling him to a halt. Oh, my God. The man could not get any more perfect. “You’d do that with me? I don’t know how. You’d have to teach me, but God, yes! Let’s do that!”

  “It’s a date.” He turned and looked all the way up to the top of the stairs. “After we climb out of here that is.”

  She took his hand when he extended it, and they started up the stairs together. Adrenaline coursed through her veins. She couldn’t keep the thrum under her skin from making her feel as if she could jump out of it, so, she tried to distract herself. “When did you start rappelling?”

  Justin squeezed her hand. He drew a breath and shook his head. “Wow…it has been years now. I started out with smaller drops.” He glanced down and winked at her. “What about you?”

  Dani almost tripped when he winked at her, so she focused on the stairs as she spoke, “I guess it started after my dad got custody of me. I was a damaged teenager, and he was…well my dad is a driven individual. He’s always been so busy. I acted out to get his attention. He took me to therapists and had me examined to make sure I didn’t have a death wish.” She laughed at the memory that had been tragically mortifying to the thirteen-year-old she was at the time. “Once he’d been reassured that my rebellious acts weren’t suicide attempts, he made sure I had the proper safety equipment and coaches. He let me experiment. So, I’ve bungee jumped. I’ve done free climbs and snowboarded down a double black diamond run, which was terrifying and awesome. I started to learn to rappel just over two years ago. I’ve been planning to do this abseil since I read about it five months ago. When the purchase in Perth came to fruition, it was almost too good to be true.” Her legs wobbled a bit as the spike started to wane. The muscles in her legs warmed from the climb up, but it felt good, made her feel alive. “What about you?”

  “What about me, what?” Justin smiled down at her.

  “Why do you do things like that?” She waved her free hand toward the dam. They walked up two levels of stairs in silence. She knew this side of Justin, too. The side that was private. She could practically hear the debate going on inside his head. If he didn’t want to answer her, he wouldn’t. She wasn’t about to push him.

  “I guess you could say I acted out when I was younger, too. I lost my dad. He was murdered.”

  “Oh, my God!” Her breathless words slipped out, unbidden.

  Justin’s hand squeezed hers. “It has been a very long time now, but it shattered me. I lost my anchor. I was the second oldest of eight. Dad knew I wasn't like my brothers. I didn't, and still don't, enjoy the Alpha macho positioning. I enjoyed things they didn't. Dad got that. I think a part of me died when he did. I guess I started doing things, taking risks and chances, to feel alive. I managed to get myself in a bit of trouble with the law when I left for college. A friend of the family somehow found out about it. He showed up at the jail where I was being held because I couldn’t pay my bail and had refused to let my family know I’d screwed up so badly. He didn’t say but maybe three words to me until he took me to my dorm room.” Justin looked up at the sky and laughed. “That was a pivotal point in my life. He gave me an opportunity. Only one. If I screwed it up, he’d cut bait and toss me back into the ocean. I knew it was the opportunity of a lifetime. He paid for my tuition, and in return, I worked for him during the summer months. A part-time job, but it was something he demanded I do. After I graduated, I apprenticed for him and was sent around the world to some of the best restaurants. I studied what worked, what didn’t and why. He and my brothers put up money for the first restaurant I purchased. I made him a shareholder of the next three, to pay him back for what he had invested in me. I channeled my energies into the business, but it wasn’t enough. Since I had the money, I invested what downtime I had into events like these.”

  “Was that friend in the restaurant business?”

  “Gabriel? No, he has other business concerns. He used to manage a massive corporation. He’s semi-retired now.”

  Dani stopped and looked up the stairs. They were only halfway up. She leaned back against the handrail and pulled a refreshing hit of cool air into her lungs. “What did you do for him in the summers he made you work for him?”

  Justin smiled and pulled her forward up the stairs. “Gopher stuff mainly. I…went and got things that he needed...most of the time.”

  “Most of the time?”

  “Yeah, when he didn’t need me to retrieve things for him, I was free to work on improving my skills and abilities.”

  “For business? That’s cool.”

  Justin’s chuckle reached her ears. “Yeah, I enjoyed learning things from him. What about you? How did you come from being an obnoxious teenager to a brilliant businesswoman?”

  “Oh, well that is really boring. After my dad started noticing me, I realized he wasn’t going to flake on me like my mom did. So, I started trying to fit in. It was different than when I was with my mom. Having a set schedule, three meals a day, clean clothes and electricity all the time, you know? I don’t blame her for how we lived. She has mental issues.” Danielle refused to let her mind call up the horrid images from her childhood and focused on the times her mom was manic. She was so happy and full of life at those times. There was always an adventure, always fun, but far too soon, Dani learned that the good times were followed by dark times. So very dark. Dani pulled back from the memories and cleared her throat. “Dad’s a workaholic. Kind of like you, but I see you go out and have fun. Although I didn’t know how much you let loose. Dad never does. His work is his only focus now that I’m out of the house.”

  “What does your dad do?”

  They continued to trudge up the stairs. The weight of their boots scraping on the metal steps were the only sounds while she debated what, exactly, to tell him. Justin was rich in his own right, surely her father’s money wouldn’t matter to him, and if it did, it was best if she knew sooner rather than later. “He owns Phoenix Armament.”

  Justin stopped and looked down at her. “Paul Greenfield is your father?” Justin tried to collect his thoughts, but they scattered to all corners of his brain as if a pool shark had shattered the set on a billiards table.

  There was very little that Justin could not tolerate. But he hated weapons. Weapons. Unnecessary, unneeded and in his mind—poison. His father was killed by an act of violence perpetrated by a person on drugs who had a weapon. The fact his family made their living the way they did was one of the reasons he maintained a distance. He loved his family, but he fucking hated weapons. He'd worked on this point with his therapist, and while she b
elieved they were making progress, Justin wasn't so sure.

  She let out a sigh and nodded before tugging on his hand getting him started up the stairs again. “Yeah.”

  “Why do you use the name Grant?”

  “My mom’s name. I had her maiden name until the age of thirteen when she was institutionalized. She had an envelope in a lockbox. The cops found it after they… Anyway, it had my birth certificate, and Paul W. Greenfield was listed as my father. The city welfare people tracked down the only Paul W. Greenfield they could find. A DNA test was done and presto, I was whisked away to live in a house the size of my high school.”

  “You kept your mom's last name.” Justin prompted.

  “Yes, because once anyone found out I was Paul Greenfield’s daughter I became…hell, I don’t know…an asset I guess. It wasn’t like they were seeing me, it was more like they were dating Phoenix Armament.”

  “I can guarantee you, I have zero desire to date Phoenix Armament. I want nothing to do with your father's business.” Justin squeezed her hand and tugged it a little, getting her to shift her attention up to him. “I don’t like guns, but I do like you.”

  Danielle bumped into him with her shoulder. “I don't like guns either, but I seem to know an inordinate amount about them. Are you really going to take me suit jumping off Everest?”

  “Do you really want to try?”

  “Oh hell, yeah. Don’t you?”

  An angry shout from above them diverted his attention for a moment. He laughed and shook his head. “Yes, I do. Besides, I don’t think the good people at Gordon Dam will ever let me come back.”