It was strange not being able to tell her everything. “Just so you know, I’m keeping track. You owe me four questions now.”
She tensed beside him, and he regretted teasing her. Especially in this moment, with peace weaving around them like the wind.
He stared up at the expansive sky. “About a year ago, I did a few episodes in southern Arizona. For one of them, we took a trip to the Saguaro National Park. At first glance it’s just brown and yellow-green. We went in the summer to see the saguaros bloom, but that meant it was well over a hundred degrees where we ended up near Tucson.”
“I can’t even imagine.”
“Is this your first time in Arizona?” They were bordering states. Surely she’d taken a trip here at some point.
Except, her family. He’d nearly forgotten how needy her mother had been, but it all rushed back to him when she got the phone call before they’d left. Madelyn was always more prickly around him after an interaction with her mom. It seemed that hadn’t changed.
“This is my first time anywhere but California,” she said, with a pasted-on smile. But it softened as she looked around. “I didn’t realize Arizona was so pretty. I always think of the desert.”
“I used to think the same thing. Until we rounded a corner on the road at Saguaro National Park, and blooming saguaro cacti blanketed the hills as far as the eye could see. It was breathtaking.”
“Sometimes it’s hard to see past our own perceptions,” she said quietly.
“You’re right. We need to take time to re shift our lenses.” He paused. “Refocus our lenses? Whatever photographers do to make an image clearer.”
Madelyn laughed, just like he’d hoped. That had always been his goal, back when they were dating. She’d been so serious, her smiles tough to win and her laughter even harder. But when they came, they lit up her whole face and made him feel like he belonged in her world. “Maybe you should keep the camera metaphors to Rog and Hannah.”
He nodded wryly. “Probably a good idea.”
Madelyn took off her glasses and tucked them in the side pocket of her bag.
“When did you start wearing glasses?” he asked.
“After I had Oliver my vision changed.”
“How’d the frames get broken?” He itched to buy her a new pair, but seeing how his offer to help her mom had gone that morning, he knew better than to say anything.
“Oliver.” Her smile expressed all the tender feelings she had for her son. Their lives were so different from what he’d once imagined, and it was still hard for him to think of her as a mom. “Thanks for bringing me,” she said, her lips turned up in a sweet, yet enticing smile.
"I don’t think I’ve walked this much in the last eight years combined.”
He laughed, some of the tightness loosening in his chest. “I’m glad you came.”
They looked at each other and the years melted away. Once again, he saw the girl he’d met on the lawn outside of the library, more focused on a book than anyone he’d ever seen. Her sun-kissed brown hair cascaded down her shoulders, putting a curtain between her face and the world. Her delicate hands had turned the page, and he’d been locked in place, caught by her for reasons he didn’t completely understand. But when he sat down in front of her, and she’d looked up at him with those wide, guarded eyes, he’d fallen hard.
“Madelyn, can you step back so we can get a solo shot of Chance?” Rog asked. Madelyn tore her gaze away and looked up at the camera like a deer caught in the headlights. She skittered backwards faster than he’d seen her move in hours. If he hadn’t been looking so closely, he might not have seen the limp.
“Chance, stop scowling,” Rog said. “The camera is rolling.”
It took a massive amount of effort for Chance to stop watching Madelyn, turn on his camera charm, and recall the outline for this adventure. “We’re going to get checked in with our guides, unpack the mules, and then dive into an oasis that is deceptively still, but we’ve been warned we need to be careful about the invisible undercurrent.” After a few moments, he warmed up to the camera and eased into his flow again.
As a child, Chance often wondered if anyone would notice if he disappeared. Except when the camera was rolling and he hadn’t felt like the same forgotten boy who lived in a house so big it was easy to get lost in it for days. He was someone with confidence to use his voice. When that red recording light turned on, he was found.
Rog finished filming, and Hannah took a few shots of him walking and being silly—those seemed to be the most popular ones on the social media sites. Finally it was done and Chance was left feeling drained of energy, a usual occurrence after a long shoot.
Madelyn had moved ahead of the group, walking stiffly. He jogged to catch up and took her gently by the arm. She came to a stop, looking at him with surprise.
“You should have told me your feet hurt. We have supplies.”
She waved him off. “It’s just a few blisters. I’ll take off my shoes when I get to the room.”
He stared at her. “Blisters can get infected and cause a lot of problems.”
“I’ve got a first aid kit and bandages in my pack. I’m really okay.”
He let out a frustrated breath. “You still don’t like to let people help you.”
“Not if I can take care of it myself,” she said lightly. “I’m on my feet at the diner all day, and I survive.”
“Why do you work for a diner?” he asked abruptly to keep himself from gathering her up in his arms and carrying her to the lodge—something he was fairly certain she wouldn’t appreciate.
She stepped down and bit her lip in pain. It took every bit of willpower Chance possessed to ignore it. “I’m not a salary employee at Verity,” she said, “so I only get paid per clicks on my articles. Which means that sometimes I make enough money to pay my bills, but sometimes I don’t.” She shrugged, clearly uncomfortable talking about it.
“And you have to turn in this article about me to get back in their good graces.” The power he held over her future did not sit well with him. “How did your article about the Senator get mixed up?”
“It was due the morning after your show. My ex was supposed to take Oliver but bailed last-minute. Then Oliver wound up at the hospital until three in the morning.”
“And you were sleep-deprived.”
“Yep. There’s no excuse, honestly. I shouldn’t have let it happen.”
“People make mistakes, Madelyn.”
“Maybe,” she said quietly, and in a way that made him believe she felt other people could make mistakes, not her. “But those people don’t lose their dream jobs because of it.”
“Sometimes a mistake can lead you to an even better opportunity.”
“Like hiking ten miles?” She tilted her head toward him with a tentative, teasing smile. “Because this feels more like torture than an opportunity.”
He couldn’t return the smile. Not knowing she was in pain. “Let me help you with your feet.” He regretted saying it when the light expression fell from her face.
“I’m fine, Chance,” she said with a finality that left zero room for argument before putting space between them.
They arrived at the lodge and fell right into the bustle of getting keys to their assigned rooms and unloading the donkeys. Madelyn hitched her bag over her shoulder and laughed softly at something one of the guides said. After all these years, after everything, she still captivated him.
Hannah shoved her shoulder into Chance, startling him back a step. He raised an eyebrow at her, but she only scowled. “Keep your head in the game, Chance.”
He grabbed his bag from the ground with a little more force than necessary, annoyed with Hannah for calling him out. Annoyed with himself for needing to be reminded. She was right. There was too much on the line to get distracted. Especially by Madelyn.
Chapter Twelve
Madelyn collapsed onto her bed after getting checked into her cabin. Everyone was meeting at the waterfall in five minute
s for more filming. Although the sound of cool water sounded divine, getting up sounded like torture. But the article. Reporters had to sometimes suffer for the story, right? Wasn’t that what she learned in school?
She groaned as she sat up on her bed and looked at her shoes by the door. There was no way she was putting those things back on. A lone spider, about the size of a quarter, sat on the wall above her shoes. “It’s a sign,” she muttered. She wasn’t going anywhere near those things.
She winced at putting weight on her feet and hobbled over to her bag to rifle through for her flip-flops and swimsuit. Her feet looked worse than she’d anticipated. When she’d eased her shoes off, they’d been bloody from several broken blisters.
She went to the bathroom to soak her feet in the tub for the few remaining minutes she had. She should have known her limits. Or at least known her three-year-old, twenty-five-dollar tennis shoes weren’t going to be good enough for a hike that intense.
She slipped on her black tankini and lace cover-up. Then she eased her feet into sandals and glanced at the clock. She was going to be about ten minutes late, but at least she was going to get there.
She arrived at the waterfall in time to see Chance arch his body to dive from a rocky ledge into the lake. Her heart hammered until he surfaced, white frothy water surrounding him. He let out a huge whoop and pumped his fists into the air, the definition in his biceps clear even without her glasses.
Heat filled Madelyn’s cheeks as his powerful arms cut through the water with long strokes until he arrived at the shore. He said something to the camera, water droplets falling from his hair to drip down his chest. The sun had mostly set, and the full moon cast him in a silvery glow. His raw masculinity and contagious energy were a heady combination to watch.
Hannah, who was taking pictures behind Madelyn, caught her eye with a knowing look, and Madelyn’s face turned even hotter. It was one thing to check Chance out, but it was a whole other thing to get caught doing it. Hannah went back to her camera, contorting her body to get what Madelyn knew were going to be amazing shots.
Madelyn gratefully headed toward the lounge chairs on the beachy area near the waterfall. She slipped her cover-up off and slung it over the back of her chair before leaning back, her muscles aching with every movement. That’s it. She was never moving again.
If she’d thought that working all day on her feet at the diner was painful, it was because she didn’t know the pain of hiking all day long after not working out for her entire life. No wonder Chance looked like a Greek god. When they’d been dating, she might have described his body as typical for an academic. Lean. Wiry. All the muscle tone of someone who hauled heavy textbooks around campus.
But clearly, all of his adventures had been good for his body. Very good.
Chance glanced over and caught her staring. Her face heated at his knowing smile before he turned his attention back to filming.
She needed a distraction, quick. Madelyn reached into her bag to grab a notebook and pen. For several minutes, she lost herself in jotting down her thoughts from their hike. She’d loved hearing the original story of Take a Chance, and even more, she loved seeing the interactions between Chance, Hannah, Rog, and Kim. Longing welled up in her for real friendships. She had Garth and Linda, but they never got together socially. They didn’t have the same sort of camaraderie Chance had with his team.
To be honest, she didn’t have friends like that at all.
“Working on the article?” A shadow fell over her notebook, and Madelyn glanced up to find Chance standing there. Most of the water had dried from his skin, but this close, his chest was even more smooth and golden brown than it had been from a distance.
She was staring again. Dang it. She met his eyes, and he smiled confidently.
“I’m trying to,” she said.
“You should stop trying and come swim.”
“I can’t.” Mostly she didn’t think she could stand up, but she really did need to work on the article. Once she got home tomorrow night, she’d have Oliver for the rest of the week, plus all of her shifts at the diner. “If I don’t work on this now, it might not get done.”
“You’ll have an entire plane ride to write about me.” He stuck his hand out for her to take. “When are you ever going to be down here again?”
Probably never. Graham had always been able to get her to set aside her responsibilities and have fun, and it seemed like he still had that superpower over her.
“Fine,” she said. “Let me finish this thought and I’ll meet you over there.”
He backed away from her slowly, pointing at her. “If you’re not over here in two minutes, I’m throwing you in.”
She knew it wasn’t an idle threat, and had zero desire to be a spectacle in front of Rog and Hannah. She finished up her sentence and walked to the lake. The cold, fresh water soothed her aching feet, and she stepped in until she was waist-deep. Chance swam close to her and then emerged from the water, his long eyelashes damp over seductive eyes. Water slid from his chest and biceps. His hands rose to brush his hair from his face, his muscles flexing, and their gazes tangled together.
He lowered his hands near hers, and then shot them out of the water in an instant. Water splashed her in the face.
Moment ruined.
“Chance!” Irritated, she swiped at her soggy hair, now drenched with water. “I wasn’t going to get my hair wet!”
“What?” He grinned when she splashed him back. “I was just helping.”
“So juvenile.” She stopped splashing him so she could dunk herself under the water and take care of the hair-in-her-face situation. When she surfaced, she found Chance watching her. A delicious shiver ran down her spine. She kicked away from him and swam toward the waterfall, needing some space.
Chance continued filming while she explored the lagoon. It was a beautiful area. There were a handful of other tourists swimming, but other than the furtive glances at Chance and the cameras, they left them alone.
Madelyn dove down into the clear water and opened her eyes. It was almost too dark to see anything but bubbles, but she felt like she’d entered another world. She swam closer to the waterfall, and felt the tugging of the current. She kicked up to head to the surface, but got spun around, disoriented. Her feet reached for the ground, but it was too deep. She swam upwards, then to the side, but didn’t know which way was up or down anymore. Her arms ached and her lungs burned. Panic tightened her chest as the urge to breathe increased.
Her mind bounced through a million thoughts, unable to settle on a solution as the water dragged her every which way. She flung her arms about for anything and briefly felt air against her fingertips before the current sucked her deeper into the water.
Chapter Thirteen
Chance saw Madelyn’s hand rise above the water before being dragged down again. His heart stopped. His arms cut through the water in quick strokes, eating up the distance between them.
Her hand shot out again, and he dove under the surface, finding her quickly. He wrapped his arms around her from behind, pulled her to the surface, and kicked to the side, away from the crosscurrent. Relief filled him as he felt her hands grip his arms.
She was alive. He had her.
He slipped his hold from around her waist to holding her close to his chest, one arm behind her back, the other beneath her legs. She curled her head onto him, her breathing wet and rapid.
“I’ve got you,” he said, rising out of the water and carrying her to one of the lounge chairs. He sat with Madelyn shivering in his lap and held her firmly to his chest to keep her warm.
“I saw her go down, but couldn’t get to her in time,” Rog said, his face pale. He’d jogged to them, Hannah close behind.
“Is she okay?” Hannah knelt down beside the chair and moved back some of Madelyn’s hair to see her face. “I think she’s in shock.”
“I’m fine,” Madelyn said, hardly able to get the words out past her shivering. “Just need some rest.”
>
“She needs a blanket,” Chance barked. “And something warm to drink.”
Rog ran one way while Hannah ran the other. Chance tightened his grip on Madelyn, resting his chin on the top of her head, and tried to infuse the warmth of his body into her.
“I didn’t realize it would drag me down,” she said, her voice stuttering.
“It happened so quickly.” Chance glanced over her body, wanting to make sure everything was okay. His gaze landed on her torn-up feet, swollen and red with broken blisters. He knew she was hurting, but hadn’t realized how bad.
She’d changed in so many ways, some of which were obvious as he held her so close, but in others, Madelyn was still the same. Never asking for help. Never wanting to be perceived as weak.
He hadn’t informed her they’d be doing such an intense hike, so there was no way she would have known she needed good shoes or socks. He should have told her all the details instead of playing coy for his own amusement. She needed better socks. Better shoes. Bandages and ointment. He should have known better.
Single mom. Working in a diner. It wasn’t like she had enough money to buy the things she needed at a second’s notice. He was often too hyper-focused and forgot small details, and this time Madelyn had been the casualty.
Madelyn coughed out some of the wetness in her lungs, and her breathing sounded normal again.
Rog came forward with a blanket and draped it over both of them. “How are you feeling?”
“I’m good,” Madelyn said weakly.
“No, you’re not,” Chance growled.
Madelyn pushed away from him, but he held her firmly. “Chance,” she said, annoyed.
“I’m carrying you back to your room.”
Take a Chance on Me_A My Heart Channel Romance Page 8
