Everything ached. Her sore muscles felt like the hour before the flu set in. She knew she wasn’t sick, unless being heartbroken counted as an illness. No, there was only one cause and every time his face popped into her head, she blinked it out again.
She straddled the bench and put her hands on her thighs to stand up. A movement about twenty feet down caught her attention. She looked over, expecting to see another Cub Scout group.
Mitch stood there. Well, not really stood. He leaned against the tree with an arm wrapped around his stomach.
She blinked a few times, waiting for him to disappear. When he didn’t, she called out his name. “Mitch?”
His head popped up and his body swayed. “There you are.”
Her anger faded to be replaced by concern. She ran down to him. And helped balance his back against a tree. “What happened to you?”
If she didn’t know better, she’d say he’d been mauled by a bear. His clothes weren’t torn but he’d looked like he’d survived a pummeling from some creature with claws and sharp teeth.
He leaned his head against the thick trunk and closed his eyes. “Been trying to find you. Darla said you told her you were coming here. Tried to find the best way up and the lady down there told me this was an easy trail.”
If it were a ski slope, it would be whatever was easier than bunny, but Cassidy didn’t share that fact. “You walked up here willingly?”
She remembered his overreaction to the ladder and all that talk about gravity. The color had left his face and despite the cool day, the neck and armholes of his shirt were soaked with sweat. The man could bench press her without trouble, so she knew this wasn’t a fitness issue. His fear of heights had him all wobbly.
“We need to get you down,” she said, hoping he didn’t pass out on the way. He outweighed her by a decent amount and getting him to the bottom would not be easy.
“No.”
She’d cajole and convince, but first she had to make sure he didn’t dehydrate. She took her water bottle out of her safety belt and put it to his mouth. “Drink.”
“Only if you come away from the edge.”
She was five feet from the fence and already on top of him, so she didn’t bother moving. “Okay.”
She would have said anything to get him stabilized. After a few swallows of water he opened his eyes again. The blue looked cloudy but the white-sheet coloring of his face had faded to chalk. She doubted he’d be back to normal until she got him back down but she’d settle for any color outside of the white family.
The bigger question was what had brought him up there in the first place. “I’m not sure you coming up here was a good idea.”
“Had to.” Strength returned to his voice. “Had to come find you.”
Hope bounced around in her stomach but she tried to crush it out. “Why?”
“I was an idiot.”
She knew when he meant and had called him worse all day. “No arguments here.”
He lifted away from the trunk by inches. When his head didn’t bobble, he pushed off and stood only slightly bent forward, which was ten times better than where he was a few minutes ago. “I took it all out on you.”
“What?”
“My experience with women. Having Susan walk away, looking for something better than me. Listening to my mother talk about the life she should have had. It all backed up on me until—”
But he wasn’t admitting to the sin that nearly killed her. Cassidy struggled to say the words. “You started believing the crap people were saying about me.”
“No.” He shook his head but quickly stopped then swallowed three times. “I admit I let a trickle of doubt in, but I know you.”
The sentiment was nice and the gesture more endearing than she thought possible, but Cassidy had enough trouble fighting off her past without taking on his. She could work with him and support him, but she wouldn’t be blamed for things she didn’t do. Not anymore.
“It’s sweet you came up here.” Kind of sexy too, even though he looked about a step away from falling down.
“Sweet? Woman, I almost died.”
The news sent fear racing through her. “When?”
He swept one arm out to the side while the other hand gripped the tree. “Look out there. It’s dangerous. Anyone could slip or get too close and go right over the side. I can’t even believe this place is open to the public.”
She glanced at the couple walking with their kids in backpacks but decided not to point them out. Mitch was on a roll and she let him go.
Well, not without hitting a few points. “It’s a park.”
“More like a death trap.”
She did laugh then. She had to. He was so serious, his anger so real and out of control.
“You think this is funny? I almost threw up.”
She bit her bottom lip to keep from laughing. “You did?
“I had to leave the trail.” He sounded like he was blaming her for that.
“So, you actually did throw up?”
“Gagged.”
The poor thing really did hate heights. “Oh.”
He actually growled. “Twice.”
She thought about him doubled over. She viewed him as so strong and in control. It must have killed him to lose it…literally. “Really?”
“The third time was because I swallowed a bug.”
She covered her laugh with a cough. Since he aimed a deadly glare in her direction, she guessed she’d failed in the subterfuge department.
It was hard to believe just a few seconds ago everything seemed so dark, despite the bright sunshine. Just seeing him, even in this sorry state, sent a burst of light flashing through her. She felt the lightness. Fought back her love for him.
“You clearly hate this.”
He loosened his death grip on the tree but didn’t wander any closer to the middle of the path. “Leaving the ground? Yes.”
Since he had stopped shouting, she also decided not to point out they were on the ground. “I’m going to ask again. Why are you here?”
His eyebrows snapped together. “Why do you think?”
“To apologize.” She was about to use the word sweet again when he snarled.
“No.”
Her heart clenched. “No?”
“Because I love you.” The words snapped out of him like an accusation.
To her they meant everything. Her heart thundered back to life. Every cell inside her snapped to alert. She wanted to believe, to throw her arms around him and kiss the air back into his lungs. She wanted to make promised and ask him when he knew.
She wanted it all, but her emotions had been bouncing around with his mood for the last two days. Opening her heart again and letting her mind believe terrified her.
“You do?”
His eyes bugged out. “Why do you think I would risk my life and gag on my breakfast to crawl up here?”
She really hoped he hadn’t crawled but a quick check of his jeans showed dirt all over his knees. “It’s hard to take your words seriously when you’re yelling at me.”
He fell back against the tree and held a hand out to her. She grabbed onto it like it was a lifeline. In a way, it was.
He dragged her body between his legs and balanced his hands on her hips. “I was a jerk. What I felt for you, it hit me out of nowhere. I didn’t expect it, didn’t really want it.”
“Thanks.” But she knew what he meant. It slapped her too.
He dropped his forehead to her shoulder and placed a small kiss there. “When it came at me and you got into my head and my heart, I panicked. I wanted to push you out before you hurt me.”
“So, you hurt me first.”
He looked up with sadness washing over his face. “Damn, hon. I’m sorry.”
She knew he was. She could hear it and fell it. Just as she knew he loved her. For a man who couldn’t get on a stepladder to climb up a mountain, that had to be love.
She brought his mouth down to hers. With her lips over
hers, she whispered her pledge. “I didn’t expect to love you but I know I won’t stop.”
“I can’t promise I won’t try to protect you, but I will listen and believe in you. Your dreams are my dreams now.”
She kissed him then. Their mouths met in a promise of love and devotion. The longer it went on, the more his strength returned. By the end he was standing straight up and some color had returned to his cheeks.
He rubbed his nose against hers. “I love you. Please come home.”
Everything she’d ever needed and never knew she wanted loomed just out of reach. She would love him forever. When times got tough, she’d remember seeing that ghostly white face and knowing what it took him to come for her.
But he needed to know one more thing. “About those dreams?”
“Uh-huh.” The wariness moved through his voice.
“I realized what I want to do when I grow up.”
“Am I going to like this?” He didn’t smile and his voice stayed somewhat flat.
“Not even a little.”
“Terrific.”
“Be a climbing guide. Not high and never far from home. But I can build a business taking people on various trails and showing them what I love about this area. Maybe go on a bigger climb away from West Virginia once a year.” She closed one eye and waited for the explosion.
When he didn’t say anything for a few seconds, panic curled through her. She might have reached too far. Asked for that one thing too many. Maybe you only got one—a business or private life.
“Then I guess you better teach me those techniques you mentioned for handling heights.” That dimpled smile flashed. “Because there is no way I’m letting you leave me behind.”
“Really?”
“I’m up here, aren’t I?”
Hope and love and more happiness than she had ever known mixed inside her. “I’ll never leave you.”
He gave her a quick kiss and leaned back against the tree again. “We have a lot to discuss, after about three days lounging in bed and locked in the house away from the gossip crap. But first, you need to get me down.”
His list sounded perfect. She kissed him then. Gentle and sweet because she needed him focused as they descended. “I’ll take you wherever you want to go.”
He pulled her in closer. “I’m counting on that.”
* * * * *
About the Author
Bestselling and award-winning author HelenKay Dimon spent twelve years in the most unromantic career ever—divorce lawyer. After dedicating all of that effort to helping people terminate relationships, she is thrilled to deal in happy endings and write romance novels for a living. Her books have been featured in Cosmopolitan magazine and E! Online. Even better, she hasn’t had to buy panty hose in four years.
HelenKay loves hearing from her readers. You can visit her at her website: www.helenkaydimon.com.
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ISBN: 978-14268-9451-0
Copyright © 2012 by HelenKay Dimon
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