Page 117 of The Au Pair Affair

That explanation brought her scattered thoughts screeching to a stop. “Wait. Hold on.” She brushed a look across the ample breadth of Burgess’s shoulders. “What is the weight limit for the harness?”

“Two seventy-five.”

“Wow.” Burgess gestured absently to himself. “Just about made the cutoff.”

Who had set Tallulah’s esophagus on fire? “Wait. Is it safe? For him, I mean?”

“Ialwaystriple-check the equipment.”

“Yes, but when was the last time you put someone his size on a zip line?”

Apollo laughed. “That would be never.”

“Burgess,” she breathed, narrowly avoiding a dramatic chest clutch.

Her former boss’s mouth kicked up at one end. “What, are youmybodyguard now?” He visibly hid his affection for her, stuffed it right down. “If something happens to me, you can have my sweatshirt collection, Tallulah.”

Heat blasted the backs of her eyes. “That isnotfunny.”

Burgess nodded at the harness Apollo held in his hands. “I’d like her to go first. I need to see for myself that she’s secure.”

“Well,Iwould like to wait for a bigger harness,” Tallulah said, crossing her arms. “For him.”

Apollo shook his head. “They don’t make them any bigger.”

Burgess winked at her. “Where have I heard that before?”

“Funny.” It was a weird place to be—trapped between tears and laughter. “I think I want him to go first. I won’t enjoy myself until I know he made it to the other side.”

Apollo’s head was moving on a swivel. “Why don’t we flip a coin?”

Tallulah calculated her odds of winning against Burgess’s stubborn nature versus her chances of winning against a coin. Fifty-fifty it was. “Fine, let’s flip,” Tallulah said, rocking side to side on the balls of her feet. “Tails I go first. Heads he goes first. Burgess, you have to abide by the outcome, though. Okay?”

A growl crackled in his throat. “The only reason I’m agreeing to a coin flip is that I’m equally unnerved by the cable. I can’t decide if it’s better to test the harness or the cable first to make sure you’re safe.”

Apollo threw up his hands. “I’m telling you, it’s safe!”

“I need to be positive when it comes to her.” Burgess tore his eyes off her with seeming difficulty, a line snapping in his cheek. “Flip it.”

The instructor produced a coin from his pocket, tossing it up into the air and smacking it down on his wrist. “Heads.”

Tallulah’s legs almost gave out.

The air became very thin around her. Was she making the right decision having him go first? Or should it be the other way around? Suddenly she wasn’t so sure.

Apollo was already holding open the harness for Burgess to step into, the beige strips of fabric cutting heavily into his muscled back. This was happening. She was going to have to watch Burgess sail down through the trees. And he was only there in the first place because of her. He wanted to prove he could be as adventurous as her. Wanted to prove they could work.

“Burgess, you don’t have to do this.”

“Yeah? I... think I want to.” He looked out at the horizon for a moment, before eliminating the gap between him and Tallulah, stopping before they could touch, but close enough that she could read a new determination dawning on his face. “No, I do. I want to. I think maybe if I’d lived more, experienced more, like you do, I wouldn’t have been so scared to lose hockey. I wouldn’t have thrown you out and ruined my—” He cut himself off with a clenched jaw. “You’re worried something is going to happen and you’ll be responsible, since you’re the reason I’m up here. Don’t be. I make my own decisions. I just wish I would have made the right ones sooner. I should have gone skinny dipping with you. I should have danced in the kitchen, no matter how bad it looked.” He swallowed, glancing back to watch Apollo tighten the final straps across his shoulders. “I might not have you anymore. I might have thrown away my chance, but I’mnotgoing to throw away the lesson you tried to teach me. If it’s the only piece of you I’m allowed, I’m keeping it.”

“All right, man,” Apollo said. “You’re double- and triple-checked. The harness is holding your weight just fine. You’regoing to lean back like you’re sitting in a chair. Hold on to the line, just like I showed you, and most importantly, enjoy yourself. My colleague, Ozzie, will be at the other side to help you get down—”

“Make sure Tallulah is secure before you let her go or you’ll wish you were never born, Apollo,” Burgess said, hitting the instructor with a death stare. And then he went.

He didn’t even let Apollo respond,he just went, his beautifully athletic body slicing through the misty air at what seemed like a thousand miles an hour over the lush rainforest—and the breath honestly just evaporated from her body, lungs filling with cement in her chest. Because it was the most painfully inconvenient moment to realize she was still wildly in love with the man. She hadn’t moved on at all, as she’d thought. She’d been existing, going through the motions, pretending not to look for his face in every crowd. Hadn’t she?

But his speech, followed by his pointed leap from the platform made it obvious that... nowhewas the one moving on. Out of respect for her wishes, her pain.

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