Page 65 of Hot SEAL, Under Pressure

It turned out Model Walk Barbie, who’d just gone before her, had no upper body strength. Her slow struggle to climb the ladder put her way behind everyone else’s time who’d gone before.

Shelly would be the last contestant in this challenge. Not a bad place to be. She knew what time she had to beat. And if she plummeted to her death, at least they had the footage for the day already shot before the police shut the set down.

In the most shocking episode of the season, tragedy strikes…

Pushing that morbid thought out of her mind, she pulled herself up onto the platform and fought the light-headed sensation the height caused.

Stefan wasn’t up there with her this time. He was right below, waiting for her down on the ground. She glanced down to find him and the reality of the height hit her. Hard.

She froze, wasting precious time she should be using doing what he’d told her.

What was that again? Right hand, left hand? No. Strong hand, weak hand. Or was it weak hand, then strong hand?

“Shell! You got this.” Stefan’s firm, loud voice seemed as much a command as an encouragement.

It was enough to knock her out of her stupor.

“Here goes nothing,” she said to herself aloud since no one else was there to talk to.

She tugged on the gloves that Stefan had tucked into belt and reached way out to grab the rope, realizing how far it was. Last time he’d handed it to her.

Swallowing hard, she leaned out over the abyss, planted her hands and feet on the rope, and down she went, sliding fast until her hands felt the heat through the gloves.

She wanted to slow down. She wanted this to be finished more. Before she knew it her feet hit the ground and then her butt until she was sitting on the sand still clinging to the rope between her legs.

It didn’t matter. She was down. She was safe.

With a whoop, Stefan was next to her, hauling her up and against his hard body. She was so happy this was done, she threw her arms around his neck, then jumped up and wrapped her legs around his waist.

He spun them around but she was already dizzy so it didn’t matter. “You did it! And you beat Slow Poke Barbie’s time.”

She was giddy. Laughing while clinging to Stefan. Riding an adrenaline high.

Then she noticed the cameras. More than one, closing in around them. Circling them like sharks.

She unwrapped her legs from around him as he set her down. Once her feet hit the ground the two of them quickly broke apart.

Glancing behind her, she found Clay and Tasha, along with the rest of the cast and crew.

“Where are we doing the elimination ceremony?” she asked, like she hadn’t just been climbing Stefan like a monkey up a tree.

Like she hadn’t been ready to do a whole lot more with him.

She glanced at him now and saw something in his eyes. Desire?

What did he see in hers? Desire or mania? Probably mix of both.

“We’re going to meet up by the start of the course,” Jonas finally answered her question.

“Good. Good. Let’s get this done.” She nodded and glanced back at Stefan. “Coming?”

He drew in a breath and bobbed his head. “Yup.”

She barely made it through the elimination ceremony without reaching out to touch him.

He stood close to her. So close she could feel the heat radiating off his skin. So close, he could probably feel her body vibrating.

It barely registered when Tasha and Clay announced the next challenge for the following day—sharp shooting. Easy. It didn’t entail her leaving solid ground so she was good.

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