Page 53 of Read Between The Lines

I stared up at the fifteen-foot wooden fence in front of me.

‘I can’t see any hand holds on it, can you?’

Leo put his hands on his hips. ‘Nope, that looks pretty smooth to me. Perhaps we should try another approach. If I squat against the fence, you can clamber up my legs, then onto my shoulders, then I’ll stand and you should be able to get to the top that way.’

I blinked. Using Leo as a human climbing frame could get me into all kinds of trouble.

‘Maybe if I take a bit of a run at the fence,’ I said, pretending I hadn’t heard his suggestion. The speed technique had seemed to work for the guy to my left who had leapt over the barrier with the elegance and ease of Spiderman.

‘Be my guest,’ said Leo taking a step back and crossing his arms across his chest as he surveyed me. ‘I’ll enjoy this,’ I thought I heard him add under his breath. I shot him an annoyed glance to which he responded with an expression of offended innocence.

I walked a few paces away and once again stared at the fence.

‘They wouldn’t have put it there if it wasn’t possible to get over it,’ I told myself. I managed to overpower Leo during our self-defence class; I could do anything I put my mind to.

I charged forward, at a pace I hadn’t used since my one and only time as a member of my school’s relay race team, and then flung myself at the fence. In my head, I’d seen myself effortlessly darting up the side like a parkour specialist, gripping the top, then climbing over with ease, with Leo applauding admiringly from afar, regretting that he’d ever doubted me.

What actually happened was that I went splat against the fence like a fly against a windscreen, emitted a strangled cry that went something like ‘Nrfghhhh’ and then fell backwards into Leo’s arms. In truth, saying I fell into Leo’s arms makes it sound much more elegant and ladylike than it was. In reality, I thumped into him with all the grace of a bag of potatoes, completely knocking the wind out of him and causing him to stumble and fall backwards onto the ground with me sprawled out on top.

Leo let out a similar noise to the cry I’d made when I hit the obstacle. I twisted round so I was facing him.

‘Oh my goodness, I’m so sorry. Are you okay?’

When he didn’t answer, I decided to check for a pulse, then ran my hands gently over his face as I continued my efforts to find any sign of life. Why hadn’t I paid more attention in the library first aid session?

‘Leo, can you hear me?’

I moved my ear to his mouth, straining to hear the sound of him breathing.

‘I must say that’s an unusual approach to delivering the kiss of life,’ said Leo, his words sounding more laboured than usual.

‘Are you okay?’ I asked urgently.

He finally opened his eyes and looked at me.

‘When they advertised the obstacle course as a way of getting to know other people, I hadn’t envisaged we’d end up becoming quite so closely acquainted with each other.’

I suddenly became hyper-aware of our position. It was like being back in the gym, only this time our positions were reversed. My boobs were crushed against the hard planes of his chest, my hands braced either side of his head, while my legs were wrapped around his waist. I tried to steer my mind away from the close proximity of other parts of our anatomy, but it seemed irritatingly reluctant to obey my orders. My breathing grew unsteady. I really hoped Leo attributed that to my fall rather than anything else.

I cleared my throat and tried to roll to the side, but I hadn’t thought through the move properly and ended up taking Leo with me as my legs were still wrapped around him.

‘You have quite the grip,’ he said gruffly.

‘Sorry, really sorry,’ I said, awkwardly trying to disentangle myself but making things a whole lot worse. I prayed he couldn’t feel how rapidly my pulse was going.

Somewhere in the distance, I thought I heard someone wolf-whistle at us, followed by the sound of a camera shutter firing rapidly.

‘I think we might be about to become the poster children for this event,’ said Leo. I could feel the rumble of his laughter against my stomach.

‘Can this get any more humiliating?’ I groaned. With one last effort, I managed to extricate myself from our compromising position and rolled onto my back so we were lying side by side.

‘I can finally breathe again,’ said Leo, throwing his arms out. One of his hands ended up resting casually on my stomach in a manner which just felt right. ‘Shall we stay here like this for the rest of the event? It’s pretty comfortable.’

But before I could answer his question or wonder more about the meaning behind it, I heard it: an unmistakably familiar voice. Only instead of being used to leave a seductive voice note full of fake declarations of devotion, this time it sounded strident as it urged someone to use their upper body strength to haul themselves up the fence we’d just failed to get over.

‘Brian James!’

ChapterTwenty-One

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