Page 20 of Obsessed and Naughty Mountain Man

I move without speaking, taking shallow breaths as I repeat the steps I took for my climb to get secured. Once I’m in, I rejoin him at the tree.

He’s moving like a man on a mission, like nothing can stop him.

“I can repel on my own, and the tree will hold our weight once I’ve got him. But when I call out, you need to help me get back up.”

I find myself being hooked into the anchor end. Lucas puts part of the line in my hand, then guides my other hand to the knot on my harness.

“This is the motion. Lean back. Pull. Lock. Lean back. Pull. Lock.”

He works me through it, giving me a crash course in inching a ton of weight back up the cliff and holding their progress. Withhow he’s rigged it, the carabiners will hold the tension once a length is pulled.

“Put your feet here.” He moves me to a rock facing the cliff’s edge. “Leverage. Get low. Anchor yourself. Wait for my word.”

Is this really about to happen? How the hell did I just become part of a rescue mission?

Words float like ghosts from my lips, “I don’t think I can do this…”

“You have to.Wehave to.”

He takes my face in his hands and smiles.

“You can do anything, Luna.”

To supplement my lover’s faith, the injured man cries out for us.

My whole body nods and keeps on nodding. “OK. All right. Go.”

Without another word, Lucas steps backward off the cliff. It takes far too long for me to realize that the line is moving and he didn’t just fall to his death.

I wait.

The sun feels abnormally hot, breathing down on me. Sweat beads on my face but I ignore it. I don’t move my hands from the positions Lucas put them in.

Finally, I hear his voice climb over the cliff. “Bring us up!”

Lean back.

Pull.

Lock.

With all that weight on the other end, my muscles strain with pain I didn’t know existed. The line goes so taut in my hand that it feels like it’ll tear through me. But the leverage works, I stay low and lean as far as I can. With Lucas working on the other end, slow progress is made until the rope suddenly goes slack and I fall flat on my ass.

I look up to find Lucas and the man safely on solid ground.

“Where’s it hurt, sir? Your leg? I’m gonna roll you to check for wounds, all right?” Lucas throws me a thumbs up before moving the man and receiving an earful in return.

We get a makeshift tourniquet around his battered leg.

Lucas ensures the man that he’s going to be just fine, smiling at me and giving me my next set of instructions.Take the keys. You know the way back.Drive down until you have reception, call 911 and let them know where we are. He needs an airlift.

I get out of the harness and grab the keys from his pack, still out of breath. My arms are so exhausted that they feel like noodles. Adrenaline keeps me moving.

Before I start back toward the trail, Lucas grabs me by my shorts and says, “You got this, baby. I trust you.”

The hunky adventurer I found on the floor of my library is staring at me like I’m his hero. Without a second thought, he trusted me to be a part of his team, to put a man’s life in my hands.

He pushed me to new heights.

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