Page 5 of Obsessed and Naughty Mountain Man

Her fear disobeys her. She tucks instead of grabbing. I drop the belay line and catch her before the crash pad can. That's a move that goes against every climbing standard I live by, but desire makes us do crazy things, doesn't it? Besides, she wasn’t nearly as high up as she thought.

Luna gasps in my arms like she’s still falling, kicking her feet and squealing until she finally realizes that I'm laughing and she's safe.

"Not funny! I just fell like fifty feet!"

"Try twelve, Luna. I don't think I could've caught you if you fell fifty feet."

She looks up to where she was on the boulder. "Are you sure you don't have superhuman strength? It sure felt like fifty feet… I guess it doesn't look so high from down here..."

"Man, you weren't lying about your fear of heights."

"I have trouble climbing the ladder in the stacks." She blushes. "The fifth shelf is so high!"

"Like fifty feet high?"

She smiles shyly. "Not funny..."

Neither of us seems to think it strange that I'm still holding her in my arms. My fingers dig a little deeper into her thigh. Luna's mouth hangs slightly open, teeth just grazing her lower lip.

“So, what do you think?” I ask.

“I think you’re crazy for loving this.”

“Ready to go again?”

“Nope.” She shakes her head and nestles deeper into my arms. “You said try itonce. I tried it. My heart can only take so much.”

Her heart isn’t the only one that’s strained.

A strap on her sporty top has slid down her shoulder, and I find myself desperate to get her out of the harness and keep on stripping her down until there’s nothing left. I could take her right here on the crash pad. Fuck, maybe I should have shoved her against the bookshelf yesterday in the library…

If I don't put her down immediately, that boulder won't be the only rock-hard thing around here.

I gently sit her down on the crash pad, clear my throat, and avert my gaze. "Anyway, that was a good first try. You took a leap. Getting over that initial fear is half the battle."

Maybe I should take my own advice...

All the tension in my body makes me want to move. If I'm not going to spend all this energy on her, then I have to expel it somewhere.

I crack my neck and stretch my arms, plotting my route up the boulder. "Ready to see how it's done?"

"Do you need me to do the belay thing? I don't think I'm ready for that..."

I take off my shirt, chalk up my hands, and smile at Luna over my shoulder. "Watch this."

Three steps and a leap. My fingers find their holds. Already, I'm leaving the ground behind.

Momentum takes me. I find a familiar rhythm that leaves no room for hesitation or active thought. Every decision is made at some instinctive level. The boulder is a path I easily travel.

The entire time, Luna occupies my mind. Every handhold becomes a curve of her voluptuous body. I grip and grab greedily. I claw at the boulder as viciously as I want to sear her pale flesh.

My breath heightens.

My forearms and legs burn.

But I keep going. Keep climbing as if I'm in those final desperate moments of holding this extreme pace until I bring her over the edge and hear her scream my name.

When I reach the top, Luna is clapping and cheering.

---