Page 44 of Prove You Wrong

‘I had no idea it was going to be this … ’

‘Beautiful,’ I finish for both of us.

‘Mmm.’ Nate’s groan reverberates through me and, suddenly, I wish I was the cause of his humming.

Turning around, I realise Nate’s extremely close. The platform is so narrow, I can’t help but be pushed up against him. Carefully, he draws his arm around me and reaches up. For a moment, I’m convinced he’s going to kiss me and my eyes fall to his lips. My pulse quickens at the anticipation of feeling his mouth on mine again. The mouth that’s currently quirking into a smile, suddenly shining brilliantly at me. Then I register the click from where he’s just flicked my head torch on.

‘There you go. That’ll help you see where to step but won’t ruin the illuminations. I’m going to turn mine on next, so you might want to face the other way to save your eyes.’

As I turn back to face the front, a flush of embarrassment runs through me. I’d given Nate shit about him being a bad influence with only one thing on his mind, and here I am, minutes into our first date, thinking about sucking his face off.

Determined to regain my dignity, I mentally brush myself off and say, ‘Let’s do this.’

I unclip my carabiner and clip on again past the junction. Nate follows, his presence reassuring. The cable the trolley is linked on to leads us around to a rope bridge, and a series of planks suspended through the air disappears in front of me. The beam from my helmet falls over the first plank and disappears into darkness below.

Taking a deep breath, I remind myself this is a business built on people having fun, safe experiences, so really, there’s nothing to worry about.

But my blood pressure is off the charts, along with my anxiety.

The rope feels rough in my hands and I brace myself as I step out onto the first plank. It sways, but it’s nothing I can’t handle. With my head torch shining on my trainers, I inch forwards.

‘That’s it.’ Nate encourages from behind.

Once I’ve cleared the first plank and I’m onto the second, he calls out, ‘You’ve got it.’

I turn back to shoot him a grin and watch him nimbly bound onto the first plank.

Buoyed by realising I haven’t fallen, I quicken my pace and work my way across the bridge, clipping and unclipping my carabiner as I get onto the platform.

‘Nice work.’ Nate’s voice is close to my ear as he joins me and I wonder if he can see me glow.

There’s no balustrade, so taking a firm grip of the tree trunk our platform is fixed to, I peer over the edge to the forest floor. Below us, a scene of two large deer and a fawn grazing is laid out with white and gold lights.

‘That’s adorable,’ I murmur.

‘Adorable.’ Nate pretends to take note of my feedback. ‘Now, are you referring to the scenery or your instructor?’

‘Very cute,’ I reply dryly.

‘Again, the animals or … ’

I go to swat at his arm but misjudge my aim and wobble with a squawk.

Steady hands grab onto me. ‘You’re okay. I won’t let anything happen to you.’

He’s pulled me in close, words hot on my cheek.

He keeps a tight hold for a beat longer than necessary beforeletting me go. ‘You alright?’

‘I’m okay.’ It’s not a lie but the swirl of feelings I’m having couldn’t really be described as okay.

Finally doing something formeis exciting. The high ropes are electrifying. Terrifying. And spending time with this sinfully hot guy is provoking in the best way.

Deep breath, Ella.

‘Right, what’s next?’ My voice doesn’t betray my lack of composure.

We whizz our trolleys around to the next junction. Ahead of us are suspended tree trunk slices, like stepping stones, weaving out into the night.

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