Chapter one
Sixteen years ago, Seattle: Tabitha
Tabitha’sheartdrummedintime to the roar of the boisterous crowd. The echoes bounced from surface to surface in the gym. Hearing her name amidst the cheers imbued her with determination. And while she couldn’t tell the difference between her pulse and the chants, she was certain both were to blame for the rattling in her ribcage.
She smiled, filled with bursting love and joy, a sensation that had been altogether foreign in her twenty-two years of life. But she felt it now. From the tips of her toes crammed into her too-tight shoes to the harness cinched snuggly around her hips up to her perfectly woven French braid. In her soul she knew the truth.
Regardless of the outcome of the final qualifier, she had already won.
Even if she had one more person to beat: Sanara Preston. Arguably the strongest female climber competing for the run at the national circuit that year. Her speed and agility were unmatched.
Typically.
Tabitha had trained especially hard the last year, meticulously adhering to her diet, learning to focus her attention and categorize movements in the blink of an eye. She ate, slept, and breathed climbing. Her time had been spent on the crag, reading about the crag, and visualizing the crag.
Or rather, it had been up until four weeks ago.
Now, she had one more glorious factor on her side.
Love.
Not the conditional kind that her parents smothered her with while spouting platitudes like, “Do it again; it wasn’t perfect enough” or “You’ll thank us for this later.”
This love was different. It was the kind of adoration that lifted her up. She felt so buoyant and light in the glowy haze of new love that she swore it’d be possible to float to the top of the next route without even touching the wall.
“I love you, Tabby cat.”
The delicious abrasion of his raspy voice had caused a wash of goose bumps to splash over her skin last night just as it did now. Peace overtook her, bolstered by the previous night’s lovemaking and the consuming sleep that followed. She could still smell his orange and aloe scent. Taste the sweet heat of his mouth after sharing a mug of hot chocolate. Feel his strong, calloused fingers as he explored her body.
“You seem extra chipper today.” Sanara’s sassy tease caused Tabitha’s neck to warm.
“I’m not usually chipper?” she responded, knowing full well what had altered her mood, yet unwilling to give anything away.
Her opponent chuckled low in her throat as she finished tucking the bow of her laces into her shoes. “No.”
“Rude,” Tabitha said with mock offense then bit her lip to reign in the foolish grin.
“We’ve climbed together for the better part of twelve years, and this is the first time you don’t seem to have a stick up your butt right before a qualifier.”
“Double rude,” Tabitha guffawed. “Maybe I found another way to focus.”
“I bet you did.” Sanara’s words trailed off as her coach arrived for a few final words of wisdom.
Minutes later, a whistle sounded and both women strode out to face the crowd while keeping their backs to the imposing climbing wall they’d soon be rocketing up.
Tabitha hated speed climbing. She was a preparer. She thrived on knowing information ahead of time and formulating a strategy. And while the bouldering and sport climb events didn’t provide much time to eye up a route before starting, there was still enough to devise a plan of attack. Whereas she and Sanara wouldn’t know a damn thing about the route until the buzzer sounded and the clock began. And even then, it wasdon’t think, just go.
And for once, the lack of a plan didn’t bother Tabitha because at that moment, because of him, she knew she could succeed at anything.
Even after demanding her parents back off.
Even after announcing this was her last year of competing.
Even though she had no definitive plan going forward.
She had him, and with him, she was capable of anything.
Barely noticing the event staff hooking the auto belay onto her harness, she surveyed the swarm of bodies ahead of her: friends, family members, and climbing fans. But she struggled to locate a specific set of deep brown eyes in the mass. Her heart stumbled, and the rosy bubble she’d woken up in tightened slightly around her.
