Why the hell was he about to mess with that?
“I’m not sure I want to do this anymore,” he muttered.
“Sometimes it helps not to look down,” said the guy, holding the back of Cody’s harness. “Take as much time as you need to make up your mind.”
Cody looked up at Tia. Her head was tipped, trying to decipher the conversation. “You know what?” he said to the guide. “I’ve already made up my mind.”
“You serious?” the guy asked.
Cody kept his gaze on Tia. In the last few weeks she’d been every bit the woman he’d admired on the river—strong, passionate, sharp—and so much more. They’d talked late into the night, laughed a lot, even cried... “Very serious.”
“You’re not gunna jump?”
“I’m not gonna jump.”
As he stepped back onto the bridge, unbound, Tia hurried up. “What happened?”
“Suddenly I just didn’t see the point.”
She smiled, her lip gloss catching the sun, making her even more kissable, if that were possible. “Was there ever a point?”
“I once thought so. But I just realized...there’s no reward anymore, in any of this.” He waved at the plank. “I’ve been taking all these risks and if I fail, the consequences are dire. But if I succeed I just end up back at the beginning, looking for the next quick thrill. So no, there’s really no point.”
She slipped her hand into his and squeezed. “Congratulations. I think you just grew up.”
He pulled a strand of hair from her lip gloss and planted a kiss. She tasted like candy, and smelled like clean air and distant snow. “I thought all thiswasmy way of dealing with it, of living with it. But it’s just another way of running.”
“I did wonder if it was about that.”
“I think you said as much but I needed to figure it out for myself.” He took her other hand. “Right now, there’s only one risk I want to take and it scares the life out of me, more than jumping off a damn platform or hurtling down a river.” He looked at their hands. Sonowthe adrenaline charged in his veins. What was with that? “Except with this risk, if I succeed I might actually get somewhere in life, something might change for the better—which makes a hell of a lot more sense.”
He lifted his gaze. The breeze had blown her hair back onto her lips.
“I’m really not following,” she said. “What risk are you talking about?”
“It involves you and a plane.”
“You want me to take you stunt flying?”
“No, ma’am.”
“Gliding?”
“No, ma’am.”
“I amnotskydiving.”
He cleared his throat. “My big risk is...asking you to come with me tomorrow.”
Her smile melted.
“This is gonna sound silly, but I’m thinking maybe Zack brought me here to meet you so I could move on, live again. Maybe he was sick of me and my stupid death wish.”
“Oh God, don’t make me cry.”
He brought their hands up to bridge the gap between them. Her eyes glistened, which kicked him in the chest. “I don’t want you to cry. I want you to say yes.”
“Cody, I...”
