I try to breathe slow, focusing instead on the steady thrum of his pulse. I can feel his heartbeat, since my face is practically buried in the crook of his neck.
“You’re doing great,” he hums in my ear, not loud enough to be picked up by Jake’s mic. My skin prickles at the low murmur of his praise.
We glide down another five feet or so.
The lights flicker again.
“Cut!” Jake shouts.
Noah halts our progress. I open my mouth to call up to the crew, but then the lights flicker a third time. It’s followed by a strangezapsound.
Then, darkness.
Dangling halfway down a narrow, unlit alley, we don’t have the privilege of the city’s light pollution spreading out from all corners. I can barely see anything at all, other than the vague outline of Noah’s face.
“Must’ve blown a fuse,” he muses, much too casually. “Too much stuff plugged in.”
“You okay down there?” Lou calls down to us.
I look up at her, basically clinging to this man like a koala, but my face is too shrouded in shadow for her to catch theplease don’t enjoy this too muchwarning I want to communicate with my eyes.
“We’re fine!” Noah assures her. “Should we wait here, or…?”
“One sec!” Lou disappears again.
“It’s weird,” he says to me. “I was mostly being dramatic earlier when I mentioned the old wiring. Last month, we had a massive fan plugged in for PPV during a smoke training. It was totally fine.”
There’s some rustling around above us, but Noah holds us firm, twenty feet below the ledge. I breathe in the scent of him, pleased to discover that his cologne is a lot more tasteful than what most guys his age might choose. But, mixed with his natural musk and a hint of sweat, I’m going a little dizzy in his arms.
Not necessarily in a bad way.
“This is cozy, at least,” Noah muses, clearly trying to keep things light.
Lou’s shape reappears a moment later. “Jake’s trying to figure it out, but I think you should just rappel the rest of the way downand meet us back up here. If we need to schedule a reshoot somewhere else, it’s not the end of the world.”
At least one person at Hartstrings is easygoing.
“You got it!” he calls back. Then, for me alone, he whispers, “Into the dark we go, Blondie.”
“What if there are rats down there?”
“Rats go where the food is. These alleys have been swept to clear debris for training exercises.”
“If you say so.”
And we glide down farther. He doesn’t seem to have any problem navigating in the darkness, though, moving as though he could run this scenario in his sleep. In fact, he probably could.
While the others deliberate at the top and the shadows slowly consume me and Noah, it suddenly feels like we’re the only two people in the world. It’s quieter down here. Colder, too. I shiver a little in his arms.
His breath ghosts across my cheek. “It wasn’t so bad, was it?”
“Not at all.” I realize it’s the truth. “I’d dive into the dark anytime with you, Lieutenant.”
Noah chuckles. “That’s sweet.”
There’s a subtle jolt as Noah readjusts the belay before allowing more rope to feed into it.
“That’s me. Sweet as…”
