“Whose dog?” Nicole asked.
“Mark found her out in the woods yesterday,” Jessica told her.
Her sister’s eyebrows rose. “And what were you doing in the woods with Mark yesterday?”
“Scouting who gets to use which parts of our new land.”And kissing.If she was lucky, she wouldn’t even run into him here tonight. The property was huge, after all.
“You guys have tickets already?” Trent asked.
“Yeah, nine o’clock,” Jessica told him.
“Oh yeah, I see your names.” He pulled off two orange wristbands and handed them to Jessica and Nicole. “Have fun, ladies. It’s a screamin’ good time out there.”
“That’s what we’re counting on,” Nicole told him with a smile.
There weren’t any spooky sounds on the breeze as they walked across the lawn, following the arrows that guided them toward the first zip-line platform. No cheesy Halloween props in the yard either. The night was cool and clear, the moon bright overhead. In the distance, something flashed deep in the woods, and Jessica jumped in spite of herself.
Then she grinned. Yep, this was going to be fun. She and Nicole climbed the steps to the first platform, and a figure stepped out of the darkness, standing silently before them. The hairs on Jessica’s arms rose, and her heart beat faster, but not out of fear. Somehow, even in the pitch dark, her body recognized Mark’s.
A thin, green beam of light pierced the night as he gestured them forward. She hung back, letting Nicole go first. By the flashes of green light, she saw him strapping her sister into the harness for her zip-line ride, and if she hadn’t known him so well, she had to admit it would have been a little freaky, this tall, silent man, dressed all in black, fastening their harnesses.
After he had secured Nicole’s harness, he turned to Jessica. Even in the darkness, their gazes clashed and held, and her body started to sizzle from the inside out. Then his hands were on her as he slid the harness over her legs and around her waist, and even though he worked completely professionally, she couldn’t help remembering the way he’d grabbed her ass yesterday, how he’d pressed her against him until she’d almost gone off like a rocket right there in his arms, fully clothed.
But equally seared into her brain was the way he’d shut down afterward. Shut her out. The heat that swept through her then had a lot more to do with wanting to kick his ass than wanting to kiss him.
He cinched the harness tight around her and then turned back to Nicole, clipping her harness onto the line overhead, “Put your hands here.” He indicated a handle above Nicole’s head. “And keep them there until you’ve landed on the next platform. You can kick off whenever you’re ready. Try not to scream.”
Nicole gave him a funny look before kicking off into the night, screaming as she went. Which left Jessica alone on the platform with Mark. In the dark. Her heart felt like it might pound right out of her chest.
He said nothing, just a shadowy figure in the darkness.
“You kept her,” she said finally, unable to help herself.
“The shelter was closed.”
“It was open today.”
“I brought her in before work. They scanned her for a chip, told me they were already overcrowded, so I offered to keep her until her family shows up to claim her.”
“And if they don’t?” She spoke so quietly she was almost whispering. Something about being up here in the dark with him felt way too cozy. Somehow, his voice sounded even sexier when she couldn’t see the rest of him. And she was furious with herself for still wanting to kiss him.
He didn’t answer her question. “You’re up,” he said instead, gesturing toward the zip-line.
“Right.” She stepped forward, watching as he clipped her to the line. Then she kicked off from the platform, soaring into the darkness after her sister.
***
Stifling a scream, Jessica whooshed through the night. Something that felt an awful lot like an enormous spiderweb smacked her in the face while a pair of eerie red eyes glowed in the darkness nearby. She sped on through the darkened forest. A light strobed, illuminating a ghoulish scene to her left. As she watched, a blood-spattered monster lunged toward her. Shrieking, she recoiled, swinging on the line as it carried her farther into the night. A glowing ghost fluttered by overhead, and then she was approaching the landing platform, lit by a sliver of moonlight. She lifted her feet as the line slowed, bringing her in for her landing.
An arm reached out of the darkness, groping at her, and she yelped, skittering sideways even as she heard Nicole’s laughter somewhere nearby. A teenager, dressed all in black as Mark had been, unclipped her from the line and motioned for her to join her sister in the center of the platform.
Behind them, the line whirred again, and then Mark swung onto the platform. On cue, the teenager attached himself to the next line and whizzed off into the darkness.
“That was so great!” Nicole said, her voice hushed. “And we still have four more lines to go.”
“Yes.” Jessica felt a warm tingle pass over her skin as Mark came to stand beside her, followed by the all-too-familiar desire to kick him in the shins. She was glad for the darkness hiding the tension between them tonight. He seemed as calm and closed off as ever, but she wasn’t nearly that unaffected—or as good at hiding her feelings—and she was certain her eyes had to be spitting red sparks in his direction every time she looked at him.
Mark’s phone blipped, letting him know his employee had arrived at the next platform so he stepped forward and attached Nicole to the line. She whooped as she soared off into the night. A few seconds later, she screamed.
