“Where’s the fun in that—following the same path everyone else does?”
Michael leaned forward and peered up the rock in time to see the dumbass shoot Amanda a cocky grin before ignoring everything she’d said. Amanda opened her mouth, presumably to correct him again, but closed it without speaking. Instead, she braced herself at the bottom of the pitch and started taking up the slack in the rope. He took a step toward her, but there wasn’t really anything he could do to help. If Ethan fell, she was prepared to catch him.
Michael would only get in the way, but instead of relaxing back against the warm rock wall, he kept his gaze fixed on the man above them. Ethan stretched his body up the rock face, using none of the grace he’d seen Amanda use. The other man grunted and strained, intent on reaching whatever it was he thought he’d seen. His fingertips skimmed the rock and for a fraction of a second, his expression looked almost triumphant. Using his feet, he pushed against the rock, trying to hoist himself up the face. Michael saw the exact moment he realized he was going to fall. His eyes went wide and he let out a longohbefore yelling “falling” and started to slide down the surface of the rock.
Amanda had gotten all of them to tape their palms like she’d made him do the first time they’d climbed together. But rather than skimming over the rock the way she had when she fell, Ethan bounced against the surface, groaning with every bump. Preparing for the rope to catch him, Amanda seemed to sink into the rock of the ledge, becoming almost immovable. Michael took another step closer, but didn’t touch her for fear of distracting her. She didn’t need his help—he knew she didn’t—but that didn’t stop him from wanting to be as close to her as he practically could be.
The rope caught and Ethan dangled from the end like a balloon that had lost all its lift. Aside from some bumps and scrapes, it didn’t look like he’d hurt more than his pride. If the scowl on his face was any indication, that had taken a beating.
“Lean back with your feet against the wall and I’ll lower you down,” said Amanda.
She didn’t sayI told you so, you colossal butthead,which, as far as Michael was concerned, showed supreme restraint on her part. The rope fed through the carabiner clipped to her harness and her strong, competent hands. In a few moments, an angry-looking Ethan stood on the ledge beside her.
“I think I’ve had enough for the day,” he said, his teeth clenched tight.
“Are you okay?” She let her hand rest against the other man’s shoulder, but he flinched away from her touch.
Amanda’s expression moved from hurt to pissed so quickly Michael would have missed it if he hadn’t been watching her so closely. He could tell the other guy was already working out how to spin things so it ended up being anybody’s fault but his. If she let him get away with it, Michael was going to lose his cool. It was bad enough that the guy had made the whole afternoon and evening harder than it needed to be. It wasn’t okay for him to ignore instructions from a competent guide and then expect a different result from the one he’d gotten.
Michael caught Amanda’s gaze and smiled at her, but when he mouthed the wordsorry, she turned away from him, focusing her attention back on Ethan.
“Come on,” she said, not meeting his gaze. “Let’s call it a night. Pack up the gear and we can get out of here.”
As he hurried to comply, Michael couldn’t help but wonder why the other guy falling made Amanda so intent on turning away from him. It didn’t seem to be because of an abundance of affection for Ethan, so what was it and how did he get rid of it so he could get their morning back?
“ARE YOU STILL FEELING OKAY?” asked Michael, his gaze pinned to Becca Southerland’s face. She looked terrified, and he felt like an ass for being the one to cause it.
“Mm hmm,” she murmured, nodding her eyes as wide as saucers.
Her helmet slipped when her head bobbed and he took a step closer, steading her chin with his finger. She smiled up at him nervously as he tightened the strap under her chin. When he had it adjusted, he put his hand on the top of her head and gave it a wiggle, stepping back when the helmet stayed fixed in place.
“You’re sure you’re ready?”
He’d known from their first meeting that Becca was afraid of heights. She hadn’t made any attempt to hide it and Ethan acted like it made her crucially flawed.Dumbass. But he hadn’t known the extent of her fear until she called him and asked him to take her on the high ropes course without the rest of the team.
For a fraction of a second, he’d wondered if it was an attempt to flirt with him. He wasn’t a vain guy. Not any more so than most guys anyway, but he knew from experience that women were much more inclined to pay attention to him when he was playing the role of coach. He couldn’t say why, but he’d learned to use it to his advantage when it suited him. It wouldn’t suit him to blur that line with Amanda’s sister. Regardless of what happened between Amanda and Ethan, Michael still held out hope that she’d eventually see the guy for who he was. He wanted to be standing there unencumbered and available when she did.
Or not.Maybe it was all wishful thinking on his part.
Not that any of that had anything to do with Becca and her request. Michael only had to look into Becca’s eyes to know she was terrified and her call for help had been sincere.
“Okay, I’m going to clip you in. As long as your harness is attached to the guy-wire, even if you fall, you won’t get hurt.”
“That’s not what the release I signed said.”
He cut his gaze to her, and she rewarded him with a shaky smile.
“Don’t worry, Becca.Iwon’t let you fall.”
She nodded and he double-checked to make sure she was clipped in safely before nudging her toward the bottom of the ladder. She took hold of the rung beside her head and made it up the first handful of steps like a champ. When she hit five or six feet off the ground, she froze.
“You okay?”
She glanced down at him, terror clear in her eyes, and his chest tightened. He knew she loved her sister—he loved his—but this was pushing the boundaries of sibling devotion. She was really scared and she hadn’t even made it up to the obstacle course.
“Would it help if I climbed up behind you? Or led the way?” he asked, grasping for something, anything that would make things easier for her.
“Could you go first?” A slight tremor shook her voice.
