“Absolutely. Get down here.”
She scrambled down so fast he was afraid she’d trip herself. Leaving her clipped in, he moved past her so he was first on the ladder.
“Don’t you need to clip onto this?” she asked, holding out the guy-wire.
“It’s only for one person at a time. Don’t worry. I’ll be fine.” If he fell, there wouldn’t be anything to catch him, but there wasn’t a way for him to clip both of them to the guy-wire until they got to the top. And until they got to the first event, it wasn’t any more dangerous than climbing a ladder.
“Are you sure?” Her forehead creased in concern, and he caught a flash of her resemblance to her sister.
“Positive. Try not to look at my butt.” He grabbed hold of the ladder and climbed out of reach before she could swat him.
“I’m not making any promises,” she said, climbing behind him. “But I’m not the one who’s interested in your butt.”
A little thrill shot through him. He hadn’t agreed to help Becca to pump her for information about her sister, but if she volunteered, it would be a definite bonus.
“Don’t tell me Gabe’s got a thing for me? He’s not my type.”
He heard her snort out a laugh and smiled to himself. If he could keep her climbing and laughing, he could help her get through this thing.
“He’ll be heartbroken, I’m sure. But he’s not the one I was talking about.”
Michael waited for her to offer the information, but when she didn’t, he glanced down over his shoulder at her. She looked up at him, her gaze glued to him instead of the distance between them and the ground. Distract and divert seemed like an effective tool with Becca. He’d remember that for when they got into the tricky part at the top.
“I thought Amanda and Ethan were a thing,” he said, opting for the most direct path.
“Definething,” she said and when he glanced down at her again, she was grinning.
“You know, together. A couple. In love.” He dragged out the wordloveuntil it had three syllables and was rewarded with Becca’s clear laughter.
“I wouldn’t go that far,” she said, inching up behind him. “He’s a good on paper guy, but he’s not her type. She just hasn’t realized it yet.”
“What’s wrong with good on paper?” He had to concentrate on moving forward. The last thing he wanted to do was slow her down when she was making progress, but he really wanted to know why Amanda’s sister thought she shouldn’t be with Ethan and what, if anything, he could do to help facilitate that.
“Nothing,” she said. “He’s a putz, but that’s not the real problem. The real problem is she’s dating him because she thinks she’s supposed to. He looks like the kind of guy she thinks she should end up with. Stable to her eccentric. Boring corporate guy to her adventurous spirit. Opposites may attract, but that guy tries to change her into something she isn’t. He’s not the right guy for her.”
“You seem awfully sure of yourself,” he said, taking a step out onto the small platform at the start of the course. Reaching overhead, he grabbed one of the guy-wires and clipped in before moving aside to make room for Becca to join him.
“She’s my sister,” Becca said, like that made sense of everything.
It probably did. His sisters knew one another and him better than anyone else on the planet. It made sense they’d know who’d make a good partner for each other. Lord knows they had an opinion about it.
Keeping her hands on the last rung with a white-knuckled grip, Becca stepped onto the platform. She started to glance around and he reached out and caught her chin with his fingers.
“Eyes up here,” he said, forcing her to look at him. “Don’t look down.”
She nodded, and when he was certain she wouldn’t peek, he took his hand away.
“We’ve got to get you clipped into the course. On competition day, you’re going to have to do this yourself, but for now, I’m going to help you.” He held her gaze, and she nodded again. She was still scared, he could tell, but she didn’t seem paralyzed. As long as she could keep moving forward, he could find something to work with.
“See this?” He pulled on one of the short guy-wires attached to the overhead cable. “These run all along the course. The very most important thing you have to do is make sure that you’re clipped to the new one before you take off the old one. That way you are always protected.”
He clipped the new lead to her belt, showing her how to twist the carabiner to lock it before unclipping the other lead and letting it hang. She nodded, but he caught her gaze drifting down.
“What do you think it would take to convince your sister that Ethan is the wrong guy for her?” He tried to convince himself he was only asking the question to distract her, but he couldn’t pull off the lie.
“Do you have a candidate in mind?” she asked, grinning despite the fear he saw still clearly etched on her face.
“I might have some ideas.” He shrugged his shoulders noncommittally.
