“What’s the point then?” I say, trying to keep the frustration out of my voice. “Tell me this. The poetry, the dancing, the shower, our night in the cave. Hell, even just now when you rubbed me through my pants. You keep provoking me like you want me to do something about it, but then you keep wussing out. I’m too old to be playing this game—both of us are. So tell me what you want.”
Sierra says nothing.
I swallow, trying not to let the disappointment destroy me. “Fine. Then knock it off.”
Sierra is silent for so long that I wonder if I missed her response.
“I do want you, Logan,” she says finally. “Climbing.”
Adrenaline shoots through my veins at her words. “Climb on.”
Sixteen
Logan
For a full hour, I watch Sierra perform feat after feat that make me sweat.
“I’m going to push myself a little. Tension.”
She leaps—her whole body leaving the rock as she grasps for a tiny ledge above her. She misses, and my heart stutters. Did she pull stunts like this while tethered to the dickwad who unclipped himself?
“Be careful,” I call up to her.
She tries again, swinging up by one arm, her powerful legs driving her upward in a tremendous jump. She knows she’s testing my limits; I can see it in the way she glances down before and after each insane move, reading my face, flashing that mischievous smirk when she catches my shock or fear.
Another wild move, another heart-stopping drop. When she finally comes down, her eyes sparkle, her cheeks flushed and glowing from the climb. She takes my breath away.
She turns to me with that same wicked smile. That damned smile.
“Belay off,” I say, then stride toward her.
“What did you think—”
I cut her off with my lips.
She doesn’t hesitate. She throws her arms around me and kisses me back.
Finally.
It is the word that keeps repeating over in my head as we kiss and kiss and kiss. How long have I dreamed about kissing this girl again? This feels more right than any other kiss in my life. This is what I have been missing. I have been searching for years for this feeling. No. Forher.
Her fingertips brush under my shirt and trace achingly sweet whispers along my skin. I am shaking with desire.
“You liked my climbing that much, huh?” she teases breathlessly as I kiss down her neck.
“It was the hottest fucking thing I’ve ever seen,” I growl against her skin.
She shivers. “This is probably the most enthusiastic performance review I’ve ever received,” she continues.
My eyes roll to the back of my head as her nails gently dig into my hair and scrape my scalp. “It had better be.”
Her answering giggle quickly turns into a sigh when I suck against the curve of her graceful neck. Her skin tastes sweet and a little salty from sweat. I lick a line up her neck and nibble lightly on her jaw. “Please don’t tell me you were doing things like that with that asshole belaying for you.”
“I stopped once I realized he wasn’t going to catch me.”
Rage surges through me. I steal my hands under her shirt, her sun-warmed skin smooth beneath my palms. I press myforehead to hers. “What if you had fallen?”
“I didn’t.”
