Damn it, I want to stay mad at him, but he’s smiling at me, and I love his smiles.
“Have I mentioned I hate heights?” I say after clearing my throat, and his eyebrows climb into his hairline.
“I’ll talk you through it.”
“Have you jumped out of airplanes?” I ask, distracting myself.I need all the distractions if I’m going to get out of this without an injury. Like, a brain injury from falling on my head.
“Yes. Too many to count.”
“Was it part of your training?” I lower my back leg and find the rope with my foot.
“Yes. Good job, Rebel. Your foot is secure.”
“What else did you have to do for training?”
“All kinds of shit.”
“Did you have to do one of these obstacle courses?”
“Yes, this is designed after the one I trained on.”
“Really? Does this mean I could be an army Ranger?”
“You have to get down from there first.”
I glare down at him, but he’s still grinning at me, and he looks ... proud.
And damn it, that makes me want to complete this so that pride stays there.
“I’m mad at you. Don’t smile at me like that.”
But the grin doesn’t leave his handsome-as-hell face.
“This is nothing compared to what you just put yourself through to get here. Come on, you can do this.”
With a deep breath to gather some courage, I scoot around and let the other leg drop. Slowly, I work my way down, and when I get a few feet from the ground, Gideon’s hands are gripping my hips.
“No!” I shake my head. “You can’t take me down. I have to do it myself, or else I’ve failed, and I have to start over.”
He immediately moves away.
“You’re right. Go ahead.”
I drop to the ground, and then jog over and ring the bell, and then I’m in Gideon’s arms and he’s spinning me around, kissing me like crazy.
“You’re the sexiest fucking woman I’ve ever seen in my life,” he growls against my lips.
“I’mso madat you.”
“Good. That means you used that anger to get through the course.”
He squeezes me to him and kisses my cheek, and damn it, I love being surrounded by him.
“I wish we’d timed it,” I mutter.
“I did.”
I blink up at him, waiting.
