A thin sheen of perspiration covered her face as she let go of the boulder and stretched her right foot out for the next step. Moving her left foot forward to complete the stride, she felt the rocks sliding out from beneath her, and found herself windmilling her arms in a desperate attempt to find something to grab onto.
Her fingers closed around the cotton of Griff’s t-shirt, bundling the gray fabric into her fist. Her knuckles pressed against his warm skin, and he turned immediately, reaching out for her wrist to stop her from sliding. He gently pulled her toward him, hooking his thick arms around her waist.
By instinct, she grabbed hold of his arms, feeling his iron-hard biceps beneath her palms. Her heart was hammering against her chest from a mixture of adrenaline and something else… something altogether more electrifying.
“You okay?” he murmured.
“Yeah,” she said breathlessly, feeling her hair tumble down around her shoulders. “It’s a rookie mistake. I stepped too far and lost my balance.”
He reached out and tucked the loose hair behind her ear, his finger leaving a trail of fire on her skin. “Do you want to go back?” he asked her.
She shook her head. “It was just a little slide.”
The corner of his lip quirked up. “We used to slide down this hill when we were young and stupid. Until Jackson fell over and broke his arm. Lucas’s folks gave us hell over it. He and Jackson were grounded for a month.”
“You slid down the scree?” Autumn asked, looking down the long slope they’d just climbed. “Are you crazy?”
He raised an eyebrow. “We were. Not so much anymore. Lucas is all about safety now.”
“He’s a fireman, right?”
They started to walk again, but this time Griff reached for her hand, sliding her palm into his.
“Yep. Captain of the Angel Sands Fire Station. We all give him hell for being cautious, but he’s right.”
“And how long were you grounded when your folk
s found out?” she asked him, trying to imagine a teenage Griff being forced to stay home. From the little she knew of him, that would be his worst nightmare.
“I wasn’t.”
“Why not?”
“I guess they didn’t care about it.” He shrugged.
They’d reached the crest of the hill, and Griff released her hand. She looked around at the view of the hills as they rose and dipped below them, the land stretching out to the coast, and the sparkling blue ocean.
“Come here,” Griff said, “I want to show you something.”
She raised an eyebrow, feeling flirtatious. “Oh yeah? What kind of thing?”
He laughed, the ease returning to his face. “It’s over here,” he said, walking along the hilltop to the other side. The air was cooler up here, enough for her to unknot her sweater from her waist and pull it over her head. As they came to a stop she could see a dilapidated two-story wooden building clinging to the side of the hill, with two large rusty metal chutes leading out of it to the valley below.
“What is that?” she asked, peering over.
“An old gold mine.”
“You’re kidding me.” She wanted to laugh. “No way.”
“It was one of the biggest producers of gold in its time. Back in the early 1900s, there were around fifty men working here. Most of them bunked in wooden cabins in the valley down there.”
“Do you think there’s any gold left?” she asked him. “We could get rich.”
“If there is, it’s probably buried far below the rocks. The mine’s been abandoned for almost a century.”
“Have you ever been inside?”
“Not that I’m telling.” His face was straight, but there was humor in his eyes. “It’s dangerous. See the signs?”