“I know it’s stupid,” Mia said quietly, looking down at the sunglasses in her hand. “I know you probably think I’m paranoid and I know we have to find a better way if we’re going to be…” She didn’t finish her sentence and looked out the window.
“It’s all right, Mia. We’ll work it out.”
“I know I’ve said it before, but just to be clear. I really like how we are, Jack, and I don’t want anything complicating that right now. Obviously, we’ll have to tackle it eventually, but for right now, I just like being with you and want to keep being with you like this.”
“I know, and I don’t think it’s dumb or paranoid. I think it’s sweet.” He gave her thigh another squeeze to reassure her, and they drove the rest of the way in comfortable silence.
Arriving at the rock-climbing hall, Jack was surprised to find the car park was packed.
“It’s not usually like this, I swear.”
“It’s all right. I just don’t know how I’m going to go getting back to the car after climbing,” she smiled.
“I’ll carry you,” he grinned at her as he got out of the car and popped the trunk.
“Oh my God,” Mia gasped, looking at his gear. “What’s all that?”
“What, all this junk? All this junk inside my trunk?”
Mia laughed. “Thank you so much for that earworm. But yes, I do mean all this junk inside your trunk.”
“It’s my climbing gear.”
“Okay, so I’ve never asked you this before,” she said, contemplating the safety hooks on display in front of her. “But do you sometimes rock-climb on actual cliff faces? Outside? Without the little nobbles for your feet?”
It was Jack’s turn to laugh. “Nobbles?”
“I don’t know what they’re called.”
“A hold. But I like nobbles better.” He kissed her as he pulled the trunk closed. “And to answer your question, yeah, I do. I was semi-professional for a while.”
“What made you stop?”
“I realized monetizing it was sucking the joy out of it. So I let my sponsors know and just keep it up for fun. I haven’t been alpining forever, but I come to the hall every couple of weeks.”
“What else don’t I know about you? Do you know how to fly a jumbo jet?”
“No,” he laughed. “And there are plenty of things you don’t know about me.” He pulled the door to the climbing hall open and let her walk through in front of him. Completely gentleman-like, obviously. Not so he could ogle her ass.
He almost bumped right into her when she stopped dead in front of him. He put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her in, nuzzling her neck. When she didn’t respond at all, he pulled back to look at her. She’d gone chalk white and was staring at a point towards the other end of the reception area.
There, in all her bespectacled glory, was Rebecca.
And she was staring right at them.
Smirking.
Watching him ogle her ass and nuzzle her neck.
Fuck.