“It’s risky,” I confess.
“The riskier the better.”
“Come on then.” Taking her hand, I thread our fingers together, trying and failing to ignore the tingles that shoot up my arms at the innocent contact.
I drag her over to the makeshift ladder I made a few years ago and push the grocery bag up to the floor above.
“You expect me to climb up there?” she asks, eyeing the ladder skeptically.
“I’ve got you, darlin’.”
Wrapping my hands around her slim waist, I lift her, allowing her to climb without putting her weight on the rungs of the ladder. Although if it takes my weight, it’ll certainly take hers.
Just before she crawls onto the first floor, I catch a glance straight up her skirt and discover that what she’s wearing beneath is… well, practically nothing.
My gasp of shock—delight—rips through the air and she quickly scrambles away.
“What? What’s wrong? Did I break something?” she asks in a panic.
“No, darlin’. Everything is fine.”
She gets to her feet and my eyes drop to her exposed legs, going all the way up to—
“So what was…” Her words trail off as she must figure out where my eyes are. “Probably the wrong outfit for exploring abandoned buildings, huh?”
“I dunno,” I mutter, wrapping my fingers around the ladder and hauling myself up. “Seems pretty sweet to me.”
When I stand to my full height, she’s right there, in my space. So close that her breasts brush my chest.
“So you liked what you saw?” she asks, her teeth sinking into her bottom lip before letting it pop free.
“I… uh…”
“Nothing else exists, remember,” she reminds me as I fight to do the right thing.
“You’ve got a nice ass, darlin’, and some really tiny panties. Almost like you were planning on driving a guy to the edge of insanity today.”
“It is a hobby that I like to indulge in on occasion.”
A smile twitches at the corners of my lips.
“Oh yeah. So who else do you have under your spell?” I ask, cursing myself for confessing that she’s reeled me in with nothing more than her pain, her wit, and one flash of her ass. Although to be fair, I saw a hell of a lot more than her ass that night.
“A girl never tells her secrets, Ryder Montrou.”
She backs up faster than I’m expecting, taking her tempting scent and her warmth with her.
“So where are we… oh,” she breathes when she walks around one of the half fallen down walls to find the view I’ve spent so many hours staring at. “Is that Red Ridge?” she asks.
Stepping up behind her, I wrap my arms around her waist and drag her body back against mine.
“Yep,” I agree, resting my chin on the top of her head. “Pretty sure it’s the best view of our hometown that exists.”
“It’s… weirdly beautiful.”
“I can think of something more breathtaking,” I confess. “And she’s a little closer than the town we’re forgetting exists right now.”
5