Total pages in book: 79
Estimated words: 76807 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 384(@200wpm)___ 307(@250wpm)___ 256(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 76807 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 384(@200wpm)___ 307(@250wpm)___ 256(@300wpm)
I needed to get a fucking grip.
“This is… okay. Um… Brooks?” she called, voice getting tight as she hit about the midway point of the ladder while I kept my feet respectfully on the damn ground. “I… I can’t do this,” she added, making my brows pinch.
Then it came back to me.
Having to go back down the lighthouse to find a sweaty, ashen, shaking Cali clinging to the railing of the spiral staircase, too scared to go up or even back down.
She was afraid of heights.
Even as a little kid, she’d never been able to climb to the taller slides or go on top of the jungle gyms like the other kids her age.
And this ladder was steep. More than a few people who tried to go up it could never get all the way to the roof.
“I’m coming,” I said, reaching for the rungs, and rushing up.
I’d been to the roof thousands of times since I’d joined the club. I could probably go up one-handed at this rate.
“You’re alright,” I told her, coming up right behind her, reaching up to place my arms on the sides of the ladder beside her body.
“Kinda not,” she said, sucking in quick breaths that were only going to make her anxiety worse.
“No, you’re fine. Nothing is gonna happen. I’m right here. You literally can’t fall. You’re closer to the top than the bottom. Better to keep moving.”
Her entire body was vibrating.
“Here,” I said, carefully placing my feet around hers on the rung, and pulling myself up higher, my body behind hers. “Feel me? I’m right here. You aren’t going to fall. Take a deep breath for me,” I demanded, demonstrating it for her, and breathing in a whole lungful of her personal scent. Vanilla and roses.
She sucked in her breath. Sure, it exhaled in a strobe, but she already seemed a little less tense.
“There you go. One more for me,” I said, feeling a little tremble move through her again, but it didn’t seem as, I dunno, anxious as before. “Let’s move up one rung,” I said. “Okay?”
“Okay,” she said, nodding jumpily, and forcing herself to move up, her ass gliding across me in the process.
I needed not to notice it.
Because getting a hard-on while pressed up against her was not an option.
“There you go. See? You can do this. Just eight more,” I told her.
And, thank fuck, she decided the best method was to just rush all the way up rather than take her time.
“Just kinda… crawl in,” I suggested, keeping my chin to my damn chest as her ass was all there right in my face.
Then, she disappeared into the room, and I took a second to draw in a breath that didn’t make me want to press my nose to her skin and breathe her in while I ran my…
No.
In fact… fuck no.
I hauled myself up to find her sitting there on her knees, head tipped back, eyes closed, taking slow, deep breaths.
“Well, I think I live here now,” she told me when she heard me moving in front of her. “Since there’s no way I am getting back down that.”
“We’ll figure it out,” I assured her.
“I am going to need you guys to install a bathroom up here,” she went on. “And some curtains. That early morning sun is going to be a bitch. I guess I’ll need to get a new job too, since I can’t do mine remotely. And I’m pretty sure my inability to descend a ridiculously steep ladder wouldn’t qualify me for disability.”
My lips curved up as she babbled, reminding me a lot of the Cali I’d known years ago. Who was quiet to outsiders, but always had a lot to say when she was comfortable with someone.
“Come here,” I said, reaching down to grab her hand, and pulling her up onto her feet. “Check out the view,” I told her when her eyes shot open and she let me help her up.
“That might not be the best idea,” she said.
But there was no way to avoid it. The entire room was glass. If her eyes were open, she was looking down at the world below.
We weren’t technically even up that high, but I’d once seen her have a mini panic attack coming down off of a trampoline.
“So, ah, this glass…” she said, letting me move her in front of me, closer to said glass.
“Is thick as fuck. Thick enough to withstand just about any kind of bullet. Once had some idiots get into a fight up here, slamming up against the walls. They didn’t even wiggle.”
“That’s good,” she said, sucking in a deep breath. “It’s good to know my new home is very safe,” she joked, but her shoulders had relaxed, and her gaze was moving around at the view. “Do you spend a lot of time up here?”