her, and she wasn’t carting around a leg full of scar tissue and muscle damage. “How the hell did you even get up here, anyway?”
“Same way you did—I hiked. Though I’m at least wearing appropriate clothing. What, have you never been outdoors before?”
There he went again, assuming he knew a single thing about her. She poked him in the chest, hating how defined it was. Even now, she could perfectly picture his pecs. But she wasn’t going to stand here ogling him while he insulted her. “I got up here just fine.”
“Sure you did. And for what? You’re so scared, you’re shaking like a leaf.”
It stung more because he was right. Before he’d stomped up, she’d been half a second from calling the whole thing off. She couldn’t do that now, not with him watching. All it would do was reinforce every shitty assumption he’d made about her. So Alexis turned around and marched to the edge of the cliff, anger propelling her even when the height made her dizzy. It was so far down, and the blue water of the fjord gleamed in the gray morning. It looked like something out of an ancient myth, carved out of the surrounding trees by some careless god. She reached the edge, and the whole world seemed to sway. “What—”
“Christ, darlin’.” Luke grabbed her arm and towed her back to safety—and right against his chest. “You did it. You got to the edge.”
“This is so stupid. It’s not even that high. I mean, it’s nearly two thousand feet. I guess that’s enough. More than enough.” She started shaking again, thinking about how long that drop looked. Plenty of time to think about the mistakes she’d made in life before her body hit the water with bone-crushing force.
His grip gentled on her, but his voice was just as gruff as ever. “Two thousand feet is plenty scary. Scarier than thirteen thousand feet, strangely enough. At least at the higher elevation, you know you’ll have time to pull your parachute and pick a spot to land.”
She looked up, hating how being close to him drove away some of the cold from her body. She wished she could blame it on memories from Cork, but it would be a lie. It was just Luke—gruff and blond and larger than life. “You’ll notice I don’t make a habit of jumping out of planes.”
Oh my God, he’s trying to make me feel better. She thought back over the last few minutes and the shock nearly dropped her. He’s been doing it since he walked up. He goaded me to the edge, because he knew being pissed at him would distract me from being scared.
“Your loss. It’s a rush like you wouldn’t believe.” Something came into his voice, something a lot like longing. It made her wonder if he’d been skydiving since his injury… Which was none of her damn business.
Alexis shook her head. It was great that he’d helped her out, and her heart ached from the longing she could hear in his voice when he talked about jumping out of a plane—as insane as she found that—but it didn’t change anything. He was here, and that was an awfully big coincidence. “How did you find me?”
His frowned at her, looking genuinely confused.
But come on, the same time, same place. Europe wasn’t that small. “Luke, how did you find me?” She’d left him sleeping soundly, but he could’ve woken up and followed her to the airport. She didn’t know whether to be thrilled or appalled at the thought of him, well, stalking her.
He snorted, his next words throwing that assumption right out the window. “Why the hell would I go looking for you? Don’t get me wrong, the sex was amazing—”
Good Lord. “Will you please lower your voice?” She looked around, but neither of the other two groups of people seemed to be paying them the least bit of attention. Maybe I’m just being paranoid? He’s right. The sex was amazing, but it’s not like he had any way to track me down, even if he wanted to. It was just a coincidence straight out of some romantic comedy movie… If romantic comedies were populated by cranky asshole ex-military types.
No, she was looking too much into this. It might seem too convenient to believe, but he was right. What reason would he have to follow her?
“Why, princess? Am I offending your delicate sensibilities?” He gave a wicked grin that told her just how much he liked the