whole body against mine – there’s just too much touching!
“You’re small.” I roll my eyes, like I haven’t heard that before. But he’s helping me, so I concentrate hard on evening out my breaths and listening to him instead. “Just climb ahead of me. Count every second step from our hands. Skip the others.”
“Okay,” I say, and climb up to the first step. The metal is cold beneath my hands and I have to really stretch my body to skip the loose ones.
I don’t know why he let me go first, it’s nerve wracking to say the least. With three men behind me, it’s not helping my already fragile nerves, and now I’m self-aware, too. I know I shouldn’t think of such things, but I really hope I look okay from behind. Gosh! I hope they don’t look up!
The next step I’m supposed to reach for is missing. Does that mean I have to reach for the one above it? I hesitate, that would be the loose one, wouldn’t it?
“Is there a problem?” Chance asks from below, sending a flurry of nervous tension streaking through my body.
I feel the step move beneath my feet as Chance takes hold of it. I have to move! I test the step with my right hand, and it feels solid enough. Taking hold with both my hands I lift my right foot to the next step.
“Let go now!” Chance suddenly hisses in my ear.
His arm circles my waist, his hand pressing hard over my ribs. My fingers spring lose from the step and I yank my arms back to my chest. I feel the warmth of his body as he holds me tightly to him. His chest is hard and tense. Only, his heart isn’t racing as fast as mine. I can feel the slow rhythmic beat of his.
“I said every second one is loose. Listen!” he snaps. My ear heats up as his breath rushes over it.
“It was gone,” I whimper, and I start to tremble which is not good. I need to calm down. He’s going to leave me behind.
“Okay.” I hear him take a deep breath. “There’s nowhere for you to put your feet, so I’m going to lift you to the next one. Grab hold and hang tight,” he says, his voice is much calmer.
My mind freezes the second his fingers fan out over my ribs. It’s for better grip I tell myself. I’ve never been held so tightly by another person, a man – not even my father, when he hugged me goodbye this morning.
“Jasper!” I snap out of my thoughts. “Hands by my hand. Dammit, woman, concentrate!”
A blush heats my cheeks. I grab hold of the step and our fingers touch. His chest presses into my back, and we’re so close I’m scared he’s going to feel my heart racing.
“Concentrate. I’m not doing this alone,” he hisses.
I have to swallow in order to create some form of moistness in my dry throat.
“I’m sorry,” I whisper, and wipe my hands on my chest the moment he takes hold of me again.
“It’s easy,” he says. I’m glad he thinks so! He takes a breath and wisps of hair tickle my cheek. “Just put your hands where mine are. I’ll lift you to the next one again. It looks as if you can climb further from there on out.” His fingers fan over my side again, and he lifts me. I grab and hold, my feet dangling for a split-second, before I feel his breath on my ear and his arm around my waist.
“Okay, we’re almost there.”
I glance down. I don’t see the street below – I see his arm around my waist. I see how firm it is. I shake my head and focus. No thinking of arms around my waist, no firmness, no muscles, no nothing!
I step up and he lets go of me. We climb in silence the rest of the way. I concentrate hard on the next step. I try to ignore these mixed emotions I have never felt before, as they make a mushy mess of my insides.
My arms are burning and my fingers are numb by the time I reach the rooftop. A smile spreads across my face as I pull myself over the edge. I scramble to get out of the way. I did something hard for the first time in my life, and although Chance helped, I still did it! It feels good.
I rub my arms as I watch first Chance, then Ethan