Page 16 of The Hang Up
“In that case, I’ll run right out and get one as a pet.” Miriam gave a small shudder at the idea of fuzzy bats as she cinched the laces on the boots and stood up. “Let me put my other boots in the car and I’ll be right back.”
“I’m keeping the keys in case you’re plotting an escape,” he called, and she turned around to see him checking out her ass.
Okay, so at least she wasn’t the only perv ogling someone she shouldn’t be. She’d done her very best to keep her eyes off his anatomy the whole way here, not letting her gaze stray below his belt even once.
As she returned to his side, she wiped her hands down the legs of her jeans—pricey, 7 For All Mankind jeans she’d prefer not to destroy crawling through a cave, but she was going to be a good sport about this. “Okay, so—spelunking.”
“Spelunking,” he said as he plunked the helmet on her head. He began to cinch the straps and maneuver the little wheels over her ears to tighten it around her head, and Miriam leaned into his hand just a little. “How does that feel?”
“Really good,” she answered, then realized he was asking about the fit of the helmet and not about his fingers brushing her face. “I mean—I think you have it tight enough.”
He palmed the top of her head and wiggled the helmet, then adjusted the dials again. “There. That’s better. You want to make sure it’s not going to come loose when you bonk your head on a rock.”
“Should I be concerned you said ‘when’ and not ‘if’?”
He shrugged.“It’s kind of a given. We’ll be going through some low caverns and with the helmet on, it’s inevitable you’ll underestimate where the top of your head actually is.”
“So you mean I probably wouldn’t bonk my head if I weren’t wearing the helmet?”
“Maybe not.” He grinned. “But I don’t like taking unnecessary chances.”
He reached out, and for a moment, she thought he was going to touch her face, maybe stroke the side of her cheek. She almost leaned into his palm, then realized he was reaching for her headlamp.
“There,” he said, flicking it on. “Now you can see.”
“That I can,” she agreed, thinking she was seeing a lot of him in the bright, high desert sunshine. His sandy hair glinted in the sun where it curled out from beneath his helmet, and his bright blue eyes twinkled. The stubble on his jaw made him look rugged and a little dangerous. He was definitely in his element here, and something about that started to dissolve Miriam’s anxiety. To her own amazement, she found herself feeling a tiny bit excited about this whole spelunking thing.
As if sensing her shift in mood, Jason grinned at her, then turned and strode toward the mouth of the cave. Miriam scurried after him, moving at a speedier clip than she was accustomed to. She didn’t usually move this fast unless there was a clearance sale at Barneys. As she hustled across the uneven terrain, she had to admit she was grateful for the boots. They gave her better balance over the bumpy rocks, and the fact that Jason’s presence left her a little weak-kneed made steady footing all the more crucial.
He led her down a steep incline, taking his time, turning back to check on her every now and then. “Nice and easy,” he said. “Try not to lean back so much. It’ll throw off your center of gravity.”
“Like this?”
“That’s good. Don’t be afraid to brace yourself on the rocks. Here, take these.”
He stopped walking and reached into the back pocket of his jeans to pull out a pair of gloves. She started to protest, knowing there was no way gloves that fit his massive palms could ever work for her hands. Then she noticed they were pink.
“You brought gloves just for me?”
“I had those in the car, too,” he said. “I told you I’d provide everything you needed for the cave tour.”
She pulled on the gloves, noticing they were warm from the heat of his back pocket. “You take your job pretty seriously, huh?”
“When it comes to taking care of anyone who’s trusted me with their well-being, damn right I do.”
There was an edge to his voice, something Miriam hadn’t noticed before. She started to ask about it, but stopped herself. It’s not like they were best friends chatting about their personal lives and hang-ups. This was just a business relationship, nothing more.
You keep telling yourself that.
Jason flashed her a grin, and she wondered for the second time if he’d read her thoughts. Then he turned and continued deeper into the cave, his footing careful and exact.
Miriam held back for a moment to watch him, admiring the slow precision of his steps even more than she admired his ass, which was quite a lot. If she was going to go traipsing into the underbelly of the earth, at least she’d chosen to do it with a guy who believed in being cautious.
Your dad believed that, too, and where did that get him?Dead on the side of a mountain, that’s where.
Miriam pushed the thought from her mind and pushed onward, trudging deeper into the cave. She shivered a little, grateful Jason had told her to bring a warm coat. It might be summer outside, but it was closer to forty degrees underground. He’d seemed surprised she hadn’t brought some froofy cashmere thing, but a real, honest-to-goodness ski coat. She could credit her dad with that one. He’d given her a nice North Face parka for Christmas the year before he died, so at least she was warm.
She snuggled deeper into the coat, imagining she could feel her father’s hug again just one more time. Lost in thought, she didn’t notice Jason had stopped walking until she ran right into him.
