Page 18 of The Hang Up
“Maybe just a tiny bit.”
“It’s okay. I’ve got you. I promise this will be worth it.” Somehow, she believed him.
“Okay,” he said, pulling on his own pair of gloves. “It’s going to get really narrow here and we’re going to have to crawl for a bit. Would you feel more comfortable crawling in first, or following after me?”
She considered it for a moment, not sure which would be less scary. “I want you behind me,” she decided at last.
A glint of something flickered in his eyes, but he held his tongue. “Whatever you want.”
He gestured her toward the opening. Miriam crawled through but struggled to keep her breathing even. She banged her knee on a rock, but kept going, contorting her body to maneuver through the narrow passageway.
“Nice and easy,” Jason murmured behind her. “Take it slow, we’ve got plenty of time.”
“Okay,” Miriam squeaked, appreciating that the soft timbre of his voice seemed to slow her pulse. “How much farther?”
“About another ten feet. You’re going to hit a really sharp turn in just a second. Just follow it to the left.”
“Right,” she breathed as she squeezed herself through the passageway. “How are you doing this? You’re like a foot taller than me, and your feet have to be a size eleven or twelve.”
“Thirteen, actually,” he said, grunting a little as he followed close behind her. “I’ve had a lot of practice squeezing into tight spaces.”
It was on the tip of her tongue to make a suggestive comment, but she held back. This was a professional relationship, after all, and they were here for business purposes.
The feel of his hand on her ass gave her a moment to reconsider that.
“Oh,” she gasped.
“Sorry about that,” he said. “I was reaching for that rock behind you and you moved.”
“It’s okay,” she said, kinda wishing he’d do it again. “Almost there,” he said. “You see the opening?”
Miriam nodded, which was dumb, since he couldn’t possibly see her. “I think so.”
“As you start to emerge, you’ll see a big boulder to your right. Grab on to that and boost yourself up onto the narrow rock ledge below that.”
“Got it,” Miriam said, grateful for his gentle coaching and his warm hand and pretty much everything else about him right now. She caught hold of the rock he’d described and pulled her body up and out of the narrow tunnel. The top of her helmet bonked a low-hanging rock, but she kept going until her butt touched the rock ledge.
Then she scooted off to the side, making room for him to get out, too. “What now?” she asked.
Jason’s arms emerged first from the tunnel, impressively chiseled even beneath the puffy arms of his winter coat. He braced himself on either side of the opening, then pulled himself out and into the larger cavern where Miriam now found herself.
He hopped to his feet, dusted himself off, and grinned at her. “Kinda like being born, huh?”
Miriam glanced back at the hole they’d just emerged from. “If that’s supposed to be the birth canal, it’s the sharpest hoo-ha I’ve ever seen.”
He laughed and peeled his gloves off. He stuffed them into his coat pocket, turned, and strode deeper into the cave. “Come on, this is my favorite part.”
Miriam followed behind him, shaking a few pebbles out of her hair. She was feeling more sure-footed now, even a little excited by this adventure.
It’s not like we’re BASE jumping off a mountain or something, she reasoned.As far as adventures go, this is a tame one.
Still, it teetered dangerously close to her threshold of outdoorsy pursuits. The one she’d pledged never to cross. Why was that so exhilarating?
“Here,” he said, warning her this time so she wouldn’t go crashing into his back again. “Now look up.”
She half expected to see another series of twinkling lights or maybe a giant octopus. Anything seemed possible at this point.
“Where’s the ceiling?” she asked, blinking to clear her vision.
