Page 44 of In Too Deep
“You have to wait for that building storm to pass—too risky out there now.”Eden’s tone was firm.Her eyes flicked to the window, where rain obscured the canyon’s vast expanse.
He grinned.“Waiting’s not my style.You worried about me, Garrison?”
Eden rolled her eyes.She turned back to her log, pen in hand.But she couldn’t hide the concern that lingered in her expression.It betrayed her cool exterior.“Worried?Just don’t want to have to log a missing-ranger report before my shift ends.”
Teague chuckled and set his pack on the table.He unzipped it to check his gear—carabiners clinking together, rope coiled tight, flashlight with fresh batteries, compact first aid kit wrapped in waterproof plastic.“Admit it.You’d miss my sparkling presence if I vanished.”
Eden’s pen scratched faster across paper.“Sparkling?”Her voice was dry.“Your ego’s the only thing shining here, Hamilton.”
Teague opened his phone app and studied the storm pattern, swiping through layers.The radar showed a swirling mass of green and yellow stalled over the canyon.
Eden was an enigma wrapped in a professional demeanor.
He’d asked her out his first week at the station.Three months ago now.She’d turned him down faster than he could blink.
Talk about a hit to the ego.Still stung when he thought about it.
But he hadn’t missed how she went out of her way to talk to him since then.She watched him when she thought he wasn’t looking.And—if Betty, the station’s veteran admin, was right—chose shifts that aligned with his.
He wasn’t dumb enough to ask her out again.But his instincts told him hernowas less about him and more about whatever kept that giant wall up.
So he’d settled for being her friend.Taken what she was willing to give.
But between her wit that kept him on his toes, her calm under pressure when everything went sideways, the way she held her own among the rough-edged rangers, and the way wisps of her blonde hair often fell across those pale-blue eyes…
Yeah.Friends was the last thing on his mind.
But until she was ready to let her guard down, friends it was.
And after that little evaluation of the climbing gear, Teague began to wonder if it was more than just walls that held her back.
A past.Something specific.
Secrets buried deep.
She had the heart of a climber—the soul of someone who understood vertical spaces.He’d bet good money on it.She’d let her knowledge slip too many times—moves, routes, holds, the way a cliff face could shift under weight.She talked like someone who’d been on the ropes, not just behind a desk.
The radio crackled.A deep voice filled the room.“Xander to Eden, we’ve got a visual on a group entering the Tapeats caves.Five individuals, maybe six.”
Xander.
Teague hadn’t met the South Rim ranger yet, despite working here almost three months.But Eden sure talked to him a lot.Okay, she talked to all the rangers a lot—it was her job.But there was something about this guy that bugged him.
“Copy that.Can you intercept them?”Eden’s voice returned, instantly professional.
“Negative.I know you think I am pretty amazing, but did I give you the impression I could fly, Eden?We are still on the south side of the Colorado.”
That.That flirty tone whenever Xander’s voice came over the radio.
That’s what bugged Teague.
“I don’t know.With the rescue you pulled off last week, I thought you might be hiding a pair of wings in there.”
Not to mention that the flirty tone that Xander seemed to pull from Eden—lighter, warmer than the voice she used with everyone else—didn’t help Teague like the guy either.
“I’ll send a team.Over.”
“Oh, and Eden.”Xander was back, of course.“We found the people who belong to the gear.Climbers headed up one of the larger rock spires.Looks like you were right.I guess I owe you a Coke.”
