Page 34 of Nothing But Air

Keep your head, Hamilton.

Eden stayed eyes locked with his for another heartbeat. Then she stood and approached the rock. “Let’s go again.”

Teague pushed to his feet. “You sure?”

“No.” She turned back to him. “But you just gave me a whole speech about not letting fear hold me back. Would be pretty rude to ignore it.”

“I mean, I did put a lot of effort into that speech.”

“It was okay.”

“Just okay?”

“Solid B-plus.” She tied into the rope, and this time her hands were steady. “Maybe B-plus-plus.”

“That’s not a real grade.”

“It is now. I just invented it.”

Teague took up the belay, a smile tugging at his mouth. “You know, most people would simply say thank you.”

“I’m not most people.”

“Yeah.” He watched her approach the rock face, chalk dusting her palms, the morning sun catching gold in her braid. “I’m starting to figure that out.”

This time, she climbed smoothly, without even a hint of hesitation. Her body moved up the rock with instinct he’d never seen in a climber. When she reached the spot where she’d frozen before, she paused…

But only for a second.

Then her hand reached up. Found the hold. And she pulled herself higher. Twenty feet up, she looked down at him.

And smiled.

The expression hit him square in the chest.

“Don’t get cocky, Garrison,” he called up. “You’ve still got two more pitches.”

“Worried I’ll show you up?”

“Worried you’ll get a big head and forget to clip in.”

She laughed—a real laugh, bright and unexpected—and kept climbing.

Teague watched her go, the rope sliding steadily through his hands.

Watching Eden Garrison climb—watching her push through fear and grief and two years of running—made him realize something he’d been trying to deny since the moment he’d met her in the ranger station with her sharp tongue and haunted eyes.

He cared about her. Not as a teammate. Not as a professional concern.

In a way that had nothing to do with being careful.

Passing crush, he’d told himself.

What a joke.

He’d already fallen.

And that was a problem he had absolutely no idea how to solve.