Chapter 10
Chapter ten
“Do you trust me, tabby cat?” Zac crooned. He tucked a few wayward strands of her silky auburn hair over her shoulder. His fingers grazed her smooth skin and he grinned as she visibly shuddered from the contact.
“I do, it’s just—” she cut herself off, nibbling on her lower lip. Zac nearly leaned down to replace her teeth with his on that rosy flesh. But he wanted her to voice her concerns, her apprehensions, before proceeding.
“You’re nervous,” he offered patiently.
She nodded, appearing sheepish. “I feel silly but it’s always a little scary the first time with someone new.”
“I get it.” Zac wanted this to happen. He’d been thinking about it since they’d met last week and closed down the coffee shop after far too many fresh orange scones. But he refused to push. He only wanted to if she wanted to. “If you’d rather wait—”
“No,” she chimed in hastily. “I’m ready.”
“Awesome.” Zac grinned, leaning in, unable to keep from capturing that lip of hers.
“Christ on a cracker, you guys,” Tabitha’s twin, Angus, groaned dramatically a few yards away. “Will you hurry up and climb already? The double entendre is getting awkward.”
“Mind your business, beefy,” Zac chuckled even as he stepped back from Tabitha. She ducked her head and straightened the figure eight knot, even though it was already textbook neat.
“Uh, hello,” he continued while lounging on a nearby boulder. “We shared a womb simultaneously, I very much think she is my business.”
“Whose idea was it to bring the third wheel?” Zac asked the twin he much preferred.
“I remember you saying something along the lines of ‘bro, you should totally join us’ when I introduced you and we mentioned we were going outdoors to climb,” Tabitha said, deepening her voice to mimic Zac’s and then, in turn, Angus’s. “And then he was like, ‘yeah, bro, that’d be rad.’”
“I don’t sound like that,” both men griped in unison.
Tabitha chuckled and Zac delighted in the sound. He’d sit here and be mocked all day by the Handcock twins if it meant hearing her sexy little laugh some more.
“Fine, fine. Let’s get to it so your lesser twin can have a turn.” Zac handed her a helmet.
“I won’t be climbing,” Angus informed while pulling a packet of Pixy Stix from his backpack. He gripped five in one hand, tore off all the tops, and downed them in one tilt. He squinted and puckered as he worked the tart sugar around his mouth.
“You don’t climb?” Zac asked.
“Nope.” He grabbed another fistful of powdered candy.
“Then why did you agree to come with us?” Zac dragged a hand down his face.
Angus paused his sugar binge and shrugged. “Company. Comradery. New friendship. Take your pick. Plus you seemed really intent on me coming along.”
“That’s because I thought you climbed—you know what? Forget it.” He was ready to get off that carousel and refocus his intentions on tabby cat. His shoulders relaxed and he gentled his expression. “Do you need a little more time?”
Tabitha snapped the buckle beneath her chin and chalked her hands. “Nah, I’m ready now. You two bickering took the pressure off.”
“Happy to be of service, sis.” Angus relaxed on his large boulder, legs crossed at the ankles and hands rested behind his head.
The sun beat down on his freckly flesh and Zac could practically smell the sizzle of the gangly man’s developing sunburn.
There were a few similarities between the twins: same auburn hair, long legs, sky blue eyes.
Other than that, their differences were glaring.
In the span of thirty minutes, the time it took for them to drive out to the crag, Zac learned that Angus was obsessive about cycling, worried about nothing, and was happy to coast by as his parents focused all their attention on his climbing phenom sister.
Oh, he also said he’d always wanted a nickname but no one ever gave him one.
To which Zac bestowed the moniker beefy.
Zac liked the guy. He could relate to the quirky, who-gives-a-flying-fuck demeanor. And while he had only known Tabitha for a week, the night and day personality difference was stark.
“Climbing,” she nudged Zac, reclaiming his attention so they could do what they came to do. “You here with me?”
He grinned, taking in the glimmering blue of her eyes surrounded by thick lashes.
Her bottom lip was puffy from her anxiously nibbling on it.
She was nervous and Zac couldn’t blame her.
Belaying for someone was a semi-intimate duty.
The climber must trust the instincts and skills of their belayer because they literally held their life in their hands.
“Don’t worry, tabby cat. I won’t be letting you go.” He grinned, noticing as her pupil dilated. “Climb on.”