Chapter 2
Karen
Iglanced from my phone to the sign, squinting at the notification on the bottom, then back down to the waiver on my phone once again.
"Well shit."
I didn't know what to expect when I'd rocked up at the zip-lining place, but this certainly wasn't it.
Inherent hazards and risks include but are not limited to:
Risk of injury from the activity and equipment, including the potential for significant and/or permanent disability and death.
Possible equipment failure and/or malfunction of my own or other’s equipment.
Attack by or encounter with insects, reptiles, and/or other animals.
Accidents or illnesses occurring in remote places where there are no available medical facilities….
The list went on and on.
"You okay, Karen?"
I swallowed, looking up at the dreamy man whose wedding ring glinted in the morning sun. Drake Andrews had to be one of the most attractive men I'd ever met.
"Um, yep."
He grinned, and my heart sighed.
"Look, it's a technical waiver, but we've had no major injuries beyond a few strains and bruises. We've been here for nearly five years now, and, God willing, we'll never have a serious injury. Dane and I are trained professionals. Don't worry, we've got you."
I nodded, butterflies the size of jet planes still flapping in my stomach.
"Right. Of course." I signed the waiver, handing it back to him. "Is it just you and me today?"
He checked my answers, making a small note in one of the margins. "Actually, you're a little early. The rest of the crew hasn't arrived yet."
"Oh."
He looked up, his friendly grin still in place. "How about we take you inside and get you kitted up, that way you can relax with some coffee while we wait."
"Um, sure."
I followed him into a large barn that had been converted into a classroom and storage for the multitudes of equipment. The place felt surprisingly modern despite the wood.
"Do you mind if I take a picture and start recording this?" I asked, holding up my spare phone. "It's for the—"
"Wicked Women podcast." Drake grinned. "Your producer told us when she booked it. And if we hadn't known then, our wife would have told us."
"Our?"
"Mine and his," a gruff voice said behind me. I twisted, looking over my shoulder to see another delicious man enter the barn. He held out a hand for me to shake.
"I'm Dane."
Where Drake was all light, Dane was all darkness.
"Lovely to meet you."
He gripped my hand, giving it a warm, solid shake.
And damn, wish I was as lucky as their wife. Two men? Gr-owl!
"Is your wife joining us?"
They both laughed.
"Nope," Drake said, still chuckling as he pulled a harness and helmet from the wall. "She's petrified of heights. Won't even go into the hayloft for fear of falling."
I tilted my head back, grimacing as I took in the solid ladder that led up into the converted loft space. "I feel her."
"Uh-oh." Drake shook his head. "Don't tell me you're scared of heights."
"Only like ninety-nine-point-nine percent of the time."
They both sighed, shaking their heads in unison.
"Right, let's get you fitted."
Drake handed me a harness, explaining how to put it on as he watched. Behind him, Dane checked the rest of the equipment, making notes on his tablet as he went.
"Now, I'll just tighten this for you." Drake reached over, tightening the straps. "What we want is tight but not strangulation. You need room to move and not get pinched by the harness." He stepped back, gesturing at the straps. "How's that?"
I gave a little shimmy, walking a few steps and then giving him a nod. "Feels good."
"Great. Now have a go climbing the ladder over there, just a few rungs, we want to see that it's not riding up or falling down anywhere it shouldn't."
I blinked. "Sorry, what?"
He gestured at the ladder. "Just over there."
Silently cursing Chrissy, I moved to the ladder, trying desperately not to look like a fool as I began to scramble up the rungs.
"Hey, is this the right place for zip-lining?"
I glanced over my shoulder and died. I actually felt my spirit leave my body as I stared in horror at the three men clustered in the doorway, all of whom were, in turn, staring at my ass.
To be fair, the only exercise clothing I owned involved novelty-themed leggings, so maybe they were staring at the baby Yoda faces decorating my lower half… but still… dead.
"Yep, come on in." Drake gestured them over. "We're just getting your fourth member for today sorted. I'll be right with you."
My head twisted around, and I stared at my hands where they clutched at the wooden rung, a flush working its way up my neck to burn like the lava on my cheeks.
"Hey, Karen? You okay up there?"
You mean apart from the mortification?
I nodded, sucking in a breath then began the climb back down. "Yep, fine.”
Back on the ground, I found Dane handing out harnesses and helmets.
"Feels like work, hey boss?" one of the younger guys cracked to the older man in their group.
"Only, I have to put up with your crap today," the guy with the attractive salt and pepper hair cracked back.
"Guys, this is Karen. She's gonna be with us today as we explore the caves."
A record screeched in my head.
"C-c-caves?" I sputtered, staring at Drake.
"Yeah. We'll start with the tree course to get you familiar with it all, then move into the caves."
Chrissy is dead. She's worse than dead. She's going to be chopped into 1000 pieces and strewn about the cave so the bats can eat her.
"Okay, not what I was expecting, th-that's fine." I swallowed. "I got this, I mean, how hard can it be?"
Around me, the men chuckled but didn't answer.
"Hey, I'm Will. " Salt-and-pepper hottie held out his hand. I took it, giving it a firm shake, noting with approval the warmth and strength of his grip and the delicious callouses that rasped against my palm.
I must have died and gone to lumberjack heaven. 'Cause this guy is an absolute dish!
"Karen," I replied, feeling strangely breathy.
"Oh no," one of his boys muttered.
"Jay," Will warned, shooting him a look.
The younger guy had tattoos up and down one arm, and his hair, now covered by a helmet, had been a short mohawk.
He looked like the kids I'd gone to school with back in the day, Emos that had listened to metal and been the ones drinking in the car park after school.
I'd always wished I was brave enough to join them.
"Don't worry, I get it all the time. Your name becomes a meme, and suddenly you're the embodiment of it without even opening your mouth."
The kid had the grace to blush. "Sorry. I should know better than to judge."
"Yeah, looking at him, you'd expect him to have more brains." The third guy had to be closer to my age, maybe a few years younger, but not by much. "I'm Liam.”
I shook his hand, grinning as he elbowed Jay.
"Nice to meet you all. Looks like I'll be tagging along for your boy's trip. Sorry."
Drake smoothly inserted himself in. "Don't apologise. Having even numbers makes it easier on me. Shall we get started?"
They signed the waivers, finished getting suited up, and I wrangled their permission to record them for the podcast before we headed outside to the beginner tree course, where I found myself sandwiched between Will and Jay as we listened to the briefing.
Drake took his time explaining in detail the various activities we'd be undertaking and what we could expect from the course.
"Now, I'm going to be using a lot of rhyming today, so prepare yourself," Drake said with a grin. "First things first, these are the orange lifelines, and you must remain connected to them at all times. So how do we do this? Simple, we grip and clip."
The orange lifeline was a small metal hook that was embedded in the wood. To climb safely, you had to clip yourself to the lifeline, take a step, then clip the carabiner on the second line to the small metal loop, and so on and so forth.
"Let's partner up. We're gonna practice everything you just learned."
Will turned to me with a gorgeous smile. "Partner?"
I grinned, feeling a flutter of attraction. "Sounds like a plan."
We started off on small platforms, and I could tell immediately that these guys were experienced. Jay and Liam scrambled up the platforms, gripping and clipping like pros.
"They've done this before," I muttered, my heart thumping loudly in my chest as I watched them scramble across the balance bridge.
Beside me, Will chuckled.
"What do you guys do?"
"I own a lumberyard and sawmill. We specialise in sustainable timber harvesting."
Well, I certainly picked that.
I tilted my head to the side as above us, Jay and Liam traded insults. "Sustainable?"
He grinned. "Everyone hears sawmill and thinks of us cutting down large tracts of land willy-nilly.
What we actually do is own plantations where we circulate the tree growth.
When a plantation is mature, we cut it down and replant it a year or so later once the land has recovered.
We offer removal for fallen trees, and we do clearing for roads and houses—this allows us to ensure the trees are harvested in a way that means every part will be used. "
I nodded, impressed by his passion.
"We also recover used wood and timbers from cabins, train tracks, decks, and so on."
"Does timber ever reach an end of life?"
"Oh sure," he laughed. "Might be that the offcuts are tiny, or the wood is rotten. So we either turn it into something like a carving that can be sold, or we mulch it for use in gardens."
"Wow. I have to admit, I've never given hardwood that much thought."
"Phrasing!" Jay yelled from above us.
We both laughed, my face flushing a tiny bit.
"How about you? You said you're a podcaster. What's that like?"
We chatted about my job as we waited for Jay and Liam to get through the first obstacle.
"You're up. Take it slow, we're in no hurry," Dane assured me as his husband stood at the top of the platform, watching like a hawk as I clipped on.
Shit.
With a shaky breath and even shakier hands, I began the climb up to the first platform.
It only stood about ten feet off the ground, but that was enough to make me want to puke.
"You can do this, Karen,” I muttered to myself as I shimmied along. “You've got this. You are a badass. You're a wicked woman. You—"
My foot slipped, a startled noise ripping from my throat as I tumbled back a step only to fall into the arms of Will.
"Don't worry. I've got you." His arms were clamped firmly around me. His body was warm and hard as he held me.
"Um." I tilted my head back. "Thanks."
"Anytime."
Will helped me settle back on the ladder, helping me readjust my grip, staying close while I began to climb—it felt nice to have someone watching my back.
"You okay?" Drake asked as I got to the top of the platform, attempting to gracefully heave myself up.
"Yeah, sorry. Didn't mean to freak out."
He grinned, wrapping his hands around my biceps and helping me stand. "Don't worry about it. We had a guy faint last month. Six-foot-two, built like a line-backer, petrified of heights. Took four of us to get him back to the ground. You're doing great."
"You are," Will confirmed, his biceps flexing attractively as he pushed himself up. "I'd hire you."
I laughed, flattered by his flirty tone. "Thanks for the vote of confidence."
Drake and Dane put us through our paces, ensuring we were all safe and comfortable working at heights and with the equipment.
"Okay, now it's time to actually glide. Because this is your first time, Dane or I will set up your pulley for you." He demonstrated how to do it while Will hitched his up in such a way I knew it wasn't his first time.
"Now, sit down in your harness, place one hand here and wrap your other around it." Drake nodded when I did as directed. "Perfect. Now lean back, we don't want you getting your hair caught, keep your feet in front of you, then just ride it out."
I watched Will lean back in his harness, sliding easily between the two platforms.
"Oh God," I breathed, feeling the panic claw up my throat. "I don't think I can do this."
Will landed, standing on the other platform and unclipping. He waved, offering me a giant grin.
"Come on, Karrie! You can do it!"
Karrie? That's… actually really cute. Why have I never thought of this before?
"Karen? You okay?" Drake asked beside me.
Oh, right. Giant drop. Riding on a zip-line. Terrified of heights. Gonna die. No biggie.
I sucked in a deep breath and tried to force myself to sit, to do as Drake had instructed, hands in place, legs up, leaning back.
Instead, I froze.
"Karen?"
I swallowed, looking up to see Will across the way.
"You got this, gorgeous. Keep your eyes on me. We'll do this together. Ready?"
I nodded, my body shaking as I kept my gaze locked on his.
"Okay, hands up, good. Now lean back, that's it, great job. Legs up, perfect and—"
I felt Drake's hand on the small of my back, giving me a small push.
"—here we go!"
I didn't scream. I could proudly say I didn't scream or faint or puke—we'll ignore the fact it was because my freeze response kicked in, and I was fairly sure I blacked out the entire ride.
One minute I was leaning back, feeling Drake push me, the next, I was in Will's arms, looking up into his piercing golden eyes.
"Well, hello there." His smile was devilishly gorgeous. "Well done, Karrie. You did it."
I looked down, finding my feet firmly planted on the second platform, Drake shooting me thumbs up from across the gap.
"I… well. Damn." I let go of Will, taking a step back. "I did it."
"Yeah, you did." He held up a hand. "Great job."
I slapped it, enjoying the sting of the high-five.