Chapter 5
HAZEL
Terror clenches my stomach and rises up my chest, tumbling out of my throat in a strangled scream.
Trees fly past below me, my feet almost skimming their branches.
As I whiz over the canopy clutching the thick rope, the terror turns to exhilaration and the scream to a long whoop.
Then I giggle, and by the time I reach Marcus, grinning on the platform and ready to catch me, I’m laughing so hard my belly aches.
My feet find purchase on the platform, and Marcus’s strong arms wrap around me as I come to the end of the zip line.
“That was insane!”
I’m laughing so hard, and I’m not sure why. I guess it’s the adrenaline coursing through my veins because I just jumped off a perfectly good wooden platform and flew over the trees.
“Let’s go again.”
Marcus laughs at my eagerness, but I’m being serious.
For one joyful moment, I forgot why I was here. I forgot the story I’m supposed to be writing, I forgot my mother dying in a hospital bed, and I forgot the massive bills pilling up and waiting for me in New York. For one joyful moment, it was just me flying through the trees on a zip line.
“All right, my little adrenaline junkie.” Marcus grins at me so hard it makes my heart squeeze. “We’ve got to get around the rest of the course, but if you want, at the end, we can go around again.”
“Yes please,” I say without hesitation.
I’ve never done anything like this in my life. There’s no zip-lining over a forest in New York. But it’s not just the zip-lining that’s got me pumped. The more time I spend with Marcus, the more I fall for the surly mountain man.
We’re high above the trees on wooden platforms, just me, Marcus, and the instructor. We’re in harnesses and attached to the safety ropes in two places.
There’s not a lot of room on these wooden platforms, and as I move to the next line, my boobs brush up against Marcus.
My entire body shudders at the contact. Even through the layers of clothing, my body’s on fire. I’m not sure if the adrenaline comes from zip-lining through the trees or being this close to Marcus.
“Remind me to buy you a sky dive for your birthday.”
My stomach drops at the reminder of my birthday. It’s in five days, the same day as Valentine’s Day. Marcus senses the change in my mood.
“What did I say?”
I’m not ready to tell him about my mother and the Valentine’s Day curse, not yet. “My birthday’s next week.”
He chuckles until he sees my expression. “You don’t like birthdays?”
“Not ones on Valentine’s Day.”
Marcus looks pained for a moment. The instructor comes up to secure me to the next rope and blocks my view of him.
When I see him again, he’s smiling.
“You want to go first on this one?”
He doesn’t pry about Valentine’s Day, which is a relief.
The next challenge is a walk over the forest on nothing but a thin metal wire with ropes to hold onto on either side.
If you’d told me I’d be doing this yesterday morning as I navigated the early New York traffic to LaGuardia airport, I’d never have believed you.
When Marcus brought me here, a million excuses went through my head.
I’m too heavy. I’m scared of heights. I’m not adventurous.
He ignored all my protests, because it turns out none of them are true.
If it can take Marcus’s weight, it can take mine, and I’m not actually scared of heights.
I’ve just never had the opportunity to be on anything high apart from an office building with thick windows.
As I shimmy across the thin rope, I wonder how I’m going to explain the Valentine’s Day curse to Marcus. There’s a curse on my family, and we were good for a while, but now only bad things happen on Valentine’s Day? I’m going to sound crazy.
We get to the next platform, and I slide in beside the instructor as Marcus expertly maneuvers across. He slides across the rope not once looking down, sure-footed and confident. He’s agile for a big man, and I guess that’s his army training.
“What did you do in the military?”
He doesn’t answer, and when I look up, he’s eyeing me warily.
“Nice try, angel.”
I’m not sure when he started calling me angel or why, but it makes my tummy go all fluttery and my cheeks heat.
“I wasn’t…”
I’m about to say I wasn’t prying for information, but I’m not sure that’s true. Isn’t that exactly what I’m doing?
I went to his cabin wrapped in a towel for the express purpose of getting him to ask me out.
I’m not stupid. I saw the way he looked at me in the bar.
I hate to say it, but Scott was right. Marcus is a hot-blooded man, and if anything’s going to get the story it’s my feminine wiles, or at least my boobs.
I feel a twinge of uneasiness at the thought. It’s not really ethical to turn up in a towel to get his attention. I was half hoping it wouldn’t work, that he wouldn’t be just another hot-blooded male. I was both elated and disappointed when he asked me out today.
But it’s not just because I need this story. I like him. How could I not? He’s hot and muscular and artistic. He’s a deep thinker with a past. He’s thoughtful and kind, and did I mention his muscles? His arms look like they could break me in half while his hands could mold me…
“Sorry.” I shake the thought of his hands on me out of my head. “I’m naturally curious.”
He harrumphs at me, and I wonder if he’s going to open up. God knows I need this story and this promotion, but I’m uneasy about it. I hate myself for tricking him into spending time with me. Even if I am enjoying myself.
“The next one is the longest zip line on the course,” the instructor says as he latches my harness to the wire.
Marcus steps onto the platform, and his presence looms over me. We’re so close but there’s nowhere to go, nowhere to back up to even if I wanted to.
“Of course you are,” he murmurs.
His thumb brushes at my cheek, tucking away a strand of hair away that’s come loose from my helmet.
“I’m not doing the story, Hazel, but if you’re curious, come by for dinner and I’ll show you my work. Off the record.”
My heart’s thumping in my chest so loud I think the whole forest must hear it.
He wants to talk. He wants to share his story, but he doesn’t want me to write about it. I should push for more. Scott would want me to. Play hard to get and insist I won’t spend time with him unless he agrees to do the feature. But as I look into his troubled eyes, I can’t do it.
I’m not cutthroat like Scott needs me to be. I want the story, but I won’t breach this man’s trust. Maybe I’m not cut out to be a feature writer after all. I’m not ruthless enough.
“What’s wrong?”
Marcus frowns and I look down, embarrassed that my every thought is written across my face.
“Nothing,” I mumble.
If it was just the job, it would be a no brainer. But then I think about mom, her sunken expression, spending her last days in a rundown facility. Why does life have to be so complicated?
“Dinner sounds good.” I lift my eyes to his and force a smile.
“Off the record,” he reiterates.
“Off the record,” I repeat and hope like hell I can keep my promise.
There’s a cough behind me, and I turn to find the instructor staring at us pointedly.
I give a giggle like we’ve been caught.
“Who’s going first?” he asks.
“Me!”
I step forward and allow him to attach me to the next zip line. For today, I’m going to enjoy myself. I’m doing something fun with a hot, interesting man.
For one day, I can just be Hazel Lumley, a twenty-five-year-old, kind of chubby city girl enjoying a few days in the mountains.
But as I fly over the canopy, I can’t shake the uneasy feeling in the pit of my stomach, my conscience nibbling at me, telling me what I’m doing is wrong.