Page 46 of Burnin' For You

“No, Gilly, not that one!”

And then she was falling.

Her scream rent the air, her arms flailing as the entire rappelling assembly released.

No—no—!

She hit hard, something—not rock but an unyielding force that grabbed her, pulled her in, cushioned her as he fell back into the water with a cold, shocking splash.

And heaven help her, for a second she simply curled into Reuben, holding on, breathing hard.

“Gotcha,” he said softly.

Chapter 5

“Are you okay?”

Reuben simply lay there, clutching Gilly to his chest, his heart somewhere on the outside of his body, trying to catch his breath.

She, too, seemed shocked, or dazed, or—

He pushed himself up, still holding her. “Gilly?”

“Yeah. I’m okay.” But she was shaking, and for a second he had a replay of their incident on the dance floor.

But when she looked at him, something akin to disbelief filled her eyes. “You caught me.”

“You didn’t think I’d just let you land on your head, did you?”

She frowned. Then, “Thanks.”

And that’s when he reverted back to his stupid self, something idiotic emerging from his mouth. “That’s what teammates are for.”

Really, Reuben?Because he’d pretty much stopped thinking of her as a teammate, well, honestly, years ago, but it suddenly became a crashing reality maybe five seconds ago. Especially since he had no desire to pull Conner, Pete, or even Kate into his arms.

And that forbidden thought kept going through his head as he helped Gilly up, coiled the rope, and headed downstream. He’d spotted a place where they might get out, a tumble of boulders that made climbing easy. Something that might not injure her knee any further. She was trying to hide it, but by the way she babied it, it had to be hurting.

But she didn’t mention it—didn’t even grunt—as she climbed up the boulders onto the other side.

He didn’t want to think that she was out to prove something—especially to him—but he couldn’t shake it.

He knew that kind of bullheaded stubbornness, the kind that could get a person hurt, could damage relationships. Could keep a man from going home.

From his estimation, they had about a mile to the road, maybe less. Overhead, the sky had begun to turn a deep umber, the shadows waxing the mountains in lavender and magenta.

They needed to reach the forest service road by twilight, make some progress toward finding the path to the tower. If he had to, he could leave Gilly at the service road to maybe flag down a passerby.

She tripped, and he reached out to grab her elbow.

“I’m fine.” She yanked away, but offered a smile. “Really.”

“I know,” he said, lying, not sure what to do with her determination to press on.

Half of him wanted to pick her up, throw her over his shoulder. He should have listened to his gut and demanded she stay behind. With the sun dipping and Jed and CJ in serious danger, they needed to move faster. He didn’t want to mention it, but frankly, he could have made twice the time without her.

The other half understood how regret had teeth, how it bit down, wouldn’t shake loose.

Her foot kicked a log and she grunted, something that suggested she’d wrenched her knee.