Page 76 of Burnin' For You

Reuben ran down the edge of the cliff to where he’d climbed up earlier and worked his way down to the river.

Found his rope, the remainder that hadn’t burned. Still a good length—long enough, he supposed, to pull her up.

He climbed up the cliff and returned to the hole. He sat on the edge and tied a harness into the end. He lowered it down to Gilly. “Put this around you. I’ll pull you up.”

She worked the rope around herself.

“Easy does it—don’t fall.”

She looked up, as if to snap at him, but instead just nodded.

Hmm.

He knew he should be roping in, securing his position, but frankly he could probably pull her up hand over hand. Nevertheless, he wound the rope around his waist, stood up, braced his legs, and began to pull.

She weighed nothing, or it could be sheer adrenaline, but she called out for him to slow down, to let her work her way up.

He slowed down, steadied his breath until her head rimmed the edge of the crack. Then in one quick move, he wrapped his arm around her tiny waist and heaved her up and into his embrace.

And then her arms were around his neck, as she held onto him, burying her face in his shoulder.

Shaking.

“Shh, you’re okay. You’re okay.” He said it for himself as much as for her, backing away from the edge, then scooping her into his arms and sitting down. He settled her on his lap, holding her away from him enough to run his hands down her arms. He met her eyes.

Swallowed.

She was staring at him, so much vulnerability in her eyes, so much relief and just a hint of hero worship that his breath hiccupped.

“Rube—”

But he couldn’t take it, couldn’t listen, couldn’t wait—he leaned in and kissed her. And not a soft, sweet, gentle kiss like before, but a full on, oh-I-nearly-lost-you move that had him tightening his arms around her, reeling at the emotions that suddenly turned him weak. He had his hands tangled in her hair, now dirty and knotted—

And she was kissing him back. Just as heartily, her hands fisted into his grimy shirt, pulling him closer, as if she couldn’t get enough of him.

It slowed him down, and the relief shuddered out of him, until he softened his kiss, ending it sweetly, with a gentleness that he hoped showed her just how much he didn’t want to frighten her.

Even though, yeah, he was suddenly very, very afraid.

He loved her. The realization washed over him, turned him a little woozy, scooping out his breath. Still, as he leaned back, meeting her eyes, her amazing smile, the truth poured into his bones, his heart.

Wow, he loved her. Her courage and her spitfire determination and even her resourcefulness. He loved the fact that, yeah, she’d risked her life for him at least twice—maybe more—but also that she could still look at him like he was her hero.

He loved her because despite him being a big man, with more bullheadedness than brains sometimes, she still trusted him with herself, this petite woman who had experienced pain and fear under the hands of a man out of control.

With everything inside him, he wanted to protect her. From everything—and especially Patrick and Brownie and fire and fear and—well, even his own crazy emotions. Because she couldn’t possibly feel the same about him.

Unlike him, she hadn’t exactly been pining for him for years.

Still, maybe they had a chance if he did this right, if he didn’t rush her. Didn’t scare her.

“What is it, Reuben?” She ran her thumbs over his cheeks. “You look like you’ve been crying.”

He twisted his mouth, as if brushing her words away, but he couldn’t quite manage it and just stared out over the ravine.

“Youwerecrying.”

“I just thought—”