When Allie heaved an aggrieved sigh, he managed to keep his mouth shut.
Off-camera, the producer was waving them toward the loft. The only problem: Sebastián wasn’t certain Lucy could even get into it, at least not while wearing a long skirt.
“I’m sure you’re excited by the innovative loft access design.” Allie looked at the wall to the left of the loft. “I’ll let you explore that area without me. I’d just be in the way.”
Translation: She didn’t think she could get up there either.
“It’s a rock-climbing wall.” With an audible swallow, Lucy reached out to touch one of the fake stones anchored into the wood paneling. “There’s no ladder to the loft? Or steps?”
“Nope.” Allie bounded down the steps and disappeared outside.
Lucy cast a look of appeal at Jill. “If I’m climbing up there in a skirt, I really don’t want to be filmed while doing so.”
“Fair enough.” Jill nodded to the crew, who put down their cameras and mic. “Why don’t you two check out the loft together? Really take your time and see how you feel about such a small space, Lucy. And Sebastián, it’s so fortunate you’re here. She’ll be able to figure out how things would work if she had company.”
He instinctively swallowed a howl of protest.
What the hell was wrong with him? Why couldn’t hesimply accept that his old friend was starting a new life without him? One where she might have another man in her bed?
“We’ll join you two in a minute.” Jill headed outside too, followed by the rest of the crew.
Suddenly, he and Lucy were alone. She met his gaze with a smile, but that worry stone was in her palm again, and her soft brown eyes were anxious.
“Why don’t I climb up to the loft first?” He tested the holds and found them strong enough to support either of them, which came as a pleasant surprise. “Then I can help you, if you need it.”
To his relief, she laughed. “Oh, I’ll need it. We both know that.”
Halfway up the wall, he got his first real glimpse of the space into which he and Lucy were supposed to squeeze. Pausing for a moment, he took a slow, deep breath.
“Allie called it a cozy nest built for two.” Her tone was wry. “I’m guessing that means it’s essentially a double-wide coffin.”
He swallowed. “You’re not wrong.”
For Lucy, he could do this. For her, he’d do anything.
“Here goes nothing,” he said.
Within a moment, he’d made it to the top of the wall and levered himself over the side of the loft. He couldn’t sit up straight, not even in the center, where the pitched roof was highest.
“How is it up there?” She sounded tentative but curious.
It was dark. Too warm. The walls pressed in on him.
My breathing. I need to control my breathing. Slow, deep breaths. In. Out. In. Out.
He couldn’t panic. Lucy needed him.
Rolling onto his stomach, he scooted his upper body over the edge of the loft and reached out with both hands towardthe rock wall. “Make sure your skirt doesn’t catch in your feet as you climb. And grab onto my hands if you feel unsteady.” His fingers were damp and trembling, and he wiped them on his jeans before extending them once more. “You can do it.”
She reached down and drew the back hem of her skirt up between her thighs, tucking it into the elastic waistband at the front. “Voila. Problem solved.”
Gazing at her bare legs, as it turned out, proved an effective distraction from his discomfort. Long and curvy, they were pale from the skirts she always wore. He hadn’t seen those legs uncovered since…when? That pool party the senior year of high school?
He’d only gone because she’d asked. He’d known how some of the other kids would respond to his skinny, hairless chest and the other obvious signs of his nonexistent puberty. Sure enough, before the end of the night, she’d wound up standing between him and a sophomore attempting to pick a fight, no matter how hard he’d tried to move Lucy and how often he’d told her it didn’t matter, the insults didn’t bother him, he’d simply walk away.
The asshole had accidentally punched her in the mouth while aiming for Sebastián. And the next thing Sebastián remembered, both he and that kid had been sprawled across the concrete, throwing fists and elbows and trying to inflict maximum damage on each other.
After that incident, everyone had known the simple truth: He wasn’t impenetrable. He had a weakness. He cared about something, which meant it—she—could be used to hurt him. For those last few weeks of school, he’d waded into losing fight after losing fight in her defense, whenever other boys had insulted her or talked about her in gross, sexual terms in his presence.
