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Chapter 22 - Laurel
I was a bundle of nerves as I got us in our safety harnesses, showing him how to work his ropes. It was an easy climb with lots of natural hand and foot holds, but still a thirty foot sheer drop to the rocky ground below. For the first time I got an inkling of the fear that Ben must have been gripped with. The thought of him falling and hurting himself, or worse, caused my chest to clench with anxiety. The fact he was doing this for me eased that tightness, though.
He’d brought several of his cameras and set them up on various stands and tripods, all aiming down the side of the cliff. “You really need better quality pictures,” he said, fussing with the settings on one of them. “Either you’re not in focus or the scene isn’t. If I do multiple settings, I think I can get enough shots for you to have a variety. That way you can attract more viewers. People who want to see what you’re doing and people who want to see the scenery.” He stopped adjusting the last camera and looked up to smile at me.
He was so handsome, and so utterly adorable with that proud look on his face. It tugged on my heart strings that he took such an interest.
“I thought this kind of thing was for fame hounds,” I said, unable to resist a little jab.
He looked embarrassed. “I didn’t understand what you were trying to do when I said that,” he explained. “Now I get it.”
“You do? You don’t think I’m crazy anymore?”
He tilted his head to the side as if contemplating that, then laughed at my outrage. “I’m impressed that you found a way to make a living at the thing you love most in the world.”
Now I was blushing at his praise. “I’m not exactly making a living at it,” I said.
“You’re trying. And you’ll succeed. There’s no way you won’t.”
“I swear you’ve never been sexier to me,” I said. “Can you repeat all that to my mom?”
The glint in his eyes faltered a bit when I brought up my mom. Of course he wouldn’t be meeting her. “I’ll get my team on an article about it,” he said. “Alternative outdoor lifestyle careers or something like that. You can help write it if you want.”
“I’ll have to come up with a fee,” I joked.
“Yes, do that,” he said, completely serious. “If you want to be a pro, you need to make others see you as one. Don’t ever undersell yourself, Laurel.”
No man had ever made my panties wet with words before. The way he was talking was driving me dangerously close to taking our harnesses off, along with all our other clothes and forgetting about the climb completely.
No, that wasn’t what we were here for. I needed Ben to feel what I felt during a climb. The freedom of being part of the sky. I knew it would do wonders for him. I double checked our lines and while I tugged at them, he came up behind me and wrapped his arms around my middle.
I turned in his arms, looking up at him to see a slightly worried furrow on his brow. “You ready?” I asked.
I’d been out with beginners plenty of times and if you even hinted they might be scared they either overcompensated and tried to show off or completely chickened out. Now I just asked them if they were ready.
He dropped his chin to the top of my head and I felt him shaking his head back and forth. “Yes,” he said.
“It’s going to be great,” I told him, easing out from under his chin and kissing him lightly.
At least, I only meant it to be light. Just a quick peck before we headed over the side. He pulled me tighter and nudged my lips apart with his tongue, running his hands down my back. When he pulled back I was dazed.
“You’re great,” he said, then grinned. “And no, I’m not trying to get out of it. I really am ready to go. But first, let me get some shots of you.”
Embarrassed and pleased, I dropped over the side, trying not to appear as self-conscious as I felt and just climb while he clicked away at his different cameras. I made it about ten feet down when he told me he had what he needed. He looked nervous again when I got back up to him.
“That was a little rough, watching you dangle so high off the ground.”
“Stop looking down,” I told him, giving him a firm shake. “Look at me or look up.”
I showed him what to do and explained how we could either rappel with our lines or climb by finding handholds.
“Whichever you find more fun,” I said. “The first step is the hardest, so just do it.” I turned to put my back to the edge and jumped backwards, rappelling instead of climbing this time. I whooped as I flew out into thin air before lightly dropping to bounce against the cliff wall.
The look on his face made me fear he was going to bail, but as soon as I started pulling myself up again, he screwed his eyes shut, turned, and did exactly what I did. He landed with a bit more of a thud about a foot lower than me and let out a stream of swear words.
“That was great,” I said encouragingly. Hoping this wouldn’t be over before it really got started.
His eyes flew open and he let out a holler. “That was amazing!” he shouted, the joyful cry echoing back to us.
