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Dakota landed as if the move had been choreographed by a world famous dancer. No stumbling, teetering, or general marionette impressions. He unhooked himself with a quick flick of his wrist and pulled his helmet off. A few rakes of his fingers and his hair was back to looking absolutely perfect.
“How many times have you ziplined?” Leah asked.
Dakota puckered out his lips, reminding Leah of how wonderful it was to be on the other end of that pucker. “Thousands. Easily. And not just in Maplehaven. I’ve ziplined on almost every continent.”
“Wow,” Carter said. “We’ve never leftthiscontinent, have we, Leah?”
Leah shook her head. “Flying is dangerous.”
“This is the part where I remind everyone that more people get killed in cars than airplanes,” Dakota said. “Drivingtothe airport is far more dangerous than flying out of one.”
Leah’s vision got spotty as she forgot to breathe. Drivingwasdangerous. Deadly. No one knew that better than her.
Well, except Carter. He knew. Unfortunately.
Carter’s arm snaked around her shoulders as a chill swept through her body. “Breathe, Leah. It’s okay.”
“What’s happening?” Dakota asked, his brows furrowed in concern. “What did I say to upset you?”
Leah waved a hand, taking Carter’s advice to breathe. “Nothing. It’s nothing. I’m not upset.”
Dakota stared at her a moment longer before looking at Carter’s arm around her. “If you’re sure…”
“I am.” She squinted up at the zipline as she shook off Carter’s hold. “So how do we get back?” Because this adventure needed to be over right now.
“I’ve got a utility vehicle parked below this platform,” Dakota said. “We climb down and off-road it back to Birch Peak Adventures.”
Nodding, she walked to the ladder leading down from the platform. “Sounds good.”
She was the first one to the ground with Carter next then Dakota. Without much conversation, they all piled into the utility vehicle and its roar through the woods was the only sound to be heard.
Get it together.Leah mentally shook herself. The mere mention of flying and driving shouldn’t send her into a tailspin, but it had.
It’s probably because Carter is here.
That had to be it. Having a three-dimensional reminder of what had happened in New York was messing with her. She’d been beginning to let it all go, but Carter’s presence ripped open the healing wounds. She had to get it into her head that she let him come to helphim. He shouldn’t be the one to put his arm around her in a comforting gesture. She was supposed to be setting an example and moving on from all this.
Moving on potentially with Dakota.
Dakota’s face looked genuinely troubled when they arrived at Birch Peak Adventures, and Leah felt awful for being such a mess.
“Carter,” she said, “do you mind giving Dakota and me a minute?”
Carter hesitated then nodded. “Sure. No problem. I’ll be in the SUV.” He gave Dakota a smile. “Thanks, man. That was fun. I might like to do a little ATVing another time.”
Dakota shook Carter’s hand. “Let me know when.”
Leah waited for Carter to get into her SUV before turning to Dakota. His hands were now jammed into the pockets of his gray cargo pants and the sleeves of his Birch Peak Adventures sweatshirt were pulled up a little to reveal a tease of that tattoo again. Not enough for her to guess at what the larger picture might be.
But she still wanted to know what it was. That had to mean this thing blooming with Dakota deserved a chance.
“Listen, sorry I got weird back there.” She arrowed a thumb to the woods.
Dakota shook his head. “Not weird.” He slid his left hand out of his pocket and held it out to her. She took it and his fingers were warm and solid when they wrapped around her hand. “You’ve gone through something. Something major. You’re trying to get on the other side of it.” He tugged her closer so her front leaned against his. “Guess what? I make an excellent bridge.”
When he traced a fingertip along her jaw, she couldn’t deny that his touch both soothed and ignited her.
“You also have oodles of patience.” She closed her eyes and rested her forehead on his shoulder.
