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“I won’t let you fall.” I brace the ladder. “I’ll spot you.”
Gingerly, she hauls herself onto the ladder. I hold it as steady as I can on the uneven ground, studiously ignoring how close we are—and how, as she climbs, I have a nice view of her firm ass in those dark wash jeans. She takes a deep breath once she’s balancing on the top step. Tangerine shifts, but she’s not so far away that Mia can’t reach out and scoop her up.
“Mia?”
“Shut up and let me concentrate.”
“Just grab her quick.”
“Give me a second,” she says, sharper now. “I don’t like heights.”
“Space is up very high, you know.”
“That’s different.” She huffs out a breath, reaching forward and wobbling. “You would never climb on a ladder to get into space.”
“Come down. I’ll do it.”
“No,” she says quickly. “I can do it.”
“You don’t have to be so stubborn—”
“I can do it,” she interrupts. She reaches out again. I wrap my arm around her back, securing her in place. She’s trembling.
I bite back a curse. Too fucking stubborn. “I wouldn’t have made you get on the ladder if you just told me that you didn’t feel comfortable.”
“It’s not about comfort. Comehere, Tangy.”
“If you actually communicated instead of holding everything inside, then—”
“This doesn’t have anything to do with that!” She rises onto her toes, snatching Tangy from the tree and hauling her into her arms. She wobbles again, in a much more precarious position than before. “This is just about the damn—”
“Mia, watch—”
She falls right off the ladder.
I wrap my arms around her instinctively as her body hits mine, sending both of us sprawling onto the grass. Tangerine promptly starts yowling. She claws to get out of Mia’s arms. Once she’s free, she bolts, settling a few feet away. I turn my head to the side, eyeing her as I pant. At least the ladder fell on its side instead of on top of us.
I hug Mia tighter, trying to quell my racing heart. Her hair is in my mouth, and instead of honeysuckle, now I’m smelling jasmine again. “Are you okay?”
“I hate ladders,” she says vehemently. She struggles to get out of my grip the same way Tangerine just did with her, panting too as she sits up. She looks down at me, her hair falling into her face, her skin flushed. The thin gold chain around her neck sways.
She’s straddling me.
She could lean down and kiss me, just like this.
I sit up on my elbows. She blinks. A beat passes, then another, as we stare at each other.
This is a different sort of staring contest. I don’t even dare reach up to brush her hair back, for fear she’ll run away and use this moment as another excuse to strengthen the barrier between us. I can feel my body reacting to the comfortable weight of her on top of me.
I’ve already lost her. I know that. But every single atom in my body is yearning for that kiss, and for everything that could come after.
“Callahan,” she starts.
A beeping sound fills the air.
She grimaces, pulling out her phone and answering it. “Hello?”
“You have a ringtone? James is the only other person I know with an actual ringtone.”
