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She grabbed at a rock embedded in the dirt above her and pulled herself up.
The rock separated from the earth.
Brylee screamed and clamped down with a death grip on the root in her other hand. Then the root yanked free too, and Brylee was in midair, falling backward. Her heart would surely stop before she hit the ground far below.
She wanted to shout, “Goodbye, cruel world,” but there wasn’t time.
Chapter
Four
Brylee was yanked backagainst the mossy cliff, stopping her freefall to death. Cash wrapped her up in one arm and hauled her into his side, his other hand clinging to a thick tree limb. They both leaned into the incline.
“I’ve got you,” he said softly.
Brylee shuddered, slid her arms around his waist, under his large backpack, and clung to him. Tears squeezed past her lashes and her body trembled uncontrollably. Seconds ticked by, but she didn’t count them. She simply hung on.
“Thank you,” she finally managed. “How did you …?”
“I caught your backpack. Good thing you have it strapped on so tight.”
“Good thing,” she repeated. She leaned into his neck, inhaling the scent of salty musk. She needed to let go of him and start climbing again, but she didn’t know how to force herself to do that. His strength was the only thing keeping her from breaking into sobs.
“Are we going to die?” she asked, blinking up at him. Was the moisture on her face from the mist of the falls or her own emotion?
“Not today, junior.” He gave her a warm smirk. “But we could move in from the waterfall face a bit. I’m itching to use that machete again, and the growth isn’t as thick up here.”
“You are ace,” she whispered, hoping he knew what a huge compliment that was in the British slang she’d studied online. “I can chop, chop with that brilliant plan, mate.”
“Let’s do it.” He gave her a warm smile.
Brylee tried to smile back, but her lips trembled. She would forever be grateful to him for saving her life, and now he was letting her off the hook from climbing any farther.
Glancing down the waterfall face, her body shuddered more violently. They were insanely high. If she had fallen …. She clung to Cash and prayed he wasn’t annoyed at her for being so dramatic. Yet she’d almost plunged over three hundred and fifty feet to certain death.
“I think you’re wrong,” she said.
“About?” He arched an eyebrow at her, not seeming bothered at all that he was holding her hundreds of feet off the ground, clinging to a tree branch. “I was wrong … once.”
She laughed and felt relieved that she could do so in such a precarious position. “I think we’re almost four-hundred feet off the ground, not three-fifty.”
“Power of positive thinking. I like it. Well, Lieutenant Auburn. Let’s conquer the next few feet, shall we?”
“If I’m the lieutenant, what are you?”
“I’m the captain. Always.” He smirked. He was terribly good-looking. Bizarre that she could even think such thoughts, hanging on the edge of death like she was. Yet in his arms, she knew she was safe.
“I wish I could salute,” she said.
“Later.” He winked and then held on to her with one arm as they both shuffled away from the waterfall and the vicious drop.
Within a few minutes they were on semi-solid, though still steeply inclined, ground. They kept pulling themselves up over the growth rather than Cash slicing through it. Brylee felt marginally more optimistic now that the ledge wasn’t within falling distance.
“Is a million pounds worth barmy dying for? Like a couple of gormless gits, aren’t we now?” she asked. She dropped the accent and muttered, “Maybe I should’ve used my impressive accent skills, wasted hours building a following, and begged for funds on social media.”
“Ah, where’s your sense of adventure?”
“It fell off the ledge and you forgot to catch it.”
