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“Aww...” Darius pulled one knee up and rested his elbow on it. “Girl, why didn’t you just yell for me? I would’ve waited.”
Addisyn hung her head. Somehow she wanted to cry now more than ever. “I tried. I don’t think you could hear me. Anyway—I didn’t want you to think I was a wimp.”
“Are you kidding?” Darius’s voice was like melted kindness. “You did great today.”
“Really?” She sniffled, the rain still pouring down her face.
“Absolutely.”
He smiled again, and she felt her heart flutter. She was still too cold, too shaken. She had a sudden desire to lean into him, to let him hold her and ease the fear. This was ridiculous. Why was she feeling this way? Around Darius, of all people.
“Want a sandwich?” Darius was holding out some squished mess in a Ziploc bag. Addisyn took it slowly and rather suspiciously.
“A what?” She couldn’t stifle the giggles. Hysterical, that’s what she was.
“A sandwich.” He grinned sheepishly. “A PB&J I brought for you to eat on the top of the mountain.”
Addisyn couldn’t help it now. She burst into laughter, giggling until tears crept to the corners of her eyes. “It looks like it’s been run over.”
He shook his head and laughed. “This sure isn’t what I had planned!”
Addisyn opened the bag, pulled out the squashy mess and took a big bite. “Delicious.” She looked over at Darius and they both burst into laughter again.
He sighed and looked out into the thick clouds. Rain dripped off the end of his nose. “I’m sorry, Addisyn. This whole day has been ruined.”
“No!” Why would he say that? “I’ve had fun.”
He rolled his eyes. “Climbing a rock wall, freezing to death, getting soaked, and almost dying? That’s not fun for anybody.”
“Hey!” Addisyn pushed him playfully. “I’m serious. It was fun.” She hesitated before bringing out her next words. “It was fun—being with you.”
He gazed toward her again as she huddled cross-legged on the rock, clutching her slimy sandwich. For a long moment, their eyes held. As if they were speaking a language that needed no words.
Addisyn pressed a hand on the rock to steady herself. What was this weird feeling? It was like a magnetic pull drawing her closer to this man, so kind and gentle and caring. Her face turned toward him like a flower seeking the sun.
“You feel all right?” His question sounded breathy.
“Maybe—I’m getting altitude sickness.” The words would barely form.
“Then we need to go down.” But he made no move to get up.
“No.” The response came from the part of her that only wanted to sit here on this rain-soaked rock with Darius for the rest of her life.
IN A WORLDof dross, she was a diamond, sparkling and genuine. Even with rain-drenched hair, shoulders hunched for warmth, and a nasty old sandwich in her hand, she was by far the most beautiful girl Darius had ever seen. And the beauty that irradiated her soul was even more rare.
He sucked in a quick breath. Never mind what he told himself. Never mind what he had always believed. Recklessly he shoved the memories of his failures and foibles deep into the cracks in his heart. In this moment, he was free to love again.
Hands trembling with the feelings he couldn’t stuff into his soul any longer, he reached toward her and stroked her shoulder. She didn’t pull away. With a movement as gentle as a falling leaf lighting on the forest floor, his arm was around her. With a sigh as soft as a butterfly’s wing, she was leaning into him.
His arm tightened protectively. He held her there, inches from him, while the whole world spiraled around them and them alone. She was his perfect dream.
He could see the amazement in her eyes, the wonder that this had happened, that two friends had suddenly somehow in an instant of time become one person.
“Darius...” Her voice was the barest whisper.
“Shh.” The disbelief on her face mirrored his own. “It’s—okay.”
Carefully she closed her eyes, her eyelashes lying softly on her cheeks. In an instant their lips were together. It was the kiss that Darius had waited for all his life—the kind of kiss that welded souls together, inseparable for eternity. When he pulled back, he had forgotten the rain, the clouds, everything.
