Caching In (8 page)

As I walked through the living area, a couple stood near the window, holding coffee mugs. They smiled in acknowledgment, so I did the nice thing and smiled back. I lost my smile when I saw Kate behind the check in counter.

She stood behind the massive piece of wood, a deep mahogany with a computer on it. Somehow the computer didn’t fit in. This was a gorgeous structure, with an old-time flare, and the computer was so modern. It didn’t matter, I supposed, they needed to check people in and run a business somehow.

“Hi, Kate. Remember me?”

She glanced up from her computer and put her focus back onto it. “Yeah. I’ll tell Seth you’re here.” Without losing a breath, she picked up a phone and said, “That girl is here.” She put the phone down and went back to work, not even offering information as to how long Seth would be.

I slowly made my way to the couch and sat down. Even though the temperature rose to seventy degrees outside, the leather still shocked me with its coolness against the back of my thighs. I placed my hands on either side of me, letting my legs start tapping up and down on the floor. I stopped when Kate’s eyes burned me to the ground.

Moments later, Seth strode through a door on the left. He looked comfortable in his black workout shorts and dark blue tank top, giving me the perfect view of his muscles. For our first official date, rushing up and embracing him probably seemed a little weird, though I could already feel my hands on his biceps. I tingled inside the closer he got to me.

“Hey, Ally. You ready for this?”

I jumped up. “I guess, but I’m not sure what I’m ready for. Do you want to tell me what we’re doing today and what requires me to wear this? Usually for a date, I’m in a skirt, or dress slacks at the very minimum.”

“As much as I’d love to see you in a dress, I thought this would be more fun than dinner.”

Chills. Lady parts tingling. Damn, this guy knew how to work me. Note to self: must go somewhere I can wear a dress. “Again, I still have no idea what we’re doing.”

“And in time, you’ll know. I’ll drive.”

Wonderful. I hated not knowing what I was walking into. I planned everything, and hated surprises. However, I wanted to hang out with Seth, so I agreed to play his game.

----------

Thirty minutes later, we arrived at Adventure World. I heard about the indoor sports complex, but never had a chance to go. “What are we doing here?”

“Ever climb a wall before?” Seth asked as though on the same scale as asking if I had ever ridden a bike.

My heart jumped. “Excuse me? Do you mean like Spider-Man?”

His lips stretched into a smile, and his nose crinkled ever so slightly. His lips curled up, his teeth shining through, beaming at me like the sun, warming me with every ray. “Not quite like Spider-Man. I assume your wrists don’t shoot out webs. I mean with a harness, up the rocks. Ever done that before?”

“No, and I don’t intend to.” I considered myself a pretty athletic person, but I didn’t handle heights well, and I assumed these walls stood much taller than me. Although, at only five foot four,
most
things were taller than me.

Without answering me, he jumped out of the car and looped around to my side and opened the door. “Well, you are today.”

Shit. I couldn’t get out of this unless I wanted to come off as a total wuss on my first date with him. Rock climbing seemed exciting enough, but the thought of falling to my demise on my first date didn’t appeal to me. Then I thought of Seth saving me, catching me in his arms, while I wrapped my arms around his neck, leading into the first kiss all first kisses in the future would be compared to. I could totally do this.

Clanking chains and harnesses provided the soundtrack as we entered the facility. Seth checked us in and I hugged myself trying to collect every ounce of bravery possible. People of all ages, probably starting at age five, all the way up to those with gray hair climbing up these walls. Someone waited at the bottom for each person climbing, offering assistance as needed. If all these people did it, why couldn’t I?

Seth called me over and I approached. “Here, you need to sign this.”

I grabbed the lengthy document from him. A liability release? What sort of a date required a release form? I glanced at the people climbing. All those people signed the same piece of paper, too. I stopped hesitating and scribbled my signature on the death notice.

“Are you ready?” Seth took the paper and handed it back to the person behind the desk.

“Well, I just signed a document stating I won’t sue if I die while I do this, and I haven’t passed out yet, so yeah, I’m ready.” He chuckled at my words, not realizing how serious I was. “Based on how calm you are, I assume you’ve done this before.”

“Lots of times. If I’m not geocaching, I’m climbing a wall somewhere.”

“So, basically, you’re Spider-Man.”

He grinned and I transported us into the upside down kiss scene in Spider-Man, the rain beating down on them. Would a kiss between us be that hot? “Are there a lot of people ahead of us?” I secretly hoped for a long wait and the place would close before our turn came.

“Oh no, they can take us right away. Mike is going to help us out.”

“And who’s Mike?” I asked, using air quotes around his name.

“Me.”

I swung around to see a stunning, tall, blond man standing next to us. “Oh, hi. I’m Ally.”

“Mike, but you already know that.” He shook my hand, and I hoped the embarrassment left my face soon.

“Mike’s my best friend. He works here and always spots me.”

Mike was hot. Like, hot with capital letters. HOT. If Chelsea were single (wait, is she?) or not pregnant, I totally would hook those two up. He seemed like her type. Okay, well, the type I imagined for her. His short, blond hair stood in spikes, almost, but not totally because spiked hair went out when I was a kid. Deep, blue eyes, and a dimple on his cheek, reminded me of the boys I referred to as “pretty boys.” Mike radiated a slick, clean profile. Not clean as in he showered every day (although I was sure he more than likely did), but clean as in the type of guy who scoffed at a man who would cheat on his girlfriend-turned-fiancee-and-get-another-girl-pregnant clean. Take his legs and Seth’s arms, and you had the perfect bodybuilder.

I must’ve been staring too long because Seth gently nudged my shoulder to head into the gym area. We entered into an area of multiple walls, each coated with a rainbow of rocks. Some people dripped sweat as they squinted their eyes trying to push themselves forward, while others moved up the wall, smiles spread across their faces. “Seth, when I reach the top, where do I go?” I didn’t see a ledge or anything to grab onto at the top.

His arm moved around me, his hand resting on my shoulder, not before grazing my neck and moving my pony tail out of the way. With a touch that gentle, I could imagine what his hands felt like elsewhere.

With his arm on my shoulder he pointed to the top of one of the walls. “After you reach all the way to the top, you simply hop your way down.”

“Hop my way down? Like a bunny?”

He pulled me into his chest. “You’ll be fine.”

I sniffed him in, trapping his sweet scent of grapefruit and mint. I had to remember to get the name of his cologne so I could pick up a bottle. I tore myself away before any more psychotic girlfriend thoughts entered my mind, but staying nuzzled in his embrace forever lingered in my mind. “You’re going first, right?”

He shook his head. “Nope. I thought you would.”

“What? Are you crazy?”

He patted Mike on the back. “Go ahead and get her started.”

I didn’t want to go first, but I also didn’t want to argue with him. Mike got me started by slipping me into a harness. The straps fit snug against by ass cheeks, and I doubted Seth minded with the view. Maybe he chose rock climbing for this very reason. “Does that feel good?” Mike asked.

“Um, it feels okay I guess?”

He flashed his sexy smile. “I mean is it tight or do you think it’s too loose?”

“It’s pretty tight, so I’m sure it’s fine.”
Get your head out of the gutter, Ally
. He hooked a long leash onto me. That may not have been the official name, but the rope sure felt like a leash. All I needed was a collar. Hopefully it would save me in the event of a fall.

“This is hooked up way up there.” He pointed to the top of the wall. “You don’t need to hold onto it at all. It’s only there should you need it.”

“Need it?”

“Fall.”

“Fall?”

Mike chuckled. “If you fall, you don’t
really
fall. That’s what the rope is for. You just hang onto the cable and you’ll be fine. I’ve only lost one customer.”

What? My eyes widened and the fear shot through into my face.

“I’m kidding, Ally.” He smirked at Seth. “A scaredy cat, isn’t she?”

No. No one called me a scaredy cat. I hiked up my big girl panties. “Okay, let’s do this.”

“Someone hit a soft spot,” Seth slapped me on the back, although I wished it were on my ass.

I hated being called names like that, even if just a joke. I’d show him a thing or two. I approached the wall, the first stones staring at me in their corny primary colors. I placed my hand on the green rock, and my other hand on a red one and hoisted myself up. Okay, simple. I looked around and saw a yellow one to the left I could grab onto and another one on the right. I moved my hands and then my feet.

“You’re doing awesome, Ally,” Seth encouraged me.

Only a few rocks into my trek, I didn’t offer a response. A couple feet up didn’t require any sort of praise. But, before I knew it, I
was
halfway up. Like I was born to climb the wall, I found a rock and put my hand there, lifted myself up and swung my body around. If I wasn’t Spider-Man, then I might have been a monkey in a past life.
You’ve got this, Ally
. Then Seth called out to me and I looked down. I. Looked. Down. Why the hell did I do that? I sucked in a breath as my heart beat hard in my chest. My whole body trembled as my brain registered how high I climbed. The only thing between me and the ground was this slim rope attached to me.

“Ally?”

My body froze, allowing the only movement to be in the form of my pounding heart. I started to get dizzy as sweat dripped down my face. I doubted I could exude any more sexiness than in that moment. Gross.

“Ally? Are you okay?” Seth yelled again from below. Way below.

I managed to shake my head slowly, aware too much movement may send me propelling to my death. Splattered on the floor of a wall climbing facility wasn’t exactly how I wanted Seth to remember me.

“You’re fine,” Mike, I think it was Mike, anyway, called up to me. “Don’t worry about us down here. Remember, you’re attached to a rope. Even if you do fall, you won’t get hurt.”

Even if I fell. I didn’t care if I’d be fine. I didn’t
want
to fall. Despite being attached to the rope, I’d still hurt myself somehow, and my pride wouldn’t recover. The only way through this would be deep, cleansing breaths. I needed to focus on finding my way down the wall where my feet could be firmly planted on the ground. Heels to the Earth. Safe. I pushed my feet against the wall while holding onto the rope tight, refusing to even peek below me. As I turned my head to the side, I witnessed a kid, probably not older than ten, whipping past me in a fury of defeat. Man, I
was
a wuss. Fine. I wasn’t going any higher, but I sure as hell wasn’t going to complain anymore about falling to the ground. One last, deep breath, and I shot myself off the wall, landing a few feet down, and kept at it until my feet hit the ground, all of me in one piece.

I covered my face with my hands, not wanting to lock eyes with either Seth or Mike. Seth immediately helped to unhook me, and I still shook. “Sorry I was such a goof-off up there. I kind of have a little thing with heights. We don’t get along too well.”

The smile I loved so much took over his face. “I can see that. Maybe we should stick with the geocaching.”

“You’re still doing that, Seth? Good for you. Is your cache still hidden, or did you deactivate it?” Apparently this guy knew all about the cache, and he could tell from the expression on my face I didn’t. “Have you found Seth’s yet? It’s so wonderful how he-”

“No, she hasn’t, Mike. We didn’t discuss it yet.”

“Oh, sorry. Well, either way, I’m glad you’re still doing that.” He stumbled on his words. “Seth, you’re up next.”

As Seth climbed up the wall, his fingers gripped the rocks like they were molded just for him. I ran his conversation with Mike through my mind. So wonderful how he what? Designed the container? Found the perfect hiding spot? Used his expert skills to create the greatest geocache of all time, and he did it with his girlfriend? Shoot, he never even told me if he
had
a girlfriend. Josh jumped into my mind and I virtually punched him in the face and myself in the gut as I realized I was destined for heartbreak again. This was the reason I didn’t put myself too much into the dating pool yet. Josh’s indiscretions were unforgivable, but what if that didn’t matter? Maybe
all
men were like that. Maybe no matter
who
I ended up with, he’d cheat on me. Take Chelsea and Daniel as an example. Did they have the ideal relationship? So help me, if they were the standard other relationships measured themselves by, I’d rather be alone.