Slow Burn: A Colorado High Country Novel (12 page)

He went on with the introductions. “You remember Megs, right?

“Hi, Megs.”

But Megs stared past Victoria. “Well, I’ll be damned.”

Eric turned to look. “Holy shit.”

“Who is that?” Victoria asked.

“Gabe Rossiter. He’s a tenured Team member and one of the best climbers in the history of the sport. You want to talk about a badass. He let himself fall off a three-hundred-foot cliff to save the life of the woman he loved. He survived, obviously, but lost his leg. He still climbs.”

Victoria’s expression melted. “Oh!”

Yeah, women always loved that story.

Eric met him with a bear hug. “Hey, man. What the hell are you doing here?”

“I heard there was free climbing today,” Rossiter joked. “How did Taylor convince any woman to marry him?”

“That’s what I’m wondering.” Austin walked up behind them. “Hey, Rossiter. Glad you could make it.”

Rossiter hugged him, too, slapping him hard on the back. “Congratulations, man. I’m so happy for you. Where’s the bride? I need to meet the woman who’s brave enough to take you on.”

Austin introduced Lexi and Rossiter—and then it was time to climb.

Eric left Victoria on a bench against the far wall and teamed up with Moretti on a 5.12 route, while Taylor belayed Lexi on a 5.10.

“I like having the gym to ourselves.” Moretti tied into his harness. “We should do this more often.”

“We can do it again when you get hitched,” Taylor called over to them.

“Me? Right. That will be the day.” Moretti stepped up to the wall. “Climbing.”

“Climb on!” Eric called out.

It was clear right away that Moretti was off his game. The big man had learned to climb almost overnight, putting in long hours at the gym, heading into the canyon, tackling big routes. Hell, he climbed cracks in his spare time, coming back cut up and bruised with a big grin on his face. But today, he was having trouble.

His toe slipped off a ledge, but he held on, the fingers of one hand on a tight little crimper, two fingers of his other hand jammed in a pocket.

“Come on, buddy. You got it,” Eric called up to him.

Moretti hauled himself up against the rock using the strength in his shoulders and arms and lifted his foot again, catching the ledge this time and moving upward. A few moves later, he slipped again, this time coming off the wall.

Eric arrested his fall. “Shake it off.”

Moretti was suffering. No doubt about it. To his credit, he pulled himself together, got back on the wall, and finished the route.

“Way to go, man.” Eric lowered him to the floor, turning to glance at Victoria.

She was watching them, longing on her face. Oh, yeah, she wanted to try it. She was going to break. It was just a matter of time.

* * *

V
ic watched as Lexi climbed
, amazed. She climbed the way they did, each move planned, her motions graceful and strong.

She reached the top of the wall and did a fist pump. “Woohoo!”

“Way to go, babe!” Austin shouted up to her. “Awesome!”

Down on the other side, Sasha had just started up a route, her friend Nicole holding the rope. She seemed to fly up the wall, her body moving in unbelievable ways, stretching out so that she was almost sideways on the rock then shifting to bring herself upright. Beside her, Gabe Rossiter was hanging bare-chested and almost upside down on an overhang on what was clearly the toughest route. He reached for another handhold, his fellow Team members shouting encouragement. Chaska was also climbing without a shirt. He lunged upward, caught a hold, the muscles of his arms and back straining as they bore the entire weight of his body.

“Way to dyno, Belcourt!” someone shouted.

A woman with a long, dark ponytail—Kenzie, the dog trainer—sat down beside her with the guy who’d climbed Everest—Vic thought his name was Harrison—the two of them talking about someone.

“Megs said he did everything he could to save that little girl. He jumped into the water without a harness to get to her, but the current was just too strong and washed her away. He got washed downstream, too, but managed to self-rescue. Megs said he ran down the road, trying to catch up with the girl, but just couldn’t reach her. He basically watched her drown.”

A lump formed in Vic’s throat.

So that’s what had happened to Jesse.

How unspeakably horrible.

A family had lost a child, and Jesse was torn apart.

“He’s lucky to be alive,” Harrison said. “Did they get the rest of the family out?”

Kenzie nodded. “Megs said he’s blaming himself for not being fast enough. She’s sidelined him. Until he gets counseling, she won’t let him go on more calls.”

“I bet this has dredged up a bunch of shit from his time in Iraq,” Harrison said. “He watched a lot of men die over there.”

“I hadn’t thought of that.”

Across the room, Gabe reached the top of his route to cheers and was slowly lowered to the ground. A moment later, Sasha did the same.

She threw her fist in the air. “Climb like a girl!”

Vic watched while Jesse untied the rope from his harness, saw that he was furious with himself for falling.

“Don’t worry about it, man,” Eric said. “We all have off days—everyone except Rossiter, but he’s not actually human.”

“I heard that.” Gabe showed Eric his middle finger.

And it dawned on Vic that every Team member here had risked his or her life trying to save others, and they did it as
volunteers
. Lexi had told her no one got paid to work for the Team, not even Megs.

A sense of emptiness crept into Vic’s chest.

She’d never done anything to make a difference. She spent her days coming up with witty slogans so that companies could sell goods and services. She could argue that this helped businesses succeed and that that, in turn, meant jobs, but that wasn’t the same thing as saving someone’s child. It wasn’t even close.

Eric walked over to her. “Are you sure you want to sit this out?”

Lexi was right behind him, out of breath, her face flushed from exertion. “You’ve got some of the best teachers in the country right here. Sasha and Eric got me started.”

“Is my girl Vic going up?” Sasha called. “Count me in!”

Eric pinned her with his gaze and held out his hand. “Do you trust me, Victoria? Climbing is about two things: skill and trust. Skill can be taught, but you’ve got to have trust to get anywhere. I promise I won’t let you fall.”

V
ic got
to her feet and took Eric’s hand. “If I die...”

Eric grinned. “You won’t die. You’re going to have fun and go home amazed at how well you did.”

Eric led her over to a part of the wall where no one was climbing. “We’ll start with something super easy, and I’ll go up with you.”

While Lexi ran to get Vic a harness and a pair of climbing shoes, Eric and the others planned it out among themselves. Lexi would belay Vic while Austin belayed Eric. Sasha wanted in on it, so she drafted Rossiter to belay her.

Vic stepped into the harness, watching while Lexi showed her how to tighten it and make sure it was safe. Then Eric tied her into one end of the rope, and the next thing Vic knew, she was standing at the base of the rock wall, looking up at a bunch of brightly colored holds. “Oh, God.”

“I’m going to be on one side of you and Sasha’s going to be on the other. We’ll coach you the entire way up, okay?”

“Okay.” She tried not to sound afraid.

“Reach up for those two handholds, and lift your right foot onto that jug.”

Vic did what Eric told her to do, her heart thrumming. She was a whole six inches off the floor now. “What next?”

His hand pressed against her lower back, pushing her hips toward the wall. “Keep your pelvis tucked in. You’ll create a lot more work for yourself if your center of gravity is hanging out in space.”

“Try to use your legs as much as possible,” Sasha told her. “Women’s legs are as strong as men’s when you take body mass into account. It’s our upper bodies that tend to be weaker. Let your legs do the work.”

Vic did what they told her to do, the two of them following her up the wall, neither of them exerting much effort, while she was sweating and out of breath, her arms and shoulders soon exhausted.

“Let’s just hang out here and rest for a minute,” Eric said.

“Shake it out. Like this.” Sasha let go with one hand, turned that shoulder away from the wall and shook her arm out, then did the same with the other side.

Vic tried to do what Sasha had done, but dizziness rushed over her when she saw how high she was. She grabbed onto the holds again, pressing her body against the rock wall, her eyes squeezed shut.

“I didn’t know you were afraid of heights,” Eric said.

“Neither did I!”

“Hey, it’s okay. You’re safe.” Eric’s calm voice cut through some of her panic.

“You can do this!” Lexi shouted. “You’re doing better than I did my first time.”

Vic found that hard to believe.

As usual, Sasha was nothing but sunshine. “Don’t look down if it scares you. Your height on the wall doesn’t mean anything. You could be five feet up or five hundred feet up, because even if you fall, all you’re going to do is swing.”

Vic looked over just in time to see Sasha let go. Her stomach dropped, but Sasha simply sat there in her harness, swinging in mid-air.

Sasha shrugged. “See? No problem.”

Vic nodded, still trying to recover from her rush of vertigo.

Pull yourself together.

Eric and Sasha knew what they were doing. Lexi wouldn’t let her fall. No one would let her get hurt.

She drew a breath. “Okay. I’m fine. Keep going.”

She looked up, reached for the next hold and the next, doing her best to let her fear go, Eric and Sasha coaching her each step of the way.

“That’s a ledge hold. Curl your fingers like this.” Eric held out his hand to show her how to position her hand. “Perfect.”

She was so focused on her movements and on the sound of Eric and Sasha’s voices that she didn’t realize how close she was to the top until her fingers hooked onto that last hold. She drew herself up on a rush of adrenaline to the sound of cheers and shouts. “Oh, my God! I did it!”

Eric chuckled. “You sure as hell did.”

She let go, swung into his arms, and kissed him.

From the floor below, she heard Gabe say, “Who’s getting married again?”

* * *

“
I
can’t even open
the door. My arms are noodles.”

Eric opened the door, trying not to laugh as Victoria dragged herself through the front entrance of the inn and over to the elevator.

She pushed the button. “I am
not
taking the stairs.”

“I’d say you’ve earned a free ride.”

The Team had celebrated Taylor and Lexi’s upcoming wedding and Vic’s successful first day of climbing with dinner and drinks at Knockers. His city girl had climbed to the top of the wall not once but
three
times, the third time successfully managing a 5.6 route without coaching. Now, she was paying for it.

He’d given her an ibuprofen from the first aid kit in his truck, but it hadn’t yet taken effect. “You should take advantage of that huge tub for a hot soak tonight, maybe pour in some Epsom salts.”

“Mmm. God, that sounds perfect.”

As soon as they entered her suite, she walked to the sofa and flopped onto the cushions. “That’s it. I’m dead.”

He couldn’t help but laugh. “You can’t die yet.”

“I can’t?”

“We have to finish the video. Tomorrow night is Central City.”

“Oh, yeah.” She sat up, got to her feet, and shuffled over to the table, still looking beautiful. “What kind of music would you like for the soundtrack?”

“Hey, the soundtrack is
your
idea. Couldn’t we just plug in some of Taylor and Lexi’s favorite songs?” He thought about that for a second. “Scratch that. Taylor likes country.”

No way
was he putting a country soundtrack to the only video he’d ever make.

She sat, opened his browser, and went to a site she obviously knew well. “They’ve got lots of stuff here.”

They spent the next half hour sampling musical compositions, narrowing their choices down to two.

“I think this one will be easier to work with. Plus, it’s got that emotional swell there toward the end. We can loop the beginning and put that during that last part of your mother’s interview that always makes me cry.”

“Let’s do it.”

She bought the music, downloaded it, and then started editing it, a process that seemed to take a fair amount of concentration, her brow knitted, her gaze fixed on the screen. Though Eric knew he
should
be paying attention to what she was doing, perhaps even making suggestions, he couldn’t take his gaze off her face.

Did she have any idea how beautiful she was, how smart, how fun? How could she still be single? What was wrong with those big city men?

He’d watched her take on new challenges every day she’d been here, doing things she’d never done before, things that were completely outside her experience. She’d succeeded every time, surprising herself and earning everyone’s respect.

Then there was the way she cared about people, especially those who were vulnerable. He’d seen her slip Rain another twenty for Bear tonight when she’d thought no one was looking. If she’d been a bitch to Bear, it wouldn’t have mattered to Eric how beautiful she was. He wouldn’t have been able to stand her.

So, yeah, it was safe to say that his attempt to put distance between the two of them was failing big time. He was aware of this—so aware, in fact, that he’d stopped by the county clinic to get tested for STIs and bought a fresh box of condoms. There were two in the aluminum carrying case in his wallet—and ten more in his first aid kit. Not that he was planning anything, but if events headed in that direction again, he didn’t want to be left holding his dick in his hand.

“Okay, I think this will—”

Over on the coffee table, her cell phone buzzed, making her jump, irritation chasing away the fear that shot across her features.

She got to her feet.

Eric was really starting to hate her boss. “Ignore it.”

“I can’t.” She retrieved her phone, checked the message. “The guy who’s supposed to be covering for me is in over his head, and Abigail told me she’d give the project to someone else if I couldn’t multi-task a little while on vacation. Those were her words exactly.”

Fuck that.

“You didn’t ask me, I know, but life is too short to put up with that bullshit. Unless you love what you’re doing—and I know you don’t—you need to quit and find a job you enjoy and a boss who respects you.”

She tapped out a quick reply, then walked back to the table, cell phone in hand. “That’s a nice thought, but what would I do?”

He drew her into his lap. “What do you love?”

She seemed flustered, either because of his question or because he was holding her. “Well ... um … I don’t know. I guess ... I
really
love to cook, and I’m good at it, too. But I don’t want to start over and go to culinary school. Owning a restaurant is a lot of hard work.”

Her scent washed over him, female and sweet, making him wish they could forget the video and get naked. Then again, she was leaving in four days, going back to the big city and her shitty job. What was he thinking? “Work doesn’t feel like work if you love what you’re doing.”

“Does your job never feel like work?”

“Sometimes it does. I hate paperwork. There are days when it feels like I’m managing an adult daycare center and drowning in bullshit, but those days are rare. Most of the time, I feel incredibly grateful to make my living the way I do. As my mother says, ‘You’ve got to choose the life you want to live, or something will choose you.’”

“Yeah, well, I thought I’d chosen.” She gave a little laugh. “I got exactly what I wanted, and it wasn’t what I wanted at all. The joke’s on me, I guess.”

“You can change your mind, you know. That’s the cool thing about still being alive. There’s time to change everything.”

“No, not everything.” She got to her feet, sat in her chair, and went back to work.

* * *

V
ic put
the finishing touches on the video, thanking the long list of people who’d given interviews, her mind far from the work her fingers were doing.

She should tell him. No, it wasn’t that she was morally obligated to tell Eric. Some part of her
wanted
to tell him. After the closeness they’d had last night, a kind of intimacy that hadn’t had anything to do with sex, she wanted him to understand, wanted him to care.

But, God, what if he reacted the way her dad and brother had? They’d blamed her for the whole thing. Her brother had even called her an idiot—a fucking idiot, actually. She hadn’t talked to him since.

Uncertainty niggled at her, weakening her concentration.

“You spelled my last name wrong.” Eric pointed to the computer screen. “It’s got an ‘e’ on the end.”

“Oh, sorry.” She fixed the mistake. “What do you think?”

Eric leaned in and read aloud. “‘With love to Lexi and Austin on your wedding day, from Hawke and Victoria.’ You don’t think that’s too corny?”

“It’s a wedding. It’s supposed to be a little corny. Besides, you love Austin. I know you do. And I love Lexi. So it’s not corny. It’s the truth.”

“When you put it like that …”

“Do you want to watch it through one last time?”

He rubbed his eyes. “Please, God, no.”

She laughed. “How are you going to show this at the reception?”

“Belcourt is bringing a laser projector and a screen. He’s going to handle setting up at the reception.” A worried frown settled on Eric’s face. “You really think they’re going to like it?”

“They’re going to love it. I know they will. It was an incredibly thoughtful idea. You did a wonderful thing.”

“I didn’t do it alone.” He tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, his touch burning her cheek. It was the second time he’d done that since she’d been here. It was a simple gesture, but it felt caring and intimate. She liked it.

Tell him.

“Eric, I ...” Her pulse spiked. “I’m not going to Central City. I’m just going to stay here and relax tomorrow night.”

She got to her feet and went to refill her water glass, afraid those blue eyes of his would see through her.

“Does this have anything to do with those bastards in Buena Vista?”

“Yes.” She turned on the faucet, let the water run, forgetting the glass in her hand. “I know they won’t be there, but ...”