With one final crunch of my ax into the ice, I yank myself up the last three feet and swing my other ax straight at the brass bell hanging from the top. The ding is loud and echoes along with the cheers from the bystanders below. The guy takes my tools from me so I can hoist myself over the edge of the silo. I lean down, bracing my hands on the railing while sucking in big gulps of air.
“Fucking hell, that was hard,” I state halfheartedly to the guy beside me as my heart thunders in my chest.
I look out and steal a few seconds to absorb the scenery from my new vantage point. Hills and hills of snow-covered trees with the Flatirons as the backdrop. It’s incredible. “Now I get why you guys climb here.”
Maggie’s cheers drag my gaze down below, and I give her a wave before looking over to find my racing challenger. I assumed he was up at the top already, but he’s nowhere to be seen. The guide at the top has moved to the edge and is pointing his cell phone camera down below again. I walk over and lean forward to find Ezekiel stuck at the halfway point on the silo.
“Holy shit, what happened? Did he drop his ax?” I ask, assuming a gear malfunction would be the only reason he’d be that far behind me.
“No, man,” the guy replies with a laugh. “You fucking flew up this silo like Spiderman. I got hard watching you!” he exclaims and then shakes his head in amazement.
My jaw drops in shock. “He hasn’t made it to the top yet?”
“No way…you climbed fast as lightning. None of us could have caught you. This video is going to break the internet.”
I stare down at the iced silo with my brow furrowed as I try to determine whether I was really that much faster than normal. It’s been too long for me to truly remember my normal pacing, but hell, I don’t know…maybe I was just extra motivated not to let this fucker be Maggie’s belayer.
I shake that thought off because it feels too sentimental. And my reason behind helping Maggie has nothing to do with feelings. I’m just trying to protect my buddy’s little sister. Nothing more.
Ezekiel drops his axes to the ground below and begins repelling back down to the bottom, clearly too butthurt to finish the fucking climb. What a dick. You always finish a climb.
I take in the view for a few more minutes before beginning my own descent. When I reach the bottom, Maggie jumps into my arms like a girl greeting her man home from war. It brings an alarming stirring to my belly as her arms tighten around my neck. “That was incredible! An impossible act to follow but incredible!”
She pulls back, her blue eyes sparkling in amazement as she bites her lip and stares down at my mouth.
Goddamn, she looks…turned on. She looks how she looked that day we kissed. She should not be looking at me like that!
“Thanks,” I murmur and step out of her arms to unclip my rope. “It was a fun climb.”
The guides all come over and congratulate me as Ezekiel and his buddies disappear off to the warming lodge. Sherry gives me her business card and tells me to call her for the keys to the chalet on Friday. I smile sheepishly, hating all the attention and doing my best to turn it back onto Maggie because she’s the reason we’re here in the first place.
Sherry begins clipping the ropes on her when Maggie pulls her phone out of her snowsuit pocket. “Do you think you can take a picture of me climbing?” she asks quietly.
Sherry nods eagerly. “Definitely. I’ll snap throughout the whole climb, and we have a guy at the top who will get a shot of you when you ring the bell.”
“If I ring the bell,” Maggie corrects, chewing her lip nervously as she buckles the chin strap of her helmet. “If Ezekiel couldn’t finish, I probably won’t either.”
“You’ll ring the bell,” I state, stepping in closer to her and putting a reassuring hand on her shoulder as she stares up at the ice. “This isn’t a race, Maggie. And you are not a quitter. Look at what lengths you’re going to, to win back your ex.”
Maggie nods woodenly, her lips rubbing together the entire time. “I’m scared.”
“That’s good,” I state, looping her rope through my carabiner. “Fear will drive you. Just go one step at a time, and you’ll get to the top. We’re not just out here for a picture.”
She looks at me, her bright eyes wide and watery in the cold. “Are you sure about that?”
“Yes,” I state firmly. “Make this climb for you, not your ex. The best part of climbing is reaching the top. You got this.”
I shoot her a wink that draws a smile across her face, and she positions herself at the base of the silo with the ice axes in her hand.
“I’ll be down here the entire time,” I reassure her, taking my position and anchoring myself in with her rope wound through my belay device.
Maggie nods once and then yells over her shoulder. “On belay?”
I smile at the doubt in her voice and shout back confidently. “Belay on!”
Slowly, she makes her way up the silo.
Like…really slow.
Honestly, it takes her almost an hour. I worried that she might freeze to death before she reached the top, but the girl never even considered quitting. I coached her the entire way, helping her get better ax swings and encouraging her when she needed it. She may not be a fast climber, but I have to admit I find her tenacity impressive. When she finally reaches the top and rings that bell, I’m pretty sure she’s full-on crying because she hugs the guy at the top for longer than appropriate, considering he’s a complete stranger.
At least she didn’t kiss him, I think to myself like an asshole. Hanging out with Maggie is going to become an issue for me if I keep thinking everything she fucking does is a turn-on. I’m not a relationship kind of guy, so falling for my best friend’s little sister—someone you most definitely can’t have casual sex with—isn’t an option.
She makes her way down, and we head over to the warming house. Thankfully, it’s cleared out of the granola-eating dreadlock dudes.
Maggie is all smiles as she slips out of the top of her snowsuit and kneels by the fire. “That was so exhilarating!” she exclaims as she rubs her hands together.
I nod and drop down beside her with a dopey smile because it’s hard not to get sucked in to her enthusiasm. “I’m seriously impressed that you didn’t give up.”
“I didn’t think I’d make it,” she states, rubbing her hands along her arms. “Holy heck, what a workout. My arms are like Jell-O. I thought they were going to give out.” She shakes them out and moves a hand to her shoulder blade to rub a tender spot.
“Yeah, you’re going to be sore as hell for a few days,” I state. Moving my hand to the spot she can’t quite reach, I press my thumb gently into the knotted muscle. “I suggest lots of water and ibuprofen around the clock.”
She moans loudly when I hit the spot, and my dick twitches. Goddamn. Has any woman ever made my dick twitch with just a noise? She drops down on her butt and turns to give me easier access.
“Holy heck, don’t stop,” she moans, and now my dick is doing a hell of a lot more than just twitching.
I move my other hand up and rub both her shoulders at the same time. She feels dainty in my hands with small but defined muscles. I have a huge urge to dip my hands beneath her sweater and feel her bare skin on my fingertips.
“You earned that weekend at our chalet,” I state, my voice deeper than usual because I’m seriously turned the fuck on right now.
“What do you mean?” she asks, turning her head slightly. “You’re the one who won that race. You should have it.”
“Nah, I already know how to snowboard. You’ll get more use out of it if you’re still on this adventure mission.”
She goes quiet for a moment while I work on her shoulders to the sounds of the crackling fire. “I don’t know how to snowboard, though.”
“Oh,” I reply dumbly and bite the inside of my cheek because I know the next thing that’s going to come out of my mouth. “I could show you if you want?”
She turns to face me. “Seriously?” she exclaims with a big smile on her face.
I shrug. “It’s no big deal.”