Vivian Arend - High Risk

She sucked in a huge breath of air, shakily letting it escape as a tear trickled down her cheek. “We’re in the Needles. We rescued Colin and Rob. We need to get them out for medical attention. I know where we are.”

Marcus glanced at Xavier. “Gear up. We’ll be okay.”

“Three minutes to exit, if you can be ready,” Xavier warned.

Becki responded before Marcus could. “I’m good. Sorry for making trouble. We’ll be ready.”

“Hell, you’re not trouble,” Xavier insisted. “FYI, clouds are clearing a little.”

The paramedic left them, and Marcus lifted her chin so he could stare into her eyes. “What happened?”

“I think the rescue prompted it. The final missing part.” She sighed and shook her head. “But we have two minutes and a rescue to finish. I’ll tell you the rest at home.”

Goddamn. “Becki . . .”

“Give one hundred percent, Marcus. We’re not done.” She ran her hands up his arms until she could wrap around his shoulders and squeeze him with her strong grip. “It looks as if you were having to babysit me.”

“I’ll do it again in a minute.” He was going to go crazy on the hike out, not knowing the details, but she was right. They weren’t out of the mountains. Still, there was something he had to tell her before they went anywhere. Before she told him anything, because whatever she said, he’d made a decision.

The past few hours had only strengthened his resolve. It wasn’t a case anymore of wanting the best for her. That was a priority, but it wasn’t the only thing. No matter what it took, he wasn’t going to let her leave him behind.

He pulled them upright, keeping her in his arms for a moment, his fingers skimming over her cheek until his palm cradled the back of her head. He pressed their lips together and kissed her. Gentle in pressure, but as possessively as he knew how. A brand of ownership—only in reverse.

A declaration that he was totally hers.

There was a question in her eyes as he pulled away, and he paused to rub his thumb lightly over her bottom lip. “I’ve got your back,” he promised.

Becki tilted her head to the side, wonder still on her face. “One minute to get ready,” she warned.

“We’re ready.” For anything. Convincing her of that was now his number one objective. No matter what her memories had brought, they were going to go forward together.

The trip out passed in a blur. The trail, the headwall. Marcus never more than a pace away from her, his presence comforting, reassuring.

There wasn’t as much to distract her on the outward journey. Colin walked in front with Devon, or Alisha, listening to school stories from them. Xavier and Anders carried the stretcher, the entire team moving smoothly on the steeper sections to ease the awkward object forward.

Even at the headwall there were no hesitations. Alisha and Devon swarmed up the rock and had the stretcher rising into the shrouded air in what seemed to be moments.

Marcus hugged her from behind as they waited their turn. His breath warm by her ear, his hand curled possessively around her hip as he cradled her between his thighs. He hadn’t poked to be told what she’d seen, and she appreciated that. It was too big to spit out in a moment, too huge to simply blurt out in one sentence.

Only the truth changed everything. Becki twisted her head to touch her lips to his cheek, needing to at least let him know that whatever was between them hadn’t changed.

What she was going to do next was still up in the air.

A shiver struck as the first fixed rope for their ascent smacked the ground. “I’m so not ready for this,” she confessed.

Marcus patted her butt and pushed her forward. “Don’t be so hard on yourself. You can’t expect to leave the past behind that fast.”

Anders held her rope until she clutched it tight, knotting herself in, staring straight ahead and focusing until Marcus moved behind her.

If she closed her eyes for most of the time they were in the air, she figured Marcus wasn’t going to blame her.

The final bit of trail vanished under their feet, the chopper dead ahead, Erin hanging out the door to help load the stretcher before giving Devon a fist bump and disappearing back into the cockpit.

Marcus boosted her into the chopper and took the seat next to her, grabbing hold of her fingers as soon as they were both buckled in.

She rested her temple on his shoulder and didn’t bother to turn on the headset. She was officially done for the day—someone else could make the decisions from here on.

Only the lift and travel time gave opportunity for the images of Dane to repeat. She struggled against them, choosing instead to go back to the earlier days; to try to remember the moments that she’d thought were out of character for him.

Exhaustion took its toll, and even the memories faded, her eyelids heavy, sleep pulling her under.

A brush over her cheek woke her

Everything had gone quiet. Shockingly quiet, with no helicopter or voices. Something soft cradled her head, and she glanced around to discover the familiar walls of Marcus’s bedroom. He sat beside her, reaching out to stroke her hair behind her ear and down over her shoulder. “Sleeping Beauty wakes.”

Curtains closed, no clue of the time of day. “Did I pass out?”

He shook his head. “Fell asleep. Like a rock. There was no need to wake you, and sleep was the best possible thing.”

She rolled slightly and stretched, arms overhead, back arching. Aches and pains in muscles screamed that she’d gone from full out to full stop way too fast. “I won’t even be embarrassed. Much. How are Colin and Rob?”

“Rob’s in a cast and Colin spent the night at Devon’s place. I think they’re getting along well.”

“It’s morning? Wow.” Although after crashing, sleeping around the clock wasn’t unexpected. She stared up at him and wondered what to say. “Your truck’s at the cabin.”

He smiled. “Anders and a friend are picking it up for me.” Marcus shifted to his feet and offered his hand to her. “Grab a shower. Get dressed. I’ll make you some food, and then we can talk.”

The hot water washed away the rest of the cobwebs but didn’t help her get any further in making a decision. Becki tiptoed into the living room and spotted him moving easily in the kitchen. Strong body, arms flexing as he worked, and something heated inside.

She didn’t want to give him up. That was all she knew.

Slipping beside him, she ducked under his arm and planted herself against his body, wrapped her arms around his waist, and squeezed, her ear resting on his chest.

The steady pulse of his heart soothed her.

“You should eat,” Marcus scolded, but he cuddled her in spite of his protests.

“I need to tell you what happened more than I need food.”

She was recovered enough that if he’d argued, she would have stomped on his toes before dragging him to the living room.

“I want to know,” Marcus confessed. He turned off the burner, then scooped her up as if she were a feather, coming to a stop by the couch.

When he sat and refused to let her out of his lap, Becki smiled. “I can sit by myself.”

“I need to hold you.”

Her heart skipped a beat. The emphasis had totally been on need in that phrase.

She caught his face in her hands. “You were right. I didn’t do anything to cause the accident. We could have made it off the mountain in one piece, but Dane chose—”

She drew in a long breath through her nose and fought for control.

He waited for her to continue, his own tiredness and confusion showing in his expression, his concern for her in his touch as he stroked her arm.

“Dane chose to die. When I call the authorities, we’ll ask them to check for preexisting medical conditions. Contact his birth mom.”

“Who cut the rope?” Marcus asked.

“Dane.” Becki shook her head. “It doesn’t make sense to me. I don’t understand why someone would choose to die before he had to.”

“Are you saying he committed suicide?”

She nodded as she fought back the tears she’d refused to cry earlier on the trail. “He was so young. And smart. I just don’t understand.”

Silence answered. Marcus shifted position so they were still holding each other, but there was enough distance that she could look him squarely in the face. He examined her cautiously, as if checking to ensure she could handle more.

She fell a little more in love.

He cleared his throat and spoke quietly. “When I got hurt—the accident. It should never have happened.”

“You were out of the country?” He’d never really told her what he did for work back then.

He paused, only for a moment, then let her have it all. “I worked for whoever hired me. Did a couple of military jobs, but those were few and far between. They like their own people in position, but the word got out in some circles that I could climb anything. So I got calls. Ones on the quiet side. Paramilitary, usually.”

This wasn’t what she’d expected. “You were military?”

“No. I was—well, anything they needed, except I never carried a gun. I did actual rescues. I snuck into bedrooms. Sometimes they needed recovery of some object, sometimes a door opened and access gained to a restricted part of a building. I’d climb whatever they pointed me at.”

“Recovery. This is all sounding very James Bond.”

Marcus nodded. “There were a few times I climbed in a tux after leaving a fancy party. Including the day it all went to hell.”

Tension curled around him, and she adjusted position to rub his shoulders. She didn’t understand, but she didn’t want him to stop. “Why are you telling me this now?”