High Risk

CHAPTER 4

She was awake far too early. By eight A.M. Becki had already stretched, showered, and tossed together a few notes regarding training ideas for Lifeline.

Considering she’d already been preparing a course syllabus for the upcoming semester for David, the idea of working with an elite squad for the short term was a great opportunity. They’d be able to take her lessons and provide feedback during recap.

Her fingers cramped on the pencil, and she shook them. Crazy to think she had lost that much strength. Since the accident she’d been running and swimming, but she hadn’t climbed.

Something held her back. The psychologist who’d worked with her had told her to listen to herself. Not to push it. That her body and mind would know when it was time.

Her thoughts returned to the climbing wall in the gym, and her anticipation rose. Yeah, it was time.

As long as she had a job when this was all over.

She picked up the phone. His line was ringing before she realized it might be too early to call Marcus. Hanging up or waiting it out—which was better?

He answered on the second ring and stole her choices. “Good morning, Becki.”

“Umm, morning.” Right away flustered and on edge. Not to mention instantly battling the shiver that had raced along her spine at the sound of his voice. “Neat trick. How did you know it was me?”

“Call display says Banff Search and Rescue Dorms. You’re the only one there right now.”

“Gotcha. Hey, sorry for calling so early.”

He chuckled, and the skin on her forearms stood on edge. “Trust me, you didn’t wake me. What’s on your mind?”

“Could we meet for breakfast? I’d like to talk to you a little more.” I need to confess something before I get my hopes up.

“What about lunch?” he asked.

Shoot. “I promised to meet Alisha at the gym at ten o’clock. We were going to climb, then have lunch together. I don’t know how to get hold of her to change that.”

“No worries. Breakfast it is. I’ll come get you.”

She stared at the phone after he hung up like it was haunted, the echo of his click carrying through the dorm room and fading into an eerie silence. It was crazy how listening to him brought back such an intense rush of emotion. Of physical longing.

This had to stop if she was going to work with the man. So she’d just haul out the lessons and force them to work for her this time, in this situation.

Lesson number two—move decisively. In this case, she was going to make it all about work. That was how she’d talk, how she’d act. And most definitely how she’d think. No more wondering how Marcus looked stripped to nothing.

She could control herself. She’d had years of training.

Walking to the parking lot to meet him, though, gave her enough time to regret having to put her thoughts on hold, because damn, the dreams she’d had the previous night had been lovely.

A bright red truck was already waiting at the curb. She peered in the passenger-side window cautiously. Marcus waved at her and she hopped in, the smooth leather of the seats warm under her fingers.

“That didn’t take long.”

“I was in the area.” He smiled, and the dark stubble along his jaw did its best to break her mental resolve to stop objectifying him. His hair was wilder than last night, and she busied herself clicking the seat belt closed before she did something stupid like reaching out to straighten the unruly strands.

Decisive, remember? She firmly kicked her imagination in the butt. “Just a coffee shop is fine with me. If I’m climbing in a little over an hour I don’t need anything big.”

“Bagels okay?”

He signalled a turn at her affirmation, taking them down the hill and back toward the city centre. Becki watched as he drove, his right hand firmly holding the wheel, his shorter limb on the left resting briefly against an extended shaft attached to the turn signal. Marcus wore a long-sleeved jacket, and if she hadn’t known his left hand was missing, she never would have suspected.

“Driving is simple,” Marcus said.

She blinked, trying to figure out where his comment came from. “Pardon me?”

“You’re checking to see how I drive with one hand. Driving is easy—try it sometime. I bet you use mainly one hand on the wheel. If you drive an automatic, most people take all kinds of liberties after they get comfortable. Maybe if my limb were completely gone it would be different, but with as much forearm as I still have, there’s not much change in my technique.”

He pulled in front of a shop and parked, shut off the vehicle, and turned toward her.

Oh God. “I’m sorry. That was rude.”

Marcus shook his head. “No, I think we established what you’re doing isn’t rude. You’re curious. I get that.”

Becki dragged her fingers through her hair, pulling strands off her face. “But I’m not a five-year-old who doesn’t know curiosity can still become inappropriate.”

He raised a brow at her, the smooth arc combining with his wry grin and turning his face into mesmerizing art. “Frankly I’d far prefer to have you asking questions than staring at me on the sly. Gets so damn old so fast.”

She nodded, following his lead when he exited the truck. He pulled open the shop door, and a rush of heated air hit her, the aroma of fresh baked goods washing them both with sweetness.

“You are evil, Marcus Landers.”

He pointed to a table in the corner that was free. “Evil?”

Becki slipped onto the padded cushion of the booth and took another deep breath. “I swear I’m going to put on weight just living in Banff. I might be back at school, but I don’t need a freshman fifteen, thank you. Cinnamon buns?” She moaned in mock ecstasy.

He laughed. “Tell me what you want, and I’ll put in our order.”

“I suppose if I said all I wanted was a coffee and a plain bagel, you’d know I was lying.”

Marcus shrugged. “Lying, but understandable. Maybe we can split a cinnamon bun between the two of us later if we’re good.”

He strode to the counter and spoke with the attendant. Becki stared at his profile, his dark hair long enough it was curling at the back of his neck. The edges of his lips lifted in a smile as he finished, and the girl across from him turned pink-cheeked as she rushed to fill his order. Becki removed her coat and hid her own grin. Marcus definitely knew how to charm them.

She glanced up from slinging her coat over the back of the booth to find him settled in the opposite booth. He’d opened his jacket and leaned back comfortably, his sharp gaze taking her in. He kept his left arm tucked against his side, casual, yet somewhat hiding his missing limb.

She was pretty sure that was for other people’s sake more than his own.

Marcus, through and through. The qualities that had attracted her to him in the first place had been long, even if lust appeal had been the strongest. Putting aside the weekend they’d spent together, she concentrated on the other things she remembered about him. His confidence, his wisdom.

She leaned forward and pulled in her courage. If she had to spill the beans, this was the man she wanted to share them with.

“I’ve been considering your offer.”

His chin dropped slightly as he waited.

“Last night was wonderful. You’ve got an amazing team, and I would be honoured to spend time with them. Working with you.”

Marcus’s gaze lowered to her fingers. She consciously unclenched them from where she’d grabbed hold of the table edge.

“Why do I hear an unspoken ‘but . . .’ in your words?” he asked.

Becki took a deep breath. “Because before you hire me you need to know that the accident last year? When Dane died?” She swallowed hard and forced herself forward. “I remember going climbing. I remember camping that night, and the next memory I have is of walking the final stages of the trail with the governor’s daughter and her friend in tow. Nothing else.”

All his casual relaxation vanished. Marcus leaned forward, elbows resting on the table as his concerned gaze took her in. “Nothing?”

She sighed. “I figure there’s about a twelve-hour gap, maybe fourteen. We bivouacked on a spur when the weather turned on us. I remember setting up camp and crawling into my sleeping bag. I don’t remember packing in the morning, even though we had to—I was still carrying most of my gear when I met the rescue crews at the base of the mountain.”

“Why didn’t anyone—oh hell, okay. Dane.” He nodded slowly. “You can’t remember the accident.”

“No. And it’s . . .” Shoot, she refused to break down again. Becki took a quick breath, the sticky sweetness in the air soured now by having to share this. She fought for control. “I was cleared of negligence. The reports the girls gave confirmed that while I was competent enough to get them out of the mess they were in, I didn’t talk to them normally. I rescued them like I was on autopilot. That was their term for it.”

Marcus leaned back and made room for the plates being lowered in front of them. Coffee, bagels. He stirred sugar into her cup and pushed it across the table. She snatched it up, the heat of the mug warming her cold fingers. She’d already taken a swallow before she realized he’d remembered how she drank her coffee.

“Why do I need to know this before I hire you? Does David know?”

Becki paused. “David doesn’t know yet. I was planning on telling him, but to be honest? The position he hired me for requires no direct contact with the students. I’d be working through the instructors. If there were any questions of my abilities, having that—”

“Good God, you think anyone is going to question your competence?” Marcus snapped. “If anything, this proves your skills are impeccable. Even half out of your mind, you still rescued the girls.”

She snorted. “Half out of my mind is the problem, Marcus. I don’t know what happened, and it’s more than a frustration. I’m serious. Maybe I am strong enough at what I do to kick into automatic when presented with an emergency situation. Just because it happened once, I don’t dare trust it will automatically happen again. You need to know.”

“Because you’ll be dealing directly with the team?”

“Yes.” She lifted her cup and drank deeply, hiding behind the fragile ceramic. Funny how much she suddenly wanted this job. Wanted to be able to work with the crew. “What happens if I’m on the end of a rope belaying Alisha and something goes wrong?”

“But you were planning on climbing with her today. . . .”

Implying she’d already made one bad decision? Becki searched Marcus’s face, but he was doing his imitation of a stone wall. Impossible to tell what he was thinking.

“Yes. Because the room is full of auto-belayers. I thought I could easily get around having to rope up with her.”

He took another bite of his bagel, pointing toward her breakfast. “Eat.”

Damn man. She added jam and ignored him for a minute. Maybe he needed time to process what she’d shared. Heaven knew she’d have to think for a bit in his circumstance.

They finished their food quickly, the last dredges of her coffee cold as she swallowed the crumbs. Still waiting for him to talk.

She wasn’t expecting him to reach over the table and catch hold of her hand.

“I have no problem with you working the team. It’s your expertise and experience they look up to. And your situation, if you’re willing to share, can be both a warning and an inspiration.”

He was right—she had to tell the team so they knew the risks as well. “I kept it out of the media. Secrecy was a hard slog to achieve, but if you think I can trust your team, I’m willing.”

Even saying the words had tension filling her belly. The climbing community was like family. Which meant for every person who would support and be there for her, another would step forward and willingly rake her over the coals. Revile her, because the assumption had to be that she killed her partner.

No one knew how to hurt quite like family did.

He was still holding her hand, his fingers curled protectively around hers. “You can trust them. You can trust me.”

Becki nodded.

He squeezed tighter before releasing her, shifting back in his seat. The unreadable expression was gone, revealing something close to embarrassment. “I have a favour to ask.”

This time she waited.

He twisted a grin at her. “I want to train with you as well.”

Oh really. “With the team?”

Marcus coughed into his fist and gazed at the ceiling for a moment. God, was this stupidly awkward. “No. Yes, maybe later.” He shook his head and laughed, an ironic deprecating laugh. “I climbed after the accident. Got a couple attachments adapted for the prosthetic, but I’ve gotten out of the habit.”

Her eyes went wide for a moment before she nodded. “Okay. We can do some time together. If you’re sure—”

“Stop it already with the warning. I’m not deaf, and you’re not dangerous.”

“Denying the possibility is irresponsible,” she snapped, “but that wasn’t what I was going to say.”

Her indignation made her face brighten with heat. He liked how she looked all riled up. “Sorry. Go on.”

Becki grabbed her coat from behind her as she rose to her feet. “Just wanted to warn you that I won’t go easy on you. You sure you can handle it?”

Nice. The images of handling Becki probably weren’t the ones she was thinking of, but they’d get there eventually. His goal of getting her back into his bed had to start somewhere, and having ropes involved?

He was totally okay with that.

They were at the door of the shop, where she’d managed to nab the door ahead of him, pulling it open and standing waiting for him to pass through. He paused as he stepped next to her, close enough he didn’t have to speak loudly to respond.

“I look forward to handling anything you want to send my way.”

Her cheeks were already flushing before he turned and headed to the truck.

She didn’t say anything when she joined him, just made a show of examining the shops along Banff Avenue before he turned up the hill to head to the school. Hiding her face from him.

Marcus bit back his grin and whistled all the way to the gym.

She grabbed her bag from the backseat. “Thanks for breakfast. When do you want to get together to discuss things in more detail?”

“Tonight?”

Becki bit her bottom lip briefly. “What about this afternoon?”

He shrugged, getting out and heading around to her side of the vehicle. “Either is fine.”

She frowned as he stood waiting for her. “What are you doing?”

“You’re meeting Alisha, right? At ten?”

She nodded.

“I still have time, then. Come on.”

Her hesitation to enter the gym made him wonder what exactly she thought they were going to do.

“Holy cow.”

Marcus pulled the door shut and pulled the bag he’d brought along with him from under his arm. “Okay guys, you can stop.”