“I respect that. I’m sure the others you work with do too.”
She nods. “Sometimes. Wanna come learn a thing or two?” She smiles brightly, changing the subject.
I get up from the bench and walk behind her, pressing against her small frame. My arms easily fit over her shoulders as I grab the wheel, and together, we steer out farther onto the lake. I try and focus on the different controls she’s telling me about, but all I can do is focus on her scent, the way her body fits so perfectly against mine. I feel like I’m drunk. On Maddison.
“Briggs, pay attention,” she scolds me, teasingly.
“I can’t help it. You’re distracting me, and I can’t focus.” Using my right hand, I push her hair off her neck and run my nose along the delicate slope of her tan shoulder before planting a single kiss along her pulse point.
“You drive me crazy.”
“Likewise, babe.”
Untangling myself from her, I walk back over to the bench and sit down. I hate putting any distance between us, but she’s obviously on a mission to take us out on the lake, and with me touching her, we aren’t going to make it very far.
“We’re almost there.”
She drives the boat along the lake, the wind whipping through her blonde hair, stirring the floppy hat on her head. Up ahead, there’s a large cliff to the side of the lake, with a small shore where we seem to be headed. The closer we get, the taller the cliff seems. The entire place looks like it’s out of a nature magazine. Sprawling pine trees, sandy shoreline, with a looming clay cliff covered in sparse trees.
“Wow, it’s gorgeous.”
She nods. “This is my favorite spot. We’re going to tie off on the dock over there. We can leave our bags on the boat, in the bedroom below.”
“Maddison, I’m scandalized. Did you assume I was ready for a sleepover?”
My teasing causes her to roll her eyes. “Do I need to remind you of what we did earlier before we even had breakfast?”
“You know what, yes. I do need a reminder. Matter of fact, if you want, we can do a play-by-play below deck.”
She pushes my shoulder when she walks by to tie the boat off. “You’re incorrigible.”
I help her tie the boat off, then we both go below deck and put our bags on the small queen-size bed. I’m six three, my feet will probably hang off the end. It’s tight, but cozy. There’s a small kitchenette right outside the bedroom, and a bathroom with a small shower and toilet to the right of the bedroom.
My six-foot-three self has to duck when going through the doors, and Maddison thinks that’s fucking hilarious.
“God, I didn’t realize how tall you are until seeing you in here.” She giggles before sitting down on the bed and resting back on her arms.
She looks good enough to eat and I tell her so. “As much as I want to get you in this bed and devour you, if we don’t get out of here in the next thirty seconds, we’ll never see the outside of this boat.”
Her eyes grow molten, but she stands and brushes past me, tossing me a smirk over her shoulder as she sashays up the stairs.
This girl is going to be the death of me.
I follow her up the stairs and onto the dock, where she’s grabbed her beach bag.
“Ready?’
“For?”
She glances to the top of the cliff then back at me. “We’re going to jump!”
My eyes widen. “Hell no. We are not going to jump off a fucking c-cliff, Maddison,” I stutter over my words.
Hell, there aren’t many things I’m afraid of, but heights? Yeah, that’s number fucking one on my list. There’s no fucking way I’m going up there.
Maddison steps closer, placing her hands on my chest and gazing up at me with her wide, honey-flecked golden eyes. “Are you afraid of heights?”
I swallow thickly, my eyes darting to the cliff and then squeezing shut. “Yes, I am.”
"And here I thought you were fearless, Briggs. Remember last night when you told me how much of a chicken I was for not wanting to jump into that pitch black lake in the middle of the night?”
Fuck no. I am not going up there for any reason. Not even if she calls me a chicken.
She sighs heavily, batting her lashes at me dramatically. “Guess I won’t be giving you that thing I’ve been thinking about since this morning after all.”
“Woman, are you blackmailing me right now?”
“Call it what you want, but…” She shrugs, then trails off, and starts to walk to the cliff.
She’s going to fucking leave me here and jump off that damn thing by herself. Hell no.
I groan. “Fuck.”
This is not happening. I came to this damn inn in the middle of nowhere to detox and relax and then somehow find the girl of my fucking dreams, who’s got me even considering jumping off this damn thing. I’ll be headed back to Chicago in a casket. Goodbye hockey career, goodbye life in general.
“We’re going to die,” I tell her simply.
Maddison laughs, the sound hitting me directly in the gut. It’s soft and feminine, and so fucking sweet. “You are so dramatic. We are not going to die, Briggs. Do you know how many kids jump off this thing every summer?”
I look up at the looming monstrosity, my stomach churning at the thought of climbing up it, let alone jumping off the side. Its daunting size has my stomach in knots.
“Yeah, well, how about we just go for a swim and have a repeat of before breakfast?”
Giving me a sly smile, she walks backward on the dock toward the trail that leads up the cliff, and I groan again.
“I can’t believe I’m doing this shit.”
She laughs. “There’s something liberating about facing your fears, Briggs, no matter how big or small they are.”
“Yeah, right,” I grumble.
When I catch up to her, she slides her hand in mine and squeezes gently, reassuring me. We stay on the path that leads upwards, and I know better than to look over the side of the cliff because I’ll probably pass out if I do.
The entire way up, I’m pep-talking myself. Telling myself it’s just a fucking cliff, and I can do it. That the entire thing will last five minutes. I can fucking do it. I will fucking do it.
“You okay?”
I nod. “Trying to convince myself that we’re not both going to die.”
She stops and turns toward me, running her hands along the scruff at my cheeks. “I promise you. We’re not going to die. Plus, the view… it’s incredible. You have to see it. And you’ll want to do it again once we do it the first time.”
“Doubtful.”
Finally, after a twenty-minute walk to the top we reach the ledge, that overlooks the entire lake. You can see for what looks like miles, over the tops of the trees.
“Hell,” I curse.
“Let’s sit?”
“Fuck yes, please,” I mutter.
We find a spot that’s a decent distance from the edge, which immediately makes me feel better.
Maddison giggles when she slides her hand in mine and feels the clamminess. “I’m sorry for teasing you about coming up here.”
“I’m fine. Just not a fan of heights, that’s all.”
“I’ll tell you another one of my fears, and I give you full permission to laugh at me because I know it’s ridiculous,” she says, looking over at me, her long blonde hair falling in a curtain around her shoulders.