At first, he was impressed. That feeling quickly changed as Easton realized the only one in this group he could depend on to think rationally was the marmot. The rest of them were determined to poke and prod into every single dangerous place they could find, hauling their cameras along with them. Ben should have helped, but the poor guy was utterly infatuated with Bree. Where she filmed, he followed.
“So, if I asked—” Ben tried as they took a break to rehydrate and grab a quick lunch.
“Nope.” Bree didn’t even look at him as she scrolled through the film on the handheld.
“Not even a—”
“Still a no.”
River said firmly, “Tough break, but this is a professional worksite. Let’s keep it that way, okay?”
Catching his eye, River had the audacity to wink at Easton. Whatever this was, he knew flirtation when it smacked him in the face. And like a marmot with a thus far undiagnosed emotional disorder, Easton had been on River’s heels since they met.
“I think she’s being a bit hypocritical,” he muttered to the marmot. It stared at him, beady black eyes unblinking in its rapt attention, until Easton was successfully weirded out. “Never mind.”
He’d set a route that would take them past one of his favorite places on this part of the mountain: a waterfall that rarely warmed up enough to do more than drip fresh water to the existing layer of ice. The result was a sheet of gleaming water frozen in place, and definitely worth the time and effort of reaching it.
“What do you think?” Easton asked River as they turned a bend in the rock.
“What do I think of—oh.” Jaw dropping, River stared in shock. He hadn’t told anyone where they were headed, and Ben was astute enough not to give the surprise away.
“Easton, this is gorgeous.”
Even the marmot seemed impressed. Easton was starting to feel good about his choices, up until the moment River breathed, “I’m going to climb it.”
“No.” No way. Bad idea.
“Is it frozen enough to be stable?”
“Define stable,” Easton hedged. “Technically, yes. But that’s not an easy climb, River.”
“I never assumed it was. That’s the fun. Why am I lugging around two ice axes if I’m not going to use them?”
Easton knew he was fighting a losing battle. Moving to the base of the ice waterfall, River never bothered to look at him as she argued her case. Instead, she stared up at the sheet of solid water, as if something had made the water freeze in midmotion.
“Don’t you ever get tired of saying no?” River asked.
Placing a hand against the ice, he could practically see her mind racing at all the different possibilities of ascent. Her team had already started shooting the waterfall from every angle, leaving Ben to try to follow both as they found new and interesting ways to almost lose their balance on the icy rocks.
“This was supposed to be for your shoot only,” Easton told her. “Do you have any idea the kind of skill it takes to do this?”
The expression of excitement on her face only grew.
No way. Out of the freaking question. Over Easton’s dead body.
“You don’t get to tell me no,” River told him as if reading his mind. “I’m aware of the dangers. But isn’t part of this documentary to show what’s really out here worth seeing? The things worth doing besides getting drunk at the Tourist Trap or snowboarding at the resort? Easton, look at this. Have you ever seen anything so beautiful?”
Actually, he was looking at something even more beautiful than the ice waterfall, which was why every single part of him was recoiling from the risk.
“Have you ever climbed ice like this?” he finally asked.
River shook her head.
“This isn’t like rock. The ice feels solid, but it’s like a piece of cold glass. Tap it too hard and it’ll shatter. The last thing you want is to be thirty feet up and the whole sheet goes.”
His warning was intended to dissuade her, but instead, River’s eyes brightened even more. For a long moment, Easton considered whether he wanted to throw down over an ice climb. Then with a sigh, he pulled out his ropes to start a belay system. “Fine, but if it goes, don’t blame me. I’m officially and legally warning you that you should not do this.”
“And I’m officially and legally telling you that I so don’t care. When am I ever going to have this chance again?” After double-checking their equipment, River turned to Easton. “Ready?”
He should have wrapped an arm around her waist, pulled her close, and done anything else to convince her there were a lot of other ways to have fun than to do this.
Instead, Easton grunted, “Climb on.”
• • •
When she’d first seen the waterfall, all River could think about was how badly she wanted to climb it. And yes, it was dangerous. She hadn’t cared.
She also hadn’t thought through the realities of having Easton on the ground beneath her.
River was enough of an adrenaline junkie to enjoy the thrill of her racing heart. What she didn’t like was the understanding that if she messed up—or if the falls simply shattered there was no way Easton would be able to get out of the way.
With every placement of her axes, she couldn’t shake the image of razor-sharp shards of ice dropping down on him while he was tied to her.
“I never should have agreed to the belay,” River muttered.
Even as the words left her mouth, River’s ax slipped from the ice. She tried to catch herself with the other one, but she was already falling.
There was something about having an expert on the ground beneath her. Easton had known exactly how much line to feed out as she climbed that she’d never felt the pull of the rope connecting them. He weighed enough that she didn’t even pull him off his feet with the fall. At least, she didn’t think she had by how short her drop was before the rope caught her. Still, a fall was a fall, even when safely secured, and it stole her breath.
Body reacting on instinct, River’s legs came up, her feet bracing hard against the waterfall for balance.
This time, she froze, realizing what she’d done.
“River?” Easton called up to her. “You good?”
“I’m hoping I didn’t bring all this down on our heads. Remind me not to kick the super deadly sheet of ice again.”
“It wasn’t that hard. You’ve got this. Keep climbing.”
She started to go up again, doing her best not to repeat her mistake. Easton’s confidence in her had been reassuring, but River’s heart continued to race until she reached the top of the falls. Hauling herself over the edge, she turned and waved down to her crew where they filmed below.