I wondered if she had her eyes closed.
My thighs trembled and my feet had gone numb. A bird flew by my face, its wings too close to my nose. “Jesus Christ!”
Daisy giggled.
I glared at her. “It wasn’t funny.”
I took a deep breath and settled into the moment as my adrenaline rush peaked. My heart was pounding against my chest as though it was trying to escape, reminding me what mortality felt like. It was quite stimulating, if you didn’t mind an internal organ beating you up from the inside.
“I need to pee,” whispered Daisy.
“Don’t put that thought in my head.”
“It would be very bad for those people below.”
She smiled at me.
“Why are you looking at me like that?” I snapped.
“You’re already spontaneous. I want to be that way, too.”
We are reckless. This is irrational and idiotic.
I could only imagine the headline in the Folha de São Paulo Newspaper: “Crazy Lawyer Takes Last Dare of His Life.”
“I won’t let you fall,” Daisy whispered.
“How do you propose to stop me?” I blurted out.
“I won’t let go.”
My gaze met hers, and I studied her trusting blue eyes, suddenly entering a dream-like sense of Zen.
My brain struggled to process the stress I was putting myself through. Every worry now seeming insignificant, all that counted was surviving.
My mind grew still.
Everything became clear. What was most important to me was connected to the woman squeezing my hand and showing me comfort.
I drew on her bravery.
Everything else paled—my work, the effort to succeed and grow wealthier. Now, here, being with someone who was so real felt like everything I needed. All the superficialities were stripped away.
My life was being wasted…
No, that wasn’t right. Fear was doing crazy things to me. I had a good life. A great job. A happy existence that didn’t need to be analyzed or questioned. I didn’t need to change what was working fine.
Just get through this and get on with things…
We were finally winched back up to the ledge and unhooked. I stood in the middle of the roof and fought an urge to kiss the ground, adrenaline still pumping though my veins. I was no longer chilled. Instead, my body was heated like a furnace, an after-effect of this terror-drenched mistake.
Trying to look unfazed, I strolled toward Daisy, wanting to see if she was coping with the shock.
She stepped forward and wrapped her arms around me. “We did it!”
Conflicting emotions caused me to shudder against her. Hugging Daisy, I surrendered to her warmth, leaning low and burying my face in her silky brown locks, inhaling her delicate scent, a soft, flowery fragrance that brought with it the kind of comfort I couldn’t remember having experienced before.
Tying to compartmentalize, I reassured myself that showing her kindness, since she’d been starved of it for so long, was a good thing.
Who am I kidding? I needed this hug as much as she seemed to, which was a bit mortifying. Because I had never needed anyone. My body went rigid with this realization.
She pulled back and studied me. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable.”
“Never.”
“Was it really Nick that gave you the envelope? You can tell me.”
Rising out of a trance, I reached out to stroke her cheek, ready to open up about its origin…
Ted interrupted us. “I took photos, Daisy.”
She looked at him and blinked as though trying to process what he was saying.
“Your Instagram page is going to light up. You’ll break the Internet.” He threw in a wink.
My gut tightened in annoyance.
Ted looked at me with a triumphant smile, knowing he’d interrupted something special between us.
I gave a nod. “I think posting a photo of this is a great idea.”
“Max, you were going to tell me something?” she said.
Somewhere in the middle of all of this madness, I had started to fall for the girl with the broken heart.
“I should go,” I whispered.
“You came here to check on me?”
“Of course not. I was in the area.”
Her smile broadened, the brightness reaching her eyes, sending out a wave of loving energy that hit me with unexpected force.
I wanted to taste her lips, get to know her completely. I wanted to have her in every conceivable way. Fall back into that embrace…the one that made me feel whole.
All of this was impossible.
She would always hold Nick in her heart. The only way to undo this spell I was under would be to do the unthinkable.
Walk away.
Otherwise, these moments that had thrust us together would lead to more heartbreak. We could never be. I didn’t belong in this city—could never live here. London was her home. She’d never want to leave.
What I had hated about the way Nick had treated her, I now saw in my own actions.
We were both bad for Daisy.
“Be careful.” I threw that in as a warning to Ted as much as to her.
He rolled his eyes as he walked away to begin a conversation with the others. As he threw looks of contempt at me over his shoulder, I kept thinking of other ways I could piss him off.
I hadn’t been quite this immature since college—another good reason not to see Daisy again.
I tried to let her down gently. “Maybe being part of this club isn’t such a good idea. I don’t like you being placed in this kind of danger.” I shook my head. “It’s a mistake.”
Daisy tugged on my sleeve. “It really is helping, though.”
“Promise me you’ll stop this debacle.”
“Didn’t facing your fear of heights help?”
“I don’t need this.” I blinked at her with an attitude. “I don’t need any of this idiocy. And, quite frankly, neither do you.”
“Of course you don’t.” Her eyes narrowed with a cute expression.
“Not sure we can trust Ted.”
“He’s fine.” She leaned forward. “You know he’s gay, right?”
“He is?” I sounded more relieved than I should have. “I mean, he is.” I gave a nod as though I knew this. “Promise me you’ll not do anything like this again?” I said forcefully. “It’s reckless. Not to mention it messes with your head.”
She gave a nod to acknowledge she wouldn’t, which meant I’d no longer have to worry about her…or even think about her after this. Now leaving her here didn’t feel quite so wrong.
I let out a deep breath.
Stay.
There’s something unique about her and that’s what’s scaring you.
“Daisy, I’m flying back to São Paulo soon. So this is goodbye.” She didn’t need to know the details.
“Oh?”
“Let me drive you home.”
“We’re all going for drinks afterwards,” she said. “But thank you.”
I gave her a kind smile. “You’ll be okay, right? With everything?”
“Of course.” She stepped forward. “Do you feel it?”
“Um…not sure what you mean?”
She whispered, “I feel changed…somehow braver.”