East of Redemption (Love on the Edge #2) (12 page)

He clenched his eyes shut, the strained lines reshaping his forehead just as they had during the nightmare. I waited patiently, hoping he’d let me in. After several long moments, he opened them again.

I sighed. They were cold, a wall covering the eyes that had filled with passion only seconds ago. I dropped his hand. He didn’t have to tell me, of course. Yet I wished he’d give me something . . . a piece of whatever plagued him. I turned and walked back to my tent, stopping just outside of it.

“I won’t break, Easton. Whatever it is. You can tell me.”

He hesitated, the battle clear in his eyes.

“When you’re ready,” I said. “
I’m
not going anywhere.” I slipped inside the tent and zipped it up.

I laid back down, trying desperately to reclaim the sleep that had held me so deeply before Easton’s nightmare. My lips were swollen from the strength of his kiss, and my skin hummed from his touch, but my heart ached with a haunting pain and the knowledge of his continued efforts to shut me out.

I grabbed my chest, as if I could hold myself together with the physical effort. I shouldn’t have kissed him. Shouldn’t have reopened the wound that still had the tendency to bleed. Maybe it would’ve been better for both of us if I’d let him remain tortured in that nightmare. Closing my eyes, I knew I could never let him stay in that much pain, not if I had the power to do anything about it.

Some things would never change.

Easton

NORMALLY A SUNRISE
from the mountaintop would be something to marvel at, soak in, and savor. I could only scowl at it as the light of day fully illuminated my mistakes for the world to see.

In the darkness, fresh off the nightmare I thought I’d managed to shake years ago, I’d held Rain again and reclaimed her as mine. She’d tasted better than I remembered, and her mouth, the feel of her soft body flush with mine, was the perfect filling for the void I’d had since the day I’d left her.

I’d always suspected the hole in my heart had Rain’s name on it, but I’d deluded myself into believing it was the guilt revolving around Harrison’s death that had dug the pit. Maybe it was a combination of both. Either way, for those brief moments where she was in my arms again, my heart was full. She had the power to do that, when all these years I’d tried to fix it by pushing myself on life-and-death excavations and donating all but a small portion of the money I earned to charities Harrison would’ve loved. No amount of breaking myself for the show, or money given away, had been able to fill me like she had with her lips. Not even close.

Who knew the thing I needed most in the world was the one person I’d purposely hurt and pushed away.

You knew that, idiot.

I didn’t deserve her, or the kindness she’d shown me since she accepted the job. She genuinely wanted to help me. She should’ve slammed the door in my face and told me to go to hell for good measure. It was an asshole move, kissing her like that, but I’d been so engrossed in the nightmare, and then relieved when I’d woken with her in my arms. The glimpse of a future I’d once wanted more than anything in my entire life had shaken my resolve not to touch her.

I situated my hat and camera over my head, glaring at the damn sunrise, cursing it for making everything look different. I wanted to go back to the darkness, where I could forget my rules, my reasons for keeping Rain away from my heart, and just let her heal me.

Harrison had blamed me in the nightmare. Always had, and rightly so. The picture was so clear in my mind, reliving it over and over again until my gut twisted in my sleep. I hadn’t had a nightmare in a couple of years, though they used to wake me and send me rushing to the bathroom to empty whatever meal I’d had for dinner. Getting closer to the cave that had taken Rain’s father from her, and my mentor from me, must have forced the damned thing back into my brain, giving it free rein to fester and explode.

The exhaustion didn’t help, either. Or the fact that I hadn’t had a drink of water since we’d left the hotel in Neve Ativ.

I heard Rain breaking down the tent behind me, and I slowly turned around. She had her back to me, her long, blond hair tucked back into a tight ponytail that stuck out beneath the brim of her hat. She’d changed into a breathable cotton T-shirt and a sturdy pair of khakis with plenty of pockets, which somehow still managed to show off what an incredible ass she had. After she secured the tent to the bottom of her pack, she turned around. I locked on to those beautiful eyes that were nearly as refreshing as getting a taste of the water I so desperately craved.

“Good morning,” I said, fully aware how lame it sounded. Seriously? I’d had my tongue in her mouth not five hours ago, and my hands all over her body as she’d ground against me in the most delicious way. My dick twitched with the thought, and I mentally forced myself to lock it down. Again.

“Morning.” She flashed me a small smile, and again her kindness shook me. She didn’t glare, or accuse, or even take a drink of the water I knew she had in her pack. My crew had never hidden the luxuries afforded to them. Not that they needed to—it just put Rain on a different level. After packing up, she walked to where I stood close to the mountain’s edge and surveyed the area.

“You ready?” she asked, waiting for my cue as I stood there staring at her. I snapped out of it and nodded.

I led the way farther east and made sure to hug the path of trees that had offered us a bit of shelter from the winds last night. I stopped after a few paces, turning to face her, and looking straight at the camera on her head.

“Today’s objective is to continue to lead the opposing crew to the wrong location and pray we find a water source along the way.” I pointed to my lips and leaned closer to the lens to give the audience an up-close view. “As you can see, my body is already showing the effects of dehydration even after only a little over twenty-four hours without water. Because of the strenuous climb and hike up the mountain, much of my energy is being depleted quicker than if I stayed put. I always advise any hikers or adventurists to stock their packs with an efficient amount of water for the trip, but I want to show you what to do if you find yourself stranded without gear, or lost for days longer than what you’d initially planned for. Finding water is essential to survival, and if we don’t find a source today, I’m going to have to get creative, or risk dying in a matter of days.” I turned back around, continuing the trek along the narrow path ahead of me. My quads burned with each step, the terrain becoming steeper the farther northeast we went.

After a few miles, a sledgehammer had taken up a sick beat in my head. The pain radiated throughout my limbs, stinging with each pulse of my blood. I took a deep breath, forcing myself to focus on keeping one foot in front of the other as I pushed ahead. A slight break in the trees revealed the drop-off I’d been expecting, and I raised my hand to slow Rain behind me.

I reveled in the small victories of the mission. Looking at Rain and then the camera, I motioned her to come to me slowly, and pointed forward as she cleared the trees. She gasped, fueling the smile that cracked my dry-as-fuck lips.

“We’ve made it to an incredibly high vantage point on the mountain.” I pointed toward the other mountains that bordered this one, and then to the huge drop over the ledge we stood on. “Check this out. This whole range is filled with caves, most naturally formed over time, and some dating back thousands of years. You see the gaps there?” I pointed across the wide expanse of air, trying to highlight the holes on the mountainside across from us. “Those are all caves. There are literally thousands that haven’t been explored here in Israel, some because no one can get to them safely, and others because they simply haven’t been discovered yet.” I spoke directly to the camera now, allowing the backdrop to fuel my words.

“If you believe the legends—and I’m operating under that belief—then the Babylonians, who were last rumored to hold a horde of treasure that included the infamous King Solomon’s, could have easily fled through this very mountain range after they’d looted the King’s temple. Some Babylonians were caught, but never with the treasure, and many scholars believe they were able to hide it in a naturally-formed cave as they passed through Israel in their attempts to escape.” I glanced back out toward the horizon, my heart catching at the overwhelming view and the taste of the treasure so close it made me forget how much my body hated me right now. “You can imagine the genius behind the idea, knowing it would be protected and preserved until one of their own could come back for it. Unfortunately, that never happened. Many were killed, the rest died in prisons before they could journey back.”

I craned my head to the left, my eyes sharp on the ground beneath us. Glancing behind me, and then back to the camera, I smirked. “Now this is going to be the true test of the treasure hunters who are following our tracks in the hopes to claim as their own the treasure I seek.” I gently clutched Rain’s shoulder, positioning her to get a great shot of the barely there ledge we’d have to cross in order to continue on our current track.

“We’ll have to hug the mountain’s wall and, inch-by-inch, work our way across the tiny gap until the terrain flattens out enough for us to hike again.”

“You’re shitting me,” Rain blurted out and then slapped her hand over her mouth.

I chuckled as I slipped off my pack and set it down before me. “It’s okay, we can edit that part out.” I dug in the bag, pulling out a set of hooks and rappel rope.

“Sorry, but really?” She eyed the ledge I’d pointed at, which was only wide enough for the toes of our boots.

“It’s the only way to the cave I’m leading Corrine’s team to. Hopefully it’ll be enough of a risk to make them turn back, or go their own way, but if they do continue to track us I have a great endpoint to lose them. Then we can finally get on our own course to Harrison’s cave.”

She sucked in a breath.

“Haven’t you ever climbed before? To photograph mountain lions or goats or something?”

“Yes, but never under the slim terrain you’re suggesting.”

I stood up after fixing the rope, and tied it around her waist, looping it through a steel hook. I couldn’t help but gently brush her flat stomach after finishing, torturing myself with the feel of her body. “It’ll be fine. You’ll be tandem with me, and I’ll secure us to a good anchor on this end.

“And the other end?”

I cracked a grin and walked as close to the edge as I could. I fastened a grappling hook to the opposite end of the rope and tossed it to the other side. It took me three tries before I got the thing good and wedged in a wide gap in the rock wall on the other end. I returned focus to the camera.

“For the safety of the one crew member I have with me on this mission, I’m using the tools that would easily be found in a climber’s pack. It’s not far-fetched to believe a climber could find themselves lost and stranded on the mountain range, so we’re operating under the assumption the supplies would be readily available. Trick is, I can only use this once, as we’ll have to cut most of it loose once we successfully get to the other side, so you have to choose wisely and only make use of the precious tools you have at the perfect moment.” I pointed to the thin ledge and looked down at the over two-hundred-foot drop to the rocky terrain below, allowing my own camera to capture the vast fall that would occur if we made one wrong move. “You ready?”

Rain nodded, her eyes sharp and focused with a little hint of fear.

“Just follow my footings and mimic my movements, but go at your own pace. You’ll do fine.” I’d made climbs like this too many times to count, so when I took that first step, pulling onto the rope and making it taut from the other side, it was like riding a bike. My heart rate jacked, my body remembering all the times I had misstepped and fallen, breaking bones and damaging my muscles in ways I hadn’t thought possible. It never stopped me, though. Nothing could.

I hugged the wall of the mountain with my chest pressed against it, risking a turn of my head to check on Rain. She was at least twenty feet behind me, her slow pace keeping her focused on the right track. I kept my own pace, wanting to get to the other side as quickly as possible in case the anchor slipped—it was the only thing keeping my worries for Rain’s safety at bay. I knew she could handle this, handle anything thrown her way, but I also knew that anchor would keep her alive if she misstepped. My calf muscles strained against the weight of my entire body placed on nothing but the tips of my toes, my boots struggling to find purchase in the tiny space allotted.