Rendezvous (Renegades 5)
“I’ve never been zip-lining. And so do you.”
“I do not,” he laughed. “I’m sweaty and disgusting.”
“I like you sweaty.”
Her hungry whisper shivered down Keaton’s spine.
He met her eyes, their blue hue bright and sparkling with mischief and desire. “I like you making me sweaty.”
He finished with the last buckle and asked, “You’ve really never been zip-lining?”
“Nope.”
“Okay, well, I kind of under-exaggerated anyway. It’s really like zip-lining on drugs. If this feels overwhelming at any time, you just tell me and we’ll stop.”
He crouched to pull another strap between her legs and fasten it behind her. She turned her head and gave him that sexy smile. “I’m excited.”
Grinning, he checked the harness over and over. Every clip, every buckle, every tie.
Cam came up behind her and hooked cables to the D-rings on the back of the harness. “I think someone’s got that spark of adrenaline in her eyes.”
She laughed. “I don’t know about that.” She ran her hands over the harness. “It’s fun to watch, and I’m excited to try it, but…I’ll leave the everyday life-defying acts to you guys.”
“Have fun,” Cam said before he moved to Russ’s side off stage.
“Hey, where’s your phone?” Keaton asked her.
“Oh, right.” She pulled it from her back pocket. “Probably shouldn’t have this on me.”
“It would be cool to have one of the crew video it so you can show it to Justin.”
“Oh my God.” Her eyes lit up, followed by a gorgeous smile. “Great idea.”
“God I want to kiss you so bad right now,” he murmured.
Her gaze went soft, and her eyes lowered to his mouth. “I wish.”
“Where’s Jillian?” he asked, taking Brooke’s phone.
“Next door, filming.”
He nodded, then called to a stagehand. “Mack.” He offered Brooke’s phone. “Can you get a couple of good clips of this run-through for Brooke’s nephew?”
“Sure.”
Everyone moved back into position, and Keaton took Brooke’s hand as she climbed the stairs to the catwalk. Since they weren’t filming today, there was no director around to tell them what to do, so Keaton walked her to the end of the platform and up the steps at the end that led to nowhere and dropped off into nothing.
“Whoa,” she said with a tight laugh as she reached the end. “Why does this look so much higher from up here?”
“Always does.” He pointed at the blue mat covering the floor below. “If you fa
ll, it’s like a pillow.”
“If you say so.”
“I’m going to race down this ramp, jump these stairs, grab you, and launch myself across the opening and to the other side.” He pointed to the other half of the ramp, which had been displaced six feet higher. The cables are going to help me make that leap. The finesse comes in on the landing. I need to land on the lip of that top step to start the next fight scene. Which is why practicing with the right weight is important for both the crew and me. Then we’ll all know exactly what we need to do to make the landing right with the fewest takes. When the stuntwoman gets here tomorrow, we can film and move on.”
“Okay, got it.”