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Meanwhile, he miscalculated a step and, at the same time, Selma shot again. The bullet nicked the side of his hand and he automatically let go. With a curse, he began to slide down the face of the cliff, desperately scrambling for a hold, but finding nothing.
Rocks crumbled as his hands and feet sought a grip. Remembering the ledge, he tried to angle his slide, shot right past it, but managed to grab onto a boulder. Dangling more than one hundred feet in the air, holding himself with his uninjured hand, he prepared himself to fall to his death.
???
Holy shit.Inda’s heart stopped beating then dropped out of her ass when the bullet hit Lucas’ hand and he let go of the rockhe’d been clinging to for dear life. She threw herself forward, sliding across the rubble on her knees, and made a mad dash to grab him as he slid by her perch.
And she fucking missed.
Their fingers grazed, but she couldn’t get a good enough hold.
Nooo!her mind screamed. This couldn’t be happening. She couldn’t lose him, not like this.
At the very last second, he managed to grab the bottom corner of the ledge and Inda leaned over, wrapped her fingers around his wrist and held on tightly. His other hand, dripping blood, reached up, and she seized it. But the blood was making her grip slick.
“Lucas, you need to climb,” she hissed, terrified she was going to watch him slip right out of her grasp and plummet to his death. “Now! I can’t hold you much longer!”
Even though she was holding onto him with every ounce of strength she possessed, he was so damn heavy and the wetness from the blood made him start to slip. No, she refused to let him go. With a roar, she pulled up and, by some miracle, his foot must’ve found a hold because he pushed himself up as she heaved. Yanking with everything she had, he came flying forward and landed on top of her. Breathing hard, Inda dropped her head back and relished the feel of his heavy, warm body covering hers.
“Jesus Christ,” he whispered, breath fanning her ear. “Remind me never to go rock climbing with you again.”
Inda let out a shaky laugh. “Don’t ever almost die on me like that again.”
“I won’t,” he promised, easing up off her.
She immediately missed his strong, lean edges against her, but forced herself to sit up. She cocked her head, straining to hear what was happening above them. Luckily, the rocky overhang protected them from any more bullets.
“We need to wrap your hand,” she said. They didn’t exactly have a First Aid kit with bandages, so she nodded to his T-shirt. “Give me your shirt.”
He reached back, grabbed the collar and pulled it over his head. As he handed it over, their eyes met. “Thank you,” he murmured. “You saved my life.”
Inda ripped the material into strips, took his wounded hand and began to wrap it. The impact of his words hit her damn hard. If he hadn’t found that foothold, he’d be lying in a broken heap at the base of the cliff right now. A shiver tore through her.
“Just stay alive, okay?” She’d seen one person she loved die right in front of her eyes. It’s not something she ever wanted to repeat. “And keep pressure on this.”
“Sure thing. Thanks.”
With a nod, Inda stood up and attempted to peer around the edge of the overhang. Everything seemed quiet and still, but she figured it would be best to hang out there a little while longer. The last thing she wanted was to start climbing and have Selma reappear and start shooting again. A quick look down confirmed there were no more ledges large enough to hide under. They just had to hope Selma would either get tired ofwaiting for them to reappear or look for another way to get to them and fall off the cliff herself.
They waited and then waited some more just to be safe. The chirp of birds, the rustle of critters and a light breeze through the trees were the only sounds she heard.
“Do you think she’s gone?” Lucas finally asked.
“I don’t know,” Inda admitted. She glanced over at his injured hand and realized there was no way he could climb the rest of the way down the mountainside.
“I’ll be fine,” he said, as though reading her mind, “now that there isn’t a crazy person above me shooting. That added a little extra pressure on me, being a first-time climber and all.”
He sent her a smile and it hit her hard that he’d almost died. A physical pain jolted through her belly when she thought about how close that had been. All kinds of emotions ignited and she couldn’t keep denying her feelings. At some point, this man had become so much more than her boss or just another lover.
Lucas Sheridan mattered. And, yeah, maybe it was damn inconvenient, but it was the truth and there was no point hiding from it any longer.
He nudged her with his elbow. “Hey, it’s all good. Stop looking so worried.”
“Your hand is not good,” she stated.
“It’s just a flesh wound,” he joked. “I’ll live.”
Tilting his head, he studied her, and she tried to frown at him, but it didn’t come off quite that way. Her brow furrowedand she looked down at the bloody strip she’d tied tightly around his hand. Blood was soaking through it.
