Skin (McCullough Mountain 2) (15 page)

“Grab a plate. I have a bunch of greasy meat
byproducts I know you’re gonna want to tear into.”

She frowned at him, but brought two plates
and silverware over to the table. He popped the lid off the fruit
salad and sighed. “What? This isn’t bacon?” He opened the other
little tin. “And who put this egg white omelet in here? Looks like
they stuffed it with spinach and mushrooms. Well, I can’t eat
this.”

When he glanced at her she was smiling. He
passed her the container and she sniffed happily. “Very sweet,
Finnegan McCullough. What’s in the other container?”

“Oh, that…that’s just some disgusting
concoction. You eat that. I’ll take one for the team and eat the
other garbage.”

He opened up his breakfast and dug in. The
bacon was crisp, the pancakes were fluffy, and the eggs were
slathered in cheese. He made sure to keep his plate discretely
hidden, because he knew it would piss her off, but she didn’t seem
to mind. The sounds she made as she ate her own breakfast were
almost sexual and his appetite switched to a completely different
sort of hunger.

“Is your mom not making breakfast
today?”

“She is, but that’s later. First, they all
go to church.”

Her lips closed over a ripe berry speared on
the end of her fork. “Don’t you go to church?”

He shrugged. “Now and then. Me and God have
a special understanding.”

“Is your family very religious?”

“My brother was going to be a priest. What
do you think?”

“Oh, right. I can’t imagine Colin as a
priest.”

He laughed. It was still difficult to
imagine his brother as anything else, but Colin was madly in love
with Samantha and his daughter, so there was no doubting this was
the path God had intended for him.

When his stomach was full he closed his
container and carried it to the trash. She nibbled her fruit salad.
“Thanks for breakfast. Everything was great.”

He liked the way she didn’t sit on the chair
like a lady. No, not Philly. She kept one foot on the seat and her
knee by her chest. She was perfectly relaxed at the moment and the
way her skin still appeared soft from sleep made him want to rub up
against her…maybe do some groping and fornicating…

“What are your plans for the day?” he asked,
returning to his chair.

“I have to run. I didn’t exercise
yesterday.”

He gasped in mock outrage. “Oh no! Whatever
will we do?”

She chucked a berry at him and he caught it
in his mouth. She giggled. “That means I have to do something extra
today to make up for it.”

He could give her some ideas. Maybe burn a
few calories himself. “Are you running soon?”

She lifted her creamy shoulder. She had the
nicest complexion. “Soon. If I wait too long I’ll get tired and
start making excuses.”

“I know something we can do. What? I’m
serious. Did you ever climb a tree?”

“When I was little.”

“How would you like to climb a big
tree?”

She grinned and looked at him challengingly.
“How big?”

“How big do you want it?” Her cheeks flushed
and she glanced away. “We have a hundred foot tree we use for
training. You can go as high as you can manage.”

“Is it dangerous?”

“I won’t let you do anything dangerous. I’ve
been logging since I was a teen. I know how to do it safely. It’s a
great workout.”

“I bet. I’m mean, you’re in terrible
shape.”

He grinned and flashed her a shot of his
abs, shaking his head in mock disappointment. “Terrible,” he
agreed.

Her lips parted and she rasped,
“Abysmal.”

Dropping his shirt, he said, “What do you
say? Wanna see what I do for a living?”

“Sure. What should I wear?”

“Do you have boots, like hiking boots?”

“No.”

“Then sneakers, heavy jeans, and long
sleeves. I have everything else at the site.”

As Mallory changed, he cleaned up from
breakfast. When she reappeared she looked rugged in the sexiest
sense of the word. Her hips filled out a pair of dark denim jeans
and she had on a thermal under a baggy T-shirt. “Ready?”

As they drove to the site, she complained
about how logging wasn’t sympathetic to the weather and worried
about sweating.
Girls.
However, he’d never taken a girl
climbing. She got cool points simply for agreeing to try it
out.

He parked about a hundred yards from the
tree they were going to scale. As soon as he climbed out of the
truck he went to get her door. She got there first, but he cornered
her before her feet had a chance to touch the ground.

Her scent crawled into him, all soft and
flowery. He’d been breathing it in since she got in his truck. She
stilled as he helped her down and proceeded to back her into the
door.

“Finn,” she said in warning.

He ignored her and smirked as he lowered his
mouth to hers. Warm, soft lips greeted his and she sighed. There
was no more reluctance once he pressed her mouth open and stole a
taste. He gripped her hips and pulled her to his front. Her hands
crawled slowly over his shoulders as their heads tilted.

There was something about kissing Mallory
that was different from all the other women he’d kissed. She was
tender and warm. He loved putting his hands on her. When he pulled
back she blinked up at him, her cheeks a bit flushed and eyelids at
half-mast. Even though he’d just kissed her, he wanted to do it
again.

Grunting, he turned to get the equipment out
of his toolbox in the back of his truck. When he thought she wasn’t
looking, he did a quick readjustment of his situation down
below.

Grabbing some belts, harnesses, and two
pairs of spikes, he tossed the equipment over his shoulder and led
her to the tree they’d use. “Here it is.”

She looked up and squinted into the sun. The
tree had been trimmed just for climbing, so there weren’t any
branches. “There’s no way I’m making it to the top.”

“Bet you can get halfway there.”

She snorted. “Yeah, right. You can climb
this?”

“Sure. Want to see me do it first?”

She nodded. He dropped the equipment on the
ground and sat on a stump. His foot slid into the spiked brace and
he tightened the strap around his calf.

“What are they?”

“These are my spikes. They’re essential.
They need to be tight and sharp or else you could really mess
yourself up.”

She watched as he tightened the spikes and
stepped into his harness. After lacing the rope through each clamp,
he tugged to check that all his knots were secure.

“What’s that?”

He lifted his rope. “This is your standard
steel cord lanyard. It’s a bit stiffer than rope, so it’s easier to
shimmy with.” He latched it to his belt and faced the trunk. The
lanyard swung around the girth of the tree and he caught it,
locking the other end to his harness.

“So once you’re all locked in, you lift it.”
The rope flipped up. “It’s rigid, so it moves fairly easy.”

She crept closer to see what he was doing.
He dug his spikes into the tree and leaned away from the bark,
trusting his harness to hold his weight.

“Is it hard to get your spikes to stick?”
she asked.

“You gotta put some force into it, but
you’ll be able to do it. There are grooves from other climbers to
guide you. You want to lean away from the tree. If you’re too close
it makes it difficult. Keep your legs straight and your spikes at
an angle so they don’t slip. Hand me that helmet.”

She handed him a helmet and he latched it
tight. His safety glasses covered his eyes and he tightened his
gloves. “So basically, you flick your lanyard.”

“The rope?”

“Right.” He flicked it up a few feet. “Then
you move up a few steps like this. Lean forward, flick, step.” The
spikes punctured the bark with a metal click at every step. “It’s
the same coming down as going up, but you want to take it slow,
smaller steps.”

“How high can you go?”

Squinting at the sky he said, “I’ve been to
the top.”

“Wow.”

He climbed down about ten feet, showing her
how it worked. “Wanna try?”

She nodded. He shimmied down the rest of the
way. His boots landed in the dirt with a metal clank.

“Let’s get you into your harness first, then
I’ll help you with your spurs.”

She went over to the pile of equipment and
folded her arms. “Which one’s the harness? There are a lot of
them.”

He scooped up what she needed. “This part
latches around your waist.” He waited for her to make some snide,
bullshit comment about her body, but when she didn’t he was
glad.

She stepped close as he buckled the belt
around her. She was buried beneath the fabric of her shirt. “Your
shirts too big. Here, come closer. You want it tight, but
comfortable enough to breathe.”

His fingers brushed over her clothing. Their
breath mingled as he fit the harness around her. “Next we snap the
leg harnesses.” She passively stood as his adjusted the belts
around her thighs. He had to tighten them quite a bit to fit her.
“Sit down and I’ll help you with your spurs.”

She lowered herself to the stump and he
laughed. She frowned. “What?”

“Nothing.”

“It’s obviously something. Am I doing
something wrong?”

“No. I was laughing at your little feet.” He
fit her sneaker into the spurs and tightened the lock around her
calf. “How’s that feel?”

“Tight.”

“Too tight?”

She wiggled her foot. “No. It sort of feels
like I’m wearing skis.”

He latched the other one and helped her up.
“You ready?”

Glancing up at the sky, she sighed. “As I’ll
ever be.”

“Good. Put these on.” He tossed her a
helmet, glasses, and gloves. She looked adorable. His type of
woman. Without thinking, he reached into his pocket, and withdrew
his phone.

“Did you just take my picture?”

“Maybe.”

“Why?”

He shrugged. “You look all cute. Philly gone
mountain. I dig it.”

She growled. “I probably look like a trussed
up—” she stopped when she caught his warning glance. “Whatever.
I’ll delete it when you’re not looking.”

He dropped the phone into his pants. “Gonna
have to search me for it.”

“Jerk.”

“Come on.” His hand slapped the top of her
hardhat and he picked up the other lanyard. She faced the trunk and
he latched it to her belt, double checking all the knots and clips.
“Now swing this around and try to catch it in your other hand, just
like I showed you.”

Her arm cast the rope out and it clattered
to the ground. She growled and pulled it back in. The second time
she tossed it a little harder, but it went in the wrong direction.
She pulled it in again. Her third try wasn’t much better. She
growled in frustration.

“Come on, really swing it.”

She tried again and the cord whipped against
the bark and fell to the ground. “I can’t do it.”

“Sure you can. You gotta really want it.
Throw it again and this time put some stank on it.”

She bared her teeth and swung. This time was
much better, but her little arms couldn’t seem to catch it. “I’m
really climbing my ass off. This sucks,” she said
sarcastically.

* * * *

She wanted to climb the damn tree, but the
stupid rope thing wouldn’t work. She tried again and grit her
teeth. This time when the lanyard came around the clip hit her in
the knuckle. “Ouch!”

“Let me help you.”

Her spine stiffened as the heat from Finn’s
body seeped into her back. His breath tickled her neck as his hand
slid over hers and removed the clip from her grip.

The press of his hips was a huge
distraction. Her skin was hot under her long sleeves and he only
seemed to make her warmer.

“The trick is,” he said, whispering in her
ear and sending chills down her back. “To thrust hard and know
exactly what angle will make it come.”

What did he just say? Get your mind out
of the gutter and focus.
He cast out the lanyard and his body
pressed firmly into hers as he caught it in his other hand. He
chuckled and latched it to her belt with a tug.

“There.”

She didn’t breathe until he stepped away.
Her hands curled over the rope, playing with its weight.

“Now dig your spike in over that root.”

She lifted her leg and kicked her foot down.
The spurs were heavy, but punctured the bark with more ease than
she suspected they would. She did the same with her other foot.
Finn was behind her once more, this time adjusting the slack in the
rope.

“Lean into me. You won’t fall.”

As she eased back her legs stretched and her
arms bore a great deal of her weight.

“Keep your legs straight, so you don’t slip.
Good. Now pull in and flick the rope up. Now step.”

She followed his instructions and took her
first step. It was a full body workout. Her arms remained tense and
her legs rigid. Every step was an effort, as she had to pack enough
force to puncture the trunk. After a few steps she was already
shaking from exertion and getting tired. When she glanced down she
was disappointed to see her body was only about six feet from the
ground.

Her head tilted as she tried to see the top
of the tree. No wonder he was ripped. This was insane.

“You giving up on me, Philly?”

“No.” Her grip tightened as she gave the
rope a flick. She traveled several more feet into the air and
paused to catch her breath. Finn was shrinking with every flick and
step. She was about twelve feet off the ground. Her belly swirled
as she considered falling from that height. “Are these ropes going
to hold?”

“You’re fine. Do you want to come down?”

Every time he gave her the option of
quitting she took another step. She could do this. Her gaze
assessed the towering trunk and she grit her teeth. Flick, step,
step. Flick, step, step.