Hidden Deep by Amy Patrick Page B

with…outsiders. Rules I’ve broken three times now.” He shook his head side-to-side in a gesture of dismay.
    “Really? You couldn’t even talk to me? Not once? I’ve been looking for you,” I said.
    After a long moment he answered, “I know. I saw you, heard you. I stayed out of your sight, up in the treetops. I… followed you.” He hesitated, looking embarrassed. “I wanted to talk to you again, to see you. But it didn’t—doesn’t—matter what I want.” He brushed the thought away with an irritated hand gesture.
    “Why? What do you mean?”
    “The last time we were together, Ryann… someone saw us. That’s not good—for me. For you… it’s dangerous.” He stroked a long finger lightly across my cheekbone and something in his eyes looked pained. His words were a whisper. “You are so beautiful up close.”
    My belly went crazy with a sudden release of butterflies. I could hardly believe what I was hearing—Lad saying something like that about me—it was too close to the fantasies I’d been having about him. And some of the other stuff he’d said was just… weird.
    “I can’t stop shaking. I don’t think my fear of heights has improved. Can we get down?” “Well, we can’t go down the way we came up, at least until they’re finished.” He nodded to the pack below us. “If you want to get to the ground, you’re going to have to trust me. It’ll get a bit worse before it can get better, okay?”
    I reconsidered staying right where we were until the coyotes had moved on. But I really did want the earth under my feet again, so I could focus on what Lad was telling me. I’d finally found him again, and I was too frazzled to focus.
    Also, I needed to put some distance between our bodies so I could think straight. The warm pressure of his skin against mine was not helping my confusion.
    “Turn toward me,” he instructed.
    “What are you going to do?” My voice rose with my intensifying acrophobia. “You’ll have to hold on to me. I’ll need a free hand.”
    I obeyed and shifted my body, so Lad and I were chest to chest. He was sitting on a wide branch with his back against the trunk, and me sideways on his lap. The hard bands of his arms were still wrapped protectively around me, letting me maneuver without fear of falling. Well, much fear.
    “Good, now put your arms around my waist,” he said.
    I reached around Lad’s back. Powerful muscles flexed under my palms. So much for relieving my frazzled state, but I assumed we were getting there.
    “Great. Now, move one leg to the other side of my lap.”
    “What?” I blinked in instant embarrassment.
    “It’s okay. You’re going to straddle my legs for a minute, so I can move to lift us up.” At this rate the frazzled state would last the rest of my life. My arms and legs trembled. I wasn’t sure if it was from fear or the discomforting intimacy of our position. Lacking a better plan though, I followed his instructions.
    Raising my body so one knee pressed into his thigh, I raised my other leg up and over his lap. That accomplished, I ungracefully plopped back down, now sitting astride him, clinging desperately.
    “Okay, now slide your arms up around my neck.”
    I complied, and then we were up. I instinctively wrapped my legs around his waist as he lifted me. “You’re going to drop me. I’m too heavy.”
    Lad laughed out loud and held me against him with one arm while grabbing an overhead branch with another. “Do I look like I’m struggling?”
    “No… you seem to be doing pretty well, actually, but I’m not exactly dainty.”
    The side of his mouth quirked in bemusement and one eyebrow went up. “I would argue, but this is probably not the best moment for me to detail exactly what I think of your body, so we’re going to move now. Don’t be afraid, Ryann. There’s no way you can fall. I have you, and I’m not letting go. Ready?”
    I nodded, but internally, I was in a deep panic. Lad kept one arm wrapped