Page 15 of His to Seduce
Shit.I wanted to push her outside her comfort zone, not throw her headfirst into facing her fears.
I curled my hands around her shoulders. She shook beneath my touch. “I’m sorry.” I pulled her to me and wrapped my arms around her back. “I didn’t know.” She shivered again. Her chest rose and fell at a rapid pace and I held on to her until she calmed. “We can go back to the boat,” I whispered, pressing my lips against the top of her head. Tucked close to me, she barely reached my chin.
She nodded against me, but when I moved to step back, she held me tighter.
“No.”
“No?” Pressing my thumb to her chin, I tilted her head up until her green eyes met my gaze. Fear swirled inside them, and she was still breathing too rapidly. “Camden, I didn’t mean to scare you, and I don’t want to. I won’t make you do this.”
Her throat bobbed as she swallowed. “I have this friend from college. She owns this crafty, small, home decor store and hosts painting classes at nights and on weekends.” My brows drew together in confusion. “Last week, she posted on Facebook this sign she’d painted that says ‘Feel the fear and do it anyway.’ ” She looked away, toward the edge of the cliff and the water below. When she spoke again, her voice was raspy and dry. “I’m tired of my fears deciding how I live.”
“Camden—”
Wrapping her fingers around my wrist, she pulled my hand to hers and entwined our fingers together. It was the softest hold, and the most timid I’d ever seen her.
In that moment, with her skin paled, her eyes widened and scared, her body still shivering from her own personal fears and demons, she allowed me see a completely different side of her.
I drank her in. The softness in her, much like when she slept, made her more exquisite. Proved that everything I was trying to do this weekend was working, that it was worth it.
She was trusting me. Leaning on me—opening up to me in a way I’d only begun to imagine she would.
“You made snorkeling okay, right? And you won’t let anything hurt me.”
“Never. I wouldn’t let anything hurt you.” Her eyes roamed my face and I poured out as much honesty as I could manage in my expression alone.
Her tongue slid along her bottom lip and she swallowed heavily before nodding. “Okay, then. Let’s go punch my fear in the face.”
I laughed despite myself. Laughed because when she smiled as she fought against her fear, walked toward the ledge despite knowing she wanted to run away, she was more beautiful than I’d ever seen her.
We walked back to the edge. It was a forty-foot drop. Not massive, but certainly not minuscule. I’d done larger jumps before, but the fact that there wasn’t much space between the rocks added a thrill of excitement. Or terror, in Camden’s case.
“You sure?” I squeezed her hand tightly in mine. “I’ll hold you for as long as I can, but we’ll be pulled apart at some point.”
“Okay.”
She stared at the rocks across from us, paling with every breath she took. I fought the desire to wrap her in my arms and carry her back to the boat, wrap a towel around her and hold her close until she never shook from fear again.
Goosebumps popped up and down her arms, visible even on her stomach and thighs.
“Camden, we don’t have to. You don’t have to,” I stressed.
She stared at the expanse of space like she saw nothing but whatever she was fighting.
“No.” Her resolve had strengthened, mask slamming in place, but her expression was different from the distant look I’d seen before. Determination. Victory. It covered her fear like a thick blanket and she rolled to her toes, nodding. “I can do this.”
She turned to me and bit her bottom lip again. “Just…let me count this time?”
“Of course.” Whatever made this easier for her. “If you want, you can watch me jump and then I can come back for you.”
“No way,” she laughed. “If I see what’s coming I’ll never do it.”
“You sure you want to?”
“Yes. But I’m counting. Come on.” She pulled on my hand and I stood next to her. I clasped her hand in my grip and held it tight as I stepped farther to the side. I stopped when our arms were stretched wide beneath us.
“On three.”
She nodded. “On three.”
