on,” she said. “Want to see what I’ve spent the last five years doing?”
Mark stared down the steep, crumbling bank at their feet. Doubt showed on his face.
“Wouldn’t it have been easier to go down to the river further upstream?” he asked.
Jamie laughed. “Exactly how close do you think we’re going to get to the nest? I would’ve thought your adventure yesterday taught you how dangerous that can be.”
“Then how—”
Jamie pointed up, her smile growing wider. “Hope you’re not afraid of heights.”
“Not a chance. I’ll have you know I’m as good at climbing as I am at fishing,” Mark boasted with a grin that sent Jamie’s mind straight back to the swimming hole up the river.
A vision of his body, glistening wet, water streaming down his chest and thighs, filled her mind. She licked her lips and forced her imagination into shutdown.
“I’d recommend leaving your clothes on for this one. The bark’s pretty rough.”
She reached out to take the climbing gear off Mark, and tapped his cheek just next to the small scab that was the only sign that he’d hurt himself the day before.
“We don’t want any more dangerous injuries, right?”
A strange emotion flickered over Mark’s face, and was gone. Jamie blinked. Had it been—guilt?
She shook her head. She was being silly. He was probably just embarrassed that she’d made such a big deal over such a tiny scrape yesterday, marching him back to camp and then…
Well, she hoped he wasn’t embarrassed about that part.
Jamie stepped into her harness and deftly tied a length of rope to form a makeshift harness for Mark. She would have offered him hers, but it wouldn’t have even fitted around one of his thighs. To fill the silence while they got set up, she explained what had brought her out here.
It was a lecture she had probably recited a thousand times—to parents, friends, dates, and everyone else who wondered why the hell she wanted a job that sent her plodding through mud and muck in the mountains for half the year, and stuck sweeping up animal crap the other half.
But somehow, telling it to Mark was … Different. And it wasn’t just that she was telling it to him in the middle of the forest, instead of at some stuffy café or diner. She wanted Mark to know not just what she was doing here, but why as well. What it meant to her.
Besides, she thought as she helped Mark secure the climbing rope that connected his harness to her own, maybe if she kept her hands and mouth busy, they wouldn’t find themselves roaming all over his body again.
Jamie had studied animal behavior and environmental studies at college, and started working at the conservation center soon after graduating. Condors wouldn’t have been her first pick for lovable endangered creatures back then—they were a hell of a lot uglier than pandas, that was for sure—but what with one thing and another she’d stuck around. Coco and Louis, the mated pair they were going to see, had only recently been hatched when she started work. And if she’d thought the adult condors were ugly…
“I mean, all baby birds are pretty ugly, right? But these guys were the worst . Their heads are so weird, like someone grabbed a head from another creature and glued it on. Or something from a Jim Henson movie, like Labyrinth or something.”
Mark laughed. “So, you spent six years looking after the birds, insulting them daily for looking so gross…?”
Jamie swatted playfully at Mark’s shoulder, then quickly turned back to the tree.
“It’s not like The Ugly Duckling , okay? These birds are born weird-looking, and they grow up even weirder. So, before we start, safety briefing…”
She quickly went over the rules for buddy climbing. Mark, since he was so much heavier than she was, would climb up first, with Jamie behind. Mark would use the carabiners at his waist to clip on to the anchors she had knocked into the tree when she set up the crow’s-nest, and they would
Mark stared down the steep, crumbling bank at their feet. Doubt showed on his face.
“Wouldn’t it have been easier to go down to the river further upstream?” he asked.
Jamie laughed. “Exactly how close do you think we’re going to get to the nest? I would’ve thought your adventure yesterday taught you how dangerous that can be.”
“Then how—”
Jamie pointed up, her smile growing wider. “Hope you’re not afraid of heights.”
“Not a chance. I’ll have you know I’m as good at climbing as I am at fishing,” Mark boasted with a grin that sent Jamie’s mind straight back to the swimming hole up the river.
A vision of his body, glistening wet, water streaming down his chest and thighs, filled her mind. She licked her lips and forced her imagination into shutdown.
“I’d recommend leaving your clothes on for this one. The bark’s pretty rough.”
She reached out to take the climbing gear off Mark, and tapped his cheek just next to the small scab that was the only sign that he’d hurt himself the day before.
“We don’t want any more dangerous injuries, right?”
A strange emotion flickered over Mark’s face, and was gone. Jamie blinked. Had it been—guilt?
She shook her head. She was being silly. He was probably just embarrassed that she’d made such a big deal over such a tiny scrape yesterday, marching him back to camp and then…
Well, she hoped he wasn’t embarrassed about that part.
Jamie stepped into her harness and deftly tied a length of rope to form a makeshift harness for Mark. She would have offered him hers, but it wouldn’t have even fitted around one of his thighs. To fill the silence while they got set up, she explained what had brought her out here.
It was a lecture she had probably recited a thousand times—to parents, friends, dates, and everyone else who wondered why the hell she wanted a job that sent her plodding through mud and muck in the mountains for half the year, and stuck sweeping up animal crap the other half.
But somehow, telling it to Mark was … Different. And it wasn’t just that she was telling it to him in the middle of the forest, instead of at some stuffy café or diner. She wanted Mark to know not just what she was doing here, but why as well. What it meant to her.
Besides, she thought as she helped Mark secure the climbing rope that connected his harness to her own, maybe if she kept her hands and mouth busy, they wouldn’t find themselves roaming all over his body again.
Jamie had studied animal behavior and environmental studies at college, and started working at the conservation center soon after graduating. Condors wouldn’t have been her first pick for lovable endangered creatures back then—they were a hell of a lot uglier than pandas, that was for sure—but what with one thing and another she’d stuck around. Coco and Louis, the mated pair they were going to see, had only recently been hatched when she started work. And if she’d thought the adult condors were ugly…
“I mean, all baby birds are pretty ugly, right? But these guys were the worst . Their heads are so weird, like someone grabbed a head from another creature and glued it on. Or something from a Jim Henson movie, like Labyrinth or something.”
Mark laughed. “So, you spent six years looking after the birds, insulting them daily for looking so gross…?”
Jamie swatted playfully at Mark’s shoulder, then quickly turned back to the tree.
“It’s not like The Ugly Duckling , okay? These birds are born weird-looking, and they grow up even weirder. So, before we start, safety briefing…”
She quickly went over the rules for buddy climbing. Mark, since he was so much heavier than she was, would climb up first, with Jamie behind. Mark would use the carabiners at his waist to clip on to the anchors she had knocked into the tree when she set up the crow’s-nest, and they would
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