Taking Chances: Tangled Up Part 18

"I've got you!"

It was immediately clear what had happened. A large section of the roof, right next to the hole that was already present, had come loose and fallen. It had punched through the ceiling tiles and metal beams beneath it, taking the beam Bree had been standing on with it.

Thank G.o.d it hadn't hit her directly.

Max tried to climb up a step on the ladder to give him more leverage to pull Bree back up, but he couldn't get his bad knee up on the next step.

"Bill! Somebody!" Max hollered. "Bree, hold tight!"

"I'm not going anywhere," she promised with a shaky voice.

He could tell she was trying to hold on to him and pull herself back up at the same time, but with nothing to push off with her legs, she was just wiggling.

"Stop, I've got you," he said, the muscles in his arms and upper back screaming.

The sounds of running footsteps came a second later.

"s.h.i.t!" someone said.

"Max, you okay?" Bill asked.

"Yeah, somebody get Bree down."

"I've got her," another voice said. "Put your feet on my shoulders," he said to Bree.

She must have done it, because a moment later her upper body moved up.

"Can you get your elbows under you?" Max asked.

"Yeah. Think so."

"One at a time."

Max let go of one of her wrists so she could brace herself, but the moment she pushed, the metal piece under her shifted.

"Dammit," Max cursed. He grabbed her again. "You gotta go down instead of up," he said.

She looked at him and nodded. "'Kay."

"You guys got her?" he called down to the man below.

"Yeah, we've got her."

"You ready?" Max asked.

Bree took a breath. "Yep."

Of course she was. Later, she'd think this was the most fun part of the day. "That's my girl."

She looked up at him quickly, and there was something in her eyes that made his heart thump, though he wasn't sure why. She gave him a quick grin, "See you down there."

He didn't want to let go of her.

Even if she dropped from this height, the worst that would happen would be a sprained ankle-maybe something broken if she didn't land right. This wasn't any more treacherous than a hundred things they'd done together over the years. But this felt different.

He had his hands on her. He had a hold of her. He was keeping her from falling. But he couldn't pull her back up; he couldn't climb up to where he could be any real help. The realization sent a hot shaft of regret through him.

Dammit, that seemed way too symbolic.

"Letting go," he said, his voice rough.

She nodded. "Not for long, 'kay?"

Oh yeah. He let go of her wrists, and she slid away.

He ducked down quickly to watch as the tallest of the guys took Bree's weight on his shoulders, then slowly squatted to the point where two other guys could grab her and lower her to the floor. As he descended the ladder, Max couldn't help but note that he would have never been able to squat like that.

Bree's feet hit the floor about the time Max's did, and he took the three steps to where she stood, wrapping his arms around her. She curled into him, her arms going around his neck and burying her face against his chest.

Okay, this was not so new. This was a lot like Breckenridge, and he didn't care. He needed to hold her. Just like he had then.

He ran his hand up and down her back. "Hey, now, you're okay."

She nodded.

He held her for another long minute.

"You hurt, Bree?" Bill asked.

She shook her head. Because the guys probably couldn't see that, Max said, "I'll be sure she's okay."

"'Kay, we're gonna head back down the other hallway," Bill said. "Holler if you need us."

"Thanks."

Max continued to hold Bree, not sure what else to do. This wasn't a first, but it was unusual. She'd taken falls before. She'd had plenty of almost-falls, too. But she always popped back up with a big grin.

"Bree?"

"Hmm?" Her response was m.u.f.fled against his shirt. She took a big breath and seemed to snuggle even closer.

He tugged on her ponytail, tipping her head back.

She was still curled against him, which meant her lips were right there. As close as they'd ever been other than when they'd been kissing.

"You okay?" he asked gruffly. "You hurt?"

"I'll have a couple bruises, but I'm fine."

"Then what's with the clingy thing?" he asked gently.

"The damsel-in-distress thing has some perks," she said with a tilt to her lips. "I never realized knights smelled so good."

He lifted his eyebrows. What the h.e.l.l was she doing? "You haven't been a damsel one minute in your life."

"Not true-remember the time we were sledding, and I went down the wrong side and almost slid out into the street? You dove after me and grabbed the sled before I hit the pavement."

He did remember. They'd been seven. His heart had almost burst out of his chest when he'd seen her heading down the steepest side of the hill and toward the street. In retrospect, the danger had been more that she would have hit the pavement and gone flying off the sled onto the cement. Traffic on that street was extremely light. Still, he remembered the feelings of panic and the surge of adrenaline that had allowed him to catch her.

The panic and adrenaline were the same today. But he hadn't been able to help her this time.

"We were seven," he said, trying to keep the emotion out of his voice.

"I guess some good guys start early."

What was this? And why did he like it so much? Okay, some of it was the feel of her plastered against him. But he knew Bree thought he was a good guy. He knew she appreciated him. He knew she admired him, even. But there was something in her eyes and her voice right now that made this feel different. Feel like more. Of something.

"So you're fine? You're not freaking out or hurt?"

She looked up at the ceiling. "I was freaking out for a minute. But then you grabbed me, and I knew I'd be okay."

The regret was just as sharp now as it had been earlier. He set her back from him, needing a little s.p.a.ce. "Maybe your knight is the tall guy with Bill. He's the one who got you down."

"You had a hold of me."

"And that's it. I couldn't do more than that." He couldn't believe how much that p.i.s.sed him off.

Only with Bree. His knee only f.u.c.king mattered with Bree.

"Well, maybe being a knight isn't always doing everything but just being the hands that make me feel safe."

He stared at her. He loved that. For one second. Then reality crashed in. "Stop it."

"What?"

"The sap."

She frowned. "That was sappy? How is that not romantic?"

"Because you're saying stuff you think I want to hear. But it's not you. Romance comes from who you are, too."

She tipped her head back. "I'm not a romantic, I admit that. I've never gone after a guy. But now that you're staying, maybe I need to learn."

Staying.

Yeah, he was thinking about that. Maybe more than thinking about it. But how did she know that?

f.u.c.king small town.

"Roger just talked to me about that a couple of days ago," he said with a frown.

"Roger?" she asked with a frown. "I meant you were staying for another week, at least."

Okay, maybe she didn't know. If she did, she'd know that Roger was Roger Swanson, the owner of the biggest and best construction company in the area, and that he'd asked Max to buy him out and stay in Chance.

Roger had actually asked him the same thing about a year ago, but Max had put him off with a "Let's talk down the road."

Apparently now was "down the road" enough for Roger. He wanted to retire, and if it wasn't Max, he'd sell to someone else. Max had to make a decision in the next week or so.

He hadn't had a chance to think about what that would mean for Bree and him.

At least not more than twenty-seven times in the past twenty-four hours.

He'd stayed away from Chance in part because it made his relationship with Bree work. He could have as much as she could give, and he wasn't seeing her, talking with her, every day and wanting more.

But he wanted to come home. He wanted to be around his family, he wanted to be in his hometown, he was very excited about owning his own business, and . . . as for Bree . . . well, he didn't f.u.c.king know. She was the one thing keeping him from saying yes to all of it. If he came home, he'd want her even more. He couldn't imagine living in Chance and not having Bree. Bree and Chance went hand in hand for him. But she didn't want what he wanted. He couldn't just be her friend. He couldn't watch her with other men. He wouldn't be interested in any other women. It would be a miserable existence.

Unless she went to Arizona.

Then she could be the one coming home to visit, having the go-hard weekends, before she headed out again.

He could have his business; he could be home.

But it wouldn't really be home without her.

If they were still doing weekend visits and weeklong vacations, nothing would really change. And he wasn't sure how much longer he could keep all of this up. Then, of course, there was a 99 percent chance that she would come back to Chance to stay eventually. Then things would be a lot like the past few days had been.

So it would be h.e.l.l.

What he was sure of was that he was not ready to talk with her about this now.

Rather than elaborating on Roger and his request, Max lifted both eyebrows. "So because I'm going to be here for another week, you want to . . . what?"

"Have about fifty more o.r.g.a.s.ms," she said. Then her voice softened. "And to see what it's like. I've never been romantic with anyone else."

Jesus, even hearing her say the word o.r.g.a.s.m slammed into him with a heat that stole his breath.

"So you want to try it with me?" he asked, a myriad of emotions welling up. Annoyance was definitely one of them. He didn't want her to be romantic. It would be so sweet to have her trying, to be the first guy Bree McDermott actually went after, to have her navigate all of this with him, for him.

And then he'd never recover when it was over.

That might be worse than having amazing soul-shaking s.e.x with her.

No, it would be worse.

He'd had some d.a.m.ned good s.e.x in his life; he'd had some really good romance, too, and yet he'd never fallen in love with any of the women.

He was already mostly in love with Bree. Add in soul-shaking s.e.x and he'd be in big trouble. Add in romance where it might seem like she was feeling the same things, and yeah, he'd be single for the rest of his life.