Adventure to Love by Bethany Ramos Page B

supposed to do? She thought the whole point of the date was to bond. But Ky was like twenty pegs ahead of her and had almost reached the top of the rock. There was no one to spot her, no one to give her a hand to pull her up to the next peg. She was on her own.
    She managed to make it halfway up the rock when her arms gave out on her. Just as she had feared, there she dangled. Luckily, the only people around to look up her saggy gym shorts were the cameramen at the bottom. They were probably loving it. They were probably zooming in to get a great crotch shot to post on the Internet.
    Ky looked down at her from the top of the rock, where he’d been sitting and sipping on a bottle of water for the past twenty minutes. “Hey, little lady, do you need some help?”
    “What does it look like?” she growled.
    Ky scurried down the pegs without a harness. He got to her in two minutes flat. It was almost embarrassing how much more athletic he was than her. Ky reached out and gently pulled her toward him. She grabbed onto the pegs for support.
    Ky unclipped her harness and said, “Okay, how about you hold on to me, and I’ll lower you to the ground?”
    She grabbed on to Ky’s arms for dear life. His strong, toned, muscular arms. God, this guy was more ripped than he looked, which was saying a lot.
    She felt herself floating down as Ky repelled, holding her tight in his arms. Ky released her a few feet above the ground. He jumped down next to her and grinned.
    “So, what did you think? Was that your first time rock climbing? I have to say that I was pretty surprised you did so well.”
    “Yeah, that actually wasn’t my first time, if you could believe it.” She laughed in spite of herself. “Obviously, I need to work on my upper body strength if I’m ever going to try it again.”
    More like never going to try it again. Thank God the worst part of the date was over.
    At dinner, Ky still seemed distant. Harper was stumped. She thought that they’d finally connected on that God-awful rock climbing date. If she had to haul herself up the side of a mountain dripping sweat on a date, a guy better fucking appreciate it.
    They finished their first course in silence. Of course, she couldn’t complain about the backdrop of their dinner. The horrible date that seemed like it would never end was beginning to look up.
    They sat on a small island in the midst of a hidden lagoon about twenty yards from the rock-climbing area at the end of the trail. After they’d finished the “adventure” portion of their date, Ky led her to a tiny hut in the jungle, where she was able to take a sponge bath, fix her smudged makeup, and put her dress and heels back on.
    Hardly what she would have hoped for when going on a date on camera, but still . . . it was better than wearing awkward gym shorts with a cameltoe any day.
    Their table for two was set with crystal champagne glasses filled to the brim, fine china, and crisp linens. She had hesitated at the beginning of the meal before she sat down. She was waiting for someone—Ky, a server, anyone—to pull out her chair for her and place her linen napkin in her lap.
    When no one came to her aid, and Ky never made the gesture, she finally sat down since she was the only one left standing.
    And here she sat. Looking into the face of one of the most handsome men she had ever met, racking her brain for some way to break the ice. Normally, she didn’t have this much trouble starting a conversation with a man. All she had to do was smile, put her hand on his arm, and let him do the talking. But Ky was like a vault tonight. He wasn’t letting anything out.
    Damn him. What on earth could he be thinking about? He’d better not be wishing he were here with someone else, someone more adventurous, someone like Morgan.
    She wrinkled her brow in frustration. She had to get Ky’s mind off of whatever he was brooding about, and fast. She had to make the date all about her so that she wouldn’t risk