Rebel Hard (Hard Play #2)(73)

37





A Kiss under Starlight





Her gorgeous, often serious boyfriend gave her a slow, wicked smile. “Trust me, you’ll love it.”

After the harnesses came helmets that had to be clipped securely under the jaw. All of them ready and safety-checked, they strode off into the untamed landscape. Every so often, a native bird would call out, but otherwise it felt as if they were on the edge of civilization.

Because of rain the day past, the area was a little muddy, and Nayna almost slipped a couple of times, but Raj was always there to stabilize her. They arrived at the start of a small hill and began to go down… and that was when Nayna saw it.

A platform.

Hanging out over the edge of nowhere.

The ground was just suddenly not there.

Raj closed his fingers over hers when she sucked in a breath. “Okay?” His eyes held a true question, and she knew he wasn’t teasing this time. If she said no, they’d turn around and walk away.

But she squeezed his hand back and grinned. “I’m terrified, but I want to do it.”

He laughed, and the two of them went down to the platform built of crisscrossing lines of metal that allowed a dizzying view down into the depths below, the platform literally suspended over thin air. It was as if a giant hand had scooped out a massive hole in the earth, the distance from the platform to the ground so far that their landing spot was shrouded in shadows. A river’s roar echoed in the air, but she had to squint to make out any hint of its rushing force.

The guide stood at the far edge of the platform, and behind him was nothing but open space. To their left was a rocky wall lush with moss, to their right a frame from which hung a number of ropes that dropped down into an abyss surrounded by primeval green foliage. Each rope ran through a system of metal brackets and pulleys that made zero sense to Nayna.

All she cared about was that the ropes seemed very secure.

“First thing,” the guide said, “we hook you up, so even if you trip and fall off this platform, you’ll live to trip another day.”

Nervous laughter from one of the other women.

Butterflies danced in Nayna’s stomach.

The guide was clipping her by the harness to one of the ropes before she could have second thoughts. Once all four of them were clipped in, he gave them a safety briefing, then it was go time. All of them had to lean back against the very edge of the platform, their backs hanging out into nothing.

“Now, take one foot off the edge.”

Squeezing her eyes shut for a second, Nayna did as instructed, then hooked her foot into the rope as they’d been taught. She had her eyes open again by the time the guide told them to take the remaining foot off the edge. Which would leave her hanging over thin air, the next stop a loooooooong way down.

She glanced at Raj, her heart thundering and fear squeezing her chest. “I can’t believe we’re doing this,” she said to him.

A smile lighting up his eyes, he took his other foot off the edge of the platform but didn’t drop, controlling his descent with the ease of a man who’d obviously rappelled before. “Do it, Nayna with the pretty nayna,” he said. “I’ll be with you all the way down.”

Taking a deep breath, Nayna surrendered her last footfall on reality. And realized the hardest part had been letting go and leaving the platform. “This is so fun!” she said to Raj. “I’ll go rock climbing with you!”

Raj grinned at her reference to their first meeting and kept pace with her, both of them taking in everything around them as they rappelled down while calling out encouragement to one of the others—the most skittish of their group. The woman, a tourist from Norway, kept going, and then they were all on the floor of a huge subterranean cave twenty minutes after stepping off the platform.

Looking up, Nayna saw the sunlit circle of sky rimmed with hazy green from where they’d come. It felt like a haunting alien world down here, even the foliage unique and a little eerie in a beautiful way. And the adventure had just begun.

They climbed over rocks, scrambled down them, and crossed parts where it felt like they could fall into the darkness and never be found. Then they were in the most stygian part of the cave, an area so devoid of illumination that they had to flick on the lights on their helmets.

“It’s cold,” Nayna said, her breath fogging the air.

“Imagine what the water’s like,” Raj murmured, referring to the underground river they’d seen after they first landed. “We have to try the black water rafting.”

“Did you see some of those photos?” Nayna shuddered. “The roof of the cave was right up against that woman’s face.”

“We’ll work our way up to it,” Raj said, and she heard the anticipation in his voice.

Wonder and hope dawned inside her. Raj, she realized, wouldn’t belittle her need for a life lived beyond the borders of domesticity. He was a man who liked tradition and roots, but for the first time, she began to see that her needs could coexist with his.

“All right, team,” the guide called out, “this is the best part. I want you to come through the small passageway behind me. Be careful, it’s pretty narrow. Lights off soon as you exit the passage.”

Once on the other side, it took a second for Nayna’s eyes to adjust to the absolute blackness you would never find in the civilized world. Down below, far from sunlight, this pitch-darkness was unlike anything she’d ever experienced…