Defending Harlow (Mountain Mercenaries #4)(36)

“Sleep, Harl,” Black said quietly.

She felt his hand on her thigh and looked at him. “I didn’t sleep well last night,” she apologized.

He looked upset at her words, but merely said, “I’ll wake you when we get there.”

She wanted to tease him by saying of course he’d wake her when they got to the mystery destination they were headed toward. It wasn’t like he was going to drive her somewhere, then let her sleep in the car while he got out and did whatever. But instead she said, “I’m just going to rest my eyeballs for a bit. I’m not going to sleep.”

He grinned at her. “Okay, baby. You rest your eyeballs.”

She shut her eyes again, and the last thought she had was how nice his hand felt on her leg and how glad she was that he hadn’t removed it.

What could’ve been seconds or hours later, Harlow felt a hand on her shoulder and heard Lowell’s low voice. “Wake up, baby. We’re here.”

Sighing, Harlow sat up and opened her eyes. If possible, she was even more tired than she’d been earlier. She looked out the windshield and blinked in confusion. They were sitting in front of a fairly large building. She didn’t recognize it and had no idea where they were, but a sign over the door said CHALLENGE UNLIMITED.

Running a hand over her face, she said the first thing that came to mind. “Um . . . I don’t like challenges. This isn’t one of those superhuman workout things, is it? Because I’m telling you right now that I’ve never done a burpee in my life, and I’m not about to start now.”

Lowell let out a loud guffaw, and she turned to look at him in surprise. She’d seen him laugh before, but it was a rare thing.

“I thought you trusted me,” he said when he had himself under control again.

“I do. But you also told me that you worked out every morning, and since we’re up at the crack of dawn parked in front of a business with the word challenge in the name, what else am I supposed to think?”

“I’m coming around,” he told her instead of answering the question. Harlow picked up her now-lukewarm coffee—they must’ve been driving for more than a couple minutes—and took a large sip. She figured that she would definitely need the caffeine for whatever Lowell had planned.

He opened her door and held out a hand. “You don’t have to chug that. Bring it with you.”

“You mean they allow coffee in hell?” she quipped.

He chuckled, and once again, the sound went straight to her belly. She accepted his hand to help her out of the low car, then clutched her travel mug in her other hand as he shut and locked the car door before they headed for the entrance to the building.

They walked hand in hand, and he opened the door for her. They entered a brightly lit retail space with everything from bicycles to clothing for sale. She looked at Lowell in confusion, but he simply strode to the back of the room, where a desk of sorts was set up.

“Lowell Lockard and Harlow Reese, checking in,” he told the teenage girl behind the large wooden kiosk.

The teenager greeted them with a smile and said, “Hi! Welcome to Challenge Unlimited. We’ve got a continental breakfast set up in the back room. There are waivers you’ll need to sign, and once everyone checks in, we’ll play the safety video. We should be ready to go in about thirty minutes. If you need to use the restroom, make sure you do so before we leave. You won’t have another chance once we get to the top.”

Harlow blinked. Top? Top of what? She opened her mouth to ask the girl in front of them, but Lowell spoke before she could.

“Thank you. We’ll be ready.” Then he pulled her in the direction the teenager had pointed.

They were almost through the door to the back room when Harlow tugged hard on Lowell’s hand, bringing him to a stop.

He turned to look at her, and she almost melted at the concern in his eyes. “What’s wrong?” he asked.

“Nothing’s wrong. I just want to know right this second what we’re doing here and what’s going on. Why can’t I pee later? And what are we going to the top of?”

Lowell looked at her for a beat, then said, “I’m a little stunned that you don’t like surprises.”

“I just never have. Especially not when it comes to doing something with someone of the opposite sex. It’s never turned out well for me, which you’re very aware of. I’m two seconds away from sitting on that bench over there”—she pointed at an uncomfortable-looking wooden bench along one wall—“and just waiting for you to be done with whatever it is you came here to do.”

“We’re going to be driven up to the top of Pikes Peak, and then we’ll come down on bikes,” Lowell told her without hesitation.

“Um . . . you do remember that I’m, like, the most uncoordinated person ever, right?”

“You don’t actually have to do much other than steer,” he tried to reassure her.

“Lowell, the last time I got on a bike, I was ten,” she told him.

He frowned. “You’re really worried about this, aren’t you?”

“Yes!” she practically shouted. Then took a deep breath. “Pikes Peak is, like, really high. I look at it outside my window at home. I’m going to fly head over heels over the handlebars or something. How fast are we going to be driving—er, biking? I’ll kill myself if I crash at high speed.”