Free Fall by Jill Shalvis Read Free Book Online

herself—but that didn’t stop him from wanting to make sure.
    And then there was the searing heat that shot back and forth between them like a Ping-Pong ball with every glance, every word. She might not be the drop-dead beautiful ski bunny Wyatt had had in mind for him, but she had a secret sort of try-me smile and a way about her that was far more sensual than any woman he’d been with in a long time.
    They got to the lift they needed to take and headedback up again. In less than ten minutes they were standing at the lip of another dizzy drop-off where their skier had fallen, with four other patrollers who were dealing with the victim’s freaked-out friends, all of whom were eventually convinced to go wait at the lodge. The patrollers had already determined that their victim, down the precipice about forty feet, wasn’t hurt. Now they were trying to figure out where the out-of-bounds signs had gone.
    â€œJust this morning, three of them were spread right here across the cliff,” Lily said, baffled.
    â€œThey’re gone now.” One of the patrollers scratched his head. “Hard to blame the guy for getting into trouble when he didn’t know he was heading into it.”
    â€œOh, no. No excuses. Anyone in his right mind would know to stay off this cliff.” Lily shook her head. “But still, this looks bad.”
    â€œSome stupid punk prank,” Chris said, setting up a strobe light to help them see in the growing dark. “Someone thought they were funny.”
    â€œWhat do you think?” Lily asked. “Take him down from there, or back up on a rope?”
    â€œEither way,” Chris said, “it’s going to be a tricky rescue.”
    They knew what they were doing, Logan told himself as he stood there silently, but he itched to pitch in and help.
    Another call came over the radio. Seemed the identical-twin troublemakers hadn’t followed Lily’s directions and were now fighting on the front lodge steps. Adding to the problem was the crowd of theirbuddies hooting and hollering and urging them on, and an increasingly aggressive crowd.
    Looking royally pissed, Lily nodded for three of the crew to go down and handle it, leaving just her and Chris. The snow kept coming down, plus it wouldn’t be long before they’d need the lights—daylight was fading fast, already impeding vision. “I’ll go after this idiot,” she said, resigned.
    â€œSkiing out from there will be tough going,” Chris said. “And we’d have to send a snowcat to pick you up, which’ll pull someone away from another post. We’re already short-staffed.”
    â€œIt’ll be a climb back up, then.” She began to gear up with the harness and ropes the others had left. “Can you set up some caution tape to close off this area until we find the signs?”
    Watching her, Logan discovered he couldn’t sit back any longer. “Let me go down for him,” he said.
    â€œLogan—”
    â€œYour knee might give out on you on the way back up. I’ve done this a thousand times. More.”
    â€œIn the snow? On ice?”
    â€œIn the snow, on ice,” he assured her. Maybe not at this altitude, and not at a ski resort, but so what? He could do this, more safely than she could at the moment.
    She looked at her patroller. “Chris, you should officially meet Logan. He’s SAR out of Ohio, a helicopter and rappelling expert. We can use his help, yes?”
    â€œAre you kidding? Yes .”
    â€œHey!” came a faint cry from over the cliff. “You guys ever coming for me or what?”
    Lily rolled her eyes at Chris, then leaned over the edge in a way that suggested a great ease with heights and an even greater confidence in herself. “Are you injured?”
    â€œNo! Just cold!”
    â€œI’m coming.” She grabbed the ropes but her walkie-talkie chirped again, and at the news from Danny at