Never before had River been so glad they didn’t have to set up camp. All she wanted was to sleep for a month.

Bree met her as she was taking off her gear in her tent. “River? Are you okay? I’m worried about you.”

“I’m fine,” she said, jerking off her boots and dropping down to her sleeping mat. Bree joined her.

“Jessie’s worried too, but you know how he is.”

With a small laugh, River said, “He’d rather suck on a lemon than tell me?”

“Something like that.”

River stayed quiet for a few moments, but Bree was a patient person. Finally, River sighed. “I should be over there swooning beneath the glory of the man bun, but I’m so mad at him, I can’t think straight.”

Taking her hand, Bree squeezed it.

“River, I don’t know what’s going on with you and Easton, but what I do know is there hasn’t been a day since we started this climb without cameras on you all the time. Shot after shot, and you know what? He is always there. Just like with Ruby Lou, standing with his arms crossed, frown on his face—”

“We think,” River joked half-heartedly. “The beard still fools me.”

Bree nodded ruefully. “Yes. We think, but we don’t know. But what we do know—or at least Jessie and I know—is for a man who only wanted to be filmed from the knees down, he’s in almost every single shot. He won’t leave your side, River.”

Squeezing her hand again, Bree lay down next to her. “I don’t know Easton. But I know the expression on his face when he was trying to find you. He was terrified.”

Bree let that linger between them before continuing.

“We make movies for a living. We show people excitement and love and romance. We make being afraid exciting and being rescued sexy. But real fear…it’s not sexy. It makes you want to curl up in a ball, hide in a tent, and yell at the people you love. Real fear is awful. And you both went through that today.”

“You think I love him?” River looked at her friend.

“I think you something him. And I know he somethings you too. From what Ben told me, he went full Indiana Jones in there to save you.”

River nodded, inhaling a deep breath and feeling like there was never enough oxygen to fill her lungs. Just like Easton. One word, one look, one kiss. One touch of his hand on her skin, and River was laid out, a fish suffocating on the shore. Dying for more. And she’d almost gotten him killed, which was a big, big problem.

Today, Easton Lockett had proved he was willing to die for her.