“I’m glad you didn’t murder me in your torture barn,” River decided.

Easton’s eyes crinkled with humor. “I’m glad you didn’t murder me when I picked up a hitchhiker.”

“I wasn’t hitchhiking—” River started to protest, indignation making her wrinkle her nose at him. Easton took her face in his hands and kissed her. A long, slow kiss that made the wind and the cold and the effort of this climb disappear into white fluffy clouds shaped like unicorns.

With a contented sigh, she snuggled in. “If this were a commercial, I’d have bubble heart emojis floating over my head.”

Easton’s beard twitched on one side. “My thought process. Point A.” He touched his thumb to her breastbone. “Point B.” Then to her lower lip. “Point C.” This time it was a chaste, soft kiss.

“Your thought process.” Easton placed his thumb back to her breastbone. “Point A. Point—let’s go over here. And over here. And what’s over there?”

As he teased her, Easton drew random patterns back and forth over her torso, fingers tickling into sensitive parts. Dissolving into giggles, River wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him back in. Easton was more than willing to indulge her.

At some point, she needed to try to sleep, but River was lost, tangled up in his arms, coming completely undone.

“River! Easton!”

Even in their tent, River could hear Jessie yelling. She’d never seen Easton move so fast as he hoisted himself to his feet and jerked his boots and jacket on. River was still scrambling to catch up when Easton unzipped the tent. Face as white as the snow around them, Jessie rushed over, breathless from his sprint through the thick powder.

“Breathe slower,” Easton instructed, putting a hand to Jessie’s shoulder to steady him. Ben hustled over as River finished getting on her gloves. “What happened?”

“Bree…we were filming out on that outcrop…she slipped…”

“How far did she fall?” Ben demanded as alarm filled River.

“I’m not sure, but I think she’s hurt. I told her not to move, that I’d get help.”

When Easton told River to stay at camp, he should have known she’d ignore him. One of her people was hurt; she wasn’t going to stand around and wait. Instead, she stayed hot on his heels as Easton followed Jessie away from camp. To River’s horror, he led them straight to an outcropping beyond the area Easton had said was safe to film.

“What the hell were you two doing over here?” With a snarl, Easton scaled down the rock. “There’s a reason I didn’t want us on this path. It’s too steep. You have to stay tethered to each other.”