A corner of his lip twitched beneath the beard.

“Short guys are my thing really. Less neck strain in sexy situations.”

“Anything else I should know about you?”

“I’m completely, utterly full of crap.”

Strong gloved hands cradling her already-tilted face. Bearded kisses were quickly becoming River’s favorite.

“You’re perfect,” Easton decided. “And you’re definitely full of crap. It’s my favorite part about you.”

It was summit day. They had to stop this, no matter how much River was enjoying making out with him.

“We technically have a very tight schedule to adhere to,” she reminded him.

“Mm-hmm,” Easton agreed. “You’re the one leading, so this is all on you.”

“You really trust me enough to take the lead?”

“I’m guessing you’d be playing leap frog all day if I didn’t. But we stay tied. Absolutely no untying. And you let me film. Even you need all your hands and focus up there.”

“You’re filming this?”

Easton rested his forehead to hers in a brief gesture of solidarity. “After everything you’ve done to get here? There’s no way I’m letting you summit without filming it for you.”

This time, she didn’t go up on her toes, and she didn’t pull his head down to hers. Overwhelmed with emotion at his understanding, at his consideration, at all the other warm, perfect parts of this sweet man, River could only stand there, holding on to his arms, breathing in how perfect this moment was. He waited for her, quiet and patient, giving River the moment she needed to compose herself. Then he pressed a soft kiss to her temple and stepped back.

Gesturing toward the summit waiting for them, Easton lifted the handheld camera and flipped it on. “Lead the way. I’m right behind you.”

Which was how, at fourteen thousand feet, River fell head over heels in love without once touching the ground.

• • •

Taking the camera might not have been the best idea Easton had ever had.

The problem wasn’t climbing while filming, although he quickly learned to respect what Jessie and Bree had been doing since the very start of the trip. A helmet-mounted video camera would have been much easier than keeping his arm in a lifted position so much of the day, but even that wasn’t too big of a deal.

No, the problem wasn’t the camera. The problem was filming River’s back—and subsequent backside—as they scaled the last thousand feet of elevation. It wasn’t a huge amount of ground, but the climb was technically difficult and only got tougher with every step.

“Let me see.” River held out her hand for the camera when they paused to take a break halfway up.

“You’re not going to like it.”

“Why won’t I like it?”