“I think she’s being a bit hypocritical,” he muttered to the marmot. It stared at him, beady black eyes unblinking in its rapt attention, until Easton was successfully weirded out. “Never mind.”

He’d set a route that would take them past one of his favorite places on this part of the mountain: a waterfall that rarely warmed up enough to do more than drip fresh water to the existing layer of ice. The result was a sheet of gleaming water frozen in place, and definitely worth the time and effort of reaching it.

“What do you think?” Easton asked River as they turned a bend in the rock.

“What do I think of—oh.” Jaw dropping, River stared in shock. He hadn’t told anyone where they were headed, and Ben was astute enough not to give the surprise away.

“Easton, this is gorgeous.”

Even the marmot seemed impressed. Easton was starting to feel good about his choices, up until the moment River breathed, “I’m going to climb it.”

“No.” No way. Bad idea.

“Is it frozen enough to be stable?”

“Define stable,” Easton hedged. “Technically, yes. But that’s not an easy climb, River.”

“I never assumed it was. That’s the fun. Why am I lugging around two ice axes if I’m not going to use them?”

Easton knew he was fighting a losing battle. Moving to the base of the ice waterfall, River never bothered to look at him as she argued her case. Instead, she stared up at the sheet of solid water, as if something had made the water freeze in midmotion.

“Don’t you ever get tired of saying no?” River asked.

Placing a hand against the ice, he could practically see her mind racing at all the different possibilities of ascent. Her team had already started shooting the waterfall from every angle, leaving Ben to try to follow both as they found new and interesting ways to almost lose their balance on the icy rocks.

“This was supposed to be for your shoot only,” Easton told her. “Do you have any idea the kind of skill it takes to do this?”

The expression of excitement on her face only grew.

No way. Out of the freaking question. Over Easton’s dead body.

“You don’t get to tell me no,” River told him as if reading his mind. “I’m aware of the dangers. But isn’t part of this documentary to show what’s really out here worth seeing? The things worth doing besides getting drunk at the Tourist Trap or snowboarding at the resort? Easton, look at this. Have you ever seen anything so beautiful?”

Actually, he was looking at something even more beautiful than the ice waterfall, which was why every single part of him was recoiling from the risk.

“Have you ever climbed ice like this?” he finally asked.

River shook her head.