Summer Fling (2 page)

She nodded. “I can do this.” She said the
words aloud, but the unfocused look in her eyes told him she was talking to herself.
“I am brave, whatever he says. Screw you Ethan, you bastard. I can totally do
this.”

So she was proving herself to a guy. Fair
enough. His admiration for her grew. “Come on, honey.” He pushed her to her
feet and wrapped his left arm around her waist. “We’ll show him how much
courage you have.”

There were two other people due to jump
with her, and they made their way before her to the doorway. Ahead, one of the
cameramen opened the door to reveal the clear blue blanket of sky, and the
noise level increased to a roaring.

One by one, the cameramen, followed by the
jumpers and their instructors, leapt into the blue. And then her turn arrived.

She donned her goggles and stumbled
forward. Her heart pounded so hard it could have bounded out of her chest and
completed the parachute jump on its own. Garth tightened his arm around her
though and kept her on her feet, his chest reassuringly solid against her back.
He put his mouth next to her ear and yelled. “Don’t look down. Keep your eyes
on Andy, okay?”

Chloe nodded. She loved his American
accent, and the interested look in his hazel eyes hadn’t helped the surge of
adrenaline in her bloodstream. But right now, she couldn’t think about anything
but fighting the urge to throw up.

All her life, she’d been able to see both
sides to a situation. She’d put that down to being a Libra. Those born under
the sign of the scales were supposed to have the ability to weigh the pros and
cons of any decision. This skill frequently manifested in her head as a cheeky
little devil on her right shoulder arguing with a prim, occasionally pompous
angel on her left.

You can do this, you can do this
, the angel repeated like a mantra as it stroked her hair
soothingly.

Are you effing mad?
the devil yelled, hanging on for grim death.
Why didn’t you just
take an overdose if you wanted to kill yourself?

Telling them to be quiet in her head, she
took several deep breaths. She nearly fainted, however, as Andy gripped hold of
the side of the door and swung himself out, still holding on with one hand, the
camera in his other.

“Jesus!” She clenched her jaw.

Garth moved her into the doorway. In spite
of his warning, she looked over the edge and nearly lost the contents of her
stomach. Fourteen thousand feet was a
looooooong
way down. She was about
to jump out of a plane with only a flimsy piece of nylon to stop her hitting
the ground like a piece of meat. Her hands shot out and held onto the sides of
the doorway, and her whole body froze.

“Let go, Chloe,” Garth yelled.

She fixed her gaze on the tiny fields and
roads far below her. She couldn’t go through with it, she just couldn’t.

Tears filled her eyes. Embarrassment at
showing herself up in front of the gorgeous instructor mingled with a sharp
stab of disappointment. She’d taken her driving test not long ago, and she also
had an interview in a few days’ time. But even though both those things made
her nervous, nothing beat this for absolute terror. She’d known it would be
difficult—jumping out of a plane and a fear of heights didn’t go together logically
after all—but she’d been determined to go through with it and prove Ethan
wrong. However, everything he’d said had been right.

Coward
,
yelled the devil, and she couldn’t deny it.

You don’t have to prove anything,
soothed the angel, but it didn’t stop the tears welling.

To her right, a buffeted Andy gestured to
the guy strapped to her back.

Behind her, Garth shifted. Would he push
her out of the plane? Surely not. She’d sue his ass off if he did that without
her permission.

But he didn’t. With his left arm still
tight around her, he slid his gloved right hand around to cup her cheek and
turned her face toward him.

He wore dark sunglasses and she couldn’t
see his eyes, but she knew they were a warm hazel, sympathetic and friendly.
His light brown hair fluttered around his forehead from the wind as he surveyed
her. The same frisson that she’d experienced when they’d exchanged a heated
look in the cabin tingled through her again, in spite of her nerves. She waited
for him to say something, but he didn’t speak.

Instead, he leaned forward and kissed her.

His warm, firm lips on hers were so
unexpected it completely threw her. He lingered for a moment, his mouth on hers
as his hand cupped her head firmly. Thoughts fluttered in her brain like scraps
of paper caught in the wind. Bloody cheek! She should slap his face. How dare
he? But her heart pounded in spite of her indignation, and his tight arm around
her waist, and muscled chest hard against her back, pushed all other thoughts
from her mind.

When he finally released her, she stared at
him, blinking rapidly.

“Let go,” he mouthed, adding a smile, and
she did, gripping the shoulder straps of her harness.

Garth gestured to Andy—who still hung
outside the plane—and held onto the sides of the doorway. Garth rocked them
one, twice, and then the third time he pushed hard, and she fell forward into
the blue.

She screamed, but she couldn’t hear
herself, her voice swallowed up by the roar of the air by her ears. The world
spun. She caught a glimpse of the underside of the plane, and then they rolled
and she faced down again, Garth’s body hurtling at a hundred-and-twenty miles
per hour on top of hers.

Above her, Garth pulled a cord, releasing the
drogue chute that would slow them enough to make sure they fell at the same speed
as Andy, who plummeted with them somewhere off to her left. Garth tapped her
right hand, and she remembered the brief training she’d had on the ground. She had
to let go of the straps, spread her arms, and curve her body upwards. If she
let go of the harness, though, might she somehow slip out of it? Mind you, he’d
pulled it so tight it had practically cut her in half. But her safety depended
on doing exactly what he told her to do, so she unclenched her fingers from the
straps and spread her arms wide.

The wind rushed through her fingers and
past her face, cold, clear, and loud. Above her, Garth grasped her hands
briefly and squeezed them, and she squeezed back. The gesture warmed her from
the inside out, in spite of the freezing cold air.

To her left Andy appeared again, falling
next to them with the camera trained on her. Garth waved to him and tapped her
hand, and she copied him, waving at the camera. Exhilaration spiraled through
her at the thought that she’d done it. She’d actually jumped out of the plane!

Garth tipped them somehow, and they banked
toward the cameraman. Andy reached out and grabbed her hand, holding onto her
as they fell, and he laughed at the excitement and elation that must have been on
her face. She looked at the ground, at the beautiful green hills and forests of
the Northland of New Zealand, and the sparkling azure Pacific Ocean far off to
her right. It was amazing, better than Garth had promised, and joy swelled in
her that he’d talked her into jumping.

Wait a minute—talked her into jumping? He’d
kissed her! She laughed then, a burst of pure happiness. He probably kissed
every woman who froze on the plane. Kind of an odd relaxation technique, but at
that moment she didn’t care. She’d done it.
Screw you, Ethan
. Silently,
she thanked her best friend Stella for booking her on the jump.

Above her, Garth checked the altimeter on
his wrist and signaled to Andy, who let go of her hand. Five thousand feet.
Their ninety seconds of freefall had passed in a flash.

Garth somehow turned them so they circled
in the air, the world spinning below them, then steadied them and tapped her
shoulder. She put her hand on the ripcord as he’d showed her and pulled hard.
The moment of truth.

Above them, the parachute unfurled like a
silver fern, billowing out into a white mushroom. With a snap that jerked her
stomach into her throat, they came to an abrupt halt. Their legs dropped and
they hung vertically. Silence replaced the rushing in her ears.

Garth rubbed her arm. “All good, honey?”

Her heart swelled. “All good, thank you.
Wow, just...oh my God, wow.”

“Told you.” His voice held an obvious
smile.

They floated slowly, the panorama spread
out like an oil painting. Far below them, Andy’s parachute opened. He’d fallen
further so he’d be down first, ready to film her landing.

She searched for words to express her
gratitude. “It’s just fantastic, Garth. Thank you so much.”

“You’re very welcome.” He pulled the
toggles and adjusted their trajectory.

“I can’t believe you’ve done this over a
thousand times. You are certifiable.”

He chuckled. “It’s addictive. There’s
nothing else like that feeling when you leap out of a plane. Nothing matches up
to it.”

“Nothing?”

“Well, except really, really good sex,” he
teased.

She giggled. “I’ve never had sex that made
me feel like that.”

“Not even with the bastard?”

“Especially with the bastard,” she said
vehemently. “He sucked in bed, and not in a good way.”

Garth snorted. “What an idiot. Sounds like
you’re well shot of him.”

“Absolutely I am. And hey, I didn’t throw
up either.”

“Hallelujah!”

She sighed, looking around her at the clear
blue sky. “I feel like an angel.”

“I have to say you look it with your blonde
hair.”

Her cheeks grew warm in spite of the cold
air. “Are you flirting with me, Mr. Rowland?”

“It appears so, Ms. Jackson. I do
apologize. I don’t make a habit of it.”

She looked at their feet swinging above the
green fields. “So you don’t always kiss women who get panic attacks?”

“Ah... Not so much. I hope you won’t sue me
for sexual harassment.”

She glanced over her shoulder. His mouth
was only inches from hers. Her lips curved. “I wasn’t complaining.”

“I’m glad to hear it.” For a long, long
moment, his eyes bored into hers, and she got that tingly feeling again, unable
to stop her lips parting. He’d kissed her. Would he kiss her again?

Oh God, please let him kiss her again.

He tore his gaze away, however, and checked
his altimeter. “Nearly at a thousand feet. Time to think about the landing.”

“Okay.” Eek
.
The landing. The other
bit she hadn’t looked forward to.

“Remember to keep your feet up. Don’t let
them touch the ground before mine.”

“All right.”

The ground approached at an alarming rate.
She’d felt as if she’d been hanging in the sky, but now she understood how fast
they’d been falling.

All the saliva disappeared from her mouth
and her knuckles whitened where she clutched hold of the straps. “Have you ever
had a bad landing?”

“Nah.” He adjusted the toggles again,
aiming for the X on the ground in front of them. Andy had already landed and his
camera was focused on them as they sailed toward the grass. “Anyway, I’m okay.
As you pointed out, I have something soft to land on.”

Too nervous to laugh, she bit her lip to
stop herself screaming as the grass rushed up to meet them.

He gave her arm a quick squeeze and then
held the straps. “Ready?”

“Ready.”

“Feet up.”

Heart pounding, she lifted her knees as the
ground raced toward her, and Garth braced himself as his feet touched down.

The wind caught the parachute and forced
them to take a few steps forward, and Chloe gasped. Then he slid out the clips
at her shoulder and waist and released her. Stunned that she’d landed without
breaking her neck, she squealed with relief and exhilaration. She threw her
arms around his neck and planted a kiss on his cheek. “Thank you, thank you,
thank you.”

He laughed and hugged her, and it reminded
her of how he’d pressed his lips against hers in the plane, his arm tight
around her waist. When she’d asked him if he always kissed the women who got
panic attacks, he’d said, “Not so much.” Had he told her the truth? She didn’t
know him well enough to trust him.

She stepped back, and he lifted his dark
sunglasses onto his hair. His warm eyes glowed with humor and something
else…admiration? “I’m glad you enjoyed it.” He unclipped his harness and turned
to draw in the parachute.

“Nothing matches up to it,” she said,
quoting his earlier words.

He grinned and then motioned with his head
toward the main airport building. The tiny terminal had only one gate, but it also
had a coffee bar and a waiting area. “Fancy a cup of something before you
leave? To bring you back down to earth?”

Her cheeks warmed. “Sure.”

“Get changed, then. I’ll be over in a
minute.”