Page 61 of Nitro

“I’m going to hold you to that. I don’t like messes.”

“Unless they’re between your legs.”

“Oh my God. You’re disgusting.” She scrunches her nose.

“But you love me anyway.”

We both freeze.

I said it.

The word.

Oh no.

She opens her mouth then closes it. A deep blush rises from her neck to color her cheeks. She lowers her chin then looks up at me through her lashes. The look is both innocent and so filled with burning desire I can’t resist pulling her to me. I seal my mouth over hers, drinking in her passion. When she melts against me, I’m tempted to call and cancel the skydiving trip. I could keep her in bed all day—again. Postponing this adventure wouldn’t be the end of the world.

“Nitro,” she whispers, pulling away. “We’re going to be late if we don’t leave soon.”

“I can cancel.”

“No. This is important to you, so it’s important to me. We’re going. And you know what?”

“Hum?” I nip at her delicious bottom lip.

“I’ll jump too.”

“You will?” I slide my hands down to her waist.

“Yes. I want to know how you feel when you’re looking death right in his beady little eyes.”

“Woman, you’re so fucking hot when you talk like that.”

“I know.” She grins before walking out of the bedroom.

“Down, boy,” I tell my cock.

After having a relatively light lunch, we ride to a small, private airstrip. The company’s logo decorates the side of a huge hangar. Several small planes are parked outside. A group of six people stands beside one. They must be tandem jumping because they’re hooked together in teams of two, which is exactly what we’ll be doing. I wanted to jump alone, but they said I couldn’t because I wasn’t certified. It’s total bullshit, but whatever.

Excitement floods every muscle in my body. I’m like a racehorse at the starting gate. This is going to be so much fun. I can’t fucking wait.

I park and help Holly with her helmet. I’ve never seen her eyes so wide. She looks positively terrified, which is making me second-guess this trip. Maybe it wasn’t a good idea to bring her with me. What if she gets mad at me for talking her into doing this? If she doesn’t understand my need for the absolute freedom that comes with laughing at death, could I lose her?

“We can still turn around,” I tell her.

“No. We’re going. It won’t be that bad. Look, they’re taking off now. People do it every day. Right?” She blinks and places a hand over her eyes to block the sun.

“Seven days a week.” I smile and grab her hand. “Come on.”

We walk into the hangar. There’s a small office toward the back. The perky woman I spoke to on the phone greets us. She runs through a general overview of what’s going to happen today. After that, she hands us two clipboards with forms to fill out.

“This is a liability waiver. In the event of accidental death, it absolves the company of any responsibility.” Her bubbly smile is probably meant to reassure people, but Holly’s side-eyeing her hard.

“Have you had any accidents?” Holly asks.

“We’ve been incident free for ten years now.”

“But your company’s been around for thirty.”