Page 50 of The Sun & Her Burn

“To help my reputation,” I said, taking the safe way out.

The silence that followed was tinged with disappointment. The ground was drawing near now, a huge field of long, swaying grass that would be our landing zone.

“To help your heart,” Sebastian corrected.

And I didn’t know what to say to that.

When we landed a minute later, Sebastian deftly handled it while I lifted my legs and relied solely upon him not to kill us. I was still stuck in my own thoughts, trying to make sense of the state of my life. He undid the clips between our bodies before he dealt with the chute, as if he knew I needed the space now that both feet were on the ground. As soon as we were separated, I took a step away.

So I didn’t notice that Linnea and Gary had already landed ahead of us and that Linnea had unhooked herself from theinstructor until I looked up to see her sprinting across the space between us. Her yellow-gold hair, released from its braid, streamed behind her like tangled sunbeams, white toothed, wide smile flashing as she pumped her arms.

She looked like she was running toward something.

A victory. A prize.

But I realized, as she was steps away, she was running to me.

I only had a moment to brace myself before she launched herself into my arms, twining her legs around my waist, laughter erupting at our contact like molten lava from volcanic rock.

I held this laughing, vibrant woman in my arms, her head tipped up to stare at me, and felt as if I were living in a dream.

When she tipped her head down, her violet eyes were still laughing, and her cheeks were pinked from the adrenaline and wind burn.

“Did you feel it?” she demanded breathlessly, long fingers plucking at the latch to my helmet before pushing it off my head, then removing my goggles so that nothing was left between us.

“Feel what?” I asked, my hands propping her up at her bottom.

A few days ago, this woman was essentially a stranger.

The daughter of my ex-wife’s oldest friend.

Now, we stood in the center of a field in an embrace like seasoned lovers, and even though Iknewit was fake, that Gary had Linnea’s camera out to capture the moment, it didn’t feel fake.

Not Linnea’s blinding smile or the effervescence of her exhilaration.

Not the fact that she wanted to share it with me.

Or the fact that nothing existed for me at that moment but this sunshine girl held in my arms.

“Alive,” Linnea called out, tipping her head back and raising her arms to the sky before suddenly dropping them to join herhands at the back of my head, fingers in the sweat-damp strands. She leaned close, forehead against mine, nose to nose, her sweet breath over my tongue as if she wanted to secret the words away in my mouth. “Like you’ve woken up from a very long sleep and it’s time to live again. Do you feel that, Adam?”

Behind me, a body shifted, and I knew it was Sebastian’s hand on my low back before he walked away from us.

“Yes,” I said on a small gasp as both their touches electrified me. The hairs on the back of my arms stood on end. “I do.”

Linnea grinned, the shape of her mouth against my cheek, only her eyes across from mine visibly crinkling from the expression.

“Me, too,” she told me.

12

SEBASTIAN

Ihad started to check the tabloids and gossip sites each morning to see what the media was saying about Adam.

To see if my plan was working.

The morning after we went skydiving, a trending photo appeared on social media and was plastered across Hollywood news outlets.