Page 118 of Cuffed (Everyday Heroes 1)
Holy shit, I’m going to step out of the plane.
We make it to the doorway, and Emerson moves my earplug and says, “Get ready to chase the moment, Malone.” It’s her laugh that rings the loudest. The carefree in it. The freedom. The ease and confidence. “Head up. Wings Out.”
And then she pats my side in a signal we’d practiced when our feet were firmly on the earth to let me know it’s time.
It. Is. Time.
She turns us around so that her feet are on the edge, her hands are beside mine on the opening of the door, and then before I can even blink, she lets go.
Head up. Wings Out.
Oh. Holymotherfuckingshitthisiscrazy!
Despite feeling like we are falling in slow motion, my brain processes everything—the fear, the euphoria, my mortality, the adrenaline—in snapshots of time.
The pressure of the air against my body. The rush of it in my ears. My initial gasp as we begin to fall. The lack of that stomach-in-your-throat sensation I hate, which she promised wouldn’t be there. The feeling of being out of control until we hit our arch. The calming presence of Emerson at my back and her arms helping to guide the positioning of mine. Her confidence overpowers my uncertainty.
It’s then that I find a few moments of utter peace.
Sure, the sound of the wind is roaring in my ears, but all I see is the whole valley laid out in its greens and browns with the ocean’s blue not far beyond. It’s breathtaking and eerie and so serene that I forget that I’m falling over one hundred miles per hour.
Then, before I expect it, we are yanked violently upward as the canopy is deployed. It robs me of my breath momentarily, and I have just enough time to wonder what the hell happened before I’m hit with the sensation of floating.
The sound of Emerson’s laughter is in my ears, and I follow her hand as she points to a few places for me to look at. And I do look, but my body has such a rush of adrenaline and nerves and disbelief that I just jumped out of a fucking airplane it’s hard to concentrate on anything other than this. The moment. The knowledge that I just cheated death.
All I keep thinking as we glide the rest of the way down to the big orange X-marks-the-spot landing zone is: I get it now. Emerson’s addiction to this high. Her need for it. Her use of it to escape her past that haunts her.
Before I know it, she’s shouting instructions in my ear. Pull the guide left to steer us. Right a little more. Feet up so she can take control. Prepare for landing.
The excitement in her whoop is followed by the jolt of her feet as they run beneath us and take the impact of the landing. We are both sitting on our asses, my butt between the V of her thighs as we slide a bit on the ground and the parachute collapses.
Then there is silence around us. My head screams so many goddamn things, but I’m on the ground. Alive. Whole. And Emerson got me here.
She laughs when I try to turn to face her because we’re still harnessed together and then makes quick work of unhooking us. Before I have a chance to process what the hell just happened, I turn around on my knees and kiss the life out of those lips of hers.
I’m riding a high like I’ve never known before. Cheating death. Proving to her I trust her. Facing a fear. Everything. And all I can think about is claiming the goddamn prize of Emerson Reeves because adrenaline definitely has my blood pumping and is intensifying my need to have her.
I kiss Grant back with a need more desperate than I’ve ever felt before. Right here in the drop zone, I deepen the kiss with my hands gripping the lapel of his flight suit and take every damn thing I need from him.
Leo chuckles somewhere near as he gathers his own chute, but I don’t care. He gets it. He gets this. Post-jump sex is indescribable. Using the high of the adrenaline coupled with the bliss of an orgasm is a major inside joke amongst jumpers.
And more than anything, right now, I need Grant.
He showed up today seeing a broken woman ready to give it all up. Then with his simple request, he started putting my bricks and mortar back into place to prove that I am as strong as I thought I was. Sure there is doubt, and there always will be. But he knew that was what I needed—to be pushed back into my comfort zone so I’d find my confidence again. So, I’d wipe out my skepticism.
Grant leans back, the gold in his eyes dancing with excitement and lust, and I know he feels the same way I do. We shared something up there. I’ve jumped hundreds of times and have had the trust of the people I jumped with, but this was different. We both took what the other offered and used it to conquer something we feared.
I shove the rig off my back, leaving the parachute billowing in the breeze to pick up later, and without care of who else might be looking, I jump into Grant’s arms and wrap my legs around his waist.
Between spurts of laughter, our lips find each other’s, and God, how good it feels to laugh with him and kiss him. How good it feels to know my mom is looking down on me, approving of my taking a chance. How funny it seems that I want him to save me after all.
“I need you,” I murmur against his lips as my hands thread in his hair and the heat of the sun does nothing to rival the fire in my body already burning bright.
“My dick’s already five steps ahead of you.” He chuckles as he begins to walk across the field with me wrapped around him like a monkey.
I wave over Grant’s shoulder to Leo, who just shakes his head at us and rolls his eyes. I think he says something sarcastic like, “Sure, I’ll take care of your parachute while you fuck,” but I don’t care, and I don’t have any shame because it isn’t like he’s never experienced this feeling before.
“Hurry,” I murmur as I nip the tip of his earlobe.
