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“Never a dull moment,” I mutter.
Obviously none of this was my idea, and I tried to back out as gracefully as I could, but once Magnus had it in his head to go skydiving, I was forced to go along. He says it was for his protection, but I mean, come on. He’s the one throwing himself out of a plane. I can’t do much to protect him from that.
Anyway, it was either this or BASE jumping, and I figured I’d have better luck with a commercially operated skydiving company than with Magnus, who just runs off cliffs with a backpack attached, hoping to pull that cord right away.
I have to say, in the time that I’ve been working as Magnus’s protection officer, it’s been a wild ride, but all this time I feel like he’s been building me up to this, to see what I’m really made of. I mean, sure, I nearly died saving his own son from drowning, but let’s see what jumping out of an airplane will do for my character.
The skydiving instructor pats Magnus on the back, and then Magnus lets out a rip-roaring cry and leaps from the airplane, disappearing from sight.
Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit.
The instructor yells at us to come closer to the door, and we do. I don’t know what kind of a wild world we live in where Ottar is the one pulling the cord because he’s got more experience doing this, but here we are.
“You ready?” the instructor says.
“Yes!” Ottar yells in my ear.
“Not really,” I manage to say.
But it doesn’t matter because we’re literally standing on the edge of the open side of the airplane and someone is counting down, and I think I’m just going to have a heart attack right here and now. Sorry, Magnus, I failed the ultimate bodyguard test and died before I even hit the ground.
Then we’re jumping.
Falling.
And the sun is in my eyes and the wind is in my ears, buffeting my face, and the sky is so blue and the fields outside Oslo are coming up faster and faster, spreading as far as the eye can see, turning into mountains and fjords.
Bloody hell.
I’m beside myself with feeling, my heart in my throat, the adrenaline running in me like it never has before. I can hear Ottar yelling in my ear. When I look down I see Magnus, freewheeling like Tom Cruise before he pulls his chute. Then Ottar pulls ours.
We’re yanked back as the chute opens and the rush stops and everything goes…calm.
We just float.
And I’m beside myself with happiness in ways I can’t even describe. It’s not just that the endorphins are running amok inside me, it’s everything that’s led up to this moment and everything that will happen afterward.
Because this isn’t the scariest thing I’m about to do today.
No, I have a diamond ring in my suit pocket, waiting for me below.
Magnus, Ottar—they both know I’m going to propose to Laila tonight. They’re pretty good at keeping secrets in the long run, because for the last six weeks straight I’ve literally been telling them I’m going to propose to her and I haven’t yet.
But now? After jumping from an airplane, I realize I’m brave enough to do all the things that scare me. And asking Laila to marry me doesn’t scare me anymore. Wanting to spend the rest of my life with her. None of that scares me anymore.
I’m ready.
We touch down on the soft earth, and I try to keep my legs moving, but Ottar’s extra weight pushes me forward until we’re both rolling on the ground. Okay, not the most graceful landing.
“You did it!” Magnus yells at us, coming over and helping us to our feet. I unclip from Ottar, and then Magnus pulls me into a hug. “I’m so proud of you,” he says, getting all emotional.
“Okay, okay, ease up there,” I tell him. “I survived.”
“No thanks to me,” Ottar says.
“All thanks to you, Ottar,” I tell him, giving him a grateful nod. “Thank you for pulling the chute on time.”
He chuckles then shrugs. “Well, I figured if I didn’t, you wouldn’t be able to propose.” He squints at me. “You are proposing tonight, aren’t you?”
