Page 21 of Jetmir

I shrugged.

“Well, if he’s a creep, I don’t want to be tied to him while jumping to my death.”

A faint smile touched his lips.

“You’re jumping with me, Anya.” I thanked all the gods for this gift, and cursed them at the same time for allowing me to utter such stupidity to this man. “What do you think? Am I a creep?”

“No.” I threw my head back and laughed. “Guess I’m jumping today, Thorne.”

He chuckled. “What if I told you I was a creep?”

I waved my hand, feeling at ease with him. “Nah, you’re not.”

He smiled, put his hand on the small of my back, and led me toward the aircraft. “Then let’s get suited up and make sure we’re jumping safely out of the plane, Anya.”

The inside of the aircraft was cramped and loud. I sat on the floor with my knees pulled up while the plane climbed higher and higher. The vibration never stopped. It hummed through the metal frame and through my body until it felt impossible to tell where the aircraft ended and my nerves began.

Every few minutes I looked out the window, then back to my hot instructor.

Thorne sat directly behind me, attached to my tandem harness. The arrangement mirrored that of all the other pairs, but somehow it felt more intimate with Thorne. I was intensely aware of his presence. Whenever the plane shifted, I could feel the pressure of him behind me, solid and reassuring.

My palms grew damp and my heart beat impossibly fast. I couldn’t quite decide whether it was due to Thorne’s attractiveness or the fact that we were further and further from the safety of the green fields.

I swallowed hard as I stared out the window again.

The roads below had become thin lines. Cars were mere dots. Houses looked like toys.

My stomach dropped. “I can’t do this.”

Hot breath brushed my earlobe. “You can.”

I shook my head furiously.

“No. Seriously. I can’t.”

“Trust me, Anya. You can.” The aircraft continued climbing. Thorne leaned closer so I could hear him over the roar of the engine. “We’ll do this together. You want to know why?”

I turned my head slightly toward him. “Why?”

“Because I want to take you out on a date.” The plane rattled, but all I was aware of was Thorne’s words against my skin. “Will you go out on a date with me, fair princess?”

“Yes,” I breathed, my pulse racing.

Then the door opened and the sky stretched endlessly around us. A blast of cold wind exploded through the cabin, but all I could feel was Thorne’s hard body behind me and his hands on my hips.

People ahead of us shuffled toward the opening and disappeared one by one into empty air. Then it was our turn. We started moving to the doorway. The earth lay thousands of feet below us.

Forests. Roads. Fields.

All distant.

Thorne leaned closer, and amid the roar of the wind and engine, his voice reached me.

“I’ve got you.”

And I’d never felt safer than I did in that moment.

We jumped. One second there was a metal floor under our feet and the next there was only weightlessness. Air slammed into me from every direction. The force of it stole my breath. I screamed and laughed, though the sound was swallowed almost instantly.