Page 82 of Ex Marks the Spot

Philip taps my shoulder, so I spread my arms and spend the next forty-five seconds in euphoria. We spin in circles. We make silly faces for the cameraman. I wave hello and mouth,Hi, Mom!just in case this footage makes it on air. I spot Hartley’s canopy just before Philip deploys our parachute. As soonas it opens, the deafening rush of wind is replaced by a gentle breeze, punctuated with Hartley’s exuberant, “Woo!”

After getting us situated, Philip maneuvers our canopy toward her.

“Can you believe that?” she shouts, her grin taking up most of her face. “We just jumped out of an airplane!”

I make the mind blown motion with my hands because it’s the only way to encompass the wild rush of emotions coursing through my body. The ironic part is only half of those emotions are from skydiving. The other half is from skydiving withher.

Simply put, Hartley is an amplifier.

She makes the bad times bearable and the good times better. She emits light and spreads love without even realizing she’s doing it. Even Boyd, who’s chronically grumpy everywhere but Egypt, is drawn to her. But most of all, she’s exactly the kind of person who deserves to be on this race and I already know I’ll spend the rest of my life thanking the universe (and the Xtreme Quest casting department) for letting me be the one to experience it with her.

We land a few minutes later—her first, and me about thirty seconds after—and thankfully for everyone’s ankles, it goes as smoothly as the rest of the jump. As soon as I’m unclipped, I jog over and scoop her into a celebratory hug, letting my momentum launch us into circles as we laugh at the awesomeness and absurdity of what we just did.

Once her feet return to the ground, I mean to step back. I really do. But then she looks up at me with those sparkling eyes and that big, beautiful grin and before I know it, my mouth is on hers.

It starts out as a slightly breathless, messy kiss on account of our laughter but quickly evolves into a slow dance of sweeping tongues and teasing nibbles that earn us a few cheers from the crew.

“Shit,” I say against her lips.

“What?”

“I forgot about the cameras.”

She pulls back and to my relief, she’s still smiling. “You know they’ve been salivating for this anyway, so I suppose it’s time we gave the people what they want.”

CHAPTER 17

HARTLEY

Day 14—Greece

It’s a good thing I drove to the checkpoint, because Court plastered his face to the window as soon as the Acropolis came into view. It was actually pretty cute. I promised him we could be tourists once we got to the checkpoint and kept hold of his hand all the way up to the Parthenon to prevent him from wandering.

It wasn’t a hardship, I promise.

“Court and Hartley,” Paul says when we step on the mat. “It’s been an interesting journey. Two weeks ago, you were the last to check in and only remained in the race due to Team Rockville’s time penalty. Is it safe to say it’s not as difficult to be teammates anymore?”

“Eh, she’s growing on me,” Court says.

“Hartley, what made it easier to get along with each other?”

There’s no way I’m talking about how the Bombshells basically intervened on our behalf, so I go with, “A lot of things, but if I had to choose something specific, I’d say letting go of our assumptions.”

Paul nods. “Obviously, it’s working. Your communication has greatly improved, and it looks like you’re even enjoying yourselves now.”

If he only knew. “They do say anything’s possible on Xtreme Quest.”

“What about your relationship? Court, do you think there’s chance of something beyond the race?”

Alexis asked the same thing yesterday while Gianna and Court worked on their puzzle. I wish I could’ve told her we’d ride off into the sunset together, but Court and I have two separate lives. We both run businesses we can’t leave, and he has the added responsibility of being a substitute—a pretty damn good one, if my suspicions are correct. And even if Icouldpack up and move, he may not be looking for a relationship right now. So, in the meantime, I’ll be grateful for the chance to rewrite the ending we had in college and make new, wonderful memories while we’re at it.

Will it be enough to soften the blow of flying home next week? Absolutely not. I know my heart well enough to understand it’s about to take another hit. But the good news is I survived it once before, and this time we can walk away as friends instead of me hating him.

I’m actually a little mad at myself for that one.

How could I have truly thought for six entire years that the man standing beside me was the villain instead of the hero? Why didn’t I understand that he loved me enough to sacrifice himself in a fairytale he wrote solely because he believed I was worthy of a happy ending bigger than himself? And then I went and cheapened it by accusing him of making decisions for me, which isn’t the case at all.

It’s in this moment that I become acutely aware of three things:

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