Page 115 of Payoff Pitch

“It’s honestly my pleasure. You’ve already done so much for all of us.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

BAILEY

“Holy. Ducking. Shitake,” I yell.

I can’t believe I’m about to jump out of an airplane.

The door of the plane is open, and we look out at the open space of western Pennsylvania from ten thousand feet in the air.

We drove a little over two hours west after my meeting this morning. I feel like we’re in the middle of nowhere, though I suppose you need open fields to land.

I had to take a safety course where they taught me a bunch of things that are currently jumbled in my mind because it’s hard to think of anything while you’re this high up, the door is open, and you’re expected to jump in a few minutes.

Tanner chuckles. “It’s such a high, isn’t it?”

We’re in blue jumpsuits. I’m practically glued to his arm, afraid of falling, even though we’re tethered to the interior of the plane.

He grabs my face. “We’re going to get you attached to me now. You’ve got this.” His golden eyes bore into mine. “Thank you for trusting me. You have no idea what it does to me.”

I look down at his cock clearly stirring in his jumpsuit. “I think I have a pretty good idea what it does to you.”

His lips smash into mine as he pulls me into his arms. I whimper into his mouth as our tongues meet. He’s so hot.

A throat clearing breaks us apart. The man from the skydiving company gives us an awkward smile. “Sorry. It’s time.”

Tanner nods and they spend a few minutes tethering my back to Tanner’s front. Tanner has them check the safety of every connection at least ten times. I can tell the guy is getting annoyed with it.

We’ve got our helmets and goggles on. They take a few pictures. I didn’t tell Kam I was doing this. She would have recited some random statistical facts to me about how likely I am to die. I didn’t need that negativity going into this. I trust Tanner. He wouldn’t do this with me unless he was sure it was safe.

I want to just randomly text her a picture of me in the sky to see her reaction. Given her fear of flying, she’s going to flip her shit.

We’re standing at the door of the plane now. Tanner whispers in my ear, “You jump, I jump.”

I gasp at his word choice. I can’t believe he just said that to me. It’s my thing with Kam. This is my sign that it’s time to talk about our future. That’s if I have one after jumping out of the plane.

He shouts, “One, two, three!”

We both fall forward as we were taught in the class. My heart must be beating two hundred times per minute.

The cold wind immediately assaults my face and my stomach drops. I’m screaming at the top of my lungs as Tanner manages to maneuver both of our bodies how he wants them.

I look around and absorb all that’s happening around me. I can’t believe I’m doing this. It’s the biggest high I’ve ever experienced. And I do trust him completely. I know he’ll take care of us and pull the cord. In Tanner’s arms. That’s where I belong. That’s where I feel safe and at home. I want this.

As the ground draws closer, he shouts, “I’m going to pull the cord. You’ll feel a sharp pull.”

I nod. “I’m ready.”

“Don’t close your eyes. You’ll miss too much.”

He’s said that to me multiple times today.

He motions to the other man who jumped with a camera and has been snapping pictures of us, and yells out, “It’s go-time.”

The man nods and holds up three fingers, counting down to one. As soon as his fingers all close, I see him pull a cord, and then I experience a sudden jerking sensation.

I can’t help but briefly close my eyes. A failed parachute is the fear in this moment. I ask, “Did it work?”

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