Page 47 of Chasing Olivia (Trace + Olivia 2)

I woke with a start as the car jerked to a stop. I turned groggy eyes Trace’s way. “What’s going on? Why are we stopping?”

“Just something I want us to do,” he grinned mischievously, unbuckling his seatbelt.

I yawned, rubbing my eyes. I glanced at the clock as I massaged the back of my neck. I’d been asleep about an hour. It was one in the afternoon and the sun shined through the windows.

I looked around at the bridge we were parked on and at the group of people up ahead in—was that a harness?

“What. The. Hell?” I gasped, scrambling out of the car just as one of the guys from the group jumped off the freakin’ bridge. His cries of joy echoed around us. I wanted to scream in terror. I peered over the bridge railing as the guy was released from the cord and dropped into the water. “I-I-I-no way,” I shook my head, putting the puzzle pieces together. Trace would’ve only stopped if he wanted us to do this. I wasn’t afraid of heights, but if Trace thought I was going to jump off a bridge, he had another thing coming for him.

“Adventures, remember?” Trace grinned crookedly, pinching my hip.

“Adventures, yes. Falling to my death? No.”

“It’ll be fun,” he coaxed, looking at me with wide green eyes. “We’ll do it together. You fall, I fall. Always.”

“Don’t try to sweet talk me,” I pushed his shoulder. “It’s not going to work.”

“Oh, it’ll work,” he skated a finger over my collarbone. “Just give it a second. My powers of persuasion are too much for you to resist.”

I looked over my shoulder at the group of people on the bridge. Most of them were men but there were a few women too.

I’d never thought about bungee jumping before…but it could be fun…maybe…if I didn’t throw up from fear.

“Fine,” I met his gaze once more, “but we’re doing it together. There’s no way I’m jumping by myself.”

He grabbed my cheeks and lowered his head, kissing me passionately. He pulled away, breathing heavily and rested his forehead against mine. “I love my little spitfire.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” I groaned, “let’s get this over with before I change my mind.”

“You got it,” he grinned, kissing me quickly, and striding towards the group. “Hi, I’m Trace,” he held his hand out to shake the man’s hand that seemed to be in charge. “This is my fiancé, Olivia.” My heart did a little happy dance at that. “Are you Marcus?”

“That’s me,” the man smiled. He was probably in his thirties, tall and lanky, with black hair and kind brown eyes. “You ready to jump?” He addressed me, not Trace.

I nodded, hoping I didn’t look like a big eyed frightened rabbit.

The guy clapped me on the shoulder. “It’s okay to be scared, that makes the fall even better.”

He meant his words to be comforting, but they weren’t.

“Mhmm,” I mumbled, letting him guide me over the equipment scattered around. A few cars passed us, completely oblivious to the jumpers. I figured this was a regular occurrence around here. Wherever ‘here’ was. Marcus helped me into the gear, explaining what each piece was for to calm my nerves, while another guy helped Trace. “How did you know about this?” I asked him.

His green eyes met mine and a slow smile spread across his face. “There was a sign a few miles back, and I thought, why the hell not.”

“Lovely,” I groaned.

“You’ll be fine,” Marcus assured me. “It’s not scary. People spend too much time worrying about what it’s going to be like, instead of enjoying the moment. When you fall,” his eyes got a faraway look in them, “for a moment it’s like you’re free…nothing can stop you.”

I looked across at Trace with a frown. Was this dude high or something?

“I know I probably sound crazy,” now he was apparently a mind reader, “but wait and see.”

After we were both in our harness we hopped over the bridge railing and they hooked us together. Marcus double-checked everything, and his thoroughness managed to make me feel a bit better.

“Whenever you’re ready just…fall,” he stepped away from us with a smile.

I looked up into Trace’s eyes as my body shook from fear.

“Don’t be afraid,” he whispered, “I’m right here.” He wrapped his arms around me, holding me close.

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