Rising Heat (51 page)

“Come on, Misty, it’ll be fun,” he cajoled. “Besides, that’s what the harness is for. You won’t fall out. If you go out of that plane, it will be to skydive.”

I shook my head again, vehemently. “Maybe for you it’ll be fun, but I don’t like flying, remember?”

“It won’t take that long,” he promised. “About ten minutes to get up to the proper altitude, about eleven or twelve thousand feet, and then maybe five minutes tops to get back down to the ground. Total time in the air? About fifteen minutes, and then you’ll have your feet back down on the ground.” He smiled encouragingly at me. “You can do that, can’t you?”

I continued to shake my head. My heart was pounding, my palms clammy. I felt the blood drain from my face. “Blake, I really don’t want to,” I stammered. “I can watch you from down here.”

“You remember me telling you that if you came along with me on this tour, I’d answer a personal question or two?”

I scowled. “So you’re going to blackmail me into going up in an open-sided plane while you skydive? Because you think I’m desperate enough to get information for my article, I’ll agree to this?”

He gazed down at me for several seconds. “Aren’t you?”

Dammit. Was the article worth all this? Still, I decided that going up in a plane for a few minutes might be worth it to get Blake to respond to even one of my questions about his dad. It might be worth the effort, but it was going to be one hell of a question. And when I got back to San Francisco, I would demand a raise from Angela. Despite my terror, and as I looked up into his encouraging face, at that sexy grin of his, I had an overwhelming urge to please him. To show him that I wasn’t afraid of anything. I could swallow my fear for that long, couldn’t I?

“Damn you,” I muttered.

All the while, Jacob stood nearby, observing the two of us, first in curiosity, then in amusement. He watched as Blake stepped to the table with the parachutes and then helped him strap one onto his harness. He gazed between me and Blake. I saw the look that Jacob gave Blake, almost a questioning expression. What was that about?

I decided I didn’t want to know. I was scared. I wasn’t afraid to admit that to myself. My stomach was one big fat knot of trepidation. My hands began to shake. I just hoped I wouldn’t throw up in the plane. I hoped they had barf bags in there, just in case.

“Just for the record, Blake, I don’t want to do this,” I said once more, just to make sure my hesitance was on the record. “You get that, right?”

He couldn’t keep that damned grin off his face. “I get it, Misty, but believe me, you’ll have the thrill of your life.”

I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and realized I had to just suck it up. If this was what was involved in becoming an investigative journalist, I supposed I might as well just get used to it. Though I doubted that in the future I would ever meet and interview a man as challenging and as difficult as this one. I didn’t quite know why I allowed him to talk me into this, but I didn’t want him to think I was a coward. Nevertheless, my fear of flying, especially in that small little plane out there, waiting for us to board, was more than slightly beyond my comfort zone.

My heart skipped a beat when he handed me a helmet and took one for himself. I grasped it, eyes wide as I looked up at him. “Why do I have to wear a helmet?”

“It’s the rules,” he said and handed me a pair of goggles too.

With another sigh, and feeling more than queasy now, I placed the helmet on my head, pulled the strap under my chin, and fastened it. Blake double-checked to make sure I had done it correctly. Did the same for the wide goggles.

“Ready?”

“No,” I said. But then he was grasping my hand, intertwining his fingers with mine. His grip was firm and I felt comforted as he gave my hand a slight squeeze. Then he headed out of the hangar, walking toward the small craft.

“Have a good jump!” Jacobs shouted.

Blake didn’t answer. He just lifted his free hand in a wordless wave as he walked toward the plane. He climbed up into the opening first, then turned to help me inside. He pointed to one of the hard plastic bucket seats and I sat down.

Blake said something to the pilot, who nodded as Blake took his seat beside me. I could tell by the expression on his face that he was enjoying this. The plane jolted forward and then began to cruise faster and faster down the runway. The wind whipped into the opening in the side of the plane, rushing against my face. Despite my trepidation and the knots in my stomach, I experienced a visceral thrill. I tried to appreciate the experience. Though scared to death, I nevertheless forced myself to absorb every sensation I felt. My pulse pounded. My breath was heavy. I focused on trying to ignore the fear and just
feel.

Once again, Blake reached his hand toward mine and clasped it, gave it a squeeze, and grinned down at me.

“Live in the moment, Misty!” He shouted over the sound of the wind whipping into the craft, bouncing it gently from side to side. “Savor it!”

His excitement was palpable. Damn him for being so ruggedly handsome! Never in my life would I have thought I could be talked into taking a helicopter ride let alone flying in a plane to witness someone skydiving. But I had a feeling that when it came to Blake Masters, he could probably talk the quills off a porcupine.

The plane left the asphalt runway and soared up into the air. I grasped onto the hard plastic seat with one hand and tightened my grip on Blake’s hand with the other as we soared upward.

“It’s a beautiful day!” Blake shouted above the wind rushing into the opening. “Isn’t it thrilling?”

I gave him a dirty look. He laughed.

Several minutes later, the aircraft straightened out and then gradually climbed in increments, then made a wide circle. I tried not to look down, not to look at the ground so far below. I caught a view of the Tetons in the distance, before the craft banked, and then a glimpse of incredibly blue sky the next. Every heartbeat shot adrenaline through my veins. I felt the pulse pounding in my neck. It was comforting to have Blake sitting beside me as we headed upward, but how would I feel about going down alone?

And then, following a signal from the pilot, Blake stood. He reached for one of the pulley lines overhead and clipped a strap that extended from the bundle on his back to the line. He gestured for me to stand up. I did, though I didn’t want to. Why did I have to stand up? I didn’t let go of the back of the seat as I followed his instructions, standing close to him.

The wind whipped at our coveralls, pressing them against my shins. I looked up at Blake in question as he pulled me closer, then turned me so that my back pressed up against his chest. I felt him maneuvering himself around me and turned to look over my shoulder up at him.

“What’re you doing?” I shouted.

“Attaching your harness to mine!”

Oh.

My.

God.

My entire body screamed “NO” as I shook my head so hard I nearly knocked myself out. No, he couldn’t possibly—

“Hold still!” he shouted. “I have to make sure!”

I was yanked backwards as he tugged at my harness, double-checking the clasp just under my breasts, then pulling on the back of the harness, propelling my ass against his groin.

“No!” I shouted, clawing at the air, trying to find something to hang on to. “Blake, no!”

“You made a deal!” he shouted back.

Panic surged through me. Had I misunderstood? He hadn’t told me that I was going to
jump
with him! He just told me I was going to go
up
with him! I kept shaking my head. “No! No, Blake, I can’t!” My voice cracked. I felt my face begin to crumple. Don’t cry, I scolded myself. Or pee my pants. Or worse!

And then his face was beside mine. His arms wrapped around my waist, pulling me closer than the harness. He encapsulated me. His lips brushed against my cheek as he spoke.

“Don’t be afraid,” he cajoled. “Trust me. I won’t let anything happen to you. I promise.”

The feel of his lips brushing against my cheek elicited a frisson of sexual excitement that jolted down the center of my body. Despite my fear, despite my raw, terrified emotions, I knew that I trusted him. He would never do anything to hurt me.

“If you can’t do this, tell me now. I’ll unbuckle you and you can sit down and return to the airfield with the pilot. But tell me now.”

I was torn. I had never done anything so daring in my life. I was scared to death, but knew that I would never get the opportunity to do anything like this ever again. At the same time, I wanted to make him proud of me. I sensed what was happening. I was compelling him to lower his walls of defense while he was encouraging me to do the same, but in totally different ways and for totally different reasons.

As my breath heaved in and out of my lungs, I realized that my life had to be about more than just work, just a means to an end. I wanted to experience life, to grasp it, to enjoy every moment of it. I had never really reached out and embraced everything that life had to offer. Comfortable in my own little bubble. Never pushing the envelope. Never daring to do anything different. Allowing my fears and my lack of self-confidence to hold me back. I glanced down, saw Blake’s hands wrapped around my waist, fingers interlaced. Strong, capable hands. I understood at the deepest level of my being what he was encouraging me to do.

I sucked in a breath and embraced the moment. What the hell? “Okay,” I said, my voice shaking. I wanted to get this over with, quickly, before I changed my mind.

“What?” he shouted to be heard over the wind.

“Yes!” I shouted, fighting back the surge of nausea rising in my throat. “Let’s do it!”

He threw back his head and laughed, gave me a squeeze, and then he duck-stepped with me toward the gaping opening. He stood behind me, pressed close against my body. He gestured with his arm toward the pilot. And then we stood in the doorway, the wind tugging at my coveralls. The wind rushed against my face. I stared down at the ground, so far below, praying that I wouldn’t faint. I felt dizzy with a combination of excitement and dread. The adrenaline surged through my veins. The sound of the wind whipped in my ears, but over it all I heard the pounding of my heart. It was racing so fast I was surprised it didn’t burst.

“Ready?”

I didn’t say anything, but offered a jerky nod. And then, that next instant, we were falling. I shrieked. Blake whooped, the sound of his thrill echoing close to my ear. Free fall! The wind blasted against my face as I fell toward the ground, still thousands of feet below. Above me, Blake shouted instructions.

“Spread your legs and extend your arms!”

I did. He did as well, grasping my hands in his, his legs pressed hard against mind as we soared downward together, our bodies forming an X shape. I screamed again, a sound filled with every ounce of fear burgeoning from every single cell in my body. I was honestly surprised that I didn’t pass out.

I didn’t get that funny dropping feeling in my stomach that I had expected. Not like it did on a roller coaster ride. No, I felt almost like I was floating in midair, the wind almost seeming to hold us in the sky even though I knew we were falling. Blake pressed up against me, guiding our body position over the ground.

And then my scream of terror changed into something else. I no longer screamed in fear, but with exhilaration. I began to laugh and cry at the same time. Near my ear, I heard Blake laughing, his head so close, his hands tightly clasping mine.

Down we dropped and Earth became bigger as we rushed to it with increasing speed. Then, after only a few seconds, he wrapped one hand around my waist and pulled his chute. It wasn’t like you saw on television where it looked like the sky jumper shot upward. We just decelerated quickly. My breath left me in a whoosh as our speed rapidly slowed and our bodies slid into vertical positions. And then he let go of my hand and reached up, guiding the parachute lines as we coasted gradually downward.

I kept my grip on his forearms, my fingers digging into his flesh as I felt the play of muscles there as he tweaked the lines. Together, we continued to float downward, not as fast as before, but still faster than I imagined. I pulled my gaze from the ground, not wanting to see it grow closer and closer, but shifted my gaze out into the distance. My breath had been taken away now, not just due to my lingering fear at our rapid decent, but by the vast beauty surrounding us. Now I knew how a bird felt, flying on the breeze. I could see what I imagined was hundreds of miles in every direction. The Tetons rose in the distance, jagged edges still snowcapped despite being mid-summer. The sky was a brilliant blue, only a few puffy clouds here and there. The landscape below a combination of farmland, ranchland, and forest.

When Blake tugged hard on the lines, we slowed down still more. The ground grew ever closer.

“Bend your legs!” he instructed.

I did, and then the ground rose up to meet us. His feet touched ground first, then mine, and then we were toppling sideways and landing on our sides in the dirt. The moment I touched terra firma, I began to laugh, almost hysterically. Actually, I couldn’t tell whether I was crying or laughing, maybe a combination of both.

Blake wrapped his arms around me and pulled me on top of him as he rolled onto his back, his laughter also ringing in my ears.

“You did it, Misty! You did it!”

The joy in his voice brought tears to my eyes. While I couldn’t say I would ever do that again, I could say that I had. The experience had been exhilarating. No, more than exhilarating. It had been—

He gave me a hug. “I’m so proud of you,” he said. “You did great!”

I heard the rumble of a truck and turned to see a small pickup coming toward us. Moments later, Jacob emerged from the cab, a broad smile on his face. Soon, he stood next to us, reaching down a hand. Blake took it, and he and I picked ourselves up from the ground. Blake unhitched our harnesses, then spun me around and enveloped me in another hug. I wrapped my arms around his waist, my head nestled under his chin. His heart pounded with excitement. Mine did too. He gently set me away from him, gazing down into my face.