“We just hit 13,000 feet!” Oliver’s voice rumbled from the cockpit.
“Perfect!” Michael said. “It’s a great day, too. So clear and warm.”
Yeah, just perfect. Perfectly nauseating. Stacy’s stomach churned. “Michael,” she said shakily. “I can’t do this. I just can’t.”
“You’ll be fine, beautiful.”
His breath caressed her neck. And was that his erection? Couldn’t be, not through all their gear.
“I promise you’ll be fine.”
A jolt of turbulence hit the plane, and Stacy’s feet nearly left the floor of the aircraft.
“I promise our ride will be smoother than this,” Michael said. “Ready?”
Stacy squeezed her eyes shut and took a deep breath. “What if I can’t steer?”
“Don’t worry about that. I’ll steer, okay? You just enjoy yourself. Ready now?”
“Ready as I’ll ever be.”
“Okay, baby.” He edged her to the opening. “Let’s go.”
Once airborne, Stacy couldn’t remember Michael’s exit count or actually leaving the plane. For a moment, she had the feeling of jetting forward as well as down. Michael had told her about that. Physics. It was the momentum created by the plane’s speed. The “forward throw” he had called it. She was surprised she remembered.
He’d also explained that she wouldn’t feel like she was falling, but no words had prepared her for the buoyancy that enveloped her. Was she truly dropping? The ground didn’t seem to be getting any nearer. Free fall is what Michael called this portion of the jump. A rush of adrenalin hit her gut, spiked through her like a massive dose of endorphins. The sensation resembled floating in water, yet was more pure, less dense. Freedom. Total freedom. She was truly flying. Flying in Michael’s arms. The feeling of security surprised her, and she savored it, letting herself take in the beauty of the sky and the earth so far below. Wisps of clouds whirled around her head. The crisp azure of the heavens, so beautiful in their totality.
Too soon, Michael yelled that he was releasing the chute.
Steering. She should be steering. She tensed.
Michael must have sensed her unease, because he shouted, “Just enjoy yourself. I’ve got the canopy!”
So enjoy herself she did.
She’d thought she’d been flying before. No, that had been mere floating. Now, she and Michael jutted forward at what seemed like a ferocious speed. This part of the jump would last about five minutes, Michael had said.
Stacy’s heart soared! Her mind buzzed. Why had she been so scared? Suddenly, she envied birds their wings. If only she could feel this free, this content, always.
God… Her stomach rolled. Now, the ground was approaching. Why hadn’t she noticed how close they were before?
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“It’s okay, baby, we’re doing fine,” Michael assured her.
They landed with a jolt. Stacy’s heart dropped to her feet. Michael steadied her, managed to kiss her neck despite all the gear between them. The chute floated around them in a rippling haze.
Quickly, Michael unbuckled them, and Stacy turned and threw her arms around him. Their safety goggles clinked, their straps scraped, but Stacy didn’t care.
So many words clogged her throat. She wanted to tell him what the jump had meant to her, how it had freed a part of her that had been long imprisoned. How it had broken the rest of the shell around her spirit, the shell that he’d already cracked with his wonderful lovemaking and her first orgasm. She wanted to describe the euphoria she’d felt while free falling, the rush of the forward throw. Mostly she wanted to tell him what he had come to mean to her in so short a time.
Those three scary words formed in her mouth.
But no words emerged. Her emotion was too thick, too buoyant for speech.
She simply wrapped herself as close as she could to the man she’d come to adore.
* * *