Total pages in book: 51
Estimated words: 49215 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 246(@200wpm)___ 197(@250wpm)___ 164(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 49215 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 246(@200wpm)___ 197(@250wpm)___ 164(@300wpm)
I sucked in a breath and peered down, the ground rushing at me faster and faster. No obstacles that I could see. Just the pitch-black ground. Adrenaline pumped freely in my system, and no matter the challenges, I’d always pick action over passiveness. Like, hiding out in a goddamn closet on a smaller boat when Adrien had his sit-down with Carillo? Worst four hours. I hadn’t even seen the fucker! I’d literally been, what, twenty feet away from the old bastard? And I hadn’t been able to do anything.
I knocked my feet and knees together and pushed myself up by the handles, and a second later, I made impact with grass and cracked asphalt. Oomph. I grunted and cursed, got the wind knocked out of me just a bit as I dropped and rolled, and then I was on my feet again, panting and buzzing with impatience. Adrien had dropped already, hadn’t he? I wasn’t sure, but I might’ve heard something right before I landed. He weighed more than I did, so it would make sense.
I hurriedly detached myself from the harness and—
“Crew, are you all right?”
That was my question! I squinted in the dark, spotting Adrien some hundred feet away. I was supposed to ask if he’d survived.
“I’m great! How’s your hip?” I called back.
We met halfway, and it would’ve been the perfect moment for a celebratory kiss, but he was in work mode already. He told me he couldn’t get his satphone to work. Such a fucking romance killer.
“Lemme see,” I said, turning on my headlight.
“Hopefully, I only need to recharge it.” He handed it over to me.
Yeah, it was dead. I smacked it against my hand and tried to turn it on. “Once we get to your hideout, I can do more than hit it.” There might be moisture inside it or something.
One way or another, I had to get it to work, ’cause Elliott needed intel from me stat.
I killed the light again.
After we’d stashed our chutes in the thick underbrush at the edge of the airstrip, Adrien and I took off in a run, and I could admit I was surprised he was in such good shape. Ryan would’ve been panting by the time we reached the end of the strip, at least.
“Stop assessing my strength, you child,” Adrien told me. “If this is how it’s going to be, I’ll drop you off at Chuck E. Cheese for our first date and leave you there.”
I grinned and kept running.
We were going to be awesome together.
My feelings already bordered on nuts for this man.
He drove me batshit in the best ways.
“Your sweet talk is weirdly exhilarating,” I said. I had to. That was how I felt. “I just wanna kiss you silly and hump your leg.”
He gusted out a labored breath and slowed down until he stood still. Then he removed his helmet and wiped a hand over his face. The humidity was turning me into a slip ’n slide too.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
He shook his head. “Nothing is wrong. You’re just…you’re not allowed to change your mind now, Crew.”
I furrowed my brow and walked over to him. “Huh? Change my mind about what?”
He took a deep breath and glanced back toward the airfield, and then he looked back at me again. My vision had adjusted to the dark enough that I could see the gravity of the moment in his eyes. Whatever troubled him was serious.
“The way you crashed into my life—quite literally—was unforgettable as it was,” he admitted. “Now I just jumped out of an airplane with you, we’re running through the Colombian jungle together—after you forced an invitation to join, mind you—and I… I don’t know. You’ve changed my life, Crew. I’m absurdly attached to you already, and I want to be sure you will give me an honest chance. I understand our age difference is significant—”
“Baby. What the fuck?” I had to cut him off. I closed the distance between us and cupped his face in my hands. “I’m kidding, Adrien. I was literally just thinking how you drive me crazy in the best fucking ways, something I’ve never felt before. And the fact that we’re having this talk right here—like, can you comprehend where we are right now?—is the icing on the cake. I’m hooked. You’re talking about our first date, and I’m thinking about the tenth when you possibly introduce me to your old man and your son.”
He was thawing out. My words were working—and I wanted to give him more.
“You’ve changed my life too,” I confessed. “I thought becoming attached to someone meant getting all my ducks in a row—and it turns out it’s the complete opposite. It’s about losing control and realizing I didn’t have shit figured out before either, because clearly, I didn’t know what I wanted until you drove me bananas.”