Page 104 of My Fiancé's Brother 2

I got out of the truck and caught up to him. “I can’t do this.”

He took my hand. “Sure you can.”

“No, I really can’t.”

There was a long list of things that terrified me, but heights almost topped the list. I couldn't stand on a chair without my knees knocking. Don’t even get me started on ladders.

We walked into the building.

“Wait here.”

I watched with nauseating anxiety as he handed some papers to one of the men. The guy nodded and then Jackson walked back towards me.

“Jackson,” my voice pleaded. “I really can’t do this.”

“Relax,” he said with an easy smile. “You’re going to be strapped to me.”

I stood there for a long moment and debated refusing. I looked up at Jackson. He looked so happy, so carefree. How would it feel to resist, to have to wipe that smile off his face, to walk back like a coward to the truck? Things between us were already so tentative. He had planned this. This was his idea of a fun day. I didn’t want to disappoint him. Maybe I could just shut my eyes and somehow get through this.

He stepped forward and cupped my face in his hands. “Do you trust me?”

I nodded, unable to speak, my throat was so dry.

“Why?”

“I don’t know. I just trust you that we’ll be okay.” As soon as the words left my mouth, I realized that was true. I trusted this man with my life. I may hate every single moment of this experience, but I knew that throughout it, he'd keep me safe.

His smile was huge. “Come on, let’s get out of here. You don’t want to do this.”

The idea of parachuting made me want to pass out but I didn’t want to take that carefree smile off his face. “No. We can do this.”

“You know you’d have to jump out of a plane.”

God help me. “I can do it.”

“You’re cute. Come on. Let’s go for a drive.”

Suddenly I needed to do this. For him. “Jackson, we’re doing this.”

He looked momentarily conflicted. “Really?”

“Really. I want to do this.”

He frowned as if he was weighing the situation in his mind. “Yeah. Okay. Hang on.”

I watched him talk to another guy and then he motioned for me to follow him to another room. He fitted me with a small jumpsuit and a strange harness that went around both my legs and over my shoulders. He also gave me some goggles. I watched as he looked over his gear and then strapped it on. The man he had been talking to came into the room and did a double check of all our harnesses and straps.

Jackson took my hand and led me out to a tiny airstrip. I wanted to pee my pants as I watched the small plane taxi towards us.

Jackson looked over at me. “Last chance to back out.”

I was tempted, but I didn’t want to disappoint him. I shook my head. Jackson held my hand as I climbed up the little ladder into the plane.

Then we took off. The plane was noisy. Jackson and the guy joked and laughed together, but I couldn’t hear what they were saying over the roar of the engine. For a moment I thought I was going to puke, but somehow I managed not to. The earth below us looked like patches of green, and the horizon seemed huge. Dear God, we were high up. Now we were above the freaking clouds. I thought I was going to hyperventilate every time I thought about jumping out of this plane.

Jackson moved behind me. His legs were on either side of me. My eyes squeezed shut as I felt him tug on my straps. He strapped himself to me. Now when he moved back, I was pulled back. The guy moved beside us and double checked all our straps again.

The guy looked at me and yelled over the wind tunnel. “Keep your arms crossed over your chest.”

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