Page 39 of The Billionaire Offer
“Why did you choose to do this now, then? If Leah has been trying to get you to go for so long, I’m sure she’ll keep trying. You can always do it later, with her, when you’re ready. We don’t have to go through with it today.”
“No, I know, but I wanted to do it now because of you. You and the bucket list. Everything we’ve done so far has been a reminder that I should push my boundaries and not let them cage me. You regret the things you didn’t do, right?”
“Right,” I agreed. “Boundaries and cages aside, you can tap out anytime you like if it’s too scary once we get there. I’m here for you, okay? If all we do today is take a flight, then that’s all we do.”
“The prospect of jumping out of a perfectly good plane is scary, but I’ll survive, and I’ll have changed as a person because of it. I’m learning that I need to stop waiting for things to happen and just do them. Now, while I still can.”
“Okay then.” I sat back again, driving us to the airfield and leaving her to hype herself up or whatever it was she’d been doing while she’d been quiet earlier.
As much as I wanted to talk about us, I’d just realized that while we had time now, it wasn’t the right time.Which begs the question, when the fuck is the right time going to come?
Whatever the answer to that, I knew it wasn’t now, when we’d be flinging ourselves out of a plane soon. I supposed she was onto something with that, though. This was the one activity we’d done so far that required us both to focus on it fully.
Since it was a Saturday morning, the airstrip was busy when we arrived. There were even people grilling hamburgers in the parking lot and the atmosphere was surprisingly festive. I supposed some people did this often enough that it was just part of their lives and not anything to be intimidated by.
Several planes dotted the airstrip itself, and as I parked the car, one of them started taxiing to take off. Serenity leaned forward to watch it, dipping her head to look out at it soaring into the sky.
I noticed she looked a little paler than she’d been before, but I didn’t comment on it. It wasn’t like she needed to be reminded of how nervous she was. Plus, I’d given her an out. I would talk to her about it again if it seemed necessary, but I wouldn’t push it.
Serenity knew her limits well enough that I knew she’d make the right choice for herself. My biggest worry was that she’d think she had to do it because I’d already paid for it. I needed to make sure that she didn’t feel pressured into doing it just because of that.
I’d cross that bridge when the time came, though. For now, I shut off the car and turned to her. “We’re meeting our instructor in the hangar. It’s a guy named Owen. Apparently, he’s been doing this for years.”
“Oh, good.” She gulped nervously but then giggled and covered her face in her hands. “It just became really real, didn’t it? I mean, we’re here now and that plane that just went up had people in it who are going to be jumping soon. Is this crazy? Are we crazy?”
“I don’t think so.” I took a pointed look around and motioned toward all the people and activity around us. “If we are, then they all are too. It’s more likely that no one is crazy but that we feel that way because it’s our first time.”
She tracked where I was pointing to with her eyes, then released a slow breath before turning back to me. “You’ve always been great at calming me down, especially when it’s our first times doing anything. That’s why I’m always glad when it’s you.”
With that, she flushed beet red and practically fell out of the car in her haste to get out. I sighed.Yet another good opportunity to just talk about shit wasted.
She’d definitely opened the door to it with that comment, but since we were focused on skydiving, I supposed I just had to focus on fucking skydiving.Maybe I should’ve just taken her out for pancakes this morning instead.
As we approached the hangar and Owen came out to meet us, I got my head in the game. I’d been wanting to do this for ages and Serenity and I could talk any time. Having to wait was frustrating, but we were taking off for Egypt soon, and inevitably, we’d get around to talking when we got around to it.
“Good morning, guys,” the burly guy said, the name Owen stitched on his flight-school jacket. “I’m your instructor for the day, unless you’re not Bart and Serenity?”
“That’s us,” I said, stepping forward to shake his hand. Serenity greeted him next, and we followed him into the roomy hangar he’d come out of.
“Okay, so I’m sure you’ve been through the information packet you were emailed, but I’m going to walk you through what we’ll do for the tandem dives before we go up. You’ll each have a professional with you at all times, so while it’s vital that you pay attention for this next part, try to relax and have some fun today, folks.”
“Fun, right,” Serenity repeated after him, her voice unnaturally high.
I went to stand next to her, reaching out and wrapping my arm around her waist to pull her into my side. I didn’t give a fuck if we were together or not. I was still here for her and I was going to support her in any way I could. Thankfully, she seemed to agree since she didn’t push me away.
As Owen started talking us through it all, I felt her growing tenser and tenser beside me until it felt like I had a rock pressed into my side. When I glanced at her to see what was going on, I saw that she was ashen now. She didn’t just look scared anymore. She looked fucking terrified.
After, he clapped his hands and grinned, telling us he’d see us outside once we got our gear on with the people in the corner. I pulled her aside. Turning to face her, I ducked my head to look right into her eyes and placed my hands on either side of her neck.
“You don’t have to do this,” I said. “It doesn’t matter that I’ve paid, if that’s what you’re so worried about. If you’d rather stay right here, you stay right here. I can still go up, or I can stay here with you. It’s completely up to you, but there’s absolutely no pressure of any nature for you to go up there if you’ve changed your mind.”
She sucked in a deep breath and closed her eyes. For a moment, I was convinced she was going to tell me she didn’t want to do it anymore, but when she opened them again, I saw the glint of metal at her core.
“No, we’re doing this,” she said. “I want to do it even if I’m really scared right now. If I don’t go through with it, I’ll be disappointed. I promise it’s not about the money. I know you’ve already paid, but that’s not why I want to go up there.”
“Okay,” I said, smiling as I moved my hands down from her neck to take one of hers. “Let’s go get our gear on, then.”
Serenity took my hand and kept hold of it all through the process and as we boarded the plane. Once we were seated, she stared dead ahead of herself, her hand firmly gripping mine. I made small talk with our instructors on the way up, and then she surprised me once she was hooked up to hers by actually managing to look a little bit excited.
