THE WHOLE FAMILY gathers at the Country Club on Friday morning, where a luxury bus waits to take us to an old military airfield outside of town.
Mom’s events used to be more low-key, but since I bought the club and she started organizing the Balls here, her Charity became a hot topic in OC.
With an abundance of important guests came a change in how she hosts. The quarterly events now span two days. A sophisticated dinner party for the biggest donors on Friday and the main invitation-only event on Saturday.
My brothers and I are invited to Friday dinners regardless of how much we donate. We all help Mom with press releases, admin, and accounting throughout the year.
“Time to party!” Cody booms, entering the building.
We’re greeted with a glass of champagne, the spacious lobby full of our parents, grandparents, and older brothers. Save for Thalia, who’s pregnant, Mia, who’s afraid of flying, and my grandparents, everyone is sky diving today.
Thirteen people.
I pledged ten grand per head to convince them to get off their asses, but in reality, Mom gets seven figures out of me every year, so a check for a quarter of it—two hundred and fifty thousand dollars—is already in her pocket.
“Oh, I’m so happy to see you!” My grandmother charges past me and the triplets as if we’re invisible. Her chiffon throw, cardigan, or whatever it is, shimmers as she wraps her arms around Mia. “How have you been? You’re pale, honey. Were you unwell?” She glances at Grandad on the other side of the entryway. “William! Look who’s here!”
I know they play Bridge every week, but I’ve not realized how close Mia is to my grandparents. And they must be very close if my grandmother picked Mia over her three favorite grandsons standing to my left with their dates.
I know the girl on Colt’s arm. I don’t remember her name, but she sneaks out of my house enough that she must be his regular lay. It’s hard to forget her head of bright-red hair, freckled face, or thick British accent.
Conor’s date has that girl-next-door vibe he’s so into. Her makeup isn’t overdone, she’s in funky jeans and a t-shirt, and her hair’s up in a messy bun.
“I’m fine, thank you,” Mia says, hugging my grandmother before she wraps her arms around my grandfather, who sauntered over here as if he’s thirty years younger.
He’s been complaining about arthritis in his knees since he retired a few months ago, but it must’ve magically gone away.
Once grandma’s happy that Mia’s had breakfast, isn’t hungry, thirsty, tired, or unwell, she pecks her cheek and finally notices her grandsons.
I can’t make out Mia’s quiet conversation with my grandfather but notice the fondness painting his face as they talk. I don’t remember the last time I saw him wear a full smile.
“Right, since we’re all here now, I say we get going,” Logan yells over the chatter, either impatient or nervous, as he bounces on the soles of his feet.
Forty minutes later, we arrive at an old military airfield, where three small planes sit on a short runway. Instructors, inside a huge hangar, are waiting for us to disembark the bus so they can start the safety briefing.
Mia spent the ride at the back with my grandparents while I gawked over my shoulder too often.
Doomed is what I am.
Fucking doomed.
One of the instructors comes closer when we gather in a large group on the tarmac.
“Right,” he says, frowning as he quickly counts the heads. “I’ve got a note that fourteen are jumping.”
“Yes, some are just here to watch,” Cassidy supplies, handing the buggy with Noah to grandma.
“Actually, it’ll be thirteen,” Cody says. “Mia’s not good with flying.”
“Make it twelve. I’ll skip the fun today.” I regret saying it before the words fully roll off my tongue.
The only reason I want to stay on the ground is to spend half an hour alone with Mia.
“Why? It was your idea.” Theo’s eyebrows draw together, utterly confused since I’m always the first one geared up, ready to go.
“He’s done it so many times it’s not much fun anymore, right?” Colt says, his piercing stare searing right through me before his eyes quickly jump to Mia and back, a silent I know what you’re doing in that look.
Shit… busted.
I glance at Cody, wondering if he connected the dots, but he’s chatting with Logan, paying me no heed.
“Okay, twelve it is,” the instructor says, impatient to get things started. “Everyone jumping, follow me.”
I’m sure Colt will bust my ass at the earliest convenience, and my mind blanks on how to save my face. Nothing justifies me spending time with Mia while Cody’s crushing on her. Nothing. I’ve got no line of defense.
Everyone follows the instructor into the hangar, and I’m struck that Cody didn’t say one word to Mia. He just walked right off. He needs a lesson on how to properly take care of a girl like her. But… I won’t be doing him any favors. It’s not Cody she wants. It’s me.
My grandad sits on one of the plastic chairs lining the hangar wall, and my grandma takes advantage of the portable coffee machine nearby while Noah’s asleep.
“Why aren’t you jumping?” Mia asks, following slowly in their steps. She’s in sneakers, her white, fitted tee tucked into a pair of high-waist jeans.
I love that she’s so tiny. I could fucking hide her in my arms without an issue. “I’ll jump if you’ll jump.”
“I wish I could.” She smiles small when we reach the table. “I really do, but you’ve not seen me on a plane. I’ll break down halfway up.”
“You only live once,” Grandad says. “Look at me! I’m eighty-two. I’m too old to do a lot of things I was afraid to do when I was your age, and I regret them all.”
“He’s right,” Grandma adds. “I think you should at least try. For us, the old farts who can’t.”
“One day…” she muses, watching my family as they strap up.
Grandad doesn’t push further, and neither do I, even though I want to strap her in the harness and take her eighteen thousand feet above the ground to help her overcome the fear.
The skydiving party leaves the warehouse thirty minutes later. The jumpers split into three groups, board the planes, and soon enough, they’re in the air, one after the other.
“Where will they land?” Mia asks, glancing around as if expecting a big X spray-painted on the tarmac.
“Wherever they can. They should aim for the field.” I point ahead. “But I’m sure we’ll see at least one person land in the trees. My money’s on Cody.”
“I’d expect Conor to do something like that just for laughs.”
The planes rise steadily, circling above us for ten minutes before they reach the correct altitude, and everyone starts jumping out. Mia scrambles to her feet, shielding her eyes from the sun with her hand.
There’s awe on her face as she watches my family join in one big circle, free-falling from eighteen thousand feet. I take my shades off, covering her eyes.
“Why aren’t they opening their parachutes?” she asks after thirty more seconds, her voice higher than usual.
“It takes one minute twenty to get to five thousand feet, baby.” I glance at my watch, catching a surprised, tight-lipped smile on my grandmother, who looks between Mia and me. Shit. I forgot they’re here. I also forgot Mia’s not mine, and I can’t call her baby, no matter how good it feels. “Thirty more seconds before they can open the parachutes,” I add, doing my best to act casual.
No biggie.
Mia mouths numbers, counting down, neck craned to watch the sky. “They’re still falling!” she cries, ripping my shades off and gunning me down with those big eyes as if she wants me to get off my ass and… I don’t know… catch them?
“Look up,” I tell her, seeing the first parachute unfold and more follow in quick succession.
Mia lifts her hand, counting white dots in the sky. “That’s amazing!” She beams, bouncing on her feet.
I can’t suppress my smile when I watch how excited she is, stepping from one foot to another. She spins around, pumping her little fists, her excitement palpable.
“You want to jump, don’t you?”
“Um… I’m not sure. It seems like so much fun, but—”
I grab her hand, pulling her toward the hangar where two instructors stand at the door, watching the sky. “Don’t think. One step at a time. Harness first. That’s not scary, right?”
She shakes her head, tightening her grip around my fingers. “Don’t let me back down.”
“You need a safe word, Mia.” I turn to the instructors. “Get us ready.” I show them my skydiving license. “She’s tandem jumping with me.”
“As in, I’ll be strapped to you?”
“Yes,” the instructor supplies. “You’re certified, but company policy is that we always send at least one instructor out with you.”
“As long as she’s with me, I don’t care how many of you want to jump.”
He bobs his head, and we get a condensed safety briefing while I’m gearing Mia up, triple-checking every strap before I get my gear on.
I’m buzzing, and it has nothing to do with skydiving. I’ve completed my fair share of jumps, but now that I have Mia with me, it’ll be something else.
“I’m scared,” she says when the first plane lands. “My heart is going so fast.”
I take her chin between my thumb and forefinger, tipping her head back. “Don’t think ahead. All you have to do is trust me that I’ll get you back down safely. I’ve done this plenty of times. I’ve got you.”
The instructor runs to the cockpit, waving us over.
“Red,” I say, clutching Mia’s hand. “That’s your safe word. Unless you say red, we’re taking the fast way down. I don’t care if you hit me, puke, or cry. I don’t care if you scream or beg. I’ll slap your pretty butt if you bite, but I won’t listen until you say red, understood?”
“Keep talking, okay? Anything, just talk.”
I halt, catch her jaw, and turn her head my way. “What did I just tell you?”
“That you’ll spank me,” she utters, cheeks rosy.
“You make it damn near impossible not to when you blush like that. What’s your safe word?”
“Um…” She looks around, biting her lip. “Red.”
“Good girl. Use it if you have to.”
Half a minute later, we’re on the plane. I sit Mia between my legs for take-off, my arms around her even before the instructor straps the pretty little blonde to my harness.
Nothing ever felt as natural as holding her close.
“Talk,” she pleads, wiggling her fingers like she’s typing a long essay. “Please, just talk.”
And so I do.
I talk all the time.
I tell her I expect she’ll play one song for me at the Ball and that I want a dance. I tell her I know her dad, and that he sent me VIP tickets for the Austin GP in September. It’s a given Mia will be attending, so I promise to drive her there since she’s afraid of flying. I’d fucking carry her there on my back just to spend time with her.
Her pulse accelerates along with the plane, reaching its limit when we start ascending. I knot our fingers, wrapping our arms around her tiny frame.
“The first time I jumped, I was twenty-four. Nothing compares to the first jump, so take in the views.”
“Sixty seconds!” the pilot shouts.
“I’m scared,” Mia wails, clutching my fingers hard enough to cut off circulation. “I changed my mind. I want to go back! Please, I don’t want to do this anymore! I feel sick. Oh God! Yellow! Orange! Please, I’ll do anything you want, just—”
“The word is red, and you’re doing great. Don’t think.” I haul us up, gripping the handle. “Close your eyes, Mia. Breathe in for me.”
I can’t see if she followed the first instruction, but she’s definitely breathing.
She’s fucking hyperventilating.
“Please, we don’t have to do this! It’s so far down. What if the parachute doesn’t open? What if we crash? What if…” She chokes on the words.
My arm curves around her middle. “We won’t crash. The parachute will open, and you’ll love this. I promise.”
“Thirty seconds!” The instructor opens the door, and Mia starts trembling so hard I wonder if she’s crying.
Still, no red.
“You’re such a good girl,” I say in her ear, leaving a kiss there. “Breathe. Don’t think. You’re safe with me.”
“Fifteen seconds!”
“Oh, no, no, no, no!” Mia shakes her head, leaving angry, half-moon marks in my arm with her nails. “No, please! I don’t want to do this! Let me go!”
“Red, baby. Say red, and we stop.”
But instead of the safe word, she chants no on repeat like it’s a coping mechanism.
The instructor gives me a hand signal as if he knows it’s better not to yell jump, or Mia will freak out. Not that she isn’t already… I fucking love that about her. She’s not pretending, not hiding her feelings. She’s fighting the fear.
I grip both of her hands, knotting our fingers, and step toward the edge of the plane, nothing but open space as far as the eye can see.
“No, please, please, I can’t do this, I can’t…”
I stamp a kiss on the crown of her head and outstretch our hands to the sides, tilting us forward. We’re out of the plane the next second, and Mia’s screaming.
The high-pitched wail cuts through the air like a scalpel. I’m pretty sure it’s supposed to be a very long e in red, but too late.
“Open your eyes,” I yell over the sound of air going by us at a hundred and twenty miles per hour, even though I shouldn’t talk in freefall. “Look around!”
The screaming ceases instantly, and Mia’s fingers tighten their hold around mine. She’s excited. I can tell. I fucking know her so well by now that I read her reactions with ease.
I remember my first jump, the sensory overload, and I’m so glad Mia’s experiencing this in my arms—the earth from an angle she’s never seen before, the feeling of weightlessness as we fall, the smell of the freshest air you can get.
This is my six-hundred and thirteenth jump, but except for the first, none compare to this one. I hold Mia’s hands in mine and steer, bending her elbows and forcing my body into an arch until we do a three-sixty flip in the air.
“Again!” she cries, the word barely reaching my ears.
This time she arches with me, making the flip easier. We’re getting closer to five thousand feet, so I let go of her hand, showing her the signal for pull.
I glance around, checking the position of the two instructors behind us before I pull the line. We’re jerked in the air when the white canvas takes the strain.
Mia lets out an ecstatic cheer that makes me feel weightless. There’s no fear left in her petite body: just adrenaline and happiness.
“We jumped!”
I steer the parachute toward the field far below, where my family is, nothing more than a few dots scattered around the grass and tarmac.
“That wasn’t so scary, was it?”
“We jumped out of a plane!” She bounces in the harness, swinging us from side to side.
“I know you’re excited, but you need to stay still, or we’ll land in the river.”
She stills, but her fingers pump around my wrists like she’ll explode if she doesn’t let the emotions out somehow.
“Thank you! I’m glad you didn’t let me back down!”
I dip my head and press my lips to her hair, only realizing what I did once the honeysuckle scent invades my nose.
“You did great. Long-haul to Europe will be a breeze.”
The parachute jerks about, swinging us back to front when she starts bouncing again. I take a long way down, circling longer than necessary.
Mia’s turning her head left and right, taking in the views. I want to prolong that for her as much as possible.
“Legs out,” I instruct when we’re about to land.
She gets in position, surprising me that despite all her fear she managed to focus on what the instructors were saying during the safety briefing.
When I land alone, I end up on my own two feet, but landing with Mia isn’t graceful. It’s a mess, if I’m honest. I’m trying to hit the ground first, so she doesn’t bruise that perfect ass.
It works. I bruise mine instead.
We’re on the ground on an uphill part of the field, quite the distance from the tarmac. I lay on my back in the longish grass, Mia on top of me, her back flush against my chest. I unbuckle the harness that straps us together when the parachute settles over us like a huge blanket.
“That was—” fun, I want to say, but she rolls onto her stomach, and those perfect, plump lips cover mine.
The kiss is short, sweet… nothing more than a peck. I’m sure the emotions she has no idea how to unleash are to blame, but I’m done.
I’m done the second her lips touch mine.
My fingers disappear in her hair when she tries to move away, and I pull her back, seizing the moment as I sweep my tongue along the seam of her mouth, begging for more.
She opens for me on cue, making me groan. She tastes like candy. Sweet. Too sweet. Fucking addictive.
My heart threatens with a coronary, pounding so hard it resonates in all directions. And I swear the world stops spinning on its axis when I bite her lower lip, sucking it into my mouth the way I imagined for weeks.
Mia’s fingertips gently press into my cheekbones. The featherlight touch annihilates the noise that’s layered my thoughts for years. It’s never been this quiet in my head.
There’s nothing there save for Mia. Save for the softness of her hair under my fingertips, the plumpness of her lips working with mine, and the weight of her warm body.
She ghosts one hand lower, tracing the column of my throat until she grabs a handful of my t-shirt. I grip her jaw, steering her gorgeous face, devouring that sweet mouth over again, but I can’t get enough. I’ll never get enough of her.
This is more than I imagined.
More than I ever hoped for.
I drape one hand around her back and grip her waist, ready to flip us over, so I’m on top, dictating the pace, but Theo’s amused voice booms somewhere on my right.
“Shit, are you okay there? That looked like a hard landing.”
Fuck.
Fuck, fuck, fuck!
His words bring a reality check that hurts more than if he hit me square in the jaw. The world beyond the parachute canvas didn’t exist for a moment.
Now, it seeps back in, unwanted.
My eyes fly open, my head far from quiet. In fact, there’s so much going on I feel the tendrils of a badass headache setting in. Mia’s still on me, her cheeks deliciously pink, the green of her irises almost wiped out by blown pupils.
Shame washes over me like some biblical hurricane when reality settles in.
What have I done?
What have we done?
What the fuck has she done?!
I still hold her face with one hand, my thumb sweeping her bottom lip. My stomach wrenches with a mixture of nerves, longing, and shame. God, I want her.
Mine.
My girl…
Cody’s.
“We’re okay,” I say, swallowing hard.
Theo tugs the parachute, trying to pull it off as more footsteps approach. I move Mia to my side, my mind all over the place. Even though I’m the biggest asshole, I want that sweet mouth of hers back on mine so much it feels like I’m walking against the strongest blizzard, fighting not to kiss her.
I’m shaking, but that might be because I’m mad at Mia, myself, Cody, and karma.
“I’m sorry,” she whispers, her cheeks deliciously pink, lips even plumper—swollen from my kisses.
She doesn’t sound like she means it. I should apologize too, but I definitely wouldn’t mean it, so I don’t.
Besides, it’s Cody who deserves an apology, not her.
Theo pulls the parachute away, and the first person I see is the one with a metaphorical knife in his back. He’s smiling. And it feels like he’s kicking me when I’m already down.
“You jumped!” Cody cheers, dragging Mia to her feet. “I’m so proud of you! Did you like it? Was it fun?”
“The scariest and happiest moment of my life.” Mia beams and then turns to me. “Thank you. That was amazing.”
I can’t even be mad at her for not feeling guilty about kissing me. She and Cody aren’t together. I’m the one to blame. I’m the asshole here.
She’s innocent. Oblivious to Cody’s feelings.
Theo grips my arm, hauling me up while Conor and Colt help Mia out of her harness. She moves her attention to me, and the piercing gaze of those emerald greens peels all the layers protecting my mind. Skin, soft tissue, and bone. And she’s there… where I don’t want her. In my head. Holding every thought hostage at gunpoint.
I storm past them all to get the hell away from her before I knock Cody unconscious, fling the little girl over my shoulder, and make a fucking run for it.
