Chapter 12

TWELVE

Falcon stood in the doorway of the flight shack building, grimly watching Bella as she stood beside the red Cessna, her hands on her hips as she studied it.

She looked like a woman about to give in to her fear, and he wanted to be the guy to tell her not to back down.

And he was going to do the opposite.

Swearing under his breath, he strode across the grassy airstrip. “What do you think?”

“I’m not going up in that plane. It’s the size of my toothbrush. I don’t fly my toothbrush up to ten thousand feet, and I definitely don’t jump off it strapped to someone else, putting my faith in a parachute packed by some person I’ve never met.”

He ground his jaw. Fear was so debilitating. He wanted to get her out of it. But he couldn’t. “Well, then, today’s your lucky day.”

She looked over at him, hope on her face. “Bad weather? No fuel?”

“No. They won’t let me tandem with you. You’d have to jump with one of their instructors."

She raised her brows, studying his face. "You don’t like that.”

“Nope.”

She turned to fully face him. “You’re serious.”

“Yep.”

“Isn’t their instructor certified? How difficult is it to jump out of a plane?”

He frowned at her. “You want to go up with a stranger?”

“I don’t want to go up at all.” She put her hands on her hips. “But I feel like you’re being an overprotective zealot not wanting me to jump with someone who is trained.”

“I’m your bodyguard. I can’t protect you if you jump out of a plane with someone else.”

She cocked her head, the corners of her mouth started to curve in a smile. “You think someone is going to shoot me out of the sky?”

“No.”

“You think my instructor would sacrifice himself to make me plummet into the ground and become a Bella pancake?” Amusement flickered in her eyes.

He narrowed his eyes. “You’re mocking me?”

Her smile blossomed into full bloom. “I am. Yes. A little bit. You gave me this great speech about fear, and now you’re telling me I can’t jump because I’ll be strapped to someone else, and you’ll be like twenty feet away from me, in a separate parachute.” She leaned into him. “Are you afraid, Falcon? Scared that little Bella can’t jump without you?”

He nodded. “Yeah,” he said honestly. “I’ve spent a lot of time in some grisly places in this world, and I know how shit can go south fast. I trust only myself when it comes to my well-being, so that goes double for you.”

She stared at him, then sighed. “Damn you, Falcon. Honestly.”

“Damn me? Why?”

“Because now I have to jump.” She poked him in the chest. “I’m super pissed at you, because I was going to exercise my right to keep my feet on the ground, but now that you’re trying to keep me small and I want to let you, I have to make the opposite choice. I’m not happy about it. At all.” Then she shoved past him and marched toward the little cabin where her instructor Ralph was waiting.

“What?” Falcon turned and strode after her. “I’m not going to let you jump, Bella.”

She fluttered her hand at him, and he was pretty sure she flipped him the bird. “Now I absolutely have to jump. You’re banning me? Honest to God, Falcon, you are the worst bodyguard ever. Don’t you know by now that if you ban me from doing something, I literally have to do it? That’s the life phase I’m in right now. No playing small for Bella.”

He caught up to her as she reached the doorway. He caught her arm and turned her toward him. “You don’t get to jump with someone else, Bella.”

She narrowed her eyes at him, amusement gone from her face. “You don’t own me, Falcon. No one does. And I guess this stupid skydiving thing isn’t actually about facing my fears. It’s about me refusing to let anyone make me play small.” She glared at him. “Again, to reiterate, I don’t appreciate you being so autocratic that I have to jump. If I die on this jump, I will take my irritation with you to the grave.”

Falcon wanted to grin at the same time he wanted to toss her over his shoulder and drag her back to his truck. “Bella,” he said quietly. “I’ll admit I’m a little bit of a control freak, but it’s literally my job to keep you safe. If I’m not strapped to you, I can’t control your flight, and I can’t keep you safe. We’ll find another place.”

She raised her chin and looked him in the eye. Then she turned away and spoke to Ralph, a thirty-something man who looked annoyingly capable. “How many times have you jumped in tandem?” she asked him.

His gaze flicked to Falcon, and then he grinned with just a little bit of flippancy. “Over a thousand. I’ve been jumping for more than ten years.”

“Great.” She nodded. “And how many times have you crashed?”

His smile widened. “Never.”

“How many times have you come close?”

“Zero.”

“All right. Let’s do it then.”

Ralph shot Falcon a look of full-blown amusement before turning his full attention to Bella. “Great, let’s get started?—”

“Bella.” Falcon touched her arm. “No?—”

She spun to face him. “I appreciate you want to protect me, Falcon. I do. But I need to be unprotected. You can jump with us, or you can wait on the ground. What do you want to do?”

He swore under his breath, but he saw the determination in her eyes. It was the fire he’d seen in her face when she was a gritty teenager refusing to die in the streets. It had been a long time since he’d seen that fire. He’d be a total ass to try to crush it.

She nodded, clearly sensing his capitulation. “You’re jumping with us, then?”

“Yeah.”

“Great. Let’s do this. Can’t wait to find my power.”