Always Will: A Bad Boy Romance Read Free

over too fast. I started BASE jumping off buildings and bridges. Even the near-miss I took off a cliff in Nevada didn’t faze me.
    When I met a guy who did wingsuit diving, I knew I had to try it. I was addicted from the first jump. It’s like skydiving on steroids. The suit catches the wind, and you ride it like a fucking bird.
    I don’t have much time before I have to pull my chute. I spread my arms wider to catch more of the wind, and it lifts me a little higher. I’m saturated with adrenaline, falling so fast I’d never survive the crash if I hit the ground. The landing site comes into view and I hesitate, my hand on the cord. I need to pull it, but I’m not quite ready. It’s too fucking good; I don’t want it to stop. I’m flying and falling all at once, the rush through my mind and body so much I almost can’t breathe.
    I’m completely alive.
    Three seconds. That’s all I have left.
    Two.
    One.
    I pull the cord and my chute billows out behind me, jerking me upward as it catches the air. The harness tightens around my chest.
    I float toward the ground, steering as I go. The ground crew is waiting. The other two jumpers are already on their feet, repacking their chutes. I pull on the steering lines, keeping my approach steady. The ground surges toward me and I’m hit with another kick of adrenaline. Landing is another rush, a moment of danger, the time when things often go bad.
    But death won’t take me yet.
    I nail the landing, running as my feet touch the ground, my chute falling behind me. My breath comes fast and the euphoria holds.
    I’ll be high for hours after that jump. It was perfect.
    We pack up our gear, and a truck takes us back to the hangar. This will be my last jump at Lake Elsinore for a while, but they have such a good crew I’m going to have to get down here again soon. I’m moving back to Seattle in the morning—whether permanently or just for a few months I haven’t decided yet. I’ll have to see how things go with the company I’m buying.
    I get another little hit at that thought. I’m taking a big risk, both professionally and financially. But that’s why I can’t resist. If this gamble pays off, I’m not only going to make a shit ton of money, I’m going to make a huge impact in the markets I’m targeting. No one ever got anywhere without putting themselves out there and taking chances. Those chances are what I live for. I go from one to the next, always craving another. Always craving more.
    I’ve had a great run in San Francisco these last five years. I’ve achieved everything I set out to do, and more. Now I wonder, what sort of rush does Seattle have in store for me?

3: Selene
    A meeting request pops up on my screen and I feel a sense of dread. It’s for this afternoon, which is so last-minute, and as I look down the list of attendees, I see the entire senior staff and management team. I have a feeling this might be where Brad breaks it to us that something big is going down.
    I hope I don’t lose my job. It isn’t that I couldn’t find another one—but I love working at Vital Information. It’s literally the one part of my life I can truly say is going perfectly. I was hired about four years ago, and I feel like I finally found my niche. I’m the Brand Manager, and I’ve worked side by side with Brad for the last few years. We have an excellent team, with people who actually pull their weight, and we’ve done a lot of great things with this company. We have patents pending on several devices that track health and nutrition information, and we’ve gone so far beyond what we thought possible just a few years ago.
    But the signs that something is changing have been there for a while. I suspect we’re about to hear the word “downsizing.”
    After lunch, I join my colleagues in the large conference room. I’m one of the first to arrive, so I take a seat on the far side of the table and answer some emails while I wait. It gets stuffy as the room fills, and