Summer Fling Read Free Page A

was focused on them as they sailed toward the grass. “Anyway, I’m okay.
As you pointed out, I have something soft to land on.”
    Too nervous to laugh, she bit her lip to
stop herself screaming as the grass rushed up to meet them.
    He gave her arm a quick squeeze and then
held the straps. “Ready?”
    “Ready.”
    “Feet up.”
    Heart pounding, she lifted her knees as the
ground raced toward her, and Garth braced himself as his feet touched down.

Chapter Three
    The wind caught the parachute and forced
them to take a few steps forward, and Chloe gasped. Then he slid out the clips
at her shoulder and waist and released her. Stunned that she’d landed without
breaking her neck, she squealed with relief and exhilaration. She threw her
arms around his neck and planted a kiss on his cheek. “Thank you, thank you,
thank you.”
    He laughed and hugged her, and it reminded
her of how he’d pressed his lips against hers in the plane, his arm tight
around her waist. When she’d asked him if he always kissed the women who got
panic attacks, he’d said, “Not so much.” Had he told her the truth? She didn’t
know him well enough to trust him.
    She stepped back, and he lifted his dark
sunglasses onto his hair. His warm eyes glowed with humor and something
else…admiration? “I’m glad you enjoyed it.” He unclipped his harness and turned
to draw in the parachute.
    “Nothing matches up to it,” she said,
quoting his earlier words.
    He grinned and then motioned with his head
toward the main airport building. The tiny terminal had only one gate, but it also
had a coffee bar and a waiting area. “Fancy a cup of something before you
leave? To bring you back down to earth?”
    Her cheeks warmed. “Sure.”
    “Get changed, then. I’ll be over in a
minute.”
    In a daze, she headed for the small
building with “Sky High” emblazoned above the door.
    “Still in one piece?” asked Huia, the
Māori woman at the desk.
    “Only just.” Chloe’s heart continued to
race, the adrenalin shooting through her veins. “It was fantastic,” she
admitted. “I’m surprised how much I enjoyed it.”
    “Why surprised?”
    Chloe unclipped her harness. “I’m not a
risk taker. I don’t know how Garth does it all the time.”
    Huia came forward to help lift off the
harness and carried it over to the hooks on the wall to hang up. “Yeah, I know.
Can you imagine being married to someone who jumps out of a plane for a living?
I’d have a heart attack five times a day.”
    Chloe hadn’t thought of that. She frowned
at Huia’s words. It didn’t matter how many precautions he took, every time
Garth pulled a parachute cord, he put himself at risk. She’d jumped in an
effort to prove that her sensible lifestyle was just that, sensible, and not
boring as Ethan had insisted. But she shivered at the idea of living with
someone involved in such an unstable occupation.
    Still, she couldn’t help but be curious
about Garth. “Is he married?”
    “No. Why, are you interested? I wouldn’t
blame you. He’s hot enough to fry eggs on.”
    Chloe’s cheeks warmed again, and she tried
to erase the image of snuggling between his thighs, his solid chest pressing
against her back. “God, no. Like you said, I could never get involved with
someone who did this sort of thing for a living. I’d die of exhaustion, and not
in a good way. I’m dull as tarnished silver, I’m afraid. Too much excitement
sends me into overload.” She turned around as she unzipped her jumpsuit. Garth
stood in the doorway, leaning against the doorjamb. Crap. How much of that
conversation had he heard?
    He pushed himself off and came in to help
her tug the tight jumpsuit from her shoulders. She wriggled out of it, unable
to look at Huia, too embarrassed at having asked if he was married.
    He’d already shucked his own jumpsuit and wore
khaki shorts and an All Blacks shirt. He waited for her to hang her suit up on
the peg. “Ready?”
    “Sure.” Feeling strangely