Chapter 2 – Vivian
“ Y eah, I’m out.” Carla turned on her heel.
I blinked rapidly. Swiveling my gaze between my traitorous friend, the long line behind me, and the cash register, my chest fell.
“Carla!” I protested. “Wait, Carla!”
“Nope,” she laughed, holding up her hand. “Not going to happen.”
People from the line behind us cackled. A few let out jeers and protests.
My gaze cut to the 300-plus foot structure. I want that.
“Carla, come on, you said,” I pleaded.
But she was already exiting the queue.
Jeeze, she really was a flakey person. Wasn’t that typical, though? Pursing my lips, I was on the verge of deciding to save my cash when a pair of cool blue eyes ensnared me.
The man stood three people behind me in line. While there might be a boyish charm around the edges, the classically handsome face would put him on the cover of GQ. That sharp jaw was dusted with a few days’ worth of dark growth. The black hair on the top of his head was long enough to pull but vanished into a freshly cut fade.
As we studied one another, he tipped his head to the side. The corner of his mouth quirked in a small smirk. It was a dare.
He doesn’t think I’ll do it.
Lifting my chin, I turned and set my shoulders. The attraction could be done solo or in tandem. I didn’t need Carla to take the plunge. I didn’t need anyone.
There was a hushed exchange, and then a deep, rich voice brushed against my spine. The words seemed to trickle across my skin. “Scared, darlin?”
My hackles raised. “Would I be in line if I was scared?”
“Yes,” came the simple admission.
Who the hell did this asshole think he was? I pushed my tongue against my cheek and fought the urge to correct him.
Keep your head down. Don’t engage.
The seconds ticked by—one. Two. Three.
“I laugh in the face of danger,” I bit out, before realizing the cheesy line came from a childhood favorite movie. Oh, for the love of—
Could I BE any more of a dork?
“‘I have learned over the years that when one's mind is made up, this diminishes fear; knowing what must be done does away with fear. The only thing we have to fear is fear itself. Always do what you are afraid to do.’” The words were spoken low, the cadence seductive and coaxing.
Apparently, I wasn’t the only weirdo.
“I can’t wait to hear your screams as you fall,” he breathed.
My stomach did a little flip. Something volatile simmered through me.
And then my brain realized how inappropriate that was, how messed up that was, to say to a complete stranger! “Who the hell do you think you are?” I snapped, turning on my heel.
I came face to face with a wall of muscled chest. He was standing so close that I brushed against the front of his shirt. A clean, woodsy smell tickled my nose. I dragged my gaze up his body—ignoring the toned flesh on display beneath the bright white tee. I wasn’t petite, what with my hourglass figure and five-foot-seven frame, but this beast towered over me. He had to be well over six feet.
It wasn’t his size nor his proximity that set me off, though. It was how calm I felt around him. As if…as if my body instinctually knew I had nothing to fear.
But nothing could have prepared me for the contact when my gaze met his.
The world tilted and I fell into those cold, dangerous depths. There was a confidence about him, that of a lethal predator, always calculating. And that damn smirk? Life amused him, even the darker bits. I could see that he was intrigued. That made two of us.
“Ready?” he murmured.
I blinked. “Huh?”
“It’s our turn to take the plunge, darlin.” His voice was the dangerous purr of a great cat.
Why did I want to be his next meal?
“Miss? Are you going to jump today?” The professional clip interrupted my thoughts.
Spinning around fast enough to stumble through the open space and into the counter, my cheeks flamed. “Yes! Yes, I’m ready,” I stammered, slapping my precious cash onto the speckled surface.
“And here’s for me to jump with her, and I’m paying for the couple behind us because they let me budge.” A hand reached past me and dropped a stack of bills on top of mine.
“Tandem, then,” the cashier clarified. “Empty your pockets and leave your personal items in the bin.”
“Hold up—” I began to protest.
But the man behind me was already dropping a wallet, car keys, and an honest-to-goodness flip phone into the bin. Who had that kind of dinosaur phone these days?
“I’m not jumping with you!” I planted my hands on my hips.
The smirk was back, blistering and full of confidence. “Folks! She doesn’t wanna jump with me,” he called over his shoulder.
The crowd let out long whoops and cat calls.
I gaped. He didn’t just do that!
“I think she’s…scared,” the grinning stranger added.
It was official. He was as obnoxious as he was beautiful. That combination was dangerous, and I had no business being anywhere near him.
“I’m not scared. In fact, you’re welcome to come just so I can hear you cry,” I said with plenty of venom in my voice.
Something…delicious sparked in his eyes.
It made a sharp breath catch in my throat.
“Normally, I know a girl’s name before there’s any crying,” he purred softly.
“Well, that’s not happening,” I spat and dropped my personal items into the bin next to his.
Head held high, I marched through the rotating entrance. The sunlight blasted me, and I blinked hard now that my sunglasses were gone. Sweeping my curls into a low pony and securing them with a binder, I refused to look up at the dizzying pair of poles.
They would seem to sway against the bright blue sky speckled with puffy clouds. This was the only ride at the pier that I’d wanted to do. The rollercoasters here were tame, and the spinning, upside down thing would only tempt a headache. No…this was something that could give me the rush I needed, the feeling of conquering something, even if it was just a silly amusement park attraction.
I stepped onto the platform before my confidence wavered.
You are stronger than your fear. There was only one true terror in this world, and I refused to let anyone hold power over me.
The survival instinct begged to differ. There were many things to be feared. A rush of adrenaline spiked my veins. Each breath became harder. Sharper. As if there wouldn’t be another to take its place.
“You ever done this before?” a voice snapped me from my thoughts.
“No. You?” I stood over the X on the wooden planks as the crew began to strap harnesses around my frame.
There was a short chuckle.
It did not make my blood warm. That heat was the anticipation of being strung up between three poles and dropped 300-plus feet over a makeshift pond.
“Not like this, no,” he said, and that rugged tone sent another zing through me.
“I bet you’re going to blubber like a baby.” I held my arms out and straps were secured around me.
“Maybe. Or maybe I’ll be too focused on the pretty girl tied up next to me.”
I rolled my eyes. “Cheesy pickup lines aren’t going to work, mister.”
“How much do you wanna bet?” he teased.
The harness tugged and we were suddenly shoulder to shoulder. I was ashamed to say I gasped softly. Heat radiated off his body. The sun might not burn my skin, but his touch probably left a mark.
“I’m not a gambler,” I said, and thankfully my voice didn’t shake.
“A thrill seeker who doesn’t gamble—curiouser and curiouser.”
Whatever smartass response he was about to get died on my lips. The rope gave a tug. This was real. This was happening .
One of the crew members was busy reciting the final protocol.
My fingers were too busy gripping the harness around my chest. I couldn’t do this. Sane people didn’t do shit like this!
I’m going to die .
“Breathe, just breathe,” that deep voice purred next to me. It had the soothing effect of a house cat. Only, as I shot him a sideways look, I had to admit this was no tabby cat. This beast belonged on the fringe of the Sahara, his roar shaking the sands and sending the other beasts running for their lives.
The steady pull of the ropes tightened the tension. My feet lifted off the ground.
The blood in my veins pounded in a relentless beat. My life flashed before my eyes—mostly happiness but the small flashes of pain overshadowed the rest.
“Seriously, you need to breathe or you’re going to pass out and miss this.” The man flung his arms wide.
I took a deep breath, the hot air filling my lungs and doing little to calm the swirling storm of fear and excitement within me.
“There you go, darlin, just like that.”
“That is not my name,” I ground out.
The man shrugged. His bare skin rubbed against mine.
Jeeze, he was so damn tan. And the right amount of muscle.
“So…what is your name?” he asked casually as if we weren’t being drawn up to a dizzying height.
“No names.”
He chuckled. The sound sent a tingle through me.
“Wow,” he whistled slowly. “Look at the view.”
Because it was either that or give into the terror, I looked. My gaze swept over the horizon. The view was both breathtaking and terrifying. Below, the ground seemed impossibly far away. The distance, as far as my eyes could see, was a patchwork of greens and browns. Twisting to look over my shoulder, I saw the ocean on the opposite side. It beckoned with a keen call.
My heart pulsed painfully in response.
There was a jolt as the lines stopped pulling. We would have thirty seconds.
“Hey, how much does a polar bear weigh?” the crazed man next to me quipped.
Torn from the ethereal call of nature, I glared at him.
Only to realize how close he was.
That hard jawline could cut glass. His mouth was full of humor and darker promises. But it was the eyes. They looked far older than the rest of him. Caught in their glacial pull, I couldn’t stop the shiver that skated down my spine.
“I don’t know. It doesn’t matter. And do you always say dumb shit?” I snapped.
He shrugged again. “They weigh just enough to break the ice. People call me Luka, but you can call me tonight.”
The hook snapped.
We fell.
My legs were jelly, my whole body sizzled with adrenaline. Time seemed to slow down. The air rushed past me with a fierce roar, enveloping me in a powerful embrace. My heart dropped, and I felt an exhilarating mix of terror and freedom as gravity took hold.
The man next to me roared. The sound was victorious and primal. Full of power without fear of destruction.
Something about that purely masculine noise made me rise to the challenge.
Here we were, two strangers plummeting toward the earth with nothing but the bungee cord between our bodies and certain doom. As the ground—or more accurately the swampy pond—rose up to meet us, something inside me snapped.
I would not die a coward.
Right as the swing’s ropes caught up and shot us back into the air on an upswing, I threw caution to the wind.
I was going to survive—and not just this.
Just when it seemed I would fly through the sky forever, the bungee cord caught me, its elastic tension pulling me back toward the ground. I felt the jolt through my entire body, a mixture of relief and euphoria. The cord stretched and recoiled, swinging me back into the air to finish the second sweep of the arc. I laughed, the sound bubbling up from deep within me, pure and unfiltered.
From that was born the release I desperately needed.
My arms shot above my head. A high, victorious call bellowed from my lungs. It defied the world and all the bad shit trying to defeat me. The noise rang out, caught by the wind to be carried to the far reaches of the world.
Something hard vised around my fingers.
The man—Luka—was holding my hand. His fingers wrapped through mine, although that arm was slightly bent to make up for the height difference.
And that was how we began our next pass over the pond. Hand in hand, arms raised high. Together, gliding through the air.
I was weightless, suspended in mid-air at the top of the second, slightly smaller, arc. My heart pounded even harder, a wild, unstoppable rhythm. But it wasn’t just from the thrill-seeking attraction.
It was the shared near-death experience. If I had to guess, he felt it too. I felt more alive than I ever had.
The swinging neared its end, each pass smaller and slower, until we were snatched by the pole from the crew.
Reality came back as my body gently collided with the raised platform. I tugged my hand to pull it away from the stranger’s. He tightened his grip for only a moment before releasing me.
He’s wicked hot.
I rolled my eyes. Corny and probably creepy. Who just decided to share a death experience with a stranger? Psychos, that was who!
And I sure as hell didn’t need another one of those in my life.
I looked anywhere but at the stranger next to me as the crew undid our harness.
“Now, your legs might be shaky, so just sit here for a moment,” the attendant instructed.
The couple who’d been behind us was already walking to the designated spot where the harness was being checked.
“I don’t know about you, but that has to be one of the most incredible experiences of my life.” His mouth was close to my ear. The words brushed softly against my skin.
A rush of heat skittered through me and ignited my insides to the point of combustion. It was a sign of absolute insanity, because that pulse striking deep in my core was nothing other than lust.
Struggling to my feet, I took one step forward. Balance completely thrown off, I pitched into the railing. Strong arms suddenly wrapped around me.
“Easy there, darlin.”
“Stop calling me that!” I hissed, pushing him off.
Now that we were safely back on land, my guards crashed back into place.
“I wouldn’t call you that if you’d just tell me your name,” he pressed, smile dangerously close to my ear again.
I pulled away and stalked back through the exit. The cheer of the crowd greeted me. Faking a smile, I raised my arms and ‘woohed’ back to them. It wasn’t anything special to do with me. They’d done it the entire time I was in line with every person leaving the platform. Still, a heady rush of triumph saturated my veins.
I did it.
Back on the sidewalk of the amusement park path, I looked around for my traitorous coworker.
“That was epic!” Carla hollered.
“Then you should have done it,” I sassed back.
She shook her short shock of brown hair vehemently. “Oh, hell no! I prefer to live. Ready to grab some lunch?”
Before I could answer, her gaze shifted behind me. “Well, hello, handsome,” Carla gushed. “Aren’t you a tall drink of water?”
A deep rich chuckle caressed my spine.
But there was no pickup line this time, not for Carla. I didn’t want to know why that gave me a small burst of satisfaction, but it did.
“I just wanted to tell your friend thank you for holding my hand,” he said conspiratorially.
I rounded on him, eyes narrowed. That smirk was dazzling. My stomach did another flip.
“Do you know where The Warf is?” Carla interjected.
I could kill her. I should definitely kill her .
The stranger nodded slowly. “It’s by the condo I’m renting.”
That sparked my immediate interest—and slight concern. The condos there were rented for top dollar. The last thing I wanted him to know was that we cleaned over there regularly.
“Well, we’ll be there later. How about you buy us a couple of drinks?” Carla suggested.
The man never took his glacial gaze off me. “You’ll be there?”
I pursed my lips. “Seeing as I picked up a shift there, yep. Sure will.”
“Tonight, then.” He inclined his head. It was an incredibly small gesture, but it piqued my attention, nonetheless. He slid his hands into his pockets and sauntered away. The soft strains of a whistled tune carried on the breeze for a few moments before the loudspeakers of the amusement park buried them.
“He could scratch your itch, Vivian.” Carla nudged my shoulder.
I gave her a glare I didn’t feel. “You owe me lunch for ditching me on the swing drop.”
“Deal,” she sang out.
Arm in arm, we trudged to a 50’s style diner.
But her words bounced around my head. That stranger could be a bit of fun. And wasn’t that what I promised myself? I was going to live?
And if he’s the death of you?
I shrugged. It would be a fine way to die. Better than crashing to my death from a thrill ride. Decision made to be open to the idea, I ate happily.