by Joanna Wylde
I opened the bedroom door, tiptoeing past Lexi’s bedroom (which Isaac and his girlfriend had taken over) and then Kayden’s (full of Aiden and his family). I passed through the living room to the kitchen. My littlest brother was sound asleep on the couch, but there was no sign of Lexi on the air mattress.
Little shit had probably snuck out to see that boy again.
I thought he was an asshole, but my sister was stubborn as hell. She insisted that he was one of the good ones. They hadn’t even slept together yet, or so she claimed. Hard to know.
At least we were on the home stretch—just one more year of high school, and then she’d be free to destroy her life any way she wanted.
“Hey,” Rome said quietly as I reached the kitchen. He stepped over to me, tipping my chin up for a kiss. I melted into him, then slid my hand toward the front of his pants. Maybe if I lured him into sex, he’d let me go back to sleep instead of doing this crazy thing.
He caught my hand, stopping it as he nipped my lip in punishment.
“Nice try, nympho. You can’t get out that easy.”
I pretended to pout, and he gave my ass a little smack.
“You ready for this?” he asked.
“No. Skydiving is against the laws of God and nature.”
“You don’t have to do it,” he reminded me. “But your brothers are here. If you chicken out, you’ll have to face them.”
He made a good point. Aiden and Isaac could be ruthless, and they got along with Rome way too well.
“Okay,” I told him. “Let’s go and get it over with.”
“You always make me feel so loved.”
“Asshole.”
He smacked my butt again, and we headed out the door.
The sun had just come up when our little plane took off.
It belonged to a friend of Rome’s dad, and somehow Rome had convinced him to get up at oh-dark-thirty so we could do this. One of his smoke jumping friends came along, too. They probably needed someone to deal with the doors and stuff… I’d decided I didn’t want to know all the details—thinking about details could lead to thinking about what I was about to do.
That wouldn’t end well.
I looked down at my harness one last time. Everything was strapped on tight, checked, and double checked, and now I was stuck sitting on his lap. I reminded myself that Rome had been jumping out of planes half his life, and that he’d qualified as an instructor years ago. He’d jumped into the back country to fight fires, and he’d jumped tandem with his mother on her sixtieth birthday. She’d survived the experience just fine—we’d had dinner with her last week. I didn’t have anything to worry about.
Skydiving was supposed to be fun.
The plane climbed higher—much higher than seemed prudent. Rome was oblivious, laughing and talking to the guy next to us. I ignored them, focusing on not passing out.
Then it was time.
Rome’s friend kicked the door open, and wind filled the plane. Rome reached for the rail along the side. I pushed back, not quite ready. I could see the whole valley down below us, just like I’d seen in his video.
Except this was real.
Was I actually going to jump off this thing wearing the world’s flimsiest harness, and just count on him not to get us killed? Shouldn’t I have more straps, or something? And duct tape. Wouldn’t this be safer with duct tape?
“Take a deep breath, Randi!” Rome shouted, breaking my string of panicked thoughts. “It’ll be just like we practiced. I’ll count to three and then we’ll jump. You can scream when you go out the door, but don’t forget to keep your eyes open. You’re going to love it!”
I forced myself to nod, and he reached for the bar again. It was time to go. I felt Rome’s muscles tense and tried to keep my eyes open, reminding myself to breathe. I’d made him promise not to go until I was ready.
Was I ready? No. But if I waited any longer, I’d turn chicken. I could feel a great big cowardly squawk building inside my chest, and he’d been right about one thing—Aiden and Isaac would be ruthless if I chickened out.
I was going to jump out of this plane, if only to spite them.
“Okay!” I shouted, giving him a thumbs-up. You can do it you can do it you can do it!
“You sure?” he yelled back.
“Yes!”
Rome hesitated. Why the hell weren’t we jumping? Didn’t he realize I was about two seconds away from peeing my pants? Go go go go go!
“Will you marry me?” he shouted.
My heart pounded, and the wind roared in my ears. I wondered if I’d heard him right.
“What?”
“Will you marry me!” he shouted again, and this time there was no mistaking it—he’d just proposed. Suddenly it all came together. My brothers turning up out of nowhere, and how he insisted that we do this at sunrise.
Right when the sun comes up, he’d said.
He’d been planning this all along, I realized, stunned. Oh, Rome McGuire was a sneaky bastard. A sneaky, sneaky bastard totally capable of dangling off the side of an airplane until I answered his question.
I tried to think, starting to feel giddy.
Rome wanted to marry me. Me, Randi Whittaker, along with all my baggage and extra mouths to feed. Only a crazy idiot would do that. Of course, he had just proposed to me while hanging off the side of an airplane…
We definitely had the crazy part covered.
“Randi?”
I realized I’d left Rome hanging. Literally. I needed to answer or I’d never get back to the ground.
“You’re insane!” I shouted. “But you have a magic dick, so I’ll marry you anyway! Now let’s jump before I pee my pants!”
I thought I heard him laugh.
“I got you, Randi!”
Then we were out the door and flying into the morning sun.
Together.
* * * *
Also from 1001 Dark Nights and Joanna Wylde, discover Shade’s Lady.
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Shade’s Lady
A Reapers MC Novella
By Joanna Wylde
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New York Times bestselling author Joanna Wylde returns to the world of the Reapers Motorcycle Club…
Looking back, none of this would’ve happened if I hadn’t dropped my phone in the toilet. I mean, I could’ve walked away from him if I’d had it with me.
Or maybe not.
Maybe it was all over the first time he saw me, and he would’ve found another way. Probably—if there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that Shade always gets what he wants, and apparently he wanted me.
Right from the first.
* * * *
“Hi,” I said, smiling uncertainly. “I’m—”
“Mandy,” Shade said, eyes sweeping down my figure. I got the sense that he saw everything in that glance, from the red bra just peeking out of the top of my tank top to the fact that my ex-husband had gotten me arrested last year. “I know who you are. We met at the barbecue, remember?”
Oh, I remembered all right. He’d caught me by a belt loop on my jeans, pulling me just close enough for our bodies to brush against each other. Then he’d whispered I’d be welcome on the back of his bike any time.
Somehow, I’d managed to squeak out that I had a boyfriend.
Shade had laughed, running one finger under my chin, tilting my head up toward his. “That’s your problem, baby. You don’t need a boy—you need a man. Call me when you’re ready.”
Just the memory was enough to turn my face neon red. Thankfully, Bone was the kind of boss who believed a dimly-lit bar is a good bar, so hopefully it wasn’t too obvious to the badass standing in front of me.
“Great to see you again,” I told him, and I’m proud to say my voice didn’t squeak this time. “I’ll be your waitress tonight. Bone is pouring drinks right now.”
“Thanks, babe,” Shade said. “Lead the way.”
I started toward the back of the room, feeling the weight of his eyes the entire time. Well, either that or I was hallucinating, which was also a realistic possibility. The man was too potent for his own good—like catnip for women. Too many pheromones or some such. It really wasn’t my fault that he’d drugged me with his sexiness. Fortunately, I was smart and knew better.
(Fingers crossed.)
We reached the back room, and I fumbled with the keys to unlock the door. It wasn’t part of the bar proper, although there were tables and chairs back here. Bone used it for large groups and occasionally storage. For some reason I couldn’t get the key into the little hole, and the fact that Shade stood right behind me—radiating heat and pure fuckability, the bastard—wasn’t helping. Then his hand reached around mine, grasping the key and sliding it into the door with a slow, sure motion.
You know, that’s probably how he’d—
Shut up! I screeched mentally at my idiotic girl parts. You have a boyfriend and this guy is a murderer. Or something. Definitely something. NO quintuplets for you.
The door swung open. Apparently Bone had known they were coming, because the smaller tables had been shoved together to make one long surface, and the boxes that’d been in here yesterday were gone.
Shade caught my hips in his hands, gently pushing me to the side as his biker brothers filed in past him. I waited for him to let go but he didn’t. He decided to run his thumbs up and under the side of my tank instead. I shivered.
“I’ll be right back with your drinks,” I said, hoping Bone knew what they wanted because my brain had stopped working. The last thing I needed was a bunch of Reapers pissed off at me for fucking up their order. Shade didn’t drop his hands, just loosened his grip and lowered his head, taking in my scent.
My nipples went tight and he gave a low chuckle. Then he dropped his hands, brushing past me without a second glance.
“Sounds good, babe,” he said, stepping into the room. “Shut the door behind you.”
On behalf of 1001 Dark Nights,
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Table of Contents
Book Description
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Epilogue