Free Freefall (Santa Cruz Skydivers Book 1) by Joanne Efendi Page A

last night and turn all psycho bitch, but I really hoped that whatever happened between us last night didn’t change our friendship. She was my best friend. My two key words of the day, optimistic and hopeful, were suitable for this situation as well. Optimistic she was still talking to me and hopeful that everything would be okay when I saw her later today.
    I shook my head to clear it of all negative thoughts. Nothing was going to get me down today, other than a parachute with a really cute guy strapped to it. Freeing myself of the negativity that was clouding my mind, I jumped in my Jeep, turned over the loud V8 engine, and cranked the music. Before backing down the drive, I unzipped the windows in Jeep’s canvas soft-top so I could feel the crisp morning air wash over my face as I drove toward the airport.
    Levi was right, it was a gorgeous day. The sky was a beautiful light blue, not one cloud in sky. Once I was on the highway leading out to the airport, I ate my protein bar and sang along to my favorite Linkin Park song at the top of my voice, beating out the drum beats on my steering wheel. I sucked at singing, but what I lacked in talent, I certainly made up for with enthusiasm.
    Arriving at the skydiving clubhouse ahead of time, I pulled into the parking lot and killed the engine. It certainly wasn’t what I was expecting, but then again, I hadn’t really given it much thought. The clubhouse overlooked the runway and resembled a raised log cabin with steps leading up to a front porch. Immediately, I began hyperventilating. Perhaps not taking my anti-anxiety pill wasn’t such a good idea after all.
    I was torn between wanting the adventure and being too chicken to actually jump. I must have changed my mind a dozen times, and had decided I didn’t want to risk the chance of dying when Levi suddenly appeared at my open window.
    “Boo,” he said as he popped up.
    I screamed and nearly hit my head on the roof of my Jeep as I jump in fright.
    “Argggh. Levi, you nearly gave me heart failure.” I clutched my racing heart and he laughed loudly at my reaction.
    His laughter had finally calmed down enough to talk. “That was priceless. I saw you pull up about five minutes ago. What’s taking you so long? You’re not having second thoughts already?”
    “How did you know?”
    We had known each other less than twenty-fours hours, but it was like he knew me already. Either that or being chicken shit nervous in the parking lot before a skydive jump was a common occurrence.
    “Just a hunch.” He shrugged his shoulders and grabbed the door handle of the Jeep, opening the door for me. “I love your Jeep, by the way. How does it handle off-road?”
    “Um, I’ve never been off-road before,” I confessed as I jumped out of the Jeep and zipped the windows up before I locked the door and slammed it close. “I’m not really an outdoors type.”
    He shook his head at me. “Yet you have one of the coolest off-road vehicles around. I can see I’m going to have to take you off-roading. I’ll add it to the list of things I need to educate you on.”
    He gave me a little wink. My heart, that had only just started beating its normal rhythm, once again began pounding hard in my chest.
    “If you’re talking about that drinking competition...” I started.
    “Well, there is that too,” he agreed as he took my hand in his. I was about to go into cardiac arrest. “Come on, let’s go sign your life away so we can jump out of a perfectly good plane.”
    I decided to ignore his sexual innuendos. Actually, my mind was having trouble focusing on anything else other than him holding my hand. Judging from last night and now, he was clearly a hand holder. Not that I minded, far from it. It’s just I was so anxious I was sweating bullets. My palm must have felt wet and slick.
    “Don’t you want to know what else I want to teach you?” He raised his left eyebrow, practically begging for me to respond.
    I opted for playing it