Strike (18 page)

“Yeah.” My busy fingers tangle in her soft damp hair.

“I lied.”
I knew it
. “I don’t know when I fell for you, all I know is I can’t go back to before … before you.”

“Like I said, I’m not going anywhere. You couldn’t get rid of me if you tried. I’ve only had a taste and I’m addicted. I’m a greedy man with a lot of things, but especially when it comes to you. You’re more than a one-time thing, April. Believe me.”

She sighs, and smooths her hands either side of my head, and kisses me softly. “Do you think you can you take tomorrow off work?” she asks.

“Maybe.” What the fuck is on tomorrow? Surely nothing I can’t cancel. I never call in sick.

April places her hand to my forehead. “Mmm. You’ve definitely got a fever coming on.”

“I need bed-rest, huh?” I raise my eyebrows up and down.

“Tomorrow morning I want you to do something with me.”

“What?”

“I can’t tell you yet. It’d spoil the surprise.”

“You are by far the biggest surprise.”

“So, will you do it?” she asks, hope dancing in her eyes.

What the hell am I getting myself into? Whatever it is, she’s just told me she needs me, and this may be the one chance I get to really show her and myself that I can commit to something more.

“Absolutely.”

“Great. You’re gonna love it.”

I sure hope so.

“You ready for your kiss goodnight?” I whisper.

“Always.”

****

Friday (Well before sunrise)

“What are you doing?” I ask as I try to cover my face before the flash blinds me again.

“This may be the last living photo of Spencer Jones.” She looks at the camera display. “You know, it pisses me off that at this hour of the morning you’re still ridiculously good looking.”

“Don’t hate me for it, beautiful. What time is it? The sun’s not even up.” I run my hands through my hair and stretch out, palming my dick.
Great
. Like clockwork, it’s boner time. As if there were any doubt. Especially with Beautiful, here, in bed with me.

“Exactly. Time to get out of here, so move your arse out of bed and put on something comfortable. Have you got jeans or shorts in your bag?”

I frown, wondering what the hell she’s got in mind. “Yeah. I guess jeans it is.”

CHAPTER ELEVEN

* SPENCER *

April bounds off the bed, and I watch with awe as she strips to nothing and slips on a lacy G-string, a tight black top and a pair of
very
short denim shorts. Not too short for me, but if we go out in public she’ll be drawing eyes from everywhere. She slips her hair into a ponytail and stands with her hands on her hips, her fluttering eyelashes silently telling me to get up.

“Fine.” I whip back the covers. I rub my hand over my hard dick, wishing I could deal with this first. Last night in the shower was something else. I’ll be dreaming about blowing my load over her all day. “Well, wherever we’re going, my boner’s coming with us.”

“I wouldn’t have it any other way,” she says, and then laughs a little too loud for my liking. There’s nothing fucking funny about a boner at this hour,
especially
when one can’t do something about it and I have to witness April in those tight shorts.

I take my phone off the nightstand and send Dad a text to let him know I’m not coming in today. It’s far too early to ring. Hopefully my absence won’t cause a shit-storm, but today I’m putting what I want first.
April.
Surely he remembers being young once? Not being so consumed with work, work, work?

I have no idea what today is going to bring. April’s little secret.

Hang on, what did she mean by “this might be the last living photo of Spencer Jones”?

What the fuck?

****

“Where are we going?” I ask again.

“Stop asking me. Just keep driving straight. I’ll tell you when to turn.”

Five kilometres later I stare at her, asking with wide eyes how much further.

She laughs and then stares back through the windscreen, smirking. “Keep going.”

Where are we going? We’re heading out west? It’s been half an hour already and I don’t have a bloody clue where she’s taking me.

“You need to take the next left onto Edgar Street,” she says.

A large green sign reads
Milperra
, but underneath in blue is
BANKSTOWN AIRPORT.

“And then right onto Marion Street,” she says.

A larger sign this time reads
Sydney Metro Airport
.

“Flying somewhere are we?” I ask.

“You’ll find out soon enough. Turn in here.”

****

“Did the Jump Queen fill you in on everything?” the pilot says, grinning far too much for this hour of the morning. The sun’s just starting to come up.

I give April a quizzical look. “Jump Queen? What the hell?”

“I’m a Tandem Master. I told you this was one of my earlier obsessions,” she says, as if I should have known.

“Yeah, but you failed to tell me the part where you were qualified to do this.”

“Didn’t you say, only last night, I seem to recall, that I was still a bit of a mystery to you? And that that’s half the fun? Where’s all the fun in telling you everything at once? It’s like a good book, Spencer. You get little pieces, clues along the way, and at the end it all becomes clear. Happily ever after, yada, yada, yada.”

“Fair call. One more piece of the April puzzle.”

April pulls me by the harness on my shoulders and stands on her toes. She’s grinning now, more than the damn pilot.

“You trust me with your life, Spencer, and I’ll trust you with my heart. It’s as simple as that.”

This is it. This is how I prove to her I’m worthy of her. That I’ll do whatever it takes to win her over. I have to face death, from … what did she say again? Fourteen thousand feet? Call me chicken shit, but that’s fucking a long way to fall.

I swallow the very large lump in my throat. “I trust you, April.”

I kiss her with everything I’ve got, my nerves a shattered mess, my head doing its best to process what I’m about to do … what
we’re
about to do. And then she’ll be mine.
Finally
.

I pull back and hold her head in my hands, my fingers sliding around to the nape of her neck. “You know, I don’t think I’ve ever been this scared and turned on all at the same time.” I shake my head. “You are one crazy girl and I can’t help but love you for it.”

****

* APRIL *

Oh. Oh my God. Did he say love? Really? My heart recognises that word and grabs hold of it like a beacon of hope. Does he mean it? Or is it just a turn of speech? He’s nervous. He probably didn’t mean it. Yeah, turn of speech.

“What can I say? I’m an adrenaline junkie. It’s in my blood.”

I shuffle into the back of the plane and open my legs for Spencer to sit in front of me. He stares between my legs and chuckles as he sits with his back to me.

“You know I’ve been dying for you to wrap those gorgeous legs around me, but this wasn’t quite what I had in mind.”

I snake my arms around his waist and kiss him loudly on the cheek. I hold him tight as the small plane taxies down the runway, and before we know it we’re up and on our way.

Spencer leans back into me and lets out a long breath. I’m grateful that I’d arranged for us to be the only ones jumping so we can talk without fear of others hearing us.

Spencer is quiet. But that’s not unusual.
Especially for a first-time jumper
. It also takes some getting used to being in a smaller plane. I know it freaked me out the first time.

I link the caribiners to his harness, pulling on the straps to make sure we’re secured together nice and tight.

“I wish I was being strapped to the back of you.
Then
it’d be an interesting jump,” he says.

“You know you should thank your lucky stars I’m not making you jump naked.”

“Thank Christ for that, because I’m pretty sure my dick wouldn’t survive it.”

I run my hands through his hair and pass him a pair of goggles. I straighten up the Go-Pro camera on my wrist, making sure we don’t miss a second of this.

“Spencer, when we come back down,” I whisper into his ear, “you can have me any way and every way you want me.”

He turns his head to face me, rapidly blinking his blue eyes. “I don’t need a raging hard-on right now. Why the fuck would you do that to me?”

“Time to jump, lovebirds,” the pilot says.

“Come on. Move your arse closer to the door and let’s do this,” I order.

I grab the rail above my head, and hold Spencer just inside the door. I point my finger towards the ground.

“Do you see that down there, Spencer?” I yell, competing with the influx of air into the cabin.

“What? I only see a few clouds,” he yells back.

“Down there, waiting for you, is the best sex you’ll ever have.”

He turns his head as far around as he can. “Who with?” he asks and then flashes me a Colgate-ad-worthy smile.

I’d thought I was the comedian. “Seriously? You’re fucking with the person responsible for pulling the chute?”

A nervous laugh escapes him. “I couldn’t resist. Come on. What the hell are we waiting for?”

“Exactly.”

We dive out of the plane, the familiar cushion surrounding us, the cool crisp air one hell of a wake up call.

Oh man. It’s good to be back.

****

* SPENCER *

When the chute opened, we were pulled with such force back in the direction we came. I can’t believe I did that. I jumped out of a fucking plane, a completely good plane, mind you—with April strapped to the back of me. I can’t fucking believe it.

Silence.

No longer is there the deafening rush of air in my ears, or the cold air slapping at my face with a vengeance. Now it’s just the mad beating of my heart.

We float, and I’m overwhelmed by the most amazing view. It’s spectacular.

“You know the tattoo of the sparrows on my shoulder?” April asks, reminding me, she’s still there.

I clear my throat. “Yeah.”

“It was inspired by this feeling, right now. Free like a bird. There’s nothing on earth that gives me this kind of peace.”

“It’s incredible … Beyond what I ever … I can see why you love it.”

After a few minutes of gently spinning in one direction and then the other, earth doesn’t seem as far away. April manoeuvres us with ease, sweeping us closer to the ground. We glide in and land on our arse in the middle of a green field.

I lie back and April unbuckles the harness. Unable to wait a second longer I draw her into my arms. I move in to kiss her, but she places a firm finger to my lips.

“You get one strike with me, Spencer. One strike and you’re out. My heart doesn’t do second chances.”

“I only need one chance.”

She squeals as I move her on top of me and kiss her, just like how I kiss her goodnight … which I seem to be doing every night lately. It’s going to be a hard habit to break when I have to travel.

“Come on. We’d better clear the DZ,” she says, pushing against my chest.

“The what?”

“We need to clear the drop zone. Get with the lingo, boy.” She winks as she gets to her feet.

“Sorry,
Tandem Master
,” I tease.

“Come on, let’s get out of here,” she says, but in my head, she’s telling me our sweet time together has arrived.

****

* APRIL *

After running to the car, Spencer’s hands are all over me. He doesn’t even care about all the traffic coming and going.

“Do you feel the adrenaline?” I whisper in his ear before pulling his earlobe into my mouth and sucking.

“How long do you reckon it’ll take to get back to your place this time of day?” he growls low in his throat.

“I don’t know, forty-five?”

“This is gonna be the longest fucking drive of my life. I think my place is quicker.”

“Wherever. Just hurry,” I plead, desperate for him to get the fuck out of this car park. “We need to get back while we’re still on this high.”

Spencer slams the car in reverse, and the tyres squeal as we get out onto the main road.

The first set of lights, of course, is red.

“I got tested the other week,” Spencer blurts out. He grabs my hand and squeezes firmly. “It’s was all clear. I just wanted you to know … I’ve always been careful.”

I was wondering when we might have this conversation, and it is important. It was something I was going to bring up, but it never seemed the right time. Not the most comfortable conversation to have. I guess now
is
the right time.

“Me too. I saw the doctor when I got back. All fine. I appreciate you telling me.”

Spencer weaves his fingers between mine and pulls my hand to his mouth, gently kissing my knuckles.

By the time we get to the third red light, I’m squirming impatiently in my seat and my hands have a mind of their own, running up Spencer’s leg. When the light goes green, instead of going straight Spencer turns sharply to the right, and after a few turns he stops in an empty car park near a field. He pulls on the handbrake and kills the engine.

“Back seat, baby. One more red light and I’m gonna lose it and drive straight through.”

I laugh as I fumble to open the door, and get out and climb into the back seat. Spencer moves into the middle and I straddle him and kiss him madly while I unbuckle the belt on his jeans. He squeezes my boobs through my shirt, causing me to groan loudly into his mouth.

“Get these shorts off,” he says, his voice all kinds of sexy desperation.

I sit beside him and slip my shorts and my now drenched panties off, while Spencer unzips his jeans and pushes them past his knees. I watch him roll a condom over his generous rock-hard dick.
Damn and damn
. I straddle him, sitting further back on his thighs. He slips his finger straight into my heat, and I buck against his hand as his thumb grazes my swollen clit.

“Fuck, you’re so wet,” he says.