The Conundrum of Collies (Love & Pets #6) - A.G. Henley Page 0,44

plane, and Dean hoots as he goes.

I need to pee—again.

“We’re up, Stevie,” Seth says from behind me. I realize in a vague way that he’s completely calm and confident despite my abject terror. Or probably because of it. “But Logan has something he wants to give you before we jump.”

We’re already attached through the harness, so I have trouble peering around at Logan to see what Seth could possibly mean. Did I mishear him?

Logan swims into view beside me, hands me a folded piece of paper, and kisses me—full on the lips. I don’t have time to ask him what he’s doing, or even to think, because Seth hustles me up to the open door. The videographer jumps out first, ready to film us.

The wind rushing by almost rips the paper from my hand, but I have a moment to open and read the note, written in Logan’s neat print, before Seth hauls himself and me into the rushing, ethereal, glittering blue sky.

My already pounding heart and sweaty palms hit overdrive. Because, to my absolute astonishment, the note that’s now crumpled in my fist says:

I’ve loved you since I met you, Stevie Watson.

Be mine.

Chapter Twenty

Logan

I don’t know that much about skydiving, but I’m convinced that this is the longest free-fall in history. Or maybe it only feels that way.

Mike and I cut through the air like tethered asteroids. My stomach stays somewhere overhead as the wind rushes past my ears. The ground grows alarmingly nearer and more detailed with every passing second. Not to be overly dramatic, but I feel closer to dying than I ever have, with the possible exception of when my bike brakes went out on a steep hill one time in my teens.

I’m not ready to die.

I want to really kiss Stevie. I want to make love to her. I want her by my side as we go through life, and now, I’ve pretty much told her so.

As I’m starting to wonder how much farther we’ll fall and if something’s gone wrong with the parachute, Mike deploys the canopy. With a startling jerk, we stop falling and start floating. I take a long breath and try to relax.

Now that I can focus on something other than impending death, I check out the view. The Rocky Mountains spread to the west and the wheat-brown high plains to the east, the skyscrapers of downtown Denver stand to the south. The clouds feel close enough to stroke their fluffy surfaces, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see a bird lazily wing by at eye level.

“Doing okay?” Mike asks from behind me.

I give him two thumbs up. If I hadn’t just laid my heart in Stevie’s hand in the form of a scrawled-on slip of paper, I’d be perfect. But as we get closer and closer to the landing area, reality sets in.

Stevie had read the note, glanced at me with wide eyes, and dove out of the plane with Seth. I’d watched her fall with fear like a stick of dynamite in my gut. Not the fear of us dying in a horrible skydiving accident. The fear of rejection.

How will she react? Will she be happy about my surprise admission or angry or disappointed or regretful? What will she say?

Despite the certainty of my own feelings, doubt sets in, and a clamminess crawls up my spine. Maybe this wasn’t a good idea. Stevie’s a free spirit, but she doesn’t always appreciate surprises. Then again, my feelings would have been a surprise no matter how I shared them with her. I had to tell her how I felt. At least this way she gets a little time and space to think about how to respond.

I watch as the videographer, and then Stevie and Seth, land smoothly in the grassy field below, running a little ahead of the parachute. Within a few minutes, Mike and I are on the ground, jogging ahead as our own canopy collapses softly behind us.

Tamara and Dean and their instructors are already unharnessed with their parachutes collected. As Stevie, Seth, Mike and I collect ours, my anxiety grows. Stevie hasn’t even looked my way.

“Mike, thank you. That was fantastic,” I say. “Once in a lifetime experience.”

He shakes my hand. “You did great. But it doesn’t have to be once in a lifetime. You guys are welcome back any time.” He grins and tilts his head toward Stevie, who’s walking with Tam and Dean to the van waiting to take us back to the hangar. “Maybe for