Free Falling Read online

  He did such a good job of distracting me, telling me about how he came to be doing this, that I hardly even realized we’d made it to the skydive hangar. With renewed dread, I got out of the car and followed him inside the building. Wally took me to one of the offices, and started spouting off all sorts of technical things, explaining the process. I stood behind him, listening, but had a difficult time swallowing the knot in my throat.

  “We’ll get you geared up,” he said. “You’ll be strapped to me. I’ll do most of the work, but I’ll let you know if I need you for anything.”

  “Will you need me?” I asked, barely above a whisper. I didn’t know if I’d be level headed enough to help him.

  Smiling, he turned to me and cradled my face in his hands. “It’ll be fine, babe. You still wanna do it?”

  I nodded.

  “Good,” he said then kissed me on the forehead, causing my heart to thump faster.

  He brought me over to a corner and started strapping me into all of the equipment, steadily talking the entire time. “In a minute, I’ll get you to sign all the paperwork. I’ll be filming the whole thing and get you the disc. You’ll want it. Afterwards, we can even do an interview. Sometimes it’s cool to get the initial thoughts.”

  “Yeah,” I said, distantly. I was listening, but it was taking everything I had to remain composed. He was all in my personal space, clasping and tugging. Under different circumstances, it might have been a turn on having him so close, but I was a wreck and he was being professional.

  While he was still working, my phone vibrated on the desk. I ignored it, but Wally looked over, answered it and put it on speaker.

  I furrowed my brows at him. He only shrugged.

  My mother’s voice filled the room. “Punkin, you there?”

  Wally chuckled, working on a strap.

  “I’m here, mom,” I said.

  “Oh. Well, why didn’t you say anything?” Without letting me respond, she continued. “Your father and I are coming into town later today. Wanted to know if you’d be free.”

  “Uh, maybe,” I said. “I’m about to go skydiving.” I don’t know why I’d told her. It was typical for her to freak about these sorts of things.

  “What? Kristen Michelle. David,” she said, calling to my father. “David, do you know what your daughter is doing?”

  Once she told him, he grabbed the phone. “Now, punkin,” he said, and I rolled my eyes. It was embarrassing enough that they still called me that pet name in private, having Wally hear it was worse. “I hope you’re being safe.”

  “Yes,” I said. “I’m fine. It’ll be fine, Dad. Don’t worry. I just want to do it is all.”

  For a few minutes, they passed the phone back and forth giving me their opinion about my decision. I looked down, and saw that Wally was completely still, listening to the interaction with a huge grin on his face.

  “Think this is funny?” I asked.

  “It kinda is,” he said, smiling up at me.

  “Who’s that?” my mother asked.

  “Ugh, no one,” I said. “Listen, I’ll call you later okay?”

  She started to say something else, but I reached over and ended the call.

  Wally stood and clapped his hands. “Alright punkin, you ready to sign everything?”

  I swatted his arm, pretending not to love his playfulness.

  Once all of the legal issues were resolved and he was certain I understood everything that would be required of me, he took me outside and before I knew it, we were flying in the plane. Wally had a camera strapped to his left hand. The small plane had two rows. We were in the one furthest from the door, but in the first seat. I was nervous and could feel my hands shaking. Over my shoulder, Wally kept whispering words of encouragement, but I could barely comprehend what he was saying. Still, the smooth, relaxed timbre of his voice was calming me.

  I was in a daze and suddenly, we were standing in front of the open door, the wind pushing into me. All I saw were big, beautiful white clouds, and despite all my fear, I felt some of the tension leave me. I’d never seen anything this stunning.

  One of his hands came to my head. Gently, he pulled it back to rest on his shoulder. “I’ve got you,” he said. “Ready?”

  “Ready!” I yelled, smiling with nervous enthusiasm.

  He pushed us out. I was free falling, the wind rushing up to meet me—the pressure squishing my face and making my hair flap uncontrollably. My heart was beating rapidly in my chest. I wanted to laugh. I wanted to scream.

  Wally was yelling something at me. By the time I figured out what he was saying, I felt the tug against my body and the opening parachute slowed us down with a jerk.

  Filled with excitement, I started laughing, smiling huge and giggling uncontrollably. “Oh my gosh,” I kept saying.

  He chuckled behind me. “See,” he said. “I told you. Fun, isn’t it?”

  “Oh my gosh,” I said again. “It’s spectacular. I’ve never done anything like this in my life.”

  While we made our descent, he pointed out things in the landscape, making sure there was nothing that I might miss. In the distance, I could see whole towns and large fields. The world from this high looked so different. I’d been in airplanes before, so had some perspective, but it wasn’t the same. I had a complete 360 degree view, the wind washing over me, and Wally’s muscular body pressed against mine. Our feet hit the ground far too quickly, and I knew that I’d want to do this again someday.

  Still strapped to him, I said, “Thank you so much, Wally.”

  He gave my waist a squeeze. “You’re welcome, Punks.”

  Chapter 5

  Back in the office, he unstrapped me from all of the equipment. My heart was still racing, and a permanent smile was plastered on my face. I felt high, in a state of euphoria.

  Wally noticed and grinned. “I know that look. You got it now,” he said. “You’ll wanna do this all the time.”

  “Perhaps,” I said with a pleased sigh.

  He walked over to his computer and plugged in the camera, downloading my video. I watched his back. His shoulders were strong, and his hips narrow. Adrenaline was coursing through me. This was one of the most magical things I’d ever done, and that man had given it to me. Just because. No reason. He only wanted me to experience something that was important to him. I didn’t know what I was beginning to feel for him, but I liked it. This rush. This excitement. I wanted more.

  He turned around, ready to say something. Before he could, I walked straight up to him and placed my hands on his face. He tensed, his eyes looking startled. This wasn’t something he was expecting. I felt empowered knowing that I had the upper hand.

  My mouth hovered over his. “Thank you,” I whispered, telling him again how grateful I was. Our lips met once, twice. The tension left him and he placed his hands on my hips, pulling me against him. I gasped as our bodies touched.

  Wally moaned and tightly gripped one of my legs. Something broke inside us. We completely let go, our mouths and hands moving frantically and fast, touching everything, kneading everything, pulling and pushing, grabbing and squeezing.

  I could admit to myself that I’d wanted this from the moment I’d seen him, the very first time our eyes met. It was in his walk and the way he carried himself, the way he spoke and the expressions he made. It was in the way he looked at me. No one had ever looked at me that way before. He was completely enamored. I felt the same way. I was unashamed of it, not caring if he knew how desperate he made me.

  Everything was happening fast. We bumped into a rolling chair and Wally swatted it away. With a thump, my back hit a wall, jarring me. His hand came to my leg and he wrapped it around his waist. Our lips were touching any exposed skin we could find, our bodies pushing in as close as they could.

  “I want you,” I said.

  “You’re gonna have me,” he said and pulled me away from the wall.

  Blindly, he led me to a desk. With a sweep of his arm, he sent papers flying to the f
loor.

  Wally seemed unwilling to let me go, holding me close with one arm. His other hand tangled in my hair as he kissed me senseless. Wanting more of him, my hands went to his pants. Quickly, I unbuckled them, took him in my hand and squeezed.

  His kiss ended abruptly with a guttural moan.

  “Take off your shoes,” he said. Awkwardly, I did and in one hard jerk, he had my pants pulled down my legs.

  He placed me on the desk and not bothering with the rest of his clothes, grabbed my hips, pulled me to the edge, and slid inside.

  I gasped and tightened, hugging my legs around him. We were still, looking into each other’s eyes. He was large, stretching me, and when he finally began pumping his hips, my head fell back on a deep, pleasured moan.

  After a few minutes, I heard him say, “I knew it.”

  “Knew what?” I asked breathlessly.

  “That it would be this fucking good.”

  I did too.

  I braced my hands against the desk, raising my hips to meet his thrusts. He held me, pulling me onto him. Wally was vocal; unembarrassed in telling me how much he was enjoying this, enjoying me. Our eyes met and he smiled.

  “So fucking good, babe,” he said again.

  I agreed and managed to smile back. My body was moving in a wave, rolling and receding on him. It wouldn’t be much longer for me.

  With a slow hand, he pushed my shirt and bra up, exposing my breasts. All of his playfulness melted away, lust taking its place. He lowered my hips back to the desk and leaned into me, pushing me down to my elbows.

  He was going deep, and I could feel it starting. “Yes,” I breathed, my eyes rolling back. He kept up the pace until I was moaning loudly, unable to control myself.

  He didn’t relent, making my breath leave my lungs in quick, shallow exhales. When he saw that I couldn’t take anymore, he slowed down, pushing in as deep as he could go and rolling out again.

  “Damn,” he said, watching my face. “I can’t…” he trailed off.

  Suddenly, he pulled back, grabbing my hips. With quick, determined thrusts, he watched me. When I saw that he was nearly there, I sat up and brought my mouth to his. Our lips barely touched as he finished with a choking groan.

  We took a moment to slow our breathing. I was hugging him, rubbing my hands along his back and shoulders. I had never done anything like this. It was so spontaneous and wild. My legs felt weak, and I wasn’t sure if I was ready to stand, but then abruptly he pulled away and righted his clothes.

  Without a word he walked back over to the computer. On the other side of the door, I heard a few snickers and knew that we’d had an audience. As I righted my clothes, I felt a wave of discomfort wash over me. I didn’t mind that we’d done it here, but that didn’t mean I wanted people spying on us.

  Someone banged on the door and yelled his name, slightly laughing.

  “Give me a minute,” he called, still with his back to me.

  Maybe I should leave, I thought. Maybe this was a regular thing for him. I didn’t want him to think that I wanted or needed more. Not because I didn’t want it. I did, but I didn’t want him to know that I did.

  Over by the computer he cleared his throat. As quietly as possible, I finished getting dressed. He still hadn’t turned around and was occupied with the computer, clicking and clicking. I grabbed my purse, and opened the door. After I stepped through and the latch was closing, I heard him start to say something, but I didn’t stay to find out what it was.

  In the hallway, a few of his coworkers stopped to give me knowing smiles or little titters of laughter. I ignored them, and walked to my car. With one last look at the hangar, I smiled, not knowing if I’d ever see him again, and drove off.

  Chapter 6

  Over a week had passed since I’d gone skydiving. I hadn’t heard from Wally. I didn’t reach out to him. I couldn’t. But I wanted him to reach out to me.

  I wanted him to ask to see me, to send me flirty text messages and sweet notes as he did before. But I didn’t get that. I got silence. I tried to make peace with it. I tried to chalk it up to a wild moment. I was allowed to have them. I tried to pretend that the last part didn’t happen. But that was impossible.

  One thing was true, it had been good. At work, I’d find myself bathing a dog, my mind in a daze, remembering what it had felt like to be with him. I wanted more from him, but he didn’t seem like the type to give it. This might be all that ever happened between us. I could live with that I supposed. Even though it disappointed me, I could get past it.

  Just when I thought that I was putting it behind me, I received a package in the mail. It was from Wally. Or rather Exhilarating Skydives. It was a thick manila envelope. Excited I went to open it, and smiled when I found a disc with my recorded dive inside. The label said, “Punks’ Skydive. Enjoy.” I could only imagine that the messy handwriting was Wally’s, and I pressed my fingers to it, running them over his chaotic script.

  Giddy all over again, I went to my DVD player and put it in. It started with us on the landing strip, waiting to get on the plane. Wally and some of the other instructors were asking me questions; questions I never even remember answering. With a blank look, I nodded and gave short one-word responses. Eventually, Wally told everyone to leave me alone, one of his hands protectively resting on my waist.

  On the plane, you could see my terror, and all the things I couldn’t remember from the actual jump came flooding back.

  The camera on Wally’s hand showed me sitting in between his legs, his other hand rubbing up and down my arm. “You scared, babe?” he asked.

  “Yes,” I said.

  “You trust me to take care of you?” He was smiling, peering at me over my shoulder.

  “Yes,” I said again.

  “That’s my girl,” he said, placing a kiss on my arm.

  “What if I can’t do this?” I asked him.

  “You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to. But I believe in you. You can do it, Punks.”

  “Right,” I said, nodding my head, trying to absorb his confidence. It was sweet to see us like that, cuddled together, him murmuring to me, my eyes closing as I attempted to soak in his strength.

  The rest was mostly smiles; mine as we jumped out of the plane, as the wind pushed my face into a distorted, floppy mess; his as he watched me laugh and enjoy myself. I was overcome with tenderness as I saw us land on the ground.

  The screen faded to black, and I went to turn it off, but then the words “Interview” flashed.

  I didn’t remember giving an interview. A nervous twinge went up my spine as I started anticipating what I was about to see.

  Wally’s face was in the camera. “Alright,” he whispered to himself, “I think I figured this out.”

  He turned around and I approached him. Begging and hoping that what I thought was about to happen wasn’t, I put my hand over my mouth.

  Frozen, I watched us. We looked crazed, grabbing and tugging. Our breathing was heavy, the angle awkward. I could only see parts of us; his back or my side. It was loud, much louder than I remembered. Boxes were scraping across the floor, toppling over. Chairs were squeaking across the slick tile.

  We were on the wall. I told him that I wanted him. He promised that I’d have him. There was something so perverse about seeing the two of us undress and watching him push inside me.

  Where the earlier angle had been awkward, this one was perfect—a side view of us on the desk. I watched, feeling a mixture of emotions and feelings. The strongest definitely being anger and arousal. Despite, how furious I was with him for doing this, I couldn’t deny that I was extremely turned on.

  He’d just told me how good I felt. When my orgasm started, I had to turn away, but then peeked back, curiosity winning out. It was strangely erotic to see myself come apart like that.

  The door to the office was in the background. If I looked just right, I could see feet shuffling back and forth behind it.

  “Fucking perverts,” I said.
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  I couldn’t watch the rest, but didn’t turn it off, placing my head in my hands. My heart was pounding and the full level of my anger reached me. This was the most messed up thing anyone had ever done to me.

  When I looked back up, we were finished, my hands rubbing up and down his back, him squeezing my spread legs.

  With a frustrated huff, I took the disc out of the player and threw it across the room.

  “Asshole!” I screamed.

  I started pacing, trying to decide what needed to be done. Obviously, I had to confront him. This was bullshit. I looked down at myself and saw that I was still in pajamas.

  Holding on to the anger, I stormed to my room and jerked my clothes off. I sped through my morning routine, and was standing in my living room in record time.

  Before I raced away in my car, I took a moment to try and compose myself. What would I say to him? Where would I find him? Did I need to relax? Was I overreacting?

  Trying the diplomatic approach first, I pulled out my phone and sent him a text.

  I need to talk to you, I sent. Can we meet up?

  For thirty whole minutes, I waited. Considering how pissed I was, my restraint should be commended.

  “Fine,” I said to no one. “You won’t answer me? I’ll come to you.”

  Lucky for me his car was a piece of shit. I still had the text message with his address in my phone.

  Chapter 7

  My anger hadn’t dissipated much on the drive to his house. Not letting my nerves get the better of me, I stepped out of the car and walked to his front door. I knocked. I waited. No one came.

  I huffed. I groaned. I knocked again. Still, no one.

  Over my shoulder, I heard someone approaching and turned. A pretty brunette was walking across the street, heading straight towards me.

  “Hey,” she said. “You here to see Wally?”