“Give me ten minutes,” she said as she leaped up and practically ran off to dress. She didn’t want to give him any chance to change his mind. His phone could ring at any moment with an emergency, and then their day would be over.
She emerged in nine minutes, feeling quite proud of herself. She’d simply tossed her hair back in a ponytail and thrown a baseball cap on her head. It was bright out, so she didn’t bother with much makeup, and her jeans and shirt were the first in the pile she came to.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen a woman get ready so quickly.”
“Then you’re hanging out with the wrong women.”
“I grew up with two sisters. I’m used to waiting on the opposite sex.”
Rafe’s referring to his sisters and not former mistresses put Ari in an even better mood. She was up for their mysterious adventures to begin.
“I can’t do this. No way!” Ari said in a near panic as a man assisted her into a suit and tightly strapped her in.
“You can do it, Ari. Trust me, this will be a thrill you will never forget,” Rafe answered with laughter.
“What if the cable breaks?”
“It won’t break; I’ll bet my entire fortune on it.”
“That’s an easy bet for you to make, considering I’ll be nothing but a splash of blood on the cement below and unable to collect!”
“You can back out now, but I promise you will regret it if you do. I thought you weren’t such a chicken,” he said. Ari narrowed her eyes and closed her mouth. There was no way she was going to let him hold it over her head that she was too afraid to go on his thrill-seeking adventure, even if she did feel dangerously queasy.
“I swear that if I die, I’ll haunt you the rest of your life. You won’t know a moment’s peace,” she warned him.
“I’ll hold you to that,” he said as they stepped into the elevator for the short ride to the platform atop the Stratosphere tower.
“This is the highest controlled free-fall jump in the world. You need to follow the safety instructions to the letter. It is a thrill, but you have to use caution,” the instructor said when the doors opened and another man began strapping cables to Ari’s suit.
Was she really going to do this? Danger was not her middle name. Heck, she was even afraid of roller coasters. How could she have let Rafe goad her into jumping from a tall building and plummeting 855 feet to the ground below — the equivalent of 108 stories? She had to be crazy.
“Just take a small step and you’ll have the thrill of your life,” said the man next to her. It was easy for him to tell her to leap; he wasn’t the one about to plunge to his death.
But it wasn’t going to get any easier. Ari closed her eyes and walked off the little platform. Ooof! Whoa! As the wind was knocked from her lungs, and she began plummeting toward the hard cement far below, she said a quick prayer.
She must have got her breath back because she heard screaming, and the screaming was coming from her own throat. Blood was rushing through her veins and her heart was pounding so hard, she worried that it might rip right through her chest, but as she flew toward the ground, she forgot most of her fear.
She slowed as the ground rose to meet her, and allowing her eyes to take in the Las Vegas Strip, she felt an odd sense of freedom. For one small instant she was jealous of the birds.
Before she knew it, she was landing — on her feet, thankfully — and a man rushed up to assist her out of her straps.
“Did you have a good fall?”
“No. I’m afraid I’m happier that it’s over than I am excited to have done it. Please don’t tell the man who’s coming down behind me, though,” she said with a relieved laugh.
“This is something you either love or hate. There’s not a lot of in between for this ride.”
Ari agreed with him on that. As she stepped out of her suit, she heard a shout and looked up to see Rafe roaring toward her. Pure joy suffused his face.
To see him wear such an expression completely canceled out her earlier fright. He so rarely ever did something for pleasure alone — with the exception of sex — that she was grateful to be sharing this moment with him.
“What did you think? Was it great?” he asked her even before the attendants were able to unstrap him.
How could she disappoint him? “It was terrifying, but a little thrilling too,” she admitted.
“Want to go for a second trip?” he asked eagerly.
“No!” she answered quickly, then gave her heart a moment to calm down before continuing. “I’m glad I jumped, but once is plenty for me. If you have anything else like that planned for the day, I’m going to have to decline.”
“I promise that was the worst of the daredevil stuff. The rest of the day is all about fun,” he promised.
What frightened Ari was that his idea of fun and hers seemed completely opposite. As they left the Stratosphere and caught a cab to an area closer to their hotel, Ari enjoyed the warm air and the sight of all the tourists.
When they entered the Mandalay Bay and she discovered a large shark tank, she turned an incredulous eye on Rafe.
“I promise you won’t have to come near the sharks; there’s a great water park where you can go down the slide if you want and look at their beautiful collection of marine life.”
“Are you going?”
“Not on that one. If you don’t mind, I’d like to dive. You could sit in the observation room and watch if you wish.” The hopeful tone of his voice was refreshing. He wasn’t telling her she had to sit and wait for him; he was asking if she wouldn’t mind. It made a huge difference in how she felt about it.
“I’d love to see you play with the sharks. One of them may eat you,” she added with a wide grin.
“Are you really so ready to get rid of me?” he growled as he pulled her into his arms.
“Mmm, not today,” she offered before he silenced her with his mouth, leaving her breathless in a matter of seconds. His hands moved down her back and gripped her backside, pulling her tightly against him for a moment.
“I think it’s far more dangerous to be standing here with you than to enter the shark tank,” he said before squeezing her hips, then letting go and pulling her toward the scuba room. “This isn’t nearly as great as diving in Mexico, but I haven’t had the chance to get down there for a while, so it’s better than nothing.”
“Do you do this kind of thing a lot?”