The boat attendant double-checks our harnesses, calling out confirmations to his partner. “All set,” he says finally, and beside me Josie claps her hands.

Parasailing.

After the morning’s hike, she insisted that it was her turn to plan an excursion, and that her turn would begin as soon as we got back to the suite. Phase one of the plan: take a nap.

It must have been a more taxing hike than I thought, Josie had to wake me up, her hair still tousled. I can’t say I minded having her kiss me all the way from my neck to my…

Well, you get the idea.

She rushed us through the shower and then out to the resort’s boat launch, eyes shining. Now, twenty minutes later, we’re out on the ocean, the water sparkling in every direction, about to get hauled behind the boat attached to a giant multi-colored canopy.

The attendant steps back near the console that must control the winch and gives us a thumbs-up. Josie gives him one back, the cheesiest grin on her face that I’ve ever seen. My heart pounds in my throat. I haven’t exactly admitted to her that dangling above the water gives me goosebumps. I might work in a high-rise, but you won’t ever see me cleaning the windows, if you know what I’m saying.

I’m deathly afraid of heights.

Josie reaches out and grabs my hand, holding it tightly in hers. “I love parasailing!” she cries as we start to lift away from the boat. My stomach drops at the sight of it drawing away, but then Josie laughs out loud and squeezes my hand. The sound fills me with a strange sense of calm.

It’s gentler than I thought, and within a few minutes, we’re soaring above the waves behind the boat, the hum of the engine and the fluttering wind combining in my ears. It’s fucking beautiful up here—she was right about that.

Josie looks at me, her hair whipping around her face, beaming. “Do you love this?”

I want nothing more than to tell her that the only reason I’m doing this is because she asked me to. Instead, I manage to get one word out. “No!”

She throws her head back and laughs again. “Charlie Cash, are you telling me right now that you’re afraid of heights?”

“I’m never going to admit that,” I call over the rushing of the wind. 

I expect her to make a joke, but she squeezes my hand harder. “The water,” she says, jutting her chin toward the expanse of the ocean. “I love seeing the water like this. Like we’re flying.”

Flying.

It might be slowly killing me to be eight hundred feet above the ocean, but being here with Josie feels like flying. It really does. Something changed in the dark this morning, on the top of that hill, and it’s like I’m seeing her for the first time all over again. She’s not the ice queen who ignored my brother’s suffering in high school. She’s not the stupid drunk whose main goal is to get herself killed. She’s a gorgeous woman who happens to love death-defying acts like parasailing.

It strikes me that I would do more than this for her.

Josie looks out over the water, her grin almost out of control, and lets out a whoop that takes pure joy to another level. It’s the best thing I’ve seen in weeks. Maybe years.

Being up here is worth it.

* * *

Back on the boat, my skin tingles with leftover adrenaline. There are two other couples waiting to take their trips in the harnesses, and Josie settles against me in one of the plush leather seats toward the front. There’s nothing holding her away from me—no stiffness, no hesitation. But something else beats in my chest. I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it since she told me this morning.

For once, I don’t have to hold back. The wind surrounds us, so nobody else is going to hear. “I hate that asshole,” I say into her ear.

She turns to me, wrinkling her nose. “The captain?”

“Your fiancé.” 

Josie groans, resting her head on my shoulder. “And I didn’t even tell you the whole story.”

Anger runs hot through my veins. Somehow, it’s worse than being cheated on myself. “Look,” I tell her. “I try to be above shit like this, as a rule. Whoever he is, he’s a fucking idiot.” She laughs, her shoulders shaking against my chest. “But you can tell me the rest of the story if you want.” I can be honest with her. “Whatever happened to you, I want to know about it.”

She gives me a lingering look, then kisses my cheek before she cuddles back in. “The simple version is that he cheated on me, and for a long time. I found out the night before I came here.”

I pull her in closer, if that’s even possible, and hold on tight. “Shit. I’m sorry I—”

“You couldn’t have known,” she says, brushing away the apology. “The thing is, he was cheating on me with his assistant.”

The image of a tall blonde comes to mind. I don’t know how anyone could prefer another woman over Josie—just looking at her makes me hard—but maybe she wasn’t this douchebag’s type. “Let me guess. She was gorgeous and came onto him?”

“He.”

It takes a moment for understanding to register, but when it does, a bitter fury surges in my throat. “Are you fucking kidding me?”

“No.” She swallows hard. “I came back early from having dinner with my parents—” She rushes over that bit. “—and saw them kissing in the hallway outside our apartment. The thing is—” Josie puts a hand over her eyes. “I’ve been with him since college. I can’t believe he lied to me that long, and that I didn’t know, that I couldn’t tell.” She takes a breath, squaring her shoulders, even though she’s still pressed up against me. “That’s what I get.”

“No way. None of that is your fault.” Another couple lifts off, the woman shrieking with delight. “You didn’t deserve that from him. From anyone.”

She turns, burying her face in my chest, and I can feel her smiling. Then she picks up her head and kisses me hard, on the mouth, in front of everyone. The captain whistles from his post behind the wheel. When she pulls away again it takes me a few beats to resurface from underneath the sheer heat of it.

Josie grins. “Oh, I did,” she says, casually, like she’s always believed it. “That’s what I get for being so serious about a guy.” She shrugs. “Not a good use of time, I’d say.” She reaches up and runs one fingertip over my bottom lip. “This, on the other hand…”

We spend the rest of the boat ride just like that.