Freefall (Santa Cruz Skydivers Book 1) by Joanne Efendi

secret. “Andi saved me from the boredom and a rather sticky situation. She was just the right company I was looking for.”
    Frankie raised her left pierced eyebrow at me, pursing her lips.
    With that one look, she made me feel inadequate and insignificant. I decided to try and change the topic onto something more current. Anything other than my appearance. “Sorry to interrupt, but shouldn’t I be filling some forms out or something?”
    She put her professional smile back in place. “Of course you should. We don’t want to get sued in case anything goes wrong.”
    My expression must have been priceless.
    “Don’t listen to her,” Levi told me. “I won’t let anything happen to you, other than us having a great time, of course. Frankie is just jealous. She’s been trying to get me to take her up since I started here this week.”
    “Damn straight I’m jealous,” she agreed. “I’ve jumped with all the guys except you.”
    “Even though Frankie has her jump ticket, and is probably more experienced than me, she still likes to tandem,” he explained to me.
    “I love jumping tandem,” she gushed, a faraway look in her eyes. “Its a rush, having no control over when your chute opens, pushing your fear to the last minute, and you have to rely on someone else to pull the cord. It’s the one time I don’t like to be in control, if you know what I mean. Besides, who wouldn’t want to be strapped to LJ?”
    My jaw dropped at her loaded innuendos, but Levi only laughed. “That’s enough from you, Frankie. Now give Andi her forms so we can go jump.”
    Frankie smiled coyly and obliged, pushing a couple of forms over the counter in my direction. I took the forms and started filling them out.
    “Andi, I’ll meet you in the jump room. I’ve got to go prep and run through a safety check. We’ll be landing on the beach today, so you’re in for a great view of the bay. You’re going to love it.”
    His green eyes twinkled and explored mine briefly like he wanted to say something else. Instead, he flashed me a megawatt smile and, as he turned away, accidentally brushed his hand lightly across my butt, causing tiny shivers to run through my body.
    Like me, Frankie watched Levi walk away into the next room. Once he was gone, she turned her attention back to me. “So, Andi, after you fill out your personal details, you need to read the disclaimer and sign down the bottom.” She pointed where I needed to sign. “When you’re done, I’ll need you to get on the scales. We need an accurate weight so LJ can calculate when he needs to open the chute. The heavier you are, the quicker the freefall.”
    “He’ll see my weight?” I blurted out before I could filter my comment. One thing I didn’t want him to know was how heavy I was.
    “Don’t worry, you’re not the most overweight we’ve had here before. I’m sure he’ll get his calculations right.”
    I frowned, unsure whether she was having a dig at me. I chose to brush it off. “I have full faith in him. I’m not worried about his calculations,” I mumbled while I signed the forms and handed it back to her.
    The weigh-in wasn’t as painful as I had thought. Either their scales were wrong, or I had actually dropped two and a half pounds this week. And here I was thinking my staple diet of vodka and stale pizza wasn’t good for me.
    She handed me a laminated color A4 poster. There were photos of tandem skydivers, all of them looking totally unglamorous with their faces contorted by the force of the freefall. “So, I’m supposed to ask if you want the photo and video package. This is an optional extra, not included in the price of the dive. I know you’re here as LJ’s guest, but I still have to ask. It’s part of my job. I also have to inform you, if you decide not to get the package, he won’t take any footage. In other words if you want footage, you have to decide now.”
    I looked at the price of the package and knew there was no way I could