The plane lifted, and his stomach dropped with it. His fingers tightened around the harness straps across his chest as the world shrank beneath them.
This was reckless. It pushed every one of his limits and made a mess of the careful walls he’d spent years building. He’d never even ridden a motorcycle.
And yet here he was, thousands of feet in the air, because River had looked at him with those green eyes and asked him to trust her.
He forced a breath in through his nose and out through his mouth. Slow, controlled, the way he’d taught patients to do when they were panicking.
Then he looked at River.
She was practically glowing, wind-tousled and fearless, like she was made for this. It steadied him more than it had any right to.
Maybe his siblings were right.
Okay. They were definitely right.
His fear shifted, less about the jump, and more about the fact that he’d started to care what happened next. What happened tothem.
As if she could sense the turn in his thoughts, River reached for his hand and squeezed. Mathew looked down, then back up, and caught her smile.
Then, without a word, she lifted her free hand, cupped his cheek, and brushed her lips to his.
All at once, his fears and anxieties drifted away. River had a way of doing that. One kiss. One touch. One look that saidI’ve got you. He knew in this moment that he could do better than he did in his previous marriage.
He wasn’t his father. Not by a long shot.
And Mathew wasn’t the same man he was before his father passed, either. He’d prove it to himself and anyone else who was curious enough to pay attention.
River pulled back from their brief kiss and watched him. Her eyes searched his for a moment, then she brushed her thumb over his lower lip. In those few seconds, the world fell away. And something akin to hope burst to life in his chest.
“You folks ready?” the jumpmaster called over the engine.
Mathew’s attention snapped back so fast his pulse jumped.
River laughed, bright and fearless, and leaned toward his ear. “It’s now or never. You in?”
For reasons he couldn’t explain, the question felt like it meant so much more than just their little skydiving adventure.
Mathew swallowed once, then nodded, slow but sure. “Yeah,” he said, surprised by the courage in his own voice. “Let’s do this.”
18
RIVER
Perfection.
River hadn’t thought anything could come close to how that word was defined until she had it.
For three glorious weeks, everything was smooth sailing. Nothing got in her way of being able to spend time with Mathew. She didn’t have to deal with Skye and her inappropriate behavior. Every spare moment she had she chose to spend with Mathew, and it was totally worth it.
Until it wasn’t.
A pair of familiar cowboy boots came into her line of sight, and she pulled out from beneath Lily’s truck. It had been long overdue for an oil change, and if it had gone much longer, Lily would be needing a new engine.
River peered up at Emerson, shading her eyes as she smiled at him. “Hey, you.”
He didn’t look pleased and that caused a frown to mar her own expression.
“Everything okay?”
