TANTRIC (Book 3 of the Soundcrush Series)

Chapter 54: Hippie Chics Take The Plunge

Ashlynn

My heart is hammering hard and I have that urgent need to flee.

I can't. Leed has a death grip on my hand.

"Don't run,Sunshine," he warns. "You know you want this as much as I do. We've been round and round about this. This is right. This is us. Two words is all you have to say."

I return Leed's squeeze and look into his eyes. His gaze is so focused, so sure. I'm scared, but maybe it's okay to be scared by his side.

Ten days ago, what we are about to do wasn't even on our radar. But it feels like we've lived a lifetime together in Costa Rica. We touched down, hopped in our rental Jeep, and got lost. Lost in the beauty of this Eden—and lost in each other.

Now, we are standing in front of a man, who's smiling benevolently. A man who holds our future in his hands.

"Ashlynn." Leed's voice is hard to hear above the thundering in my ears, but I can see my name on his lips and my brain fills in the rest. How many times in the last ten days have I heard him whisper my name in the heights of a tree house— our skin slick with sweat, our souls touching and the tree frogs supplying a soundtrack to our passion?

Enough to know how powerful our love is. Enough to know we can do anything, with this kind of love.

Still. I'm freaking out.

"This is crazy," I protest. "We can't do this."

"We can so fucking do this," he says emphatically, squeezing my hand. "Listen to me. Do you know what I've realized in the last ten days? Life is short. It's up to us to make it beautiful. This right here? It's a big fucking leap of faith. But we were meant for this. Take the plunge with me, Sunshine." He gives me the twitching smile he knows I can't resist, and presses his forehead to mine.

Oh hell. I'm a fool for this man.

I take a deep breath and say, "Okay."

"Okay?"

"Yes. Okay."

"Two words, baby. Tell the man. He has to hear them."

I turn to the canyoneering tour guide in a wet blue windbreaker. "I'm ready."

His nod is pure encouragement as he double-checks my harness and the carabiners securing my rapelling rope. "Very good. You have to walk backwards. Five steps. Then you jump, just like we practiced. "

I wade out into the middle of the knee deep river nod and lean back on my rappelling rope. Leed has let go of my hand, and he's working his way to the edge of the waterfall with me.

"Together?" I yell above the roar of the waterfall.

His eyes do something...weird. Something so beautiful, my heart stops hammering and clenches.

"Always!" he yells and reaches out to brush my fingertips. "Jump, Sunshine!"

"Oh hell!!!" I yell. He grins, rips off his mandated helmet, shakes his sweat drenched head, and jumps off from the waterfall ledge with amazing force, flying into his fate, looking like perfection as the river's spray sharpens his victorious expression.

If Leed is going over the edge, I'm going with him. Too scared shitless for words, I somehow make my quads work, collapsing and squeezing and ejecting and following Leed into the void.

I'm fighting for breath as the waterfall pounds me, but I've never felt more alive. I hit home on the cliff face and my leg muscles jettison me automatically. I'm screaming, my head swiveling as I take in everything. The feeling of euphoric weightlessness, the joy of scattered sunlight through the forest canopy, the invigorating pummeling of the waterfall, the thunderous sound...and the view of Leed over my shoulder, in free fall.