Harlequin Desire January 2021--Box Set 1 of 2 by Maisey Yates (free biff chip and kipper ebooks .txt) 📕

was no scenario in which her family would accept a gora. Arjun had almost been disowned for wanting to marry an Indian girl who was divorced. Divya’s sister-in-law, Rani, was an amazing person who spoke their language, understood their culture and traditions. Yet Rani struggled with truly fitting into the family. How could Ethan ever become a part of her world? Gauri’s comments about the impersonal nature of their relationship with her white sister-in-law came to her. Ethan would always be an outsider standing next to her.

She saw the sign for the Seven Mile Bridge, and Divya leaned over as far as she could to look out the window. “Oh my God, I can almost see the fish, the water is so clear.”

“We won’t have time to go swimming today, but you should come back and really explore the Keys.”

He’d said you, not we. Somehow, she knew she could never come back here without Ethan. This place, this feeling of pure bliss, would always remind her of him. She lifted her face to the sky and breathed in the warm, salty air. Her home in Rajasthan was a desert, so there was always a grittiness in the atmosphere. She’d been to Miami before with Arjun to check out a potential hotel he was looking to buy, but they’d never taken the time to travel to the Keys. “How did I not know that such a spectacular place existed?”

“You have to get out of your comfort zone to find this kind of paradise.”

This was truly paradise. But it wasn’t real life. It didn’t include the people she loved. It was a momentary escape. She closed her eyes to savor the moment and lock it away in her mind so she wouldn’t forget. She took out her phone and snapped a picture of the sunrise, then reached out her arm and leaned close to Ethan for a selfie.

“Are you going to give our social media fans a honeymoon picture?” he said laughingly.

“I want to remember this moment forever.”

“Why?”

What did he mean, why? “It’s an amazing sunrise.”

“Is that the only reason?”

Her stomach clenched. Why couldn’t things just be easy, uncomplicated and temporary between them? “I enjoy being with you, Ethan. I love our time together and I want to remember it for when…” Her throat suddenly went dry.

“For when it ends, and you go back to your regularly scheduled life.”

“It’s not as if it’ll be goodbye forever. We will keep in touch, stay friends.”

He stayed silent, his lips set in a straight line, and her stomach flipped. He knew it could never be serious between them, didn’t he? She’d been upfront with him that she was not the marrying type, and he wanted someone forever. He was done with jetting around and temporary relationships. She was done sitting at home and letting other people make decisions for her. Perhaps it had been a bad idea to sleep together. And yet as she looked at him, all she could think about was running her hands all over him.

Once they got off the Seven Mile Bridge, he took a right turn onto a gravel road. He pulled up to what looked like a log cabin. A hand-painted sign read Skydive Keys. She stared at it.

“You can’t be serious. We’re going skydiving?”

He nodded. “That beautiful view we just saw is even more spectacular from the air.”

“Are you crazy? I don’t know how to skydive.”

“You’re not going to do it alone. We’re going to be strapped together in tandem.”

You are nuts! There was no way she was going to do something like that. She wanted adventure, but this was extreme. What was Ethan thinking?

A man with long blond hair and a scraggly beard appeared from the cabin. “Ethan, my man.”

Ethan exited the car and did some sort of secret handshake with the guy, who looked more like an overweight surfer dude than a lean mean skydiver.

“It’s been a while. Plane’s gassed and I got your gear laid out.” Divya got out of the car and surfer dude turned to her. “Name’s Buck.”

He held out his fist and she gave him an awkward bump with her own. “You guys picked a nice day. Sky is clear, air is warm and you’ve got just enough wind to get a nice ride.”

“Awesome!” Ethan said. “Let’s go! Thanks for opening early. I want to get our run in before the tourists get here.”

“I got you, man.”

As Ethan began walking toward the cabin, Divya grabbed his arm. “Are you really serious about this?”

“Relax. I have a level D skydiving license. I’ve done about six hundred jumps. You’re going to be strapped to me the whole time and I’ll take care of the parachute pulling. All you do is enjoy the experience. It’ll be like taking a roller-coaster ride.”

All she had to do was strap herself to him and enjoy? That did sound good. Except they’d be falling out of the sky. Her mouth went completely dry.

As they turned a corner, she saw two long pieces of cloth on the ground attached to a backpack.

“Is that our parachute? Is that how it’s supposed to be?”

He laughed. “I like to pack my own parachute and make sure it’s done right. There’s two main parachutes, one you’ll be wearing and one that I’ll be wearing. Plus we each have an emergency parachute that someone else inspects and packs. It’s all perfectly safe. We only need one parachute and we’ll have four between the two of us.”

She looked around. There was an airstrip and a plane that looked like it had seen better days. Beyond the airstrip, the Gulf of Mexico shimmered as the sun rose higher. “Is this the only skydiving place around?” Divya asked.

He shook his head. “I know this place looks like a dump, but Buck and I went to high school together. He’s a good guy and he knows what he’s doing. I’ve been jumping here for years.”

Ethan ran his hand down her arm. She turned to face him and he pulled