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"Dinnae think the song mentions the lass's family."
"Yeah, but the knight was an outsider."
Jamie slides off the stool and wraps her arms around me. She presses her cheek to my belly, since she can't reach my chest when I'm sitting on the counter. "You are my knight, Gav. You swept me off my feet and made me feel like a maiden in one of those medieval romances."
I brush my fingers through her hair while she gazes up at me with the sweetest look on her face. "I don't want to disappoint you, Jamie. Not sure your brothers will ever really accept me, not to mention all your cousins who probably want to murder me. Logan for sure would want that."
"He was a spy, but he's a sweet man at heart."
"If you say so. He gives me the 'I could kill you with one finger' look every time I see him."
Jamie lifts her head and pulls it back a touch. "Do you feel inadequate because the men in my extended family are tough?"
"Inadequate? No, I don't think so." Do I feel that way? Never really thought about it until Jamie mentioned the possibility. "Well, I don't know. Maybe I sort of, kind of feel that way."
She backs away, waving for me to jump off the island. Once I hop down, she grabs my hand. "Let's do something fun today. Something that will make you feel reinvigorated and full of machismo."
A laugh splutters out of me. "Machismo? Come on, Jamie, I'm not that much of a wuss. Am I?"
"Of course not. But I think you need to do something other than answering phone calls all day. Something that will remind you of what a virile, powerful, sexy, braw man you are."
The way her voice dropped to a lower key when she called me virile and all that other stuff... It makes me feel like a man again. Not that I ever felt like I wasn't a man. Jeez, even in my head I sound wimpy. Time to fix that issue.
I pull Jamie into my body. "Let's get wild together---in and out of bed."
We get on my computer and search for exciting things we can do together---outdoors. I decided we've done enough hanging out inside my apartment, and it's time to have an open-air adventure. Jamie agreed. Actually, she grinned, jumped up and down, and high-fived me three times. She also slapped my ass, but I slapped hers right back. Jamie calls it my "erse," though. It's the Scottish word for her cute little caboose.
Jamie laughs. "What did you just call my erse, Gav?"
"Your caboose. I could've used a variety of other terms for your cute ass. Booty, heinie, keister, patootie---"
"Puh-what-ee?" she says with a half-suppressed laugh.
"Patootie. It's an American thing."
"I see." She grabs my ass. "Whatever you call it, your erse is mine."
Yeah, I feel better already. There's nothing like teasing Jamie to make me feel good again.
Since it's a beautiful, warm late summer's day, we agree to go skydiving as our first adventure in what will become a two-day experience. Neither of us has ever done anything like this before. My job in the Marines had been ground-based. I was never a paratrooper. But maybe what I've really needed ever since I came back from Afghanistan was to jump out of my comfort zone---literally.
There's nobody I'd rather do that with than Jamie.
After receiving some training, we get to skydive tandem. I take the reins while Jamie just hangs on for the ride, strapped to my body. The minutes fly by thanks to the adrenaline boost brought on by sheer excitement, and I'm sure Jamie feels the same way. Then it's time for us to fly. We leap out of the plane, soaring through the sky, sailing down, down, down. I pull our chutes just like the instructor told us, and our descent slows but still gives us plenty of time to appreciate our view of the earth from high above. Then we touch down in the grassy field next to the airstrip.
Once we've ditched our chute, Jamie leaps on me with her arms and legs wrapped around me. Then she throws her head back and whoops.
I chuckle. "Guess you liked that, huh?"
"No, I bloody loved it!"
"Me too. But now we have a decision to make."
She slides down my body slowly until her feet hit the ground. "What should we do next. That's the decision."
"Exactly."
We return to my car and browse options on my cell phone, searching for something that's less of an adrenaline rush after our skydiving fun. We finally choose kayaking. A lot of places not far from Minneapolis offer those kinds of experiences, and the best part is that we won't require any training. We'll be able to just hop in a kayak and go. The company we select gives us a map with their recommended route, which will give us the chance to see lots of wildlife, including birds.
