Page 4 of Five Goodbyes

“The best kind,” I quickly say, damn glad this woman is alive and smiling. We’re the luckiest humans on this planet.

I sit up and lean against her. “All kidding aside, I almost lost you, Jazzy. I did everything I could to make sure that didn’t happen, but I was seriously scared it wouldn’t be enough. I’ve never been that scared in my life.”

She gazes at me for a long moment before she reaches out and cups my cheek, her eyes filled with love. “I guess I’ll forgive you then . . . this time.” Jazzy chuckles out closing the space between us and then she kisses me with such love it takes the minimal oxygen in my lungs away . . . and I don’t care. I only care about being with this woman, only care she’s alive, and we might just get the future I was thinking about as we fell beneath the surface of the unforgiving water.

Jasmine climbs into my lap, deepening the kiss as I wrap my arms around her, both of us showing each other how scared we were, and how much it means we’re together now. My fingers stroke her back, moving up and down. She clings to me as if she’ll never let go. I reach into her shirt, for a moment forgetting where we are.

“Careful, Mr. Sparks, you may be arrested for indecent exposure,” Jasmine gasps as she pulls back and smiles at me.

“We’re the FBI. We can definitely get ourselves out of that ticket,” I reply. I give her a wicked grin as I reach for my own shirt and rip it off of me. Jasmine’s grin falls away as she gazes in horror at my chest. Now, this isn’t a look I want to see on her while I’m half naked.

“Hunter. What happened?”

I look down to find a good seven-to-eight-inch gash running down my shoulder, blood freely flowing from the cut.

“Well, hell, I don’t know. I guess it happened as I pulled you out of the car, but I don’t know for sure,” I tell her.

In a deft movement she grabs my shirt off the ground, pulls it open, gives it a few hard shakes, folds it in thirds, and then puts the shirt over my arm. This covers up the wound but doesn’t do much to stop the bleeding. Jasmine takes her belt off and wraps that on top of the shirt and tightens it down to the point of it actually hurting.

“Ouch,” I gripe.

“Don’t be a baby, we need to have as much pressure on this as possible,” Jasmine says.

With that, the possibility of getting her naked on this crude beach is over. I must show my disappointment because Jasmine leans in and gently kisses me then whispers in my ear. “Don’t worry, we’ll finish this later and I’ll show you how very thankful I am for your heroics today. Besides, I think the first responders are here.”

I look over my shoulder to find that two ambulances and three police cars have arrived. There’s an unmarked car pulling up as well which is definitely someone from our office.

“You better get that thing under control before they call out animal control to capture a wild python that happened to get into your pants.”

I shake my head at her ridiculousness while laughing. I hop up, now feeling the pain of the cut in my arm . . . and all over the rest of my body . . . and keep my back to the first responders as they spot us and begin making their way down the bank. None of them need to see my pants tenting.

“Well, this anaconda may choke you if you aren’t careful,” I say, finding myself amusing.

“Only one way to find out,” Jasmine says as she leans in close while her hand falls down to my pants and she squeezes . . . not helping my problem at all.

I pull her hand away with great reluctance. “Go up there and tell them I’m contemplating what happened and will be up in a minute.”

“Thankfully you last a lot longer than a minute when it counts,” Jasmine says with a wink before she walks away.

I’m not sure it’s possible to get a bigger smile on my face. I love this woman. She drives me crazy in all of the right ways and I can’t wait for her to be mine forever. This has been an all-around crazy adventure we’re sharing . . . and it’s only going to get more insane. As long as I’m with her, the world can throw whatever they want at us . . . I’ll be ready for it.

Chapter Two

Not that I’ve memorizedeveryprotocol from the FBI, but I’mfairlycertain there isn’t a standard operating procedure for what to do with an agent, let alone two, after they’ve been catapulted off a bridge and sunk into deep water.

Our boss, Frank, meets Jasmine and me at the hospital. He demands that we have every single type of x-ray and scan available. Not because he wants to make sure we’re able to get back in the field as fast as possible, but because he’s a good guy who cares about the people he’s responsible for.

After a crapload of tests, Jasmine and I are given the golden ticket from the doctors, with some pushing from Frank, and have a mandated three weeks off from work. To be honest, we desperately need some time away to heal and recover our minds as much, if not more, than our bodies.

We leave the hospital after being questioned for what feels like forever. We head straight back to her condo, open the back door so we can hear the waves crashing on the shore, then fall into bed together needing to connect, needing to assure each other we’re both alive and together. We don’t speak for a long time. I’m so thankful to be here holding the woman I love. I’m not sure there are enough words to express this.

“Are you awake?” Jasmine quietly asks.

“Yeah,” I whisper.

It’s so dark in her room I can’t see my hand in front of my face. I’m lying on my back thinking of the events of the day. As much as I thought I’d be able to push this day away and move on, I just can’t stop replaying the scene of Jazzy’s hair floating in the water while she was knocked out. When you’re in the moment you simply act . . . but afterward, when the paramedics aren’t doing non-stop checks on you and the monitors and machines of the ER aren’t a constant banging distraction, it’s your brain that won’t stop making noise.

“I want to be thankful we’re here, but I can’t stop thinking about today. I can’t stop thinking about how close we were to losing each other. I’m so grateful to have you, that you treat me so well. I wouldn’t be here with you right now if you’d given up. Thank you for being so good to me,” Jasmine says. I may not be able to see but it’s clear she’s trying to back tears. I’ve never seen her so vulnerable before.

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