by Abby Wood
More shots rang out, but he ignored the threat. Lowering himself into the water, he swam with one arm while trying to keep his head above the surface. He wanted to yell out for Josie, but hoped his silence would make the men shooting at them continue following the canoe downstream.
Diving under the water, he put all his energy into his legs to fight the swift current. He’d heard one shot at the time Josie toppled from the canoe, and the way his body screamed in agony, he wouldn’t give up the thought that she was okay, and that he’d find her. He broke through the surface and scanned the area. Where the hell are you, Josie?
Donovan paused, and then took off swimming faster than a man with one usable arm should be able to swim. A shadow had moved farther up the river on the bank at the water’s edge. His body cramped, and he sank under the water. He came up coughing. Josie.
He scanned the other side of the river, searching for anyone out in the open who would take this opportunity to take aim at their intended target, but his vision was blurred. Little sparks of light flashed in front of him, making it impossible to see anything. He changed directions and swam toward shore. Time was of the essence. He’d promised to protect her. She trusted him. He’d never renege on the deal of a lifetime.
* * *
Exhausted, cold, and with a growing lump on her eyebrow where she must have hit her head, Josie was too frightened to worry about someone shooting her. Donovan was still on the canoe and running right into trouble. She had to get back to the cabin. If she made it back, she could send Tony down the river to help Donovan.
Pushing up on her knees, she squeezed her eyes shut against the sudden onslaught of nausea. Why was she so dizzy? Not letting her body stop her, she stood up and wobbled over the river rocks. Whoa…I can do this. I have to do this. I have to save Tony.
Gunfire broke through the night. Josie fell. Sharp rocks pierced her knees and hands. Crying out, she curled on the ground and covered her head with her arms. I’m sorry. Oh, God, I’m sorry. This is my entire fault. If I hadn’t been—
The weight of the world fell on her, and she fought to push it off. Her voice paralyzed, her movements stunted, her hearing blocked from the pounding in her ears. All she could do was scream silently in her head and push against the ton of pressure crushing her into the rocks.
“Josie…stop. It’s me, Josie.” The arm wrapped around her lifted her and brushed the hair out of her face. “Sh…stop fighting. I’ve got you. I told you I’d keep you safe, Josie.”
The short, sharp blasts of gunfire continued. She loosened her arm enough to reach out and touch the hand by her face. She grasped the rough, large, familiar fingers. She’d know them anywhere. “Donovan?”
Letting go of his hand, she gasped as it flopped, lifeless. Pushing herself out from under his body, she stared in horror. Donovan lay unresponsive on his side. “Donovan?” She shook him, but he didn’t respond. “Donovan!”
Pushing him off his side onto his back, she kneeled down beside him. She could barely make out the rise and fall of his chest. Oh, thank God. He’s breathing.
Running her hands over his body, she found his shirt ripped around his shoulder. Carefully fingering the area, she frowned. She lifted her hand to her nose and inhaled. Her nose could tell the difference between blood and water, and he definitely was bleeding from the wound.
She removed her sweatshirt, worked it around his upper arm, tied the sleeves together, and curled against his side. His clothes were soaked, along with hers, but she remembered the old adage of using body heat to keep each other warm.
Laying her head on his chest, she willed his heart to keep beating. If they were alive when the sun came up, she’d hike back to the cabin and bring help. She squeezed her eyes shut, continued to ignore the battle going on around them, and prayed. Donovan can’t die. Do not take him from me. It wasn’t his fault.
The gunfire continued for what seemed like hours. She kept sane remembering all the good times Donovan had created for her over the past few months. The time he’d cheated at checkers, and thought she wasn’t aware that he moved her pieces around the board every time she turned away. The way she’d catch him staring at her in the early morning hours, and then pretend to sleep when she opened her eyes. Donovan had given her a lifetime of feeling cherished in the short time they’d been together. If good thoughts brought good things into a person’s life, she’d keep him alive remembering every precious thing he’d done for her.
Eventually the gunshots stopped, Josie stopped shaking from the cold, and she’d lost track of how long she’d lain on the wet, rocky riverbank with Donovan. She had no idea if she slept, dreamed, or hallucinated, but she opened her eyes and the sun was rising. She pushed herself up into a sitting position, her muscles stiff and sore.
“Donovan?” She ran her hand down his cheek. “Oh, God, you are so cold.”
He lay with his eyes closed as if he were sleeping, but his skin was pale, and his chest rose and fell with a rattling wheeze. Not wanting to disturb the blood-soaked sweatshirt she’d tied around his shoulder, she leaned over and kissed his cheek. “Listen to me, sweetie. I’m going to leave, but I’ll come back. I need to get you help.” She wiped the dirt on his chin. “Don’t you die on me. You hear me? I need you. I-I love you.”
Groaning, she struggled to her feet and peered out at the river. Last night the water had been flowing the opposite way. She rubbed her head. No. That wasn't right. When she fell out of the canoe, she must have swum to the wrong side of the river. Shit. She’d have to cross the current to make her way back up the mountain to the cabin.
Deciding to hike farther upstream before crossing over, she concentrated on putting one foot in front of the other. Each step brought her closer to helping Donovan. She’d gone one hundred and seventeen steps when she stopped. A flop-flop-flop-flop sound grew louder. She turned her gaze to the sky.
A black helicopter headed in her direction. A man dressed in camouflage sat on one of the runners with a rifle in one hand. Adrenaline coursed through her veins.
“Tony!” She jumped up and down, waving her arms over her head. “Tony! Help!”
The chopper kept coming. She turned around and ran back toward Donovan. Her shoe caught on a rock, and she fell. Scrambling to her feet, she kept waving and moving. “Help!” She reached Donovan and stood over him. “Look, Donovan… It’s Tony. You’re going to get help. He’ll take you to the hospital.”
Her arms cramped, but she never stopped waving. She screamed until she lost her voice, and she finally saw Tony being lowered by a wire. Kneeling down, she put her hands on Donovan’s chest. Oh, God…
Chapter Five
“You should have seen her, Donovan.” Tony shut the engine off. “Her head cracked open, one eye almost swollen shut, and covered in your blood.” He rocked back on his heels. “She would have made you proud.”
“She does.” Donovan stepped out of the van. “Now where the hell is she, and why won’t you tell me why she didn’t pick me up?”
Tony laughed and hurried around to the passenger side. “If I tell you, the woman would kill me. I might be a G-man, but damned if I’m going to cross your woman.” He motioned to Jolene’s cabin. “Go ahead. Go in.” Tony smiled. “I’ll see you in a few days.”
Donovan frowned. “I thought you were planning on taking the two weeks off the boss gave everyone after taking out Jackson and closing the case last month. Did you get called out again?”
“Gotta go.” Tony waved over his shoulder and hopped back into the van.
He stared after the van pulling out of the driveway. Once the taillights disappeared, he strolled toward the cabin. The door opened the second his foot hit the concrete step outside.
“Donovan.” Josie stood in the doorframe in a slinky black dress that hit her mid-thigh and clung to every curve on her body.
His gaze lowered to the four-inch black stiletto heels on her feet. “Fuck, you’re beautiful.” He raised his chin. She’d done something with her hair.
It now lay floating around her shoulders in soft layers. Sexy.
Her lips, painted ruby red, curled, and the dimple on her right cheek peeked out, breaking the shock. “I wanted to do something special for you, so I asked Tony if I could stay in the cabin while he and Jolene traveled to Boulder to see his parents.”
Her smile grew. “You can have me…any time, any way that you want.” She stepped back. “I even asked the doctor last week if it was okay, and he said he’s released you back to light duty.”
He paused beside her. “You did?”
“I did.” She held out her hand.
Donovan slipped her much smaller hand inside his. Tears blurred her vision. She had been so afraid that he wouldn’t survive their night at the river. Despite how critical his condition was, he’d bounced back rather fast for someone who’d undergone surgery, a blood transfusion, and four nights in the hospital.
Candles lit the cabin’s interior, and the couch was pulled out into a makeshift bed. She led him over to the bed and pushed him gently down on the edge of the mattress.
She kneeled down and removed one of his boots. “Do you know why I’m dressed up?”
He shook his head.
“I wanted you to see me how I normally dress.” She slipped off the other one. “By the time the FBI delivered me to you after the night at the Casino, they’d issued me a pair of someone’s sweatpants, shoved a sack of used clothes in my hands, and I had nothing. None of it was mine. I was given to you, a stranger, and my life was turned upside down.” She stood back up. “After I found out that Renfro was shot by one of your guys, they gave me permission to go back to my apartment.” She reached out and undid the buttons on his shirt. “I found out something…”
“What?” He shrugged his good shoulder and slipped his arm out of the shirt.
She laid the shirt behind her on the chair and returned to him. “All those weeks when I thought I’d lost every part of my life, I’d actually been given a new life. One that is better, richer, and filled with so much love that most days I wonder if I’m dreaming.” She wiggled out of her dress and kicked off her shoes. “Sometimes, like today, I’d like to dress up for you. Show you the city girl.” She ran her finger along the top of the black thong she wore. “But the real me…” She placed her foot on the bed beside him and rolled down the thigh high stockings she wore just for him. “I’m someone who prefers to wear nothing at all.” She removed the other nylon. “I want to bare my soul to you.”
Donovan groaned. She raised her gaze, afraid she’d gone too far, and his shoulder hurt. She stepped up between his knees and ran her hands through his hair. “This is me. I want to touch your skin against mine…feel your heat.”
He ran his hands up the back of her thigh to her ass and pulled her forward. His face nuzzled her breasts. “I love you like this. With nothing standing between us. Just you…and me.” He fumbled with the buckle on his belt.
Josie leaned over, giving him an eyeful of her breasts while she undid his jeans for him. He lifted his ass and pulled them off. She caught her lower lip between her teeth. His cock stood up, hard and ready. She hooked her thumbs in the strap of her panties.
“No.” He pulled her back between his legs. “Leave them on.”
Turning around, she presented her back to him. He slid his finger down the thin material between her buttocks. Pulling the strap to the side, he urged her back. She straddled his legs and lowered herself down onto his lap. His cock slid into her pussy in a surge of pleasure. Her cunt stretched and spasmed around his hardness. She’d missed this. She’d missed him.
“Oh, Jesus…” Donovan’s arms came around her and pulled her back against his chest.
Together they sat, connected, together, where they both wanted to remain. Neither one of them moved, but took the time to enjoy feeling complete.
“I love you.” Donovan kissed her bare shoulder.
She laid her head back. “I love you too.”
His hand slid down her stomach, her mound, and his finger centered on her clit. “Don’t move, baby.” He rubbed the sensitive nub. “I just want to hold you and feel you come on me.”
She mewed. The stimulation warmed her insides, but it was his words that brought her to the verge of an orgasm.
“Your panties are damp.” His free hand caressed her breast, pinching her nipple through the lace on her bra. “I’ll never get enough of you.” He kissed her neck. His tongue lavished the area below her ear.
“God, Donovan. I can feel every inch of your cock throbbing inside of me.” She held her breath. She was so close to finding her release.
“Let it come, Josie.” His heart beat fast against her back. His fingers pinched, rubbed, pinched, rubbed and set her body on fire.
“Oh…oh…oh.” She closed her eyes and let her desire consume her body. “I’m coming…” Her lower stomach flooded with intense relief. Wave after wave pulsated from her core. Her pussy rhythmically constricted, milking his cock.
His arms tightened around her, and his thighs tensed before quivering underneath her. Warm liquid filled her insides. She inhaled deeply to calm her racing heart.
Donovan rubbed her stomach in a lazy pattern. “Thank you.”
She slipped her fingers into his hand. “Thank you. I don’t know what I would have done without you. You saved my life the night you jumped in front of me and got shot. The thought that I could have lost you keeps me awake at night.” She sighed. “I’ve never had anyone who would put their life on the line to save mine.”
“I’ll do anything to keep you safe,” he whispered. “Besides, if you remember, it was you who saved me. You slowed down the bleeding, stayed with me, and helped the agents find us. Every one of the guys has sung your praises. They were pretty impressed with what you did in your condition.”
She smiled. It was amazing how something so awful had brought her and Donovan together. “And I’d do it all again to keep you with me, Agent D.”
~End~
~ About the Author ~
Abby Wood loves to surround herself with family, critters, and laughter. A huge animal lover, she's often found discussing story plots with the animals while mucking the barn in the beautiful Pacific Northwest. In between chores and raising a family, she enjoys trying out new recipes and adding more boots to her closet. She loves to write stories that allow readers to escape into a brand new world.
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