Page 86 of Jasper

Her head snapped up at the sound, and her gaze dropped to the bags.

Jasper hesitated, unsure of his welcome. Would she blame him for her getting shot? Tell him to get the hell out?

“Hi,” he whispered.

She bit her lip. “Hi.”

He jammed his hands in his pockets to keep them from fidgeting. “You’re awake.”

“I am,” she agreed. “You gonna stand there all day, or are you going to tell me what broke in that bag?”

He reached down and collected the bags, coming over to the bed and putting them down in the chair. He looked her over from head to toe, the sheet covering the lower half of her. She seemed alert and not as pale as she’d been when he’d left.

His hand reached out, and he let it fall back to his side. She might not be screaming at him, but that didn’t mean she didn’t hold any ill feelings toward him.

“I’m sorry, pretty girl.”

“For what?” She tilted her head curiously. “For saving my life?”

“I…I didn’t…you got shot.”

“Jasper.” She sounded exasperated. “I know you have this complex about failing people, but you didn’t. I got shot because I stupidly raised up in the middle of a gunfight. You had nothing to do with my own actions. I was worried about Mateo, but I shouldn’t have moved.”

Sloane didn’t blame him, and neither did Angel, as he’d seen last night when the two of them had a long conversation about his inability to protect her. She’d slapped the back of his head and called him an idiot.

“Now, what’s in the bags? Please don’t make me try to bend down and look. It hurts when I move.”

Jasper didn’t recognize the noise that slipped out of his mouth. “Stay still. Do you need pain meds?” He was turning to rush out of the room in search of the nurse when she stopped him.

“No more pain meds. I don’t want to get hooked. As long as I stay still, I’m okay.”

He took a deep breath to center himself. The woman was turning him inside out. He’d been half out of his mind with worry the last few days, and to see her up and talking…relief wasn’t quite the word. Miraculous. That was the word he was looking for.

“I got you a Christmas tree. A little one, but it’s a tree. I thought they might let you keep the tabletop one here in the room until they transfer you out of ICU.”

“You got me a tree?” This huge smile spread across her face. “I thought you didn’t do Christmas.”

“But I know how much you love it, so I wanted you to have one. Give you a reason to open those eyes of yours.”

Sloane suppressed a grin. He was so nervous. “You’re rambling, soldier.”

His mouth snapped shut, and she swore he stood a little straighter.

“Jasper?”

“Yeah?”

“Why don’t you just kiss me and get over it?”

For a man who was at least four years older than she was, he was acting like a sixteen-year-old virgin.

“That, I can do, pretty girl.”

The first touch of his lips erased the pain throbbing in her middle and stole her breath. They were slightly cold from the outdoors, but still, as soft as the first time they’d met hers. She sighed and relaxed. That feeling of relief she’d felt when he’d first stepped into the room intensified, and she understood in that moment what Conner had been trying to tell her.

To reach for it and hold on tight. And she did.

Only to groan in pain when her arms wrapped around his neck. Jasper jerked back like he’d been slapped.

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