JOSH
Four months later
“If I die, I will drag you to hell and torment you for eternity.” Jules wrapped an arm around my waist, her face several shades paler than usual as we shuffled toward the edge of the platform.
Behind us, the bungee jump operator checked our harnesses one last time.
“If you die, I die, Red.” I grinned and kissed her cheek. “Hell with you sounds like heaven to me.”
Her tense expression cracked. “That was corny as fuck, Josh.”
“Yeah, so? I’m hot enough to pull it off.” I peered down at the river below us. “Besides, you may want to be nice to me. You don’t want our last words to be insults, do you?”
It was our last full day in New Zealand, and we were at Queenstown’s Kawarau Bridge for a tandem bungee jump. Jules had taken all our previous activities in stride—skydiving, paragliding, whooshing across a canyon with the Shotover Canyon Swing. But she’d never looked as nervous as she did now.
Her face paled further. “Don’t saythat.”
“I’m kidding, I’m kidding.” I tightened my arm around her waist. “We’ll be fine. Trust me.”
“We better be, or I promise, I’ll let Cerberus bite your genitals off.”
I grinned. I loved when she got violent.
“Are you ready?” The operator asked, keeping a hold on the backs of our harnesses.
I looked at Jules, who took a deep breath and nodded.
“We’re good,” I said.
My heart crashed against my ribcage in anticipation.
The operator gave us a small push, and…
We jumped. Fast and hard, the wind whistling in our ears as we plummeted toward the deep turquoise waters of the Kawarau River.
Jules’s scream mingled with my exhilarated laugh.
Fuck, I missed this. The adrenaline. The rush. The feeling of being so alive that the entire world lit up around you.
But it wasn’t just the bungee jump. It was the fact I was experiencing it with Jules. No one and nothing could make me feel as alive as she did.
I captured her mouth in a kiss, distracting her from the rope’s recoil. For most people, the recoil was the most terrifying part of bungee jumping, and she was already nervous enough.
Her muscles tensed, but they relaxed again when I deepened the kiss and tightened a protective arm around her waist. She didn’t scream again on our way down.
Pride bloomed in my chest. That’s my girl.
A raft waited for us at the end of our last free fall. The two staff members unhooked us from our harnesses, and we collapsed, face up, on the mattress-like cushion.
“Holy. Shit,” Jules wheezed after she caught her breath.
I turned my head to look at her. “Told you that was going to be amazing.”
“I don’t know if amazing is the right word. I saw my life flash before my eyes.” She turned as well so we faced each other. Her cheeks were tinged pink from the wind, and her hair fanned out around her in a silky red cloud. She was so fucking beautiful it made my chest hurt. “But it was worth it for that kiss alone.”
“Spiderman and Mary Jane have nothing on us.”
“Absolutely not.”
We grinned at each other and lapsed into a comfortable silence as the raft glided toward shore.
After a whirlwind week of activities, we could finally share a moment of peace.
Part of me wanted to stay here and explore New Zealand with her forever. Another part couldn’t wait to live out the rest of our lives together back home.
I was in my last year of residency; Jules was thriving at Silver & Klein and had already been tapped to work on a huge case with a senior partner. We also moved in together last month so we could maximize our time together between our crazy schedules. We compromised on the commute by choosing a house halfway between her office and the hospital.
That meant Stella was now living in The Mirage alone. She’d worked out a deal with the landlord so she didn’t have to pay Jules’s portion of the rent for the remainder of her lease. That alleviated some of Jules’s guilt over leaving her friend high and dry in their old apartment, though Stella insisted it was fine.
New Zealand was a fantasy; D.C. was reality. Both were pretty damn amazing.
“Still hate me?” I whispered, lacing my fingers with Jules’s.
Her eyes sparkled with mischief as she squeezed my hand. “Always.”
I smiled. “Good.”