A wave of applause and hoots and wolf whistles breaks into our moment. It’s only then that we reluctantly untangle our tongues and separate enough to look around us.
We’re not the only ones who’re locked in an embrace. Virginia and Blake appear a little dazed by the onlookers they too had forgotten about until a moment ago.
Jayden releases me. “We should get back to doing our job.” He nods toward Granny, who’s beaming at me like she did the day I graduated from college.
I hug her hard. “Were you the one responsible for putting the hole in the barrel?”I nod at the one in question. The escaping wine has reduced to a trickle. Most of the barrel’s contents are on the floor.
She giggles. “Not intentionally. I kind of pulled the trigger and almost dropped the gun. The poor barrel got in the way of the bullet. May it rest in peace.”
I hug her again. “Do me a favor?”
“What’s that, darling?”
“Unless you know how to use a gun, how about we leave them to the professionals?”
“Sounds like a good plan.” She grins at me again. “Sooo…about Jayden…”
“What about him?”
“I hope this means you two have worked things out between you…and you’ve both stopped being oblivious fools when it comes to how much you love each other.”
Before I can respond, Jayden’s healthy arm is around me again, from behind. “Most definitely. You’ve got your wish, Josephine.”
She narrows her gaze at him. “My wish is to be a great-grandmother. I don’t suppose your sperm will give me what I want.”
He laughs, and I gasp with a horrified “Granny!”
She doesn’t appear to care. Her smile widens.
“I’m all for that,” Jayden says. “But it’s also up to your granddaughter.”
“We haven’t even discussed getting married one day,” I say to no one in particular.
“I’m all for that, too,” he murmurs huskily in my ear, much to the delight of my grandmother. She rubs her hands together, mentally planning the wedding and everything else.
I glance over my shoulder at him. “Is that your way of proposing?”
“Don’t worry, when I propose, you won’t have to ask me if I just proposed, and there won’t be FBI agents running around the crime scene.”
I chuckle. “Hopefully when you propose, there won’t be a crime scene.”
“That too.”
The next hour is spent with the FBI questioning us about what went down. Bernard and Gabrielle are arrested. By the time the agents found her, she was conscious and a little peeved at finding herself handcuffed to the desk.
Eventually, we’re free to go, after the paramedics check Granny over.
“Now, how about I get my two favorite girls home,” Jayden says to us both.
As Granny walks away on Landon’s arm, Jayden says to me, voice husky again, “I’m especially looking forward to soaking in your bathtub, preferably with you in it. My arm feels like it could use some TLC.”
I slap him playfully on his other shoulder, pretending to give him the stink eye. “It wouldn’t be if you had done what you were told. Weren’t you supposed to stay in the van with Connor?”
“We lost communications with the entire team, and I didn’t know what was going on. But if it makes you feel better, I did wait until Blake and Virginia showed up.”
“So you didn’t really trust that I’d be okay?”
Everything about him positively glows at my question. “Are you kidding? I was dying to watch you take down the bad guys. And I’m happy to do that on a regular basis.” He kisses the end of my nose. “Partner.”
