ROMANCE: Military: SEALED BY APACHE (Military Soldier Navy SEAL Romance) (Alpha Male Billionaire Bad Boy Romance Short Stories) (3 page)

AMNESIA

A Navy Seal Erotic Romance

By

Jasmine Jensen

CHAPTER ONE

  Water was a friend to Jaxson Palmer.

  Jaxson counted as his greatest pleasure his full and total immersion in this radiant azure element; an element that healed, nurtured and even gave life.

Water never failed to refresh and revitalize him, opening his eyes and alerting his senses as he discovered the many nature borne wonders that could be discovered beneath the sea.

  How ironic then, he mused, that the pursuit of his ultimate dream and career goal could morph a dear friend into a sworn and potentially lethal enemy?

  As a Navy Seal, Lt. Jaxson Palmer conducted his special reconnaissance missions on sea, air and land, just as the job demanded. So now when he ventured undersea, he no longer could take time to admire the aquiline waves, the swaying water lilies every hue of the rainbow, the diamond colored dolphins and the lush strands of gold and lavender coral that defined his second home.

  Now his eyes had been trained to focus instead on any foreign or suspicious object that might pose a threat to civilians; or, if used as a tool of war or terrorism, a threat to his country.

  Although his current mission did not seem to involve any of these daunting elements, it did hold a certain element of urgency that set his nerves on end; making his heart and pulse pound in a single hard accord as he attacked this unexpected assignment with the firmest resolve.

  Jaxson’s Naval ship—a tall stately vessel that floated with the look and grace of an alabaster swan across the waters of Miami Bay—was coming home from a standard recon mission (the location and detainment of a notorious drug runner) when something strange and downright disturbing sparked its sensitive radar.

  Upon further inspection a junior officer had identified the presence of a human body floating still at the bottom of the sea; the form of an adult male that, while seemingly lifeless and unmoving, still radiated with an inexplicable heat and vitality that might detect the presence of life.

  A life Jax was determined to save.

  Jumping with a frantic vigor into his sleek ebony wet suit—a suit that defined every bulging muscle and defined plane of his massive hard physique, he raised across the clean lined deck of his unit’s majestic ivory schooner and grabbed the goggles and snorkel that would help sustain his own life as he ventured many leagues underwater.

  Or so he hoped.

  “In this business,” he thought vaguely, affixing the sleek black flippers and gear bag that offered him additional aid and protection underwater, “One really never knows for sure.”

  With this thought he surged free and clear over the rim of the boat, the golden beacon of the Miami sun kissing his body only briefly before he surrendered himself to the realm of the aqua.

  As his body broke the gem blue waves that defined Miami Bay, he once again immersed himself in the borders and substance of his favored element. Yet this time, like far too many others as of late, he took on the challenge to do whatever necessary to complete his mission. The waves indeed seemed almost his enemy now as he fought strong and hard against the unyielding current; his statuesque body descending in a rough downward spiral as his masked eyes sought the object of his search.

  “Hang on,” he sent out a random but purposeful thought to the fallen victim at the bottom of the sea. 

  At that moment he identified the subject of his search; a disturbing sight at that.

  The still body in a scuba suit, one outfitted similar to his own, laid floating at the center of an otherwise peaceful seascape amongst this depth; the flowing streams his only source of motion the body’s arms and legs flailed useless beside him.

  Surging forth with fortified energy that fueled his every move, Jax reached in the direction of the form; finally securing him and lifting him upward to the safety of his ship.

  Jaxson froze suspended in the waters around him as he noticed something rather different about the man he’d just rescued; most notably, that he didn’t seem to be a man at all, but a weighted, life sized doll culled from cloth and stuffing.

  “Damn it!” he swore inwardly, pulling off the figure’s scuba mask to take a good look at the doll’s soft expressionless face and short stock of hair culled from softest yarn. “This is all an asinine hoax—just one big joke. And it’s not funny.”

  His troubled meditation was disrupted by another unwelcome sight: a round crystalline orb that pounded and thrummed at the bottom of the sea, around the same place where the body had floated moments beforehand.

  “
No, no, nooo
” he said aloud, his words sending a barrage of crystalline water bubbles surging forth into the waters around him. “God please no.”

  The words evolved to a raw primal scream moments later, as his senses were wracked with sights and sounds that seemed to signal the end of the world; or at the very least, the tumultuous and untimely conclusion to the end of his life as he knew it.

  He witnessed the fire red flame of a blast that shattered the object beneath him. He heard the stark, ear shattering explosion that accompanied this traumatic outburst; a sound that roared like thunder through his psyche as he saw only fire in the water—its blood red hue striking a disturbing contrast to the calming aquiline hue of the currents surrounding.

  Then both of these colors were replaced and supplanted by the unsettling tint of endless black. And suddenly, in the wake of a blinding flash of pure and total agony, he saw and felt nothing.

CHAPTER TWO

The darkness brought peace.

Lost in a realm shadow-less blackness—a place totally devoid of sight, sound or sensation—Jaxson felt his entire being relax as he succumbed to into the arms of the sea. He made no attempt to make sense of the numbness that overtook him, instead choosing to descend into the comforting void that wrapped like a warm blanket around his aching body and waning consciousness.

He knew not whether death had claimed him, or if he simply lingered in a deep, dark coma; and at this point, he simply didn’t care. He more than welcomed the respite from pain, shock and turmoil, the aura of peace and relaxation that claimed his being whole.

His last foggy memories of the world he’d left behind were tumultuous; a fact that greatly facilitated his decision to remain in the void, to lose consciousness in a mysterious sphere where time, space and pain did not exist.

Then suddenly he saw a light; a bright luminous beam he simply could not ignore as it penetrated his closed eyelids. And he heard an old weathered voice repeatedly call his name.

“Jaxson? Jaxson? Jax! Open your eyes.”

Jaxson’s senses came jarringly alive as he stirred from his place of rest and respite; feeling his body shift in what seemed to be a covering of crisp, clean cotton sheets.

Finally and with all his earthly effort he forced his eyes open; beholding as he did the smiling face of a bespectacled snow-haired woman.

  Immediately he recognized the woman’s wide blue eyes and weathered, wrinkled face; and he greeted that face with a weak smile as he whispered, “Grandma Ethel? Is that you? Ha-have you come to welcome me to the other side?”

  His grin dissolved as the woman before him straightened before his bed; withdrawing the flashlight she’d shown in his eyes and letting loose with a disgruntled snort.

  “I’d far rather you’d mistaken me for some beautiful angel sent to welcome you to the good ol’ pearly gates,” she proclaimed with a smirk, adding as she leaned over his bed, “In fact though, I ain’t no angel and I am certainly not your dead grandmother. I’m Dr. Judy Clarkson, your attending physician here at Culver Military Medical Center. And although I hardly qualify as a celestial being, right now I am indeed thanking God that the patient I’ve been tending to for the last week is finally awake and amongst the living.”

  Gaping outright at this assertion, Jax moved his head in a slow, deliberate manner to regard his foreign surroundings: a crisp, clean-lined ivory room which claimed a plain railed bed as its centerpiece.

  A bed where he lay confused and motionless, staring with wide eyes up at the matronly woman in the slick white coat.

  “Can you tell me your full name?” she asked him now.

  Jaxson thought a moment, then nodded.

  “Jaxson,” he revealed finally. “Jaxson Pal-mer. You can call me Jax.” He quipped.

  The doctor smiled.

  “Very good!” she praised him, adding with eyebrows arched, “Now can you tell me the name of the military branch in which you serve?”

  Jaxson bit his lip as he strained his psyche for the information requested.

  “I don’t know,” he released on an anguished sigh. “I can’t seem to focus.”

  He shut his eyes tight, not allowing expression to grace his face as he fought against the gray void that seemed to overtake his will, a feeling he could not identify with.

  “Try,” Dr. Clarkson urged, covering his hands with hers as she told him, “I’ve been told that your job is your whole reason for being, Jax. Tell me who you are.”

  “I am a Navy Seal,” he answered finally, not sure how the realization made it to consciousness, yet a strong sense of pride still underlying his softened, weakened tones. “Now I have a question for you Doc. Why am I in here?”

  The doctor sighed.

  “Let me say first Son, that you are lucky to be alive,” she revealed, adding with a somber look, “You were performing a rescue mission for the Seals when you ran afoul of an underwater bomb; an explosive that left you with a head injury and some body trauma.”

  Jaxson’s entire being tensed as he considered these shocking words; his mind flooding suddenly with a rain of memories that shook him to the core. He was the one always in control. This was new to him.

  He still wasn’t certain as to exactly what had happened to him; but he did recall the mission gone bad, vaguely. He saw the flash. He heard the explosion. He felt the explosive thrash his body.

  “Explain” he demanded, fixing his physician with a pleading yet assertive gaze.

  The doctor sighed.

  “According to your commanding officers, it was a quiet day. You were playing cards on deck with your best buddy, Tommy Lopez, when another officer alerted you to what appeared to be the presence of a fallen man underwater, a scuba diver they had thought,” she recited the story as she’d heard it, voice barely above a whisper as she continued, “You discovered too late that below the ‘body’ was a bomb.”

  Dr. Clarkson bit her lip.

“I’m very pleased some of your memory is returning, that’s and excellent sign”.

“What about my team?” Jax finally asked, judging by the expression on her face.

“I’m sorry to tell you, there was an incident with Lt. Thomas Lopez.”

Jaxson nodded, impatiently. “And!?” 

Dr. Clarkson shook her head. She explained, “Shortly after you dove overboard to save what you perceived to be a person in trouble, your ship’s scanner detected the presence of the bomb—it was initially cloaked, and in the very place you were heading. Tommy immediately sprang to action, suiting up and diving in after you.” She paused here,

“Tommy was right beside you when the bomb exploded. He had taken position between the bomb and yourself to shield you. He suffered the worst of the it. He’s had internal injuries, and deep lacerations to the leg. At first doctors didn’t think they would be able to save it, but they fortunately were. He is in ICU and has been in an induced coma for the last week. It’s still touch and go.”

Jaxson gasped.

“Oh no. Is his room close to mine? When can I see him? Will you take me to him now, please?” he begged.

  Dr. Clarkson held her hands up before her, halting his barrage of inquiries with a firm gesture and somber eyes.

  “I’m so sorry Jaxson,” I can’t do that. He’s been moved to the Military hospital. They took him there so his wife could be by his side, since we know coma patients respond well to loved ones, speaking to them to lure them back.”

  The doctor shook her head.

  “Now Jaxson, you’ve got to relax, seeing he was now becoming dizzy from reality setting in” she admonished him, adding as she raised an authoritative finger in his direction, “You can’t do anything to help your friend right now. You’ve got to help yourself first. Rest and get your bearings and we’ll begin the best course of rehab as soon as we can.”

  Jaxson buried his head in his hands, taking a deep sustaining breath as he considered her words of advice, begrudgingly.

  “OK then,” he exhaled finally, an unwilling acceptance as he looked his doctor straight in the eyes. “Tell me when I’ll be getting out of this place.” He paused here, adding in a stronger tone, “And back to active duty.”

  The doctor sighed.

  “If all goes well Jaxson, we should be able to release you from the hospital in about three weeks,” she revealed, adding as she shuffled her feet beneath her, “And when you leave here, you’ll be going home.”

  Jaxson shook his head.

  “Home? Why!?” he asked, confused. “For how long?”

  Dr. Clarkson looked at him for a long moment, then let loose with a weary sigh that told the truth of the tale.

  “Your injuries appear to be pretty extensive, Kid,” she revealed, tone low and motherly. “It may be months or even a year before you return to the Seals.” She paused here, and decided to keep her next statement to herself, “That is, if you ever go back”.