Page 1 of Coming Undone

Chapter One

The USS Brady cruised into Norfolk, VA at ten a.m. EST, right on schedule. The Navy Destroyer ship had been deployed for six months, but for Stephanie Rosen, the homecoming had taken five long years.

A military marching band played at the front of the pier near the ship’s off-ramp. Flags and banners fluttered in the late summer breeze while overexcited kids crowded the gate for a first glimpse of their arriving moms or dads. A refreshment tent overflowed with reuniting couples and families. But Stephanie had yet to spot the man she’d been waiting for. The man who had no idea she’d be here today.

“I’ve been crying all morning,” a woman next to her confided as she dabbed at her eyes with a tissue. Smiling through the tears, the older lady searched for her grown son, a fact Stephanie had discovered during the long wait for the sailors. “It’s crazy to cry, but I’m so happy I can hardly stand it.”

Touched, Stephanie squeezed the woman’s arm. She felt more comfortable waiting with a mom than with some of the wives who were dressed in their sexy best despite the early hour. It was apparent a lot of the reuniting couples had seduction on their minds.

“Happy tears are the best tears.” There had been a time when Stephanie hadn’t been able to cry at all, her emotions closed off after a long, mind-numbing ordeal. These days, she was grateful for the return of her emotions.

Now it was time for the return of her snoozing sensuality, the final phase of her recovery from that dark time five years ago. And there was only one man she trusted with the job. A man who’d been honorable and courageous well before his Navy days.

Daniel Murphy.

“Oh my God, there’s my son!” the woman next to her shouted, her voice hoarse with emotion as she launched toward a handsome seaman in dress whites.

Leaving the pair to their reunion, Stephanie stepped closer to the front of the pier as the crowd thinned just a little. She’d noticed that, while some families lingered to enjoy the festivities, most hastened to their cars to catch up privately at home. She had an exit strategy to combat the traffic just in case she could convince Danny to come home with her.

Nervousness fluttered in her belly at the insane plan. She hadn’t spoken with him in years. She wouldn’t even know his status now – still single, thank you God – except that she’d gathered her courage to call his mom in Cape Cod for an update, begging Colleen Murphy’s discretion about her inquiry. But his mom had been totally gracious, claiming to be grateful that someone would be on hand to greet Danny when he docked in Virginia while his family prepared a reunion for him back home in Massachusetts.

Adjusting the red hibiscus in her hair, she lifted a hand to her eyes and scanned the faces of the last few officers exiting the ramp. She didn’t expect an overly joyful reunion with a man she’d only known for all of five days before she went overseas for her old career as a camerawoman. After all, she and Danny had agreed their relationship would be short-term from the moment they’d met. He’d probably wonder what on earth she was doing here.

“Danny where are you?” Stephanie asked herself, wandering aimlessly through the happy crowd, the full skirt of her polka dot dress swishing around bare calves. Her outfit was a nod to Donna Reed in From Here to Eternity, the fifties film the extent of her Navy knowledge.

And then, just when she decided he must have flown back separately, Stephanie saw him.

She didn’t need to shade her eyes or see the details of his face even though he stood almost two stories above her on the ship deck. An officer in dress whites moved to the top of the ramp, possibly the last man off the USS Brady. White wheel cap on his head and ribbons on his chest, he walked with more power and purpose than the laid-back guitarist she’d met five years ago at a house party. And yet she somehow recognized the way he moved.

Or maybe she just recognized a bolt of lightning when it hit her, just like it had so long ago. Her skin tingled. Her body froze in place. She doubted her ability to speak.

It was him.

The man whose memory had gotten her through hell and back even though he didn’t know it. Now, she just needed one more favor from Danny Murphy, and it promised to be the most awkward request of her life.

* * *

Dress shoes clacking on the steel bow ramp, Danny Murphy barely saw the crowd of family and friends still milling around the pier below. He’d waited to disembark in the hope of avoiding the worst of the scene. Most of his buddies were hooking up within an hour of arriving back home, the sprint to their women almost laughable if it wasn’t so damn relatable. Imposed celibacy sucked, but right now, Danny told himself he was most interested in sleeping for seventy-two hours straight. His family knew he liked a few days to himself to acclimate to life on land before he had to be social, and for the first time in his Naval career they’d respected his wish.

Of course, half the reason they’d been so accommodating was because they were busy getting ready for a Murphy family wedding back home in Cape Cod. In the last year, his brothers had all found true love. He wasn’t looking forward to treading through their happy world as a single guy. A single guy still messed in the head thanks to…

Stephanie?

He nearly tripped, ass over fancy white cap, at the sight of the hot brunette at the ramp’s end. A woman who’d materialized the instant he’d thought of her. It was her. The woman he’d been fantasizing about right here in Norfolk.

She looked so good, he figured she must be a mirage. She wore a sexy black and white polka dot dress that showed off her slender waist. Wide shoulder straps and a modest neckline framed a heart-shaped locket more than her cleavage, but then again, her curves weren’t exactly disguised. She’d pinned a big red flower in her hair, the bloom tucked behind one ear so that a petal brushed her forehead.

“Hi Danny.” The vision spoke as he got closer, making him certain she wasn’t a mirage.

All remnants of exhaustion fell away.

He reached the end of the bow ramp and couldn’t go a step farther unless he wanted to wind up in her arms. Which he did. But he would not allow that to happen no matter how good she looked right now.

“Stephanie.” He’d dreamed about holding her again. Mostly, he’d just dreamed about seeing her again during those hellish weeks when she’d been held captive by a grief-crazed family in the Middle East that had been doing the bidding of a terrorist group when she’d been overseas for her work with the media.

Specifically she’d gone abroad to work with his cousin, a reporter, to film a series about the effects of the fighting on the citizens. But she’d been in the wrong place at the wrong time and had wound up kidnapped by a family who’d feared for their lives if they didn’t follow orders. After being held for six weeks, she’d been freed, later writing a book about her ordeal.

Sometimes he still woke up thinking she was still over there and he had no way to find her. His legs would be tangled in his sheets and he’d wake up sweating with his heart racing. Memories of her and the leftover guilt that he hadn’t been able to help her had sabotaged every relationship he’d had since then.

---