Page 2 of Coming Undone

Even now, he wasn’t sure if he trusted that she was here. He sure as hell didn’t trust his knees to keep him on his feet.

“Welcome home.” She shifted her weight from one foot to the other, swaying. “I hope it’s okay I came to meet the ship. I know it’s been a long time.”

“Yeah.” He couldn’t think of a damn thing to say to her, but he didn’t want to scare her off either. “It’s fine. I mean, of course. It’s good to see you.”

Eloquent as ever. He tried to shake off the shock of her appearing out of the blue.

“You too.” She smiled and five years fell away.

It was almost like meeting her for the first time, back before the nightmare of her abduction started. That is, until a new thought clocked him between the eyes.

“Are you looking for anyone in particular?” He glanced around the pier, wondering if she was seeing someone that had served on the USS Brady with him. What if she was meeting another guy?

“I was looking for you.” She bit her lip and now she was the one whose gaze darted around the people nearby. “Unless you’re meeting someone? I don’t mean to get in the way of anything if someone else is waiting for you.”

“No. God no.” He shook his head, relieved that she was here for him. But damn. Why would she seek him out now, after all this time? “I’m just surprised you’d be in Virginia. Last I knew, you were living in Long Island.”

He’d been to her apartment there, in fact. After they’d met at a friend’s house party in Brooklyn, Danny had gone home with her and spent the next four days at her place. They hadn’t been apart for more than five minutes at a stretch during that crazy, awesome time together. They might have really had something together if she hadn’t been heading overseas for an extended assignment. Instead, they’d simply parted ways, wishing each other well, never realizing how her life would implode a few months later.

“I moved to D.C. a couple of years ago, so I’m not all that far from here. I started a new pet photography business out of my home. I just… really wanted a fresh start.”

She didn’t need to say why. The memory of seeing her face on the news a couple of months after she’d disappeared while on assignment was singed into his brain. It had taken every ounce of self-restraint he could manage to join the service instead of trying to board a plane with a weapon and hunt down her captors himself.

For a moment, the old fire raged inside him, the fury and resentment that had driven him long after she’d been released. But he wrestled that into submission for her sake since she was right here in the flesh and talking to him. He’d heard from a mutual friend that she’d worked at a counseling center for a while afterward, but he hadn’t known about the new photography business.

“I have a car close by,” she was saying now, pointing behind them. A few trinkets jingled on her bracelet and he realized they were all silver charms of different dog breeds, no doubt inspired by her work. “I heard that returning sailors like to eat good food as soon as they return home, so I…” She cleared her throat and tucked her hair behind the ear without the flower. “I wondered if you’d like to have lunch with me and catch up.”

All around them, a military band played, volunteers handed out balloons to kids and families wept and hugged. Danny understood that was happening nearby, but he truly didn’t hear any of it, the rest of the world operating like a silent film in the backdrop of the main attraction. Stephanie Rosen. Returned Stateside four and a half years ago.

Returned to him… just now.

He wanted to wrap her up in his arms, to see if she smelled the same, felt the same. But he knew he’d never be able to let go if he touched her now. Instead, he played it safe until he found out what she wanted.

“Sounds good,” he managed, dropping his bag on the pier. He couldn’t imagine why she’d seek him out after all this time. He’d tried to get in touch with her once, but his efforts had met with radio silence on her end. “My car is probably closer though. I had a buddy park it nearby last night. I know all the shortcuts out of here to beat the traffic.”

“Sure,” she nodded as she accepted a blue balloon from a clown whose white makeup ran in streaks down the side of his face where he was sweating. “No problem. But first…” She opened her arms wide. “Welcome home, Danny Murphy.”

The simple gesture humbled him so fast his throat burned with old emotion. Christ, he should have found a way to be there when she came home so he could have welcomed her. But he’d already been in the service, property of the U.S. military and unable to leave his duty station, determined to do whatever necessary to make sure no one else suffered the way she had.

It took all the discipline he possessed to rein in his feelings now and give her a hug without crushing her. Folding her carefully in his arms, he buried his face in her hair, breathing in the clean scent. She squeezed back with surprising strength. Her body was so delicate, tall but slender. It was easy to forget it since her personality was big enough to fill a room.

Or at least it had been. Most people who went through the kind of ordeal she’d experienced were forever changed by it. Who wouldn’t be?

And with that ice cold reminder, he found the courage to release her.

“Thank you.” His gaze locked with hers for a moment, the scent of her still in his nose.

“My pleasure.” She smiled up at him, holding her balloon. “You look kind of dashing in the white.” She smoothed a hand over his chest, skimming his ribbons and kicking up his temperature. “And not at all like the laid-back rock n’ roll dude I met five years ago.”

Did she have any idea what her abduction had done to him, imagining what had been done to her?

“It’s been a long time,” he acknowledged, hoisting his bag on one shoulder and using the other hand to steer her toward the pier’s exit. Yeah, it was dicey to touch her when he still wanted her. Had always wanted her. But his feelings for her were more complicated than that now. Stephanie wasn’t just some woman who’d knocked him for a loop with the best fling of his life.

She was… someone he respected for all that she’d been through. Someone who deserved to be protected.

“Only a handful of years,” she argued, sidestepping a couple of toddlers dressed in sailor suits. Her voice was throaty and sexy. He’d forgotten that about her. “The guy I knew could never leave his band behind for six months at a time.”

He could barely remember what he’d been like back then. It surprised him that she wanted to talk about the past. Talk about them. He didn’t know if he could handle a trip down memory lane. Tough enough just keeping a hand at the small of her back without pulling her against him.

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