by J. M. Madden
Tate nodded and seemed to calm.
Dillon didn’t say anything, just hugged Harper for several long minutes around the neck before releasing him. But Cat could see the glisten of tears in her eyes. Harper pressed a kiss to her forehead before leaving the room.
“I haven’t felt this gutted,” he growled, “since the day I left Virginia. Those kids are killing me.”
Cat opened her arms and he stepped into them, tucking his face into her neck. “I love you,” she told him softly. “And I think this is good for everyone. We all had a chance to reconnect—now we’ll let the connection mature and remind us that we have an amazing family. We’ll be back together in no time.”
He nodded, lifting her to carry her to bed. There was an unquenchable fierceness to his loving that night and she stayed awake as long as she could to absorb all those emotions. They would have to last her for a while.
They parted with tears and love. And determination to keep the lines of communication open, no matter what.
As Cat pressed her mouth to his for a final kiss, and then another final kiss, she fought back tears. They wouldn’t do any good and would probably make the kids more upset.
Harper’s jaw was clamped tight and his sunglasses on to shield the emotion he was feeling. The public didn’t need to know how hard he was fighting right now to keep it together. Cat knew, though. She’d been with him long enough to recognize the signs that he was fighting for control. So even though she wanted to stay to the absolute last second, for all of their sakes she forced her legs to move. “Come on, guys, we have to get through security.”
Tate sniffed and wiped his arm on his sleeve but followed along. Dillon gave Harper a last squeeze then walked away as well. All three of them kept glancing back as they went through security, until they couldn’t see him any longer.
They’d been home a couple days when Cat called her mom and told her what was going on.
Angie Morgan seemed shocked but Cat could hear her trying to be understanding and she appreciated the hell out of her mom for doing that.
“Why Colorado, though? That’s so far away.”
“That’s where his job is, Mom, and we’ve been apart long enough.”
She sighed. “This is so sudden, though.”
Cat sighed as well. They’d been over this a couple times already. “Mom, if we’re going to move it will be easiest over summer break. Then the kids can settle in and start fresh at the beginning of the new school year.”
“I guess,” she agreed. “At least Harper wasn’t hurt more. It sounds like he was lucky.”
Cat thought of the rifle. “Yes, he was definitely lucky.”
And so was she for not losing him.
This separation had been so vastly different from the last. Harper called at least once a night just to talk to her and the kids. Sometimes he used the Facetime app to see her and watch her go about her daily life. Cat propped her phone on a stack of recipe books and they talked about their days while she cooked dinner for the kids. It wasn’t romantic in any way but it ended up bringing them closer than they’d ever been before, because it exposed Harper to a lifestyle he’d not really seen before. Even after he’d gotten out of the hospital a couple years ago and been home for several months he had been too lost in his own issues to take much notice of what she did with the kids.
Harper was definitely keeping those lines open now.
After the kids had gone to bed one night he’d also confessed to going back to the counselor. Cat wanted to cry because he truly was doing everything in his power to get them back together.
At night he also whispered how much he missed her. And what he was going to do to her next time he had her in his arms.
Then one afternoon she went to answer a knock at the door. It was Harper.
Cat flung herself into his arms with a squeal. “What the hell are you doing here?”
He looked a little pale in the face so she tugged him into the house. Coming back here to his old stomping grounds had to be hard.
He didn’t give her a chance to baby him though. Kicking the door shut with a heavy boot he picked her up in his arms, his mouth slamming into hers. Cat opened for him, more than ready for anything he had to give her. After a month of going without her body craved his.
Dropping her feet to the floor he ripped her jeans open and shoved them down her hips. Cat arched with need, loving the desperation she could feel in him. She peeled her shirt over her head, then her bra. Harper knelt in front of her to pull her jeans off her feet, first her right then her left, but paused when she stripped.
“You don’t know how much I need you right now,” he groaned, burying his face in her breasts. Capturing a nipple with his lips, he suckled hard.
Cat cupped his head to her, her knees threatening to buckle. He still had his shades on but rather than deter her it spiked her arousal. “I’m right there with you, babe.”
Pushing to his feet, Harper opened his own fly, exposing his heavy erection. Cat wanted to drop to her knees and take him into her mouth but he didn’t give her a chance. With two hands behind her thighs he lifted her up against the foyer wall. Cat flung her arms around his neck and her legs around his hips. The head of his cock prodded at her opening and she angled her hips to take him in as he lowered her down.
They both groaned at the breach but they couldn’t stop. Harper braced his feet and slammed into her over and over again. Cat cried out, her lips searching for his. He gave her a single kiss, then ripped his mouth away to surge back into her. Cat arched, her release looming closer. “Oh shit,” she moaned.
Harper clenched her butt in his hands. Cat knew there would be bruises later but the sharp desperation was exactly what she needed right then. Harper gave a lusty groan and began to lose his rhythm, but Cat had gotten what she needed. With those last few strokes her orgasm washed over her in a euphoric wave. Harper found his own release, knees giving out as the orgasm consumed him.
When Cat opened her eyes she had to chuckle. They were crammed against the floor and wall, panting and a little sweaty. But she was exhilarated. Her skin tingled and she still rippled with aftershocks. “Well,” she murmured, “I didn’t expect that when I opened the door.”
Harper began to laugh and he hugged her to him. Then with a hand braced against the wall he lifted them to their feet.
Cat hated the feel of him slipping out of her but she found her feet. It was amazing how quickly she’d become addicted to him in Colorado. This past month without him had been hell.
Harper slipped his glasses off and dropped them to the entry table and for the first time she could see his eyes. They were creased with humor and appreciation. Gray irises looked clear and healthy. There were some scars but they weren’t nearly as pink and angry looking as they had been. All of the bruises were gone. He looked damn good. She stroked her fingers over the skin. “Still hurt?”
He shook his head. “I still get headaches but not like I used to.” He winked his right eye. “This one’s still dead but every once in a while I think I see a flash of something.”
Cat’s brows lifted in surprise. “Really?”
“Yeah, but I don’t think it’s anything. I followed up with the doc we use at LNF and he didn’t seem particularly interested. He said it happens sometime when a synapse connects unexpectedly, or some shit like that.”
He tugged on her hand, leading her down the hallway. “Let’s go wash up real quick. I have something I want to do.”
The classroom they stopped at was packed with yelling kids. It was the last day of school for Dillon and Cat had debating even sending them. There definitely wouldn’t be learning going on today.
She was glad she had made them go now.
When Harper walked into the room in his black BDUs and army green T-shirt stretched taut over heavy muscles he drew every kid’s gaze. Dillon’s eyes went round and her mouth dropped open, but she jumped up with a squeal and ran into his open arms. Harper made a show of swinging her a
round in his arms before dropping her to her feet and pressing a kiss to her hair.
He looked over her head at all of the kids staring at them, making sure to connect with every gaze. “Get your stuff, honey. It’s time to get out of here.”
That sixty-second display put him firmly at the top of the most hero-worshipped list.
Harper stayed for three days, a long weekend. But he had more surprises in store for them.
On Saturday her parents arrived. “Hope this is okay, honey. Harper told us to pack a bag and get up here. You haven’t dismantled the guest room yet, have you?”
Cat shook her head, a little dazed. “No, not yet.”
Her mother hustled down the hallway. Her father leaned over to give her a peck on the cheek. “He sounds like his old self, doesn’t he?”
She nodded her head at her father.
That weekend Harper did everything he could to assure them that he would be a man Cat could depend upon again. But it didn’t even take half that long. By afternoon it was as if he had never left their lives.
Sunday, apparently, he had arranged a barbeque with the guys from his old team.
Katey arrived at noon, looking frazzled but beautiful in a gauzy dress. At six months along she had the natural inner beauty that came with pregnancy, but also the energy. She brought bags of food and supplies. Lucas, her husband, arrived an hour later, loaded down with enough beer to float a house.
Cat tried not to freak out. Her house was mostly packed. She and the kids had kept essentials out for themselves but not much more than that. There were still some chairs in the backyard but not as many as she thought they would need. Luckily, everyone that arrived appeared to have brought their own chairs, as well as a casserole.
Katey ran the party like a drill sergeant directing troops. Or Navy SEALs, as it were.
Harper greeted everyone as they arrived. As soon as he saw Lucas walking up the drive he drew him into a tight man-hug. They had worked together for years. When Harper had been injured in Afghanistan it had been Lucas hauling him out.
Cat had always had an appreciation for the stocky blond because he’d had the fortitude to make sure Harper survived. For that she would always be grateful to him. When she told him that one day he had shaken his head. His eyes had darkened and his carefree attitude had faltered. She could see the ghosts of memory in his eyes. “That man saved me and my men more times than we can ever count. We all owed him everything we could do to get him out.”
She’d had to turn away then, too choked up to speak.
As she watched him with most of his team now he began to lose his stiffness. SEAL Team 8 consisted of mostly younger guys and whether he recognized it or not, they looked up to Harper. She didn’t know if it was for his age or skill or experience, maybe all three, but there was definitely a deference there. For some reason though she didn’t think it was because he’d been injured. Harper had told her he’d withdrawn from the team because they couldn’t deal with his injuries but maybe it was because he was no longer comfortable being around them with his injuries.
They joked around now like they’d never parted. As the kids played in the back yard and friends surrounded them she had to breathe in the moment. They stood on the edge of a precipice, about to launch into a new life. But they were getting the closure they needed with the old life. And she had to credit Harper with all of it.
That night as she and Harper lay in bed talking about the night she told him how much she admired his courage in coming back. He cranked his head around and looked down at her, a heavy scowl on his face. “Whatever,” he paused. “Okay, maybe I did have some things weighing on me that spurred me to come down this weekend. I couldn’t let kids at school call my daughter a liar. That chafed like crazy. And I needed to tell the guys how much I appreciated them. I don’t think I did that at all after I got hit. That was several years overdue.”
Skimming his hand down her arm he laced his big fingers with hers. “And I needed to clear the air with your parents. I left you in a serious lurch when I took off and I wanted to make sure they knew I would never do that again.”
She chuckled and poked him in the ribs. “Well, you better tell me too.”
He blinked at her and she realized she’d shocked him. Immediately he sat up on the bed. “Fuck, Cat, I didn’t think I needed to tell you. I’m so invested in you, in us being together again I can’t think straight. Why do you think I came down here? Yes, I had loose ends but I also just plain wanted to see you again. When you walked in that hospital room door you started an irreversible chain of events. I would have come back eventually, somehow, but getting shot made you come to me sooner. I’m actually appreciative that I got wounded because I don’t know when I would have taken the initiative to do anything about our situation. You forced me to see that we’re better off together. I love you, damn it. How can I not be with you now?”
Tears rolled down her cheeks. Lifting her up in his arms he spread her thighs over his lap, cradling her to him. Then he looked down into her eyes. “You are the most amazing woman. You’ve put up with so much of my crap and I pray that you’ll put up with a little more. I’m trying to do the best I can but it’s a process, you know?”
She snorted and sniffed, nodding. Wrapping her arms around his neck she buried her face against him. “I love you, Harper. I would have waited for you, but it was getting so hard.”
Fresh tears dripped from her jaw but he wiped them away and cupped her face to look at him.
“I know, babe, but you don’t have to do it alone now. I promise you I will be here when you need me, any time. And I will never shut off communication like that again. Just write off that year and a half to me being a stupid, stubborn, idiotic man, okay?”
Sputtering, she rocked her head against him. “I will,” she whispered.
“I love you, Cat. So very much.”
“I love you too, you stubborn man.”
They laughed and cried and fell into each other’s arms.
Epilogue
Harper had found them a house outside of Denver. Isolated and loaded with mature pines, the log cabin and the property around it made her eyes water with its beauty. “This is ours?”
Harper nodded, stretching his arms above his head. They had just driven for two days straight. Harper drove the U-Haul and she drove her SUV. They were beyond ready to be done. The kids took off to claim rooms. Hooch, the mutt they’d adopted years ago, wandered off to find something to pee on.
“Yes. I assumed you’d like it. It has everything you wanted. Good schools for the kids, shopping within driving distance, an office space for you to disappear to and a kitchen large enough to feed an army. Or a SEAL,” he told her with a grin.
He motioned with his hand to a building on the left. “It has a detached garage for me and a small shop where I can do gun work. Plus, there’s a valley about half a mile away where I can train my weak eye.”
She looked around, seeing what he envisioned. It all sounded perfect.
After his impromptu visit to Virginia he’d had to return to work for a few weeks. But as soon as he’d closed on the new house he’d returned to help her finish packing up their Virginia house. It was already listed with a realtor and would sell in no time because of its proximity to the schools and Norfolk.
She crossed her arms beneath her breasts and raised her face to the sky. She’d just travelled sixteen hundred miles in two days, but suddenly she felt more energized than she had in a long time. She slipped her arm through Harper’s. “Show me my new house, babe.”
The End
If you would like to read about the ‘combat modified’ veterans of the Lost and Found Investigative Service, click on the covers below to learn more.
Other books by J.M. Madden
A Touch of Fae
Second Time Around
A Needful Heart
Wet Dream
Love on the Line Book 1
Love on the Line Book 2
The Awaken
ing Society – FREE
Tempt Me
Urban Moon Anthology
If you’d like to connect with me on social media and keep updated on my releases, try these links:
Newsletter
Website
Facebook
Twitter
Tsū
And of course you can always email me at [email protected]
About the Author
NY Times and USA Today Bestselling author J.M. Madden writes compelling romances between ‘combat modified’ military men and the women who love them. J.M. Madden loves any and all good love stories, most particularly her own. She has two beautiful children and a husband who always keeps her on her toes.
J.M. was a Deputy Sheriff in Ohio for nine years, until hubby moved the clan to Kentucky. When not chasing the family around, she’s at the computer, reading and writing, perfecting her craft. She occasionally takes breaks to feed her animal horde and is trying to control her office-supply addiction, but both tasks are uphill battles. Happily, she is writing full-time and always has several projects in the works. She also dearly loves to hear from readers! So, drop her a line. She’ll respond.
