The three of them made their way outside into the parking lot, and soon Steve was loading Ben into the front seat of his truck. Mel took her place in the passenger seat beside Ben, and once Steve had stashed the cooler behind him in the back seat, he revved up the engine.
They were on their way.
*
A couple of hours later, Mel and Steve settled beneath a scraggly pine on the beach at Dragonfly Pointe. Upon arrival, they had taken Ben swimming, and now he was playing in the sand with a couple of kids who were close to him in age. The boys’ parents watched over them from loungers set near the water.
“He’s at the age now where kids don’t look at him like he’s a freak because of his disabilities,” Steve pointed out. “And it’s to his advantage that he’s a good-looking kid. It may help a little as he grows older.”
“Or not,” Mel answered, grimly. “But it builds his confidence, when he meets kids like these who, obviously, have some very understanding parents.”
Steve gazed deeply into her eyes. “You and I feel the same way, you know. I guess you’d call it compassion. We don’t have any choice, do we? When we see someone in trouble, we just have to help. It’s second nature for us.”
“Yeah,” she agreed. “I’ve never loved my life as much as I do right now. When it comes to my job, that is. Working at Crystal Visions has been the most rewarding experience of my life.”
“There’s a lot more to life than just your job, Mel, as rewarding as it may be.”
“Look who’s talking.” she answered softly.
“The first thing I noticed about you was this.” Steve reached out, tracing the intricate tattoo etched into the skin across her shoulder.
“My dragonfly?” She laughed. “I saw the way you looked at me, when we first met. You looked like you wanted to kill me.”
“Hey, you were smoking – along with my patient, too.” Steve grinned. “I really didn’t know what to think of you. Mostly, I was trying to battle my attraction for you.”
“Yeah, me, too.”
Steve turned onto his side, rested his head on his hand, and gazed into her eyes.
Mel held her breath. He was just so damned sexy. He must’ve worked out every day to stay in such great shape, she thought, as she studied his strong broad shoulders and muscular arms.
His fingers continued tracing the edges of the tattoo covering her shoulder, and his touch sent shivers down her spine.
But there was a time and a place for that, Mel glanced towards Ben, who was still playing with the other two boys. Their charge was having the time of his life, laughing and scooping up sand, near the edge of the water.
When she turned her attention back to Steve, he surprised her with a request. “Tell me something more about yourself, Mel. Something that no else knows.”
Why not?
She gazed across the bay. Maybe if they each took a little time to talk about the past, they would be able to move forward. “I never got the chance to tell Hawk that I was expecting his baby,” she said quietly, as tears sprang to her eyes.
Steve sat upright and pulled her into his arms.
It felt good to have someone’s shoulder to cry on again, she thought, and he sure smelled good. The increasingly familiar, spicy scent that he always wore lingered on his skin, even after their earlier swim.
Finally, he whispered into her ear, “You lost the baby?”
With her head still buried against his shoulder, she nodded yes. “I tried to visit Luke, when he was in the hospital that Christmas after everything happened. He was the only one I could think of to talk to about it.”
“Yeah, after losing his leg and blaming himself for your fiancé’s death, Luke was wrapped up in his own problems back then. He’s told me since how much he’s regretted not allowing you to see him that Christmas.”
Mel returned her attention to Ben. “It looks like the parents of those kids are getting ready to take off.”
“Hold on a sec then.” Looking reluctant to let her go, Steve stood and strolled to the water’s edge, where he helped Ben gather up his toys.
From where she sat, Mel watched for a few minutes while Steve talked and laughed with the boys and their parents, as they packed up their belongings and folded their chairs.
Ben cradled his new beach toys with loving care, as Steve carried him across the sand toward their picnicking spot, where Mel had laid out a towel for the boy and was busy removing drinks and snacks from a packed cooler.
Glancing at her, while he settled Ben on the towel, Steve said, “I forgot to ask. Are you in a hurry to get back to school today?”
But then he glanced at Ben, who was wolfing down a peanut butter and jelly sandwich that Mel had handed over. “Take it easy, kiddo. Peanut butter’s pretty hard to get down, once it gets stuck in your throat.”
Pulling off the attached straw from a small carton, he quickly inserted it through the hole on top and gave Ben some apple juice. “Drink,” he ordered sternly, nodding with approval as Ben slurped the liquid. “You sure worked up an appetite today!”
“Nah, I’m through with work for the day,” Mel finally answered Steve’s question. “There’s nothing I have to get back for this afternoon or tonight.”
“Good,” Steve said. “Ben can take a little nap, and maybe we can get some ice cream at the concession stand before we leave.” He glanced at his watch. “Say in about an hour?” He quirked his brows at Ben, who suddenly looked exhausted, his eyelids drooping over his sea-green eyes.
Pulling his juice carton from his hand, Mel laid the boy gently on his towel, realizing as she did so that he’d gone most of the afternoon without his prosthetics. Once Ben had slowly, but successfully, made his way through the sand, Steve had removed them. After gazing down at the sleeping child for a few tender moments, she finally turned back to the man beside her.
The look in Steve’s eyes took her breath away.
But then his expression turned grim. “It’s confession time for me, too, I guess.”
*
Steve wondered where he should begin. Until he’d moved to Crystal Rock, his life had been full of endless disappointments, but he was being offered a second chance. He was sure of it as he gazed at Mel.
God, she was beautiful with a face shaped in a perfect oval, her skin smooth, creamy, and lightly tanned. Jade-green eyes, fringed with long, lush lashes, looked too big for her lovely face – her silky, copper-red hair a perfect foil for their color.
No longer hiding his feelings, he continued to stare at her with longing. Tall and thin, she had ample curves in all the right places. She wasn’t wearing a bikini, but she was, by far, the most stunning woman on the beach, wearing a classic black maillot reminiscent of the style modeled by sexy film starlets in the 1950s.
What he loved best about Mel, though, was that they had so much in common. Unfortunately, that hadn’t been the case with Amy.
“I met my wife while we were in high school.” He settled against the trunk of the pine. “She was young and pretty, and we fell in love. My life was set. I’d go into the Navy, and then I’d apply and train to become a Seal.
“Amy wasn’t crazy about the idea – we got married right out of high school, but she went along with it. My father served, along with his father before him, so she knew what to expect.”
He gazed thoughtfully across the bay, while Mel moved in closer beside him.
“Down in Madison, the government footed most of my bills for college. I went into sports therapy, and got some on-site medical training, while Amy studied business. Then Afghanistan happened, so I was shipped overseas and trained as a medic, before I was even accepted into the Seal program. Meanwhile, Amy got a really great job, working as a loan officer at a bank.”
When he remained quiet for several more minutes, Mel reached out and squeezed his hand.
He sighed and continued, “I was about to sign up for my next tour, when Amy got sick. What can I say, Mel? She was my wife, so I gave up my career. O
therwise, I would’ve been shipped back overseas once I reenlisted.
“I could tell she was scared to death, and she really needed me. She was making decent money at the bank where she worked and was able to transfer to a branch located in Rice Lake, close to our friends and family. That way, she could keep her health insurance.”
Mel nodded her understanding. “Lung cancer?”
Steve was startled. “No, breast cancer. What made you think she died of lung cancer?”
“Luke and I were speculating one day. That day you discovered us smoking,” she admitted rather sheepishly.
Steve’s heart felt a little lighter, thinking back to that day when he’d first met Mel.
“You really should open up a little more with people,” Mel continued. “Everyone looks at you like you’re a mystery. Although, I guess it hasn’t really stopped you from earning people’s trust.”
“My patients and friends have enough of their own problems, Mel. I’m not about to burden them with mine. Besides, I’m talking to someone right now - you!” He gave her a wide smile.
She laughed.
“Anyway,” he began again, “they operated on Amy – a lumpectomy, even though I’m pretty sure her doctor recommended a mastectomy.” He hesitated. “Amy had a habit of keeping secrets from me.”
Mel raised a brow.
He sighed. “She had an abortion, while I was in Afghanistan, and she never even told me. I discovered the information when I went through her stuff after she passed away.”
Mel released a heavy sigh. “Unfortunately, that happens a lot more often than you’d think. While I would’ve given anything to have Hawk’s baby, some women think of it as a burden, and they’re worried about handling a child without the help of a partner.”
Steve nodded his agreement. “Well, Amy went into remission, and I was hopeful for a while.” With his thumb and forefinger less than an inch apart, he held up his hand. “I came this far away from reenlisting, but then I began having some pretty intense side effects from my first tour in Afghanistan. I’d seen some really terrible things over there.”
His eyes met Mel’s. “I suffered a delayed form of PTSD. I guess I’d been so busy taking care of Amy when she got sick that it took a while for my brain to catch up with my memories. Anyway, I began seeing a therapist,” he admitted, wryly.
“Ah, so that’s why you appear to be so well-adjusted and always have just the right amount of patience and understanding for people like Luke and Ben.” Giving his hand another squeeze, Mel added, “After my miscarriage, I talked to a counselor, too.”
Steve gave her a rueful smile. “We really do think alike, you know? We both knew what we needed to do to stay on the right path.”
Mel nodded her agreement, and he continued, “I visited my therapist in a wounded warrior facility and discovered that these programs were sorely in need of trained personnel, so I went back to school and became a licensed therapist.
“Heck, even though Amy was in remission, she never gained back her strength. I could see her fading, even before the cancer came back, and then we discovered it was too late.
“I don’t know, Mel. Ever since I was hired to help Luke at Dragonfly Pointe, I’ve been different. Living in this community just feels so right. That’s why I sold the house in Rice Lake – too many memories, too many members of both families closing in on me when, most of the time, I just wanted to be alone after Amy died.”
She nodded her head. “That’s exactly why I moved here, too. There were too many memories of Hawk back in Madison.” Mel hesitated, her face filled with uncertainty. “Have you ever heard about the magic at Dragonfly Pointe?”
Steve was surprised, but then he grinned. Yep, the question was definitely important to Mel, and he knew exactly where she was coming from. “Yeah, from Luke as a matter of fact.”
Mel looked startled. “Really? There was an instant connection for me the first time I visited here, and then I thought about my tattoo. What made me stop with a single dragonfly, instead of inking up my entire body like I’d intended to do over those next few months?”
“What made you change your mind about the ink?”
“I think it was the first older woman, who came into the doctor’s office that I was working in and wanted her tattoos removed. Don’t get me wrong. It’s fine when you’re young, and tattoos can be meaningful to a lot of people like Hawk. But no one thinks about how they’re gonna look, when their skin wrinkles and the tattoos turns into a bunch of barely recognizable lines and squiggles.”
Steve laughed. “And you were just vain enough to consider that?”
Mel grinned. “Well, yeah.” She tossed her hair.
“Anyway,” she continued, “getting back to those stories about Dragonfly Pointe, I read something in a brochure when I was staying at the Dragonfly Pointe Inn a few years ago.” Hesitating, she rolled her eyes. “Supposedly, Dragonfly Pointe is a legendary landmark for those who are searching for everlasting love and new beginnings.”
He knew she expected him to laugh, but he took everything she said seriously. They’d both felt the magic here. “You know, Luke’s always claimed that he felt better at Dragonfly Pointe. For some strange reason his whole life felt better here. It’s the first place he’d escape to, after he was roughed up by his stepdad.”
Mel sighed. “I was surprised that Luke trusted me enough, back when I was dating Hawk, to tell me about his awful past. It’s nice to see him and Kelly so happy.”
“You had a lot to do with that,” Steve pointed out. “If you hadn’t lectured Luke about taking a look at the situation through Kelly’s eyes, he might still be acting all noble, thinking that Kelly deserved someone better.”
He stared into her lovely jade-green eyes. “Coincidentally, Luke happened to mention, when he told me they were getting married, that the divorce rate in this part of the state is pretty low, too.”
Mel blinked.
“And I’ll be asking you that question someday soon, when I think you’re finally ready.”
Her jaw dropped.
“I figured I’d better warn you.” He grinned. “Because there’s not a single doubt in my mind.”
Still appearing to be stunned, Mel exclaimed, “But we’ve never even kissed!”
“I think we need to remedy that right now.”
And before she could say anything else, he scooped her into his arms and cradled her on his lap, where he gazed into her eyes, willing her to comprehend what he’d been afraid to reveal until today.
Mel’s expression softened as her eyes searched his, her true feelings suddenly exposed.
When Steve crushed his mouth over hers, she immediately kissed him back, as the yearning they’d both been experiencing exploded into a hunger that would no longer be denied.
Offering not a single bit of resistance, Mel’s lips and mouth were soft, warm and willing, and damn, the woman sure knew how to kiss. She turned into him, and his hands framed her face, holding her still and steady while his mouth ravaged hers, the kiss swirling down and around him like honey. Tasting and exploring, they sunk further into the kiss until they breathlessly broke apart.
“There was definitely magic in that kiss,” he whispered. “Dragonfly Pointe’s always been magical for me, Mel, because it’s where we first met.”
Teary-eyed, she nodded her agreement. “Three years ago, when I found out that Hawk had been killed and then I lost his baby, I was completely undone. My heart was undone. I never thought I’d be able to love anyone again.”
“Undone?” Steve said, softly. “That’s exactly what it was. Our lives were undone, but our hearts were undone, too, after living through such overwhelming losses. I love you, too, Mel.”
She laughed softly.
“What?” he asked.
“If anyone had told me a couple of years ago, when we first met, that I’d fall in love with you, I would’ve called that person crazy.”
Steve barked out a laugh.
“What?”
Mel sat up, puzzled.
“I’ll tell you later tonight.” Steve pulled her closer again. “That is, if there’s gonna be a later tonight,” he whispered into her ear. “Together, I hope?”
“Oh, yeah.” She settled deeper into his arms.
NOTE: Have a Wounded Warrior of your own, who is still struggling? The author and Annie Acorn Publishing LLC recommend that you consider So You’ve Lost a Limb by D.A. Grady as a possible resource.
Steve and Mel’s ongoing story will be continued... In the Two Hearts Wounded Warrior Romance Series & In the Kissed By Fate New Adult Romance Series.
Steve and Mel were introduced in the Bestselling Magical Weddings Anthology – in the novella Two Hearts Surrendered, #1 WOUNDED WARRIOR Romance Bestseller, Romance Kindle Book & Romance Series at Amazon.
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Can a Will and a Clue change your life?
A Clue for Adrianna
A Preview
By Charlotte Kent
CHAPTER I
Viewing the tarmac beneath her, Adrianna Montgomery could see Chicago’s Midway Airport’s ground crew loading last minute luggage and truly relaxed for the first time since her arrival home to her condo in Seattle the previous evening.
“Is this seat taken?” a shy, cultured voice asked from the aisle to her right.
Turning, she found herself looking into a pair of worried blue eyes. Reflexively, she straightened the seat belt and lowered the armrest that would separate them as she replied, “No, it’s free. Help yourself.”
“Thank you.” The elderly woman joined her. “I don’t often fly, and I’ve been dreading hours spent aloft beside a crying child.” With the toe of a tiny shoe, the newcomer pushed a large patent leather handbag beneath the forward seat before fastening her seatbelt.
A light fragrance of honeysuckle wafted its way towards Adrianna, reminiscent of early childhood summers spent playing in the gazebo behind her great-aunt’s seaside mansion, breezes blowing off the Atlantic lifting her dark curls. Despite her parents having left her behind as they had traveled the world in search of archeological treasure, those had been happy times.
Two Hearts Undone (Two Hearts Wounded Warrior Book 3) Page 2
