by Amy Ruttan
“He has to have a name. Why wouldn’t he give you specifics?”
Lieutenant Knox shrugged. “Perhaps he’s Special Ops. I don’t know. I didn’t see him. He was ushered in under a covert detail.”
Erica was confused. “A covert detail? This doesn’t make any sense.”
“I’m sorry, Captain. That’s all the intel I have.”
Erica nodded and then headed to room 407. She didn’t know what was going on here, but she was tired of covert operations and Navy SEALs. She’d taken this position at Annapolis to escape all that. There was only so much she could take in one lifetime of Special Ops, Navy SEALs and secrecy.
And she was tired of reminders of Thorne.
She knocked once and headed into the room. “Seaman, I understand you want to join the Med…”
She gasped and almost dropped the file in her hands, because they were shaking so bad. Standing in front of her in his dress whites was Thorne. He took off his white cap quickly and tucked it under his arm.
“Captain Griffin.” He saluted her.
“C-Captain Wilder?”
He smiled. “Yes.”
“What’re you doing here? You’re already a member of the Medical Corp.”
“I know.”
“Then why are you at the recruitment office?”
“I called in a favor from the admiral.” Thorne set his cap down on the desk and took a step toward her.
“What kind of favor?” Her pulse began to race; he looked so good in his dress uniform. She’d never seen him in it. It suited him and made her weak in the knees.
Jerk. Remember what he did to you. How much it hurt.
“I told the admiral that I made a foolish error letting my second in command come to Annapolis.”
“This is about getting me transferred back to Okinawa?” Rage boiled inside her. She threw the file at him, which he dodged. “Get out!”
“That’s not why I’m here.”
Only she wasn’t going to listen to him. “How dare you? I’m not going to return to Okinawa as your commander. I can’t believe you traveled halfway around the world to start up this old fight. You…you….”
“Erica, would you just calm down a minute and listen to me?” He tried to pull her to him, but she brushed off his embrace.
“Don’t touch me—and it’s Captain Griffin!”
“Erica,” he said sternly. “I’m not here to take you back to Okinawa.”
“You’re not?”
“No, I’m not. Besides, that’s not my posting any longer.”
“What?” she asked in disbelief.
“I took an open position here at Annapolis.”
“You what?” She took a step back and then leaned against the wall to collect herself. “You transferred here, but why?”
He smiled at her, those blue eyes twinkling. “Isn’t it obvious?”
“No. It’s not.” Her voice shook as she braced herself. It was obvious, but she was in disbelief about it.
“I love you.”
Erica’s knees wobbled as the words sank in. “You love me?”
Thorne nodded. “I tried to resist you. I tried to wipe you from my mind, I tried not let you in. I told myself after my brother died in my arms and I saw the pain on his widow’s face, the hole left in his children’s hearts, that I wouldn’t ever allow someone to mourn me. I joined the SEALs to fulfill my brother’s dream and I blamed myself for Liam’s death, and for that I felt I didn’t deserve any kind of happiness.”
“I don’t understand what you’re trying to tell me.”
He ran his hands through his hair. “I was happy as a SEAL and then on a covert operation I was injured saving another man’s life and I met you. You entranced me. My foggy memories had one bright spot and it was you. Of course, then I actually did meet you, and you weren’t exactly as angelic as I thought you were in my fantasies.”
Erica chuckled at that. “I’m not gentle. Must be the Cajun in me.”
“I’m sorry for trying to shut you out, for embarrassing you that day when the John Doe came in. You were right. He lost his arm. It was too far gone and, what I said? I was out of line.”
Erica nodded. “I know. I saw his medical chart when he returned to San Diego. You did a good job with his amputation. As for the other things, well, I wasn’t exactly easy on you.”
“Thank you.” Thorne closed the distance between them again. “Look, I just couldn’t tell you how I felt about you, because I didn’t think I deserved it. How could I be happy when I’m the reason Liam lost his life?”
“You deserve to be happy.”
Thorne took a step closer. “So do you.”
“Perhaps.”
“I don’t know what the future holds for me or you, but I know one thing: I love you and I can’t live without you. It’s worth the risk to be with you. I need to be with you, Erica.”
She couldn’t believe he was saying the words that she herself hadn’t known she was longing to hear, but now that he was saying them she knew that she could have both her career and him. Something she never thought before. Most men had been intimidated by her rank, her career, except Thorne.
He was her match in every way.
Thorne ran his knuckles down her cheek. “I love you, Erica. I’m sorry for being such a…”
She suggested a word in Cajun and laughed at her secret joke.
“Sure, but I’m not sure I should admit to anything you say in Cajun.”
“Then how about ‘I forgive you’?”
Thorne smiled. “That I can live with.”
He leaned forward and kissed her. His lips were gentle, urging, and she melted in his arms, totally forgetting that she was angry at him, that he’d hurt her, because he was sorry for what he’d done. He hadn’t meant it. Thorne had tried to push her away just as much as she’d tried to push him away, but as Scooby had said they were “volatile” together.
Explosive. And, even though they were a combustible match, they were made for each other. They both had just been too stubborn to see it.
“What’re you smiling about?” he asked.
“Something my mamère said.”
“You better keep it to yourself.”
“Why?” she asked.
“I don’t want to be left in the dark with all the Cajun words.”
Erica kissed him. “I promise to fill you in on Cajun when I can, but then again maybe not, as I have an advantage over you when you tick me off.”
Thorne rolled his eyes, but laughed. “Well, I have to get used to living stateside again.”
“Are you sorry you left Okinawa?” she asked.
“I’ll miss it, I won’t lie, but you’re more important to me. I can get used to having soft-shell crab instead of pineapple pizza.”
“Have you ever had soft-shell crab?”
“No.”
She grinned. “Well, I hope you’ll let me take you for your first time.”
“Deal.”
“I’m sorry too, for what it’s worth.”
“For what?” he asked.
“For walking away. For being insubordinate to my commanding officer on numerous occasions and for not telling you that I love you too.”
He grinned. “Well, there are ways you can make it up to me.”
“Is that so? Well, I can start off by giving you a massage.”
“Oh, yes.” He cupped her face and stroked her cheek. “That’s a good start But first I have to check in officially.”
“I’ll take you there.”
Hand in hand, they walked out of the recruitment office.
EPILOGUE
One year later, Annapolis, Maryland.
ERICA’S HEART RACED and she was shaking as she stood in a small anteroom off the side of the chapel on the naval base, a historic building. She thought if she was ever going to take the plunge and get married she was going to have her ceremony at the Naval Academy Chapel.
There were so many things architecturally about this cha
pel she loved. So much represented her core beliefs about being in the Navy. Like the stained glass window of Sir Galahad and his ideals which every Naval officer tried to live up to; and the domed ceiling, which reminded her of a cathedral in Florence, Italy, and was beautiful to look at.
Of course, when she’d originally had that thought when she was going for training here, she hadn’t thought it would actually come to pass because she hadn’t thought that she’d actually get married.
It hadn’t mattered if she ever got married, until she’d met Thorne. Even if he’d never asked her, she’d have been happy with the life they were living in Annapolis. Both of them had been furthering their careers in the Navy, saving lives and training recruits when the proposal had happened. She hadn’t been expecting it. They’d been walking along the shore a month ago, watching the sailboats with the colorful sails moving across the blue water, when he’d cried out in pain, dropping to his knee.
When she’d tried to see if he was okay, worried it was his phantom leg pain, he’d opened a small velvet box and proposed.
It was like something out of a dream; she still felt a bit dazed by it all.
And now she was standing in the antechamber, her knees knocking under the white silk of a very simple wedding dress.
“You could’ve worn your Navy uniform,” Commander Rick Kettle, Regina’s husband, whispered in her ear. “You are a captain.”
“No, she’s not!” Regina screeched and Erica chuckled.
“She’s a captain, Regina. She has every right to wear her dress uniform.”
Regina shot her husband the stink eye. “She looks beautiful and she’s going to get married like a proper bride. This is a momentous occasion.”
Rick shook his head and Erica glared at Regina, who was rocking back and forth, holding her newborn daughter named after Erica.
“If you weren’t holding my goddaughter you would be in serious trouble, my friend.”
Regina winked. “Well, at least it got your mind off your nerves, now, didn’t it?”
Erica was going to say more when there was a knock at the door and Erica’s mother stuck her head into the room. Erica had resolved things with her mother and, even though her mother didn’t totally agree with Erica’s career choice, she’d absolutely been won over by Thorne. The rift between her and her mom was healing and she was very excited to be a part of the wedding.
“It’s time.”
Regina came over and squeezed Erica’s arm. “You can do this!”
Erica nodded, but she was still shaking.
Regina and her mother left the anteroom. Erica didn’t have any bridesmaids because the only man Thorne had wanted to stand up with him was his brother and he couldn’t have that. So they’d both opted to keep the wedding small.
The only people attending were close friends and family.
Erica would’ve liked Captain Dayton to walk her down the aisle, but he was out at sea on the Hope, so Regina’s husband was stepping in, and he did look quite dashing in his white dress uniform.
“You ready to go?”
“Yes; if I linger too much longer I might bolt from sheer terror.”
“As long as it’s not Captain Wilder making you bolt.”
“No,” Erica said and then smiled. “No, not him.”
Rick smiled and took her arm. “Left and then right, Captain Griffin. Just one foot in front of the other.”
Erica nodded and he walked her out of the antechamber to the main chapel. The large pipe organ began to play the bridal song, but she couldn’t hear it over the sound of her pulse thundering in her ears.
As she started walking up the aisle there was a call out and a salute, which caused her to gasp, as a group of Navy SEALs decked out in their dress uniforms stood at attention for her, their sabers hanging at their sides.
They were Thorne’s old unit. She recognized Mick the commanding officer she’d stood up to all those years ago on the Hope—and then she got a glimpse of Thorne standing there in his dress uniform and suddenly she wasn’t so nervous any longer.
She walked up the aisle and glanced at all their friends and family; she welled up when she saw Bunny and Scooby in the aisle, smiling at her. Scooby bowed quickly, beaming at her. She stopped Rick, breaking rank, so she could hug them briefly, trying not to cry.
When she got to the front Thorne took her hand. She didn’t even remember the ceremony, because all she could see was Thorne—the man who’d had no name when she’d first met him but was full of fight, spirit and a passion to serve his country.
He enchanted her and enraged her at times. They were volatile together, so explosive, and Erica loved every minute of it.
Before she knew it, she was kissing her husband to an audience that was cheering and clapping.
“Are you okay?” Thorne whispered in her ear.
“I’m fine, why?”
“You look a bit shocked.”
“A deer trapped in barbed wire?”
Thorne chuckled. “Headlights. I’m buying a book of old sayings for our first anniversary.”
Erica pinched him as they headed down the aisle. “If we survive that long.”
“We will.”
“How do you know?” she teased. They paused at the entrance of the chapel as his old unit raised their sabers in a salute. Erica and Thorne passed under them, kissing at the end.
“Because I love you and I’m never letting you go.”
* * * * *
We hope you enjoyed this Harlequin ebook. Connect with us on Harlequin.com for info on our new releases, access to exclusive offers, free online reads and much more!
Other ways to keep in touch:
Harlequin.com/newsletters
Facebook.com/HarlequinBooks
Twitter.com/HarlequinBooks
HarlequinBlog.com
http://www.harlequin.com/harlequinexperience
ISBN-13: 9781460385128
Taming Her Navy Doc
Copyright © 2015 by Amy Ruttan
All rights reserved. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher, Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 225 Duncan Mill Road, Don Mills, Ontario, Canada M3B 3K9.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental. This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
® and ™ are trademarks of the publisher. Trademarks indicated with ® are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the Canadian Intellectual Property Office and in other countries.
www.Harlequin.com
