“Jess, calm down. I won’t hurt you.” The words made no
sense to her muddled brain, but they continued, quiet and
assured. “Don’t scream. It’s all right. I won’t let
anything happen to you.”
It wasn’t the words that made her sink into him, but the
voice that, even after all this time, she’d recognize
anywhere. Her eyes hadn’t been playing tricks on her that
afternoon. Will Gumble was in this compound. In her very
room.
“I thought I saw you—I thought that was you, but…” Her
words were little more than a whisper despite his
assurance
that it was safe to speak. Her stomach pitched, fear and
relief mingling with alarm and the echo of a remembered
betrayal. But dealing with her emotions would have to wait
until she felt steadier on her feet. Exhaustion and the
ebbing of her fight-or-flight adrenaline rush had left her
legs like jelly. She leaned into Will. He held out his
arms, as though he knew just what she needed. As though he
was still someone who cared about taking care of her,
being
there for her.
But she didn’t want him holding her. She wanted answers.
She wanted to understand what on earth was happening. Most
of all, she wanted to silence the little voice in her head
that kept saying Will’s appearance was simply a dream or
hallucination.
Yanking herself upright at the last possible moment, she
shoved his chest with both hands. “You scared me to death!
Why did you break into my room? What are you doing here?”
His lopsided grin had always started with a little quirk
to
the left before spreading across his mouth. And that
hadn’t
changed, even as he looked down at the tiny black-and-
white-checkered floor tiles.
He scraped his fingers over the black whiskers covering
his
chin. “Your dad sent me.”
“My dad?”
“Well, I couldn’t say no to my new XO, could I?”
“So you’re still in the navy?” Oh, she sounded bitter—so
much more bitter than she wanted to. Why couldn’t her
words
be flippant and nonchalant, as if it didn’t really matter
that she no longer knew even the most basic things about
him? He’d popped back into her life, and she didn’t want
it
to matter.
But it did.
Maybe because of the extreme situation.
Sure. She’d just keep telling herself that.
His smile flickered for a moment before he nodded slowly.
“I am.”
Forcing a chuckle, she said, “I figured when my dad
realized I was missing, he’d send a SEAL team to bring me
home.”
“Not a full team—he just sent one.”
