Navy Brat

“I’ll be here.” Buttoning up her own coat, Marilyn headed out the classroom door.

Erin watched the older woman. Her heart ached for Marilyn, but, although she was devastated and shaky now, Erin saw in her a deep inner strength. Marilyn hadn’t realized it was there, not yet. Soon she would discover it and draw upon the deep pool of courage. For now her thoughts were full of self-condemnation, self-deprecation and worry. From experience, Erin knew Marilyn would wallow in those for a while, but the time would come when she’d pick herself up by the bootstraps. Then that inner strength, the grit she saw in the other woman’s weary eyes, would come alive.

As if sensing Erin’s thoughts, Marilyn paused at the classroom door and turned back. “Do you mind if I ask you a personal question?”

“Sure, go ahead.”

“Have you ever been in love?”

“No,” Erin answered, regretfully. “Not even close, I’m afraid.”

Marilyn nodded, then squared her shoulders. “Don’t ever let it happen,” she advised gruffly, yet softly. “It hurts too damn much.”

Chapter Three

The envelope arrived at Erin’s office, hand-delivered by the downstairs receptionist. Erin stared at her name scrawled across the front and knew beyond a doubt the handwriting belonged to Brand Davis. She held the plain white envelope in her hand several moments, her heart pounding. It’d been two days since her dinner date with Brand, and she hadn’t been able to stop thinking about him. She’d been so awful, so aloof and unfriendly, when he’d been trying so hard to be cordial and helpful.

When he’d dropped her off where she’d parked her car, she’d practically leaped out of his in her eagerness to get away from him. Exactly what had he done that was so terrible? Well, first off, he’d been pleasant and fun—horrible crimes, indeed—while she’d behaved like a cantankerous old biddy. She wasn’t proud of herself; in fact, Erin felt wretched about the whole thing.

“Go ahead and open it,” she said aloud.

“You talking to yourself again?” Aimee chastised. “You generally don’t do that until the end of the day.”

“Brand sent me a note.” She held it up for her friend’s inspection as though she were holding on to a hand grenade and expected it to explode in her face at any moment.

“I thought the receptionist looked envious. He’s probably downstairs waiting for you right now.”

“Ah…” That thought didn’t bear contemplating.

“For heaven’s sake,” Aimee said eagerly, “don’t just sit there, open it.”

Erin did, with an enthusiasm she didn’t dare question. Her gaze scanned the short message before she looked up to her friend. “He wants to give me a tour of Sand Point before the opportunity is gone. You know there’s a distinct possibility the navy may close down the base. He says I should have a look at it for nostalgia’s sake.”

“When?”

“Tomorrow…You’re right, he’s downstairs waiting for my answer.”

“Are you going to do it?” Aimee’s question hung in mid-air like a dangling spider.

Erin didn’t know. Then she did know. Longing welled deep within her, not a physical longing, but an emotional stirring that left her feeling empty inside. She didn’t want to have anything to do with this lieutenant j.g., didn’t want to be trapped in the whirlpool of his strong, sensual appeal. Nevertheless, she had been from the first moment they’d kissed, despite her best efforts.

He paralyzed her; he challenged her. He was everything she claimed she didn’t want in a man, and everything she’d ever hope to find.

“Well?” Aimee probed. “What are you going to do?”

“I…I’m going to take that tour.”

Aimee let lose with a loud cheer that attracted the attention of nearly everyone in the huge open room. Several people stuck their heads out from behind office doors to discover what was causing all the excitement.

Shaking on the inside, but outwardly composed, Erin took the elevator to the ground floor. Brand was waiting in the foyer. He had his back to her and was standing in front of the directory. He wore his dress uniform, and his hands were joined behind his back, holding his garrison cap.

He must have sensed her presence, because he turned around.

“Hello,” she said, her heart as heavy as the humid air of the rainy Seattle morning.

“Hi,” he responded, his own voice low and throaty.

She dropped her gaze, unexpectedly nervous. “I got your note.”

“You look surprised to hear from me.”

“After the way I behaved the other night, I didn’t expect to…I can’t understand why you want anything to do with me.”

“You weren’t so bad.” His lazy grin took a long time coming, but when it did it contradicted every word he’d spoken.

She found his smile infectious and doubted any woman could resist this man when he put his mind to it—and his mind was definitely to it!

“Are you free tomorrow?”

“And if I said I wasn’t?” She answered him with a question of her own, thinking that was safer than admitting how pleased she was to see him.

“I’d ask you out again later.”

“Why?” Erin couldn’t understand why he’d continue to risk rejection from her. Especially when she was quite ordinary. Erin wasn’t selling herself short. She was a warm, generous person, but she hadn’t been with him. Yet he’d returned twice now, enduring her disdain, and she had yet to understand why.

Gradually she raised her eyes to his. And what she viewed confused her even more. Brand was thinking and feeling the same things she was, the same bewilderment, the same confusion. The same everything.

The smile faded, and his face tightened slightly, as if this were a question he’d often asked himself. “Why do I keep coming back?” He leveled his gaze on her. “I wish the hell I knew. Will you come to Sand Point tomorrow?”

Erin nodded, then emphasized her response by saying, “Yes. At ten?”

“Perfect.” Then he added with a slight smile, “There’ll be a pass waiting for you at the gate.”

“Good,” she said, taking a step back, feeling nervous and not knowing how to explain it. “I’ll see you tomorrow, then.”

“Tomorrow.”

It wasn’t until Erin was inside the elevator, a smile trembling on her lips, that she remembered Marilyn’s parting words from the night before.

Don’t ever fall in love, Marilyn had warned her, it hurts too damn much. Erin felt somewhat comforted to realize she was a long way from falling in love with Brand Davis. But she would definitely have to be careful.

“Well, is it the way you remembered?” Brand asked after a two-hour tour of Naval Station Puget Sound at Sand Point. He’d given her a history lesson, too. Sand Point had originally been acquired by King County back in 1920 as an airport and later leased to the navy as a reserve. Brand had explained that only a few hundred men were based there now, support personnel for the base at Everett. Brand was assigned to the admiral’s staff—SINCPAC, out of Hawaii—and sent to do an independent study in preparation for the possible closure of the base.

Erin had been on the base itself only a handful of times as a child. It amazed her how familiar the base felt to her, even though it had been sixteen years since she’d moved away from the area.

“It hasn’t changed all that much over the years.”

“That surprises you?”