by Zoe Dawson
With the last mournful note of the bugle, the wind swelled, and a rain of pink blossoms fell like snow onto the casket and Jenna’s hair. The flag was folded and passed to Commander Washington. He knelt down in front of Jenna and set it in her hands, murmuring words of condolences and thanks for Sarah’s service. Jenna thanked him. Shortly after, the Arlington Lady, a representative from Arlington Cemetery, offered Jenna a card of condolences and added her best wishes for peace in her trying time.
After the reception, she looked for Austin but couldn’t find him. It was clear he must have already left. She thought about calling him but didn’t know what to say, how to tell him how much she appreciated that he had attended the funeral.
When she got home, she had never felt so energized in her entire life. She’d laid her cousin to rest and now it was time for Jenna to move forward with her own life.
She reached for a piece of paper Elise had given her and dialed the numbers. As soon as the woman on the other end of the line answered, Jenna said, “Piper Kaczewski, this is Jenna We— Reed.” She smiled at the sound of her maiden name. She was no longer associated with Robert at all. “I’d like to talk to you about a project I have in mind.”
Camp Pendleton, California
NCIS Headquarters
Two weeks later
“Hey, you going to win tomorrow?” Drea asked, giving Amber a wink.
Austin smiled and shot their enthusiastic probie a look. “Why? How much money did you bet on me?” He frowned. “Or against me?”
Drea opened her eyes really wide and smiled innocently. “What? Bet against my coworker? I would never.”
“A hundred bucks,” Derrick said, his face straight and unreadable.
Austin’s brows rose. “Really?”
“That you’d wipe out on the first wave.” Derrick laughed and looked over at Amber.
Austin shook his head. “You don’t have faith in me, brah. That cuts me deep.”
Amber gave Derrick a chastising look. “She did not. She bet you’d place. So did Derrick. He’s kidding.”
Austin had signed up for the Camp Pendleton Surf Competition taking place tomorrow on Camp Del Mar Beach. Everyone from the office was coming to watch him surf, even Kai.
He was closing out Lieutenant Sarah Taylor’s murder investigation, finishing up his final report. Former Ambassador Robert Webb had confessed to soliciting a murder-for-hire in the case of his ex-wife, Jenna Webb. He and Richard Somers, AKA Scott Posner, had been charged with multiple counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of Lieutenant Sarah Taylor, William Dyer, and Mitchell Campbell. Jenna’s ex-husband was due to be extradited from Washington, DC to San Diego, California, to stand trial. Extradition from one state to another wasn’t automatic, and to transport her ex-husband it would require going through state judicial channels. An email popped into his account while Derrick, Drea, and Amber argued about his surfing prowess. Austin just smirked when Derrick said, “He’s going to smoke the competition.”
He opened the email from Beau Jerrott and read the short message. He sat back in his chair and Amber said, “Bad news?”
“No, not really. Robert Webb is dead. Heart attack. He’s not even going to serve his sentence.” Austin felt nothing but relief. “Can’t say I’m sorry about that. I wouldn’t put it past the bastard to put another hit out on Jenna.”
Derrick gave him a knowing look, and Austin flipped him off. “You should go after her.”
Austin ignored him. “I’m out of here,” he said, grabbing his travel bag. “I’ll see you guys in the surf tomorrow. Derrick, bring your money.”
Amber and Drea laughed as Austin headed for the parking lot and soon was leaving the base. He picked up some seafood from The Shack, his stomach grumbling all the way to his apartment. Once inside he set the food down on the kitchen counter, went into his bedroom, stripped down, and jumped in the shower, then dried off, leaving his hair wet. In board shorts, he opened the fridge, grabbing a beer. He took a swig, snagged the food and sat down by the window, eating while watching the surf. The Santa Anas had blown out to sea, but the projected surf for tomorrow’s competition was going to be radical.
He couldn’t wait.
The waves started to pick up, and he grinned, taking another swallow of his beer. So Webb was dead. Good riddance. For the umpteenth time, he thought about Jenna and his chest tightened at the memory of the last time he’d seen her. When he was notified of the funeral date and time, he’d made sure to volunteer to play taps. He’d wanted to stay and comfort Jenna, but he knew she didn’t want to talk to him, which hurt like freaking hell, but he had to honor her wishes. She wanted to go this alone, and no matter how much he disagreed with that, he would stay away. She would have to come to him, and he rubbed his breastbone. God, he hoped like hell she would come to him. He was still deeply in love with her, and it was killing him to remain passive. But she’d asked him to let her handle things. Not that he wouldn’t have if he’d been with her—that was the problem. If she’d wanted to do this under her own steam, he would have stepped aside and minded his own business. He just wanted her in his life.
After finishing half of his meal, he sat back and sent his hands over his face and into his hair. He rose and grabbed his board and some wax. To fill the time before he went to bed, he gave the board several coats, then set it back in its brackets on the wall. He checked his competitor’s entry packet to make sure everything was inside, including his number, and set it on the dining room table.
He answered some personal emails, then got ready for bed, opening one of the windows before settling under the covers. Austin lay there, wishing Jenna was here in his arms, listening to the soft crash of the surf. He turned to his side and stared out at the moonlight, so bright that it made eerie shadows on the rolling waves. He closed his eyes, remembering how he had absently fondled her hair, thinking it would be the perfect night for surfing—or for watching the stars.
He thought about her soft skin and the way she gasped when he entered her. He got hard, cursing for torturing himself, thought about how they’d parted, how he had burst in to find out she’d dispatched Posner/Somers with candle wax and a lamp. She was amazing. But then she had closed down when he’d told her what Posner/Somers had said, who was behind her murder-for-hire and that three people had died as a direct result.
She had gone so cold and distant.
It was even worse than their goodbye in Ja’arbah. So much worse. She had never once tracked him down, never once phoned him or sent him a letter or visited him at Walter Reed when he’d been wounded. He remembered how he kept expecting her to come through his hospital room door, but she hadn’t. But he hadn’t realized back then that she would have come to him if she had known. He was sick at the years they had wasted.
He had been resigned back then, kidding himself that she didn’t matter, but now he was pretty torn up. In fact, it had hurt pretty bad when she had left him after the ambassador’s arrest.
It was as if they had suffered some kind of strange destiny, and they each had their own paths—but every once in a while, those isolated paths would bring them together, and for a brief time they could bask in each other’s lights. Then they would both move on. He sometimes wondered what his life would have been like if he’d never met her at all. The thought disturbed him more than he liked. Just knowing that she was living and breathing somewhere had kept him going more than once, and he could not imagine his life without her in it. He didn’t want to think what it would be like to never see her again.
His throat got thick, and he closed his eyes, aching to cradle her tight against him. He pushed out of the bed and grabbed his guitar. Strumming it, he settled on the couch and played a song that said everything that was in his heart. He sang to her, across the distance and time, waiting and praying for a chance to bask in her light again. He gave himself up to the music. He wasn’t going to think about it. Not tonight. Not while there was still hope, not while she had settled like a beautiful we
ight on his heart.
Camp Pendleton, California
Camp Del Mar Beach
Two days later
Austin shaded his eyes. The waves were rushing to shore in a sound that always made his surfer heart sing.
“Hey, surfer boy,” Derrick said, and they bumped knuckles. “You ready to take some of these breakers and show them who’s boss?”
“Cowabunga, dude,” Austin said, grinning. “Bring it on.”
The talent present was exceptional, and these guys were in great shape—several from the coast guard, Navy and of course, Marine Corps. So, it wasn’t going to be a ride in the park. But Austin had been surfing every day possible since he was old enough to stand on a board. Even with all that competition, he was on top.
The event was organized by the Pendleton Surf Club, of which Austin was a member; he was considered by necessity a retired Marine, but anyone who served knew that you couldn’t retire: Semper Fi. It was in every service member’s bones.
It was the last day of the championship, and he intended to show some of these guys what he was made of. He was second in the race, and he needed a good ride to win this final heat and the competition. Surfers had to surf several heats to actually win a competition, with the competition lasting two days on average. He'd already advanced through the semi-finals and was now in the final. His heat was called, and he picked up his board, heading for the water.
Paddling for all he was worth, he duck-dived below a wave and was up and paddling again. As the ocean heaved against the board, Austin’s honed instincts crested. Yeah, the one he wanted was just swelling. It was his wave. He prepared to pop and ride as it started to break. He slipped down the crest slick as you please and continued to ride until the wave broke up. Tons of water foaming around him, he knew that his score would be high. He moved along a medium wave, trailing his hand through the water on top of the wave. He heard whistling and clapping from the beach and grinned as he guided the board over the top of the crest.
When the heat was over, he rode a wave to shore and rose out of the water. Kai, Drea, and Amber were jumping up and down in the crowd and people were clapping. Amber’s husband, Tristan, and Derrick and his wife, Emma, were hooting and hollering. He shook his head like a dog, droplets flying everywhere. He reached back and unzipped his wet suit and peeled the top off, leaving it hanging from his hips. When he looked up the beach, he stopped cold.
Jenna was standing there in a blue-and-white-flower-print sleeveless dress, a white sweater over her arm, white sandals on her feet. She looked so good that for a moment, he thought he was dreaming.
He jammed his board in the sand and stared, sure he was just conjuring her up. Derrick gave him a shove in the back. “Man, what are you waiting for.”
He started walking, and she shielded her beautiful blue eyes from the sun, her expression going soft when she saw him making his way through the crowd to her. The scores were being announced and people were cheering, but the competition faded into the background. All he could see was Jenna.
“Babe,” he said as he reached her, and she looked up into his eyes.
“Austin, you were…amazing.”
“I can’t believe you’re here,” he said gruffly. He watched her, a sudden ache jamming up his throat.
She tried to smile, the worry in her eyes evident in the bright light. “I am. Here to stay.”
His heart jerked hard in his chest. “What?” He looked away, trying to handle the sudden stinging in his eyes. God, but she could turn him inside out. Finally managing to get a shaky breath past the lump in his throat, he looked at her, aware of how pensive she was, aware of the dark uncertainty in her eyes. That uncertainty stripped him to the quick, and he walked the rest of the way across the sand toward her. “Come here,” he whispered gruffly.
With a choked sound, she came into his arms, and he gathered her up in a tight embrace, roughly tucking her face against the curve of his neck. Austin felt her take a deep breath, then she pressed her face tighter against him as she slid her arms around his waist. He could feel her trembling, as if she hadn’t been sure about how he would welcome her.
He pressed a kiss to her temple, then slid his fingers along her scalp, cradling her head in his firm grip. The sweet feel of her curls tangled around his fingers, their loose fall like satin against her neck and shoulders. Austin closed his eyes and hugged her hard, a swell of emotion making his chest tighten. Damn but she felt so freaking good.
He felt her take another heavy breath, and he smoothed one hand across her hips and up her back, molding her tightly against him. Easing in a tight breath of his own, he brushed a kiss against her ear, then spoke, his voice gruff and uneven. “You did say you were here to stay. I didn’t hear that wrong, right?”
A tremor coursed through her, and Jenna dragged her arms free and slipped them around his neck, the shift intimately and fully aligning her body against his. Austin drew an unsteady breath and angled her head back, making a low, indistinguishable sound as he covered her mouth in a kiss that was raw, governed by the need to comfort and reassure. Jenna went still. Then, with a soft exhalation, she clutched at him and yielded to his deep, comforting kiss. Austin slid his hand along her jaw, his fingers snagging in the warm strands of her hair as he altered the angle of her head. She kissed him back just as deeply, pressing herself against him, a fever of emotions sluicing through him. He was so thankful she was here, knowing that he was going to keep her there forever.
Dragging his mouth away from hers, he trailed a string of kisses down her neck, then caught her head again and gave her another hot, wet kiss. His breath ragged, he tightened his hold on her face and drew back, holding her against his chest. He held her like that, his hand cupping the back of her neck, until his breathing evened out.
He stared down into her now luminous eyes, the uncertainty gone. “Oh, Austin, I wasn’t sure how you were going to react. I’ve been trying to do all this alone, all this grieving, and I was wrong, so totally wrong. You would only have stood by me and supported me through it all. And it was okay if I leaned. That’s what a woman does when she’s so deeply in love with the man she wants to be forever in her life. Can you forgive me for not seeing that?”
She was shaking like a leaf.
“Yes, of course I can. All of that is true.”
“But you honored my wishes and that was so courageous and valiant of you, to come back here and wait until I was ready. I should have known and never expected less of a Marine. I’ll never forget that.” She stared at him, then she swallowed hard and looked away. “Robert’s dead. Did you know that?”
“Yes, Beau emailed me two days ago. I can’t say I’m sorry. I didn’t trust him to try again to hurt you even behind bars.”
She nodded. “That crossed my mind, as well. I had no idea he was such a control freak. I should have, with his micromanaging, his obsessively pointing out things I needed to change in the guise of helping me. His silent judgment as a passive-aggressive way to make me see how wrong I was, describing worst-case scenarios in an attempt to deter me from certain behaviors, and his unsolicited, thinly veiled attempts to direct me with his insufferable ‘constructive’ criticism.” She wiped at a tear that slid out of the corner of her eye. “He invalidated my emotions, and he tried to drive a wedge between me and the people who didn’t see it his way.”
He kept his eyes on hers, giving her silent support in voicing her feelings.
“I should have talked to you about these things, but I was ashamed at how weak I had been.”
“You were innocent, and he got you at a young age. It was what you knew.”
“That’s right, until you came along and became my catalyst, showed me true passion, unending courage, and didn’t leave me in the embassy to fend for myself while Robert flew off without a backward glance. You were life to me, and I held the memories of your kiss and your kindness with me until I couldn’t bear him one more day. It took me a while, but I was finally able to break free.”
>
“You can tell me anything, Jenna. I would never judge you,” he said quietly. Meeting her gaze, his expression serious, he continued, “I love you, Jenna. Unconditionally and without boundaries.”
“I love you, too!”
“I don’t want to contemplate another moment without you in my life permanently.”
“I want that, too. So much. I want to be with you forever.” She took a breath, and her eyes grew moist. “After my mother’s death, I had been so afraid, and my father used that fear to crush my independence. He meant well, but his overprotective need to shelter me, to keep me safe, had terrible consequences.” She held his gaze a moment, then she bent her head and clasped his hand, started rubbing her thumb back and forth across the back of it. “As a young woman, I was ill-prepared to deal with an overbearing older man. Robert subverted my will, lied to me outright, all in the name of protecting me, but he’d wanted my father’s society and government contacts. He especially wanted me for my looks. It stroked his overinflated ego.” Her touch not quite steady, she swallowed, then took a deep, unsteady breath. “After my divorce, I’m ashamed to say I was clueless as to how to handle my own life, so Tom and Elise stepped in. Tom took over paying my bills and handling my finances. Elise coddled me and pampered me. They had been a safe haven.”
Feeling as if he’d just been let out of a tight, dark place, he closed his eyes, absorbing her words, hugging her hard, feeling as if he could take his first deep breath in days. He pressed a kiss to her brow, then hugged her again. She was opening up to him, and it was clear she had done some major soul-searching, making sense of what had happened in her past to leave her susceptible to Robert’s proclivities.
“I’m so glad you’ve worked this all out, and we can start fresh here.”
“I would never have met you again if it wasn’t for Sarah.” Her voice broke and her words trailed off. “Sarah was so independent, so strong and confident. There was something in her that called to me. I came to El Centro on a mission that had only begun with starts and spurts. My volunteer job where I asserted myself, and my idea of fundraising, which I can now say is well underway, was the beginning for me. Sarah gave me that. Even though I had gone there to allow someone to take care of me again, she really showed me who I was and what I was capable of.” Her voice was soft. “I’m going to be working with Piper Kaczewski in her San Diego office. She's a fundraiser, and I'm going to learn the ropes from her. We're going to be partners. I kinda need a place to stay.”