Healing A Hero (The Camerons of Tide’s Way #4)

by Skye Taylor

  BEFORE STEPPING out onto the deck, Elena had considered a number of ways she could tease Philip and make him forget himself and that he was a gentleman. But the avalanche of sensation he unleashed in her put an end to teasing. Her world spiraled in a dizzying explosion of desire. She lifted her feet from the sun-bleached planking and wrapped her legs about his waist as their tongues danced.

  His big hands cradled her bare behind, and the calloused roughness was incredibly arousing. Good thing the condoms were in his pocket because chances were, they were never going to make it to his bedroom.

  He strode across the deck and somehow managed to lose his shorts before he sank onto a cushioned chaise with her in his lap. His fingers made short work of the buttons on her borrowed shirt. Then he fumbled briefly with the foil packet before pushing the tails of the shirt out of the way.

  “Beautiful,” he rasped as his rough palms closed around her breasts.

  Fiery pleasure washed over her and she slid down his thighs until she was pressed against his erection again. She tipped her head back, wanting desperately to have him inside her.

  He kissed her neck while his thumbs flicked over her nipples, sending a new wave of urgency flooding through her.

  “Please,” she begged.

  He grasped her hips and lifted her as a growl of matching need rumbled in his throat. Then, ever so slowly, he lowered her onto himself.

  Her climax hit the moment he slid home. She cried out, shuddering under the onslaught. Nothing had ever felt so intense in her whole life. It felt as if he was leaving his mark on her forever. She clung to his shoulders, murmuring his name, as she shattered. She was his.

  Chapter 13

  February 2015

  Camp Lejeune, North Carolina

  PHILIP STEPPED into the small waiting room a full half hour early for his physical therapy appointment. He’d had a meeting over in New River, and it hadn’t made sense to return to his office when he wouldn’t have enough time to get anything accomplished.

  He opened a copy of Stars and Stripes and settled in to wait. A young girl, her feet drawn up beneath her, sat on the seat opposite with a laptop balanced on her knees. Her head was bent, but her eyes weren’t on the laptop. They were studying him beneath finely arched brows. She looked familiar.

  “Have we met before?” he asked, refolding the paper and dropping it back on the table beside him.

  “I don’t think so.” She tipped her head to one side and even the gesture looked familiar.

  “Are you here for rehab?” He hadn’t seen her before, but she could be some jarhead’s kid with a sports injury. She might have been around, and he hadn’t paid close attention.

  “Nope. My mom works here. I’m just waiting for her to be done so she can take me shopping.”

  Suddenly, Philip realized why she looked familiar. With her hair pulled into a ponytail, the shape of her face seemed very different than it had in the photo with a thick fall of dark curls surrounding it. But it had to be her. Elena’s daughter.

  “You must be Julie.” There were hints of her mother about the mouth and in her warm coloring. “Elena Castillo’s daughter?”

  A furrow appeared between the girl’s blue eyes. “You know my mom?”

  “I’ve known your mom since she was your age.” And he’d known her intimately when she’d grown up. “I hung out with your Uncle Andy mostly, but—”

  Julie shut the laptop and folded her arms across it. Her expression was suddenly wary and less friendly.

  “You’re the guy who sent the flowers.” It was an accusation. Laced with hostility.

  The open antipathy surprised him.

  “Why?” she demanded.

  “Why what?”

  “Why did you send my mother flowers?”

  “Because it was her birthday. I thought . . .” At the time, it seemed like a nice gesture to make if they were going to go forward on a friendly note. But for some reason, this girl didn’t appear to agree. “I thought she’d like them.”

  “Well, she did.” Julie’s blue gaze didn’t waver, but she seemed to be waging a war between some unknown reason to resent him and good manners.

  Philip leaned across the narrow space and extended a hand. “I’m Philip Cameron. It’s nice to meet you.”

  The girl hesitated, then manners won out. She placed her hand in his for a brief but surprisingly firm grip. A grip that hurt. He tried not to grimace.

  “I understand you’re a west-coast girl.” He searched for something neutral to say to her. “How do you like Jacksonville?”

  “It’s not San Diego.”

  “Not many places can compete with San Diego,” he agreed pleasantly.

  “You ever been there?” The forbidding stiffness lifted a little as she asked the question.

  “A few times.” A particular training op with a bunch of Navy SEALS came to mind, followed even less pleasantly by the memory of his brief marriage. “The climate is perfect, but the ocean’s something else. Made me wish I owned a wetsuit.”

  “You have to get used to it, I guess.” She shrugged.

  “Do you surf?” She looked fit and athletic. The kind of girl who wouldn’t be happy just decorating the beach in a skimpy bikini.

  “Of course.” Said as if there couldn’t possibly be any other reasonable answer.

  “We’ve got some pretty good places to surf on the east coast, too. Maybe your mom will take you next time you visit Tide’s Way. Or check out the beaches up here.”

  “Tide’s Way is too small. There’s nothing there.”

  This girl was not happy with having left her childhood home and everything she knew behind. So maybe the vibes he was getting from her weren’t about him or the fact that he’d sent her mother flowers.

  “How do you like your new school?” He should just pick the newspaper up and let her go back to her computer, but something made him give friendly interest another try.

  “It’s okay.” Julie shrugged. “I like the tennis coach. And the kids on the team are nice.”

  Well, that explains the none-too-delicate handshake! How old is this girl, anyway? Did they have tennis teams in elementary school? She seems kind of tall, but Jake says girls mature faster than boys.

  He started doing the math in his head. She couldn’t be more than twelve. He thought he recalled Andy saying Elena had married in the summer of oh two. A stab of jealousy hit him hard.

  “I used to play tennis. Back in high school.”

  “My dad taught me how to play,” Julie stated with firmness and some underlying intent he couldn’t fathom. Maybe she was just trying to make it clear to Philip that she thought her parents should still be together and Philip was an interloper. That would explain her attitude toward the flowers.

  But however much she might want it, reconciliation after a divorce was unlikely. Her allegiance to Eli was admirable, though. He was her father, after all. Philip could hate the guy for stealing Elena, but that wasn’t Julie’s fault.

  “How old are you?” he couldn’t stop himself from asking.

  “I’m almost thirteen. I will be in May, anyway.” Her eyes flashed another warning.

  Again, Philip ran numbers through his head. Elena must have returned to school and gone right back to Eli’s bed the week after she left his. Was that why she stopped writing? She got pregnant and had to get married? And couldn’t face telling me?

  The bastard! Of course it was Eli’s fault. Elena had been so careful when she’d hooked up with him, making sure he had condoms before things went too far.

  Philip forced his jaw to relax. It was old news. At least she hadn’t lied to him like Holly had.

  “I must be hard, leaving your friends behind and starting fresh.”

  “You should know.” The words were clipped and a
ccusing.

  “I’ve moved a lot. As an adult.” Philip tipped his head to the side to catch her eye. “But not back when I was still in high school. And it was my choice.”

  She studied him with that penetrating blue gaze. Then her shoulders sagged slightly.

  “This wasn’t my choice.” The words were accompanied by a sigh. When Philip didn’t offer a response, she swallowed, dipped her head, then went on.

  “Mom didn’t think she had much chance of landing this job, but she really wanted it. For the money and the prestige, I guess. But I think she wanted to get away from Dad, too. Or maybe just away from San Diego. She kept talking about going home. But this isn’t Tide’s Way either. So, now we both have to get used to a whole new place.”

  One of the things Philip had always been good at was drawing young men out, helping them to become comfortable in new surroundings. He was a good listener and, after she got started, Julie seemed to forget her bitterness. She shared bits and pieces about her life before and after the divorce, her friends, tennis, surfing, and her home in San Diego.

  Her intelligence and sense of humor grew on him now that she’d stopped acting like he was part of her problems. As he listened to her, the enormity of everything he’d lost came back to haunt him.

  Eli Tischler had had it all, and he’d screwed it up.

  Chapter 14

  February 2015

  Camp Lejeune, North Carolina

  “I LIKE YOUR friend,” Julie said as she plopped into the passenger seat.

  “You mean Terry?” Elena glanced over at her daughter, then put her key in the ignition and started the car.

  “I mean Philip Cameron. The guy who sent you the flowers.”

  “When did you meet him?” Elena’s heart raced at the thought of Philip and her daughter meeting without her there to make the introductions.

  “While he was waiting for his appointment.”

  Elena felt a little faint. It was a meeting she’d feared would happen sooner or later, but she’d hoped later. Later, after she’d figured out how to handle it.

  “Was Mr. Cameron ever your boyfriend? Before you met Dad?”

  Elena’s heart jolted at the question. Did a passion-filled, one-month affair count as a boyfriend? Probably not. At least, not in Philip’s mind. They’d parted with all kinds of promises to stay in touch, but those promises had gotten broken pretty quickly. Out of sight, out of mind.

  “It’s Sergeant Cameron,” she corrected, then answered her daughter’s question carefully. “Not really. We hung out together for a few weeks when he was home on leave one summer. Then he left for the other side of the world and I went back to school.”

  “He didn’t mind that you were late for the appointment, either.”

  “He was early.”

  “Maybe, but don’t kid yourself, Mom. You were late. Like almost a half hour late. You were supposed to be done by five. Right? Then we were going shopping. But you didn’t even start his appointment until four-thirty.”

  “He’s a patient man.”

  “Good thing he’s not like Dad, I guess.”

  Definitely not like Eli. Her perpetual tardiness was just one of the many sins Eli had complained about as their marriage began to unravel.

  Julie went silent for a while. Then, “I didn’t think I was going to like Sergeant Cameron. I mean, I was all prepared to hate him. But he’s too nice.”

  Dismay flooded through Elena. No one hated Philip. He was smart, and funny, and sweet, and downright hot. Just because she’d lost her heart to him and assumed more than he’d intended, didn’t take away all the good things about him. “Why would you want to hate him?”

  “First you have coffee with him. Then he sends you flowers. I didn’t like the direction things were going.”

  Elena sighed. Back to that old argument. It was one of the reasons she hadn’t been serious about dating after the divorce.

  “I know you wish your dad and I would get back together, but it’s not going to happen. The sooner you accept that, the better off we’ll both be.”

  Julie directed her gaze out the window and didn’t respond.

  “Our marriage died a long time ago. We just stuck it out for you. But, in the end, we felt that exposing you to the constant round of icy silences and occasional blowups was more hurtful than an amicable divorce would be.”

  “Can I fly out to spend spring vacation with Dad?”

  This wasn’t something she and Eli had come to any agreement on. Elena had sole custody even before the move east. That hadn’t stopped Julie from spending weekends with Eli when he wasn’t on a book tour somewhere, and Elena had never objected. But letting her fly across the country on her own. . . . “Let me talk to Eli about it.”

  ELENA WAITED UNTIL Julie had gone to bed before calling Eli. However this conversation went, she didn’t want Julie listening in. Eli picked up on the third ring.

  “Hey. Elena. How’s life on the east coast treating you? Is the new job everything it was cracked up to be?”

  “The job is great. I like my boss and my co-workers. Things are okay.” Mostly okay. Except for Julie’s resentment and Philip’s re-entry into her life and the emotional upheaval that both brought. “You?”

  “Meshuga. But no crazier than usual. What’s up?”

  He must be busier than usual, considering how quickly he was ready to dispense with the small talk. “Julie wants to spend her spring vacation with you.”

  Silence greeted this announcement.

  “She’s still angry about the move. Says all her friends are out there and life’s not fair that she’s here.” Elena tried to keep the frustration out of her voice.

  “And you’re okay with her coming out to spend the week with me?”

  “I’m not excited about it, but I understand.”

  “I know I don’t have any say about it, but I miss her. I’d love to have her come.”

  “And your fiancé won’t object?”

  “There is no fiancé.” Eli sighed.

  “I’m sorry to hear that.”

  “Why do I think you don’t mean that?”

  “Eli, we’re friends. Of course I mean it. Just because things didn’t work out for us, doesn’t mean I hope things never work out for you with anyone else.”

  “I thought you hated Rachel.”

  It was Elena’s turn to sigh. They’d had this discussion before. Too many times. “I don’t hate Rachel. I only hated that you cheated on me with her. But your mother loves her.”

  “Well, it no longer matters. We broke up a month ago.”

  “I’m sorry, even if you don’t believe me. You deserve a woman who can give you her whole heart. You’re a good man. You were good to me when you didn’t need to be, and for that I will always be grateful.”

  “I didn’t want gratitude.”

  “We’ve worn this argument out.”

  “Badoyeren,” Eli growled. He really was a decent man, and their breakup had as much to do with her as with him.

  “I’m sorry, too. So, do you want Julie to come out for the week or not?”

  “Just tell me when her flight arrives. I’ll be at the gate to meet her.”

  “Thanks, Eli. I’ll get the details to you as soon as I have them. And, I’m really sorry things didn’t work out for you and Rachel.”

  “You’re just overflowing with apologies tonight. Is something bothering you?”

  Once upon a time, she could have confided in Eli. “I’ll email you her itinerary.”

  “Good night, Elena. Take care of yourself.”

  The line went quiet, and Elena sat holding the receiver. Wisps of memories of the last fourteen years flitted through her mind. The contrast between Eli and Philip could not have been greater, although both men
were thoughtful, decent people who’d come into her life and changed it.

  Philip with his patriotic zeal, his easy-going patience, and his mind-blowing lovemaking had rocketed into her life and turned it upside down in a matter of weeks. Eli, on the other hand, had been a friend first, then an attentive lover, and, finally, a caring husband and a good father.

  Philip had broken Elena’s heart and she had broken Eli’s.

  Chapter 15

  February 2015

  Camp Lejeune, North Carolina

  “TODAY, WE’RE GOING to work mostly on fine motor skills, Gunny,” Elena greeted Philip when he arrived in the PT department, punctual as always, but preoccupied with thoughts that didn’t appear to have anything to do with his therapy. His distraction was welcome since she was trying to put a little healthy distance between the feelings Philip evoked in her and the reality of her life.

  He started to remove his uniform jacket. She shook her head.

  “No need to strip down right off.”

  Philip shrugged and settled into the chair she’d indicated on the far side of the desk, his hands resting loosely in his lap. The sling was gone. He must be happy about that. She almost commented on it, but he didn’t look happy, so she said nothing.

  “I want to test your current level of sensory loss. I have the report from Walter Reed, and we’ve certainly seen some gains, but I want to know exactly where things stand now. ” She set a bowl filled with uncooked rice in front of him. “With your eyes closed, can you find and identify the things I’ve hidden in the rice?”

  Philip sighed. “This isn’t how they tested me at Walter Reed, but whatever.” He closed his eyes and groped toward the bowl of rice.

  Elena ignored the edgy frustration in his voice and guided the bowl under his hand. He pushed his fingers into the rice and wiggled them.

  “Feels like rice to me.” One corner of his mouth tipped up.

  “Humor me.”

  “A bolt?” he asked holding up a screw with his eyes still shut. He rolled it between his fingers and thumb. “No. A screw.”