One Star-Spangled Night

by Rogenna Brewer

  Though he suspected she’d come to her senses and realized she was better off not letting a man like him—and a much older man at that—into her heart. He wanted to hear it from her. And she owed him the courtesy of a face to face.

  “Chaplain.”

  She looked up from her conversation with the elderly matron. Relief followed by apprehension shown in her eyes. “Captain Reese.”

  He wanted to reassure her he was here to rescue her and not make her feel uncomfortable, but he had a feeling this night would become uncomfortable for them both before it was over.

  “Care to dance?” Doug extended his hand.

  “Excuse me,” she murmured to their elderly audience. She put her hand in his and he immediately wrapped her in his arms. “I need to put my glass down.”

  Without missing a beat, he led them to the nearest table and set it down for her. He used the opportunity to pull her even closer and she moved with him to the familiar strains of “Heaven in Your Eyes.” He wondered if she missed their game of Top Gun trivia half as much as he did.

  Mostly he missed the chance to get to know her better.

  Berlin followed Loverboy. “Take my Breath Away.”

  “Nice ceremony,” he said to break the ice.

  “Thank you.” Her smile seemed strained and he could feel tension radiating from her spine. His hand in the small of her back itched to explore the curves both above and below her waist.

  “I’m not very good at small talk,” he said, wishing he could say something to put them both at ease. If there was any doubt in his mind that she’d been avoiding him for the better part of a month, well, the answer was right there in the way she held herself apart from him.

  “We don’t have to talk.” She gazed into his eyes. Talk about mixed signals. When she looked at him like that with those big brown eyes, it was all he could do not to kiss her right there on the dance floor. “I appreciate the rescue.”

  “More of an ambush,” he admitted.

  She tilted her head.

  “You’ve been avoiding me, Chaplain.”

  She dropped her gaze to his shoulder. “I assumed you were busy.” Her lashes fluttered against her cheek before she looked up at him again. “I understand congratulations are in order.”

  “I sent you an invitation.”

  “I wouldn’t miss your Change of Command ceremony for the world.” She said it with enough conviction he had a sudden image of pulling her up on the dais with him.

  The set ended. Couples separated and started clapping.

  Someone shouted. “Where My Heart Will Take Me.”

  The clapping and cheering increased while the DJ scrambled to fill the request.

  Doug nodded toward the patio doors. “Step outside with me?”

  He didn’t give Lindsey a chance to escape. He grabbed her hand and pulled her out onto the patio with him.

  “What’s going on in there?”

  He positioned himself along the garden wall. “How’s your “Star Trek” trivia? The theme from the TV series “Enterprise” has been a wedding staple for the ship’s company since 2004.”

  Her ears perked to the first strains of the song. “I know that song. I always thought it was called Faith of the Heart. Rod Stewart?”

  “Russell Watson did the remake for the series.” By the time Watson hit the chorus the entire room had joined in at the top of their lungs. The sweet refrain drifted to the background while Lindsey sang along.

  “I like it. You don’t?”

  “I just wanted to get you alone,” he admitted.

  She joined him at the wall but kept her distance. “Maybe that’s not such a good idea.” She turned her attention to the sky. “Do you think we’ll be able to see fireworks from here.”

  He’d forgotten it was the 4th of July.

  “Probably not. But he wasn’t going to let her change the subject. “Look. I’m sure Elliot couldn’t wait to tell you I committed one of the top ten Thou Shall Not sins while I was married. It’s even a sin in my book—General Article 134 of the UCMJ—

  adultery—”

  “Actually, he didn’t and he wouldn’t. He did try to warn me away because he cares about me in a Fatherly way.”

  “Connor’s not my biological son. That’s not an excuse, by the way, just a statement of fact. Karen and I got married for all the wrong reasons. But I have no excuse for cheating on her.”

  “There’s always more to that story.”

  “You’re being too easy on me.” He held her steady gaze. “When I joined the Navy it was with my best friend--we’d gone to see Top Gun together. His call sign was Bouncer. Only one day he didn’t bounce, he crashed and burned. I got drunk and fell into bed with his fiancée. When Karen found out she was pregnant I guess we both just assumed the baby was mine.”

  He took a deep breath before continuing.

  “Connor–named after his father–may not be my biological son, but I love him like one. Karen and I realized our mistake within the first two years. But it took another five and an affair for either of us to admit it. Ginny was a pilot. It’s not pretty when you’re caught cheating with someone in your unit and you’re both married.”

  “I don’t imagine it is,” she said.

  “Karen and I entered into counseling with Father Elliot. At that point I don’t know if we were trying to save our marriage as much as end it, but we got pregnant and Kimmy was born and she couldn’t save our marriage either. I think Karen and I were both glad I had a sea tour coming up. I packed my seabag and never returned home, figuratively. Because of course I see the kids whenever I can. But I’ve been divorced now longer than I was married. And I’m starting to think I don’t like being alone. But I’m not that same miserable man—”

  “I need to tell you something.”

  Like you’re barking up the wrong tree, buddy. “I’m listening.”

  “I’ve received orders to the Enterprise.”

  Doug felt the sucker punch in his gut. That made him her Commanding Officer. That made her off limits in a way she hadn’t been seconds ago when he’d been waxing poetic about his divorce.

  “When?” he asked.

  “When the chapel closes and the ship gets underway again. It was foolish of me, but I’m not going to embarrass you. Or do anything to jeopardize your career.”

  “Did you put in for a transfer to the Enterprise?”

  She kept her face turned away from him. “I was thinking with my heart and not my head. I just wanted to be near you. Not that I thought anything would come of it.”

  Was she saying she could fall in love him if given half a chance?

  People were starting to wander back to the patio again. “I need you to come with me, Lieutenant.” He deliberately used her rank because he didn’t want to waste time arguing about it. He sent a quick text to his driver and grabbed their covers and her handbag from the coat check on the way out.

  His town car was waiting for them out front. He waved the driver back in the car and opened the back door for her himself. “Welcome to my world, Lieutenant,” he said as he slid into the backseat beside her.

  The Captain didn’t say a word the entire ride to the ship. She couldn’t blame him for being angry. She’d been impetuous in requesting the Enterprise. Like he’d risk his career just to be with her. He wasn’t the same man who’d cheated on his wife. She wasn’t falling in love with that man, but the man born of those experiences.

  An honorable man.

  It wasn’t up to her to forgive him. He had to forgive himself.

  After getting out of the town car, she stood at the bottom of the gangway just beginning to realize what a relationship with her would cost him.

  Lindsey grabbed his sleeve. “I’ve never boarded a ship before.” If she’d learned the procedure she’d forgotten it long ago. “I salute the Ensign—”

  “The sun’s setting. They’ve already taken down the flag.”

  “But I salute the Officer of the Deck, even though he
might be enlisted, and then I ask permission to come aboard."

  “You’re with the Captain,” he said, patiently. “I’m your permission. The OOD is going to salute me and I’m going to return his salute. That’s all there is to it.” He took a step forward and stopped. “Though you do have to let go of my sleeve and walk a few paces behind me.”

  He teased her with a smile.

  But he wasn’t kidding about walking behind him.

  He stepped onto the gangplank and she followed.

  “Ding-Ding. Ding-Ding. Enterprise arriving,” the watch said over the ship’s loudspeaker. The Captain’s foot hit the quarterdeck for one final stinger. “Ding.”

  The Petty Officer of the Watch offered a sharp salute. “Captain.”

  Captain Reese returned the salute and then pulled Lindsey up beside him. “Chaplain Alexander will be joining me this evening.”

  “Yes, sir,” the watch said a bit too enthusiastically.

  The Captain raised a warning brow and the young sailor sobered.

  “Why did the watch announce Enterprise arriving?”

  “Because I’m her captain and she’s my ship. A union as sacred as the one you performed today.”

  He placed a hand in the small of her back and guided her toward the elevators. “I didn’t even know a carrier had elevators.”

  “For officers,” he said. “RHIP.”

  Rank Has Its Privileges.

  They rode the elevator up to the bridge. A lone watch stander snapped to attention. “As you were,” the Captain said and the young man stood at ease. “This,” Doug swiveled the chair around to face her, “is the best seat in the house.”

  She brushed a hand across the soft tan leather. She wasn’t quite sure if he was inviting her to sit so she didn’t dare.

  “Normally, there’s a helmsman to steer, a lee helmsman to communicate with the engine room and the quartermaster for navigation. To keep me company. And when I’m not here there’s an Officer of the Deck standing in. Below me is the Admiral’s bridge. Above me is the flying bridge. I’ll take you there after we stop by my in-port stateroom on the operations level. This is my at sea cabin.” He opened a hatch right off the bridge. It was just a rack and a drop down shelf that made up a desk with a stool on wheels.

  “Somehow I imaged it bigger.”

  “Not much time for sleep at sea.”

  She’d thought he’d brought her here to scold her in private. He was like a little boy showing off a new toy. Maybe he was just trying to put her at ease by giving her this glimpse into his daily life.

  His in-port stateroom was more like a small suite with a sitting room, a bedroom and a private bathroom. He rang for his steward. The seaman appeared at once through a paneled door and she caught a glimpse of a small kitchen.

  “You have your own kitchen? And staff?”

  The Captain winked at her. “Phil, we skipped out early on the wedding reception. Can you serve up cake and coffee in the sitting room?”

  “I think we have some birthday cake around here somewhere.”

  “Half an hour?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  Doug took Lindsey out onto the flying bridge next. The Captain’s bridge might have the best seat in the house, but vultures row offered the best view. Eight stories above the hard deck, the tower shot up from a twenty-foot base and the balcony extended well beyond that.

  “This is all pretty impressive. But you didn’t bring me here to show off.”

  “A little bit maybe.” He shrugged off the admission.

  They stood near the Landing Signal Officer’s watch station. Empty without flight ops going on. He wanted to pull her into that cozy nest with him and talk launches and sunsets. But he didn’t bring her here because he was on some sort of power trip.

  “Monday morning I’m going to make a phone call and you’ll be issued new orders. I can’t have you aboard my ship, Lindsey.”

  “I understand.” She glanced at her hands.

  “I’m not sure I do. I’m treading into uncharted waters here.” There were no rules against unmarried officers dating. There were, however, rules against anyone dating while underway or within the chain of command.

  When couples were caught breaking those rules one was removed and the senior of the two disciplined. The Enterprise couldn’t afford another scandal. And neither could he. He’d be right there at the top of the chain this time.

  How did you tell someone—you weren’t dating—that you were having them removed from your command simply because the desire was there?

  “What I’m doing is not fair and I know it’s not fair. I’m presuming a relationship that doesn’t exist. I’m flattered, more than flattered by your admission. And I want you to know the feeling is mutual—”

  “Doug.” She stilled his hand as his name passed her lips for the first time. “You fidget when you’re nervous and you talk around your feelings. Both of those habits drive me batty, by the way. But I think what I’m hearing is you're trying to let me down easy.”

  He frowned at their entwined hands. How did that happen?

  “I don’t want to be let down easy,” she said. “Just give it to me straight.”

  “I’m too old for you. And I’m having you removed from my ship before I do something foolish.”

  “You’re neither old nor foolish.”

  “Wanna bet?”

  “Tell me something foolish.”

  He studied her face. He pushed back the hair that had fallen free of her prim and proper bun. He couldn’t help himself. “I’ve never in my life had anyone look at me the way you do.”

  “That’s not foolish,” she whispered. “That makes all the other women out there foolish.”

  He brushed his thumb across her full bottom lip. “I don’t want to dim that light. You’re the sunrise to my sunset, but we don’t belong in the same place and time. I’ve already raised two kids and as much as I love them, I don’t want any more children. I was married once and miserable. I like being a bachelor and I’ve spent the last ten years avoiding any serious entanglements.” He swallowed hard. “But then I look into your eyes and what I want or don’t want loses all meaning when what I really want is you.”

  She laced her arms around his neck. “So what are you going to do about it, Captain?”

  “That sounds like an invitation, Lieutenant.”

  “It is.”

  “Ten dates,” he said. “You’ll be ready to kick me to the curb by then.”

  “Wanna bet?”

  His mouth twitched at the corner. “In case you’re thinking I’m easy, I want you to know sex is off the table.”

  “Ten dates, no sex? I did explain that I haven’t taken any vows of celibacy, correct?”

  “I heard every word of that discussion, believe me.”

  “What happens after ten dates?” She pressed against him and there was no more hiding his desire from her.

  He dropped his forehead to hers. “That’s up to you.” He brushed his lips against hers. “Did you know that iconic love scene in Top Gun was added after test audiences found the movie lacking? It had to be filmed in soft lighting because Kelly McGillis had already dyed her hair brown for another film.”

  “I find that all very fascinating, Doug. But I’m standing here waiting for you to Take My Breath Away.”

  “Well, then. Let me give you the full rockets red-glare.”

  Her lips were soft and pliant. But he had the tactical advantage of experience when it came to the finer art of love and war. He knew when to press his advantage and when to withdraw. And when to launch from playful kisses into a full-blown passionate assault. He felt the hitch in her breath. Tasted it. Savored it.

  Somewhere in the back of his brain, he was a teenager again experiencing love and passion for the first time.

  The air around them crackled and she pulled back.

  Fireworks lit up the night sky.

  He molded her to his side as they watched the different patriotic displays a
round the bay. “You’ve got me rethinking that whole catapult launching into the sunset thing.” She broke out in nervous laughter and it was the most beautiful sound he’d ever heard. “What are you thinking right now?” he asked.

  “That we’re going to give our firstborn the call sign Charlie.”

  THE END

  Author's Note: One Star-Spangled Night is the second in a series of One Night novellas created from secondary characters of previous works. The USS Enterprise and Steve Marietta appear in the full length novel Sign, SEAL, Deliver.* You will also find One Star-Spangled Night in the multi-author anthology Celebrate!

  I hope you’ve enjoyed One Star-Spangled Night. This is just the beginning for Lindsey and Doug. What’s to come takes on a paranormal twist in my new series, ‘Til Death, coming late 2014-early 2015. Trust me when I say these two go through hell before they get together.

  If that’s not your thing rest assured they find happily ever after.

  If you enjoyed this book, please consider leaving a review where you purchased it.

  I love hearing from readers: rogenna@aol.com

  Twitter: http://twitter.com/Rogenna

  Facebook: http://facebook.com/RogennaBrewer

  Website: http://www.rogennabrewer.com

  Available Now:

  One Night in Reno

  Coming Next:

  One Silent Night

  Coming May 2014 From Harlequin Superromance:

  The SEAL’s Special Mission

  Harlequin Superromances by Rogenna Brewer

  SEAL It With a Kiss

  Sign, SEAL, Deliver*

  Midway Between You and Me

  The SEAL’s Baby

  The Marine’s Baby

  Mitzi’s Marine

  Marry Me, Marine