Coming Undone

by Stephanie Tyler

  Uh-huh, he’d given the teenagers something to be in awe of. Then he turned tail and hot-footed it to the waiting boat, tux in tow because at least there, he knew exactly what to expect, and what was expected of him. Cash had been right—the surfer girl was turning out to be more complicated than he’d ever fantasized.

  WATCHING HUNT CUT EASILY through the waves had done almost as much for her as having him inside her last night. The same overwhelming sensation flitted across her skin as she recalled those hands cupping her breasts, hers pausing over the hard muscles in his shoulders and upper back, feeling the sheer weight of Hunt massing her.

  He’d helped her out by telling her to stay behind, when he knew she could’ve handled that riptide.Even though she hadn’t known him very long, he somehow managed to get to know all about her without much effort. She blamed it on the stress of the upcoming wedding and the charity event, telling herself she’d never let her guard down so easily otherwise, but a nagging feeling told her it had nothing to do with any of those things and everything to do with Hunt.

  “That was some show,” Carl Winters said.

  “Told you those Navy SEALs were crazy,” her Uncle David chimed in. “But I’m glad he’s on our side.”

  “Me, too,” Carly murmured, more than aware of the way people were looking at her, talking about her and watching the boat Hunt boarded scoot away over the roughening waters.

  She wasn’t blind, had watched the women eyeing Hunt from the start of the party. She understood the attraction, moreso now after seeing him in action, but that initial jolt when they’d first met remained in the forefront of her mind.

  “Does that happen a lot?” Evan asked.

  It was on the tip of her tongue to say, how should I know? But she caught herself. “Yes. It’s a significant part of his job.” And for the first time, she understood how hard that part of his job must be. If she was feeling slightly abandoned and he wasn’t even her real boyfriend, she just couldn’t imagine.

  “Well, suppose he’s not around for the wedding?”

  “I guess that’s something I won’t know until the last minute,” she admitted.

  “I’m not bringing a date. I was hoping to bring you, and I’ll take any opportunity I can to show you I’m serious about a future together.”

  “Evan, we haven’t seen each other since last year, and we’ve exchanged a few e-mails.”

  “We’re perfect together. Our families know it. Why don’t you see it?”

  She could practically see his cluelessness when it came to her and it held no appeal for her. Her mind wandered back to her SEAL.

  “The reporters are here.” Carl Winters broke through his daughter’s reverie. “They want to know about Hunt.”

  “She can’t tell them anything,” her Uncle David interrupted. “Not even his name. These guys live to be secret. You can’t announce who he is to the press.”

  “I didn’t realize,” she said. Her uncle looked at her curiously.

  “I’ll handle the reporters,” he said.

  “Do you think we could bring the focus back this way?” Nicole asked from behind them. “Carolyn, he’s not going to do anything like this at my wedding, is he?”

  “Save drowning teenagers? I promise I’ll tell him to leave everyone in danger so you can have your moment in the sun.”

  “I’d appreciate it.” Nicole pointed urgently to Carly’s bare feet then her discarded shoes before heading back to the party. Carly stayed on the beach, watching the last of the early evening swimmers and surfers come out of the water, and wondered when she’d hear from Hunt again.

  “HE’S NOT GOING TO TAKE it well.” Ty was sprawled across her bed, while Samantha traced the intricate tribal-patterned tattoo that circled Ty’s bicep. Next was the Chinese symbol on his shoulder.

  “Faith,” she said, repeating what he’d told her last night.“I’m trying, but I know him.” He kissed her cheek. “Are you okay?”

  Sam nodded. When Ty had first told her the cancer was back, she’d been shocked and sad and angry all at once, and it evaporated as soon as she looked at him. She’d fallen in love with Ty that first night and there was no turning back now. Although he’d put up a good front, he was ten times more frightened that he’d ever admit to. “Maybe if you just talked to him. About everything.”

  “There’s no talking to him. He always wants to solve things. He doesn’t want to bow to the fact that he doesn’t necessarily know what’s best.” Ty set his jaw, and she could see the stubborn side of his personality.

  “He’s family. He wants to take care of you, Ty,” she reminded him. “I’d be the same way about Carly—she’s the closest thing to family I have.”

  Ty sighed and stared at the ceiling. “Maybe. Maybe you’re right.”

  “I’m right about everything. You just haven’t figured that out yet.” At least she could make him smile. She loved it when he smiled like that—at her, for her, it didn’t matter.

  She wanted to keep him smiling at her forever, never mind that she wasn’t exactly sure how long that would be.

  “Those are awesome,” he said, rising from the bed and stepping into the hallway, where black-and-white stills lined the walls.

  “Thanks. I need to get back to my photography,” she said. He’d stood and walked over to take a closer look at them. She studied his muscular back, and couldn’t fathom how someone so strong could be so sick.

  “You took these?”

  Sam nodded. “A few years ago. I was really into photography. Thought about making it my career.”

  “So what happened?”

  “It wasn’t exactly the most practical career decision,” she said.

  “You should do it. Just pick up a camera and do it,” he said suddenly.

  “And if I pick up a camera, what are you going to do?”

  “I’m going to Vegas,” he said. “And I’m trying to understand why you’re the only person who hasn’t tried to push me into treatment.”

  She just smiled. “Why Vegas?”

  “I like gambling and I’ve always been a betting man,” he said. “Can’t think of a better place to hang out.”

  “Uh-huh. Nothing to do with a doctor out there who specializes in aggressive new protocol for HD?”

  “Son of a—” He caught himself, clenched his jaw. “Nothing’s proven. It might not work.”

  “But it might.”

  “How can you be so optimistic?”

  “I’m a gambling kind of girl.” She paused. “You do remember that you invited me along.”

  “Darlin’, I remember everything about our first night together,” he said, then climbed back into the bed with her and pulled her close. “But I haven’t decided to get the treatment. Right now, I’m leaning toward no.”

  “Well, what if I go with you? No matter what you decide.”

  TY CLOSED HIS EYES FOR a second and thought about what that would be like.

  Today he’d told Samantha things he’d never told anyone. Stupid things, funny things, the things you’d share with someone you’ve fast fallen in love with. Things that should’ve sent her screaming into the night because taking off on his own, at seventeen, had led him down more than a few paths he probably shouldn’t have been on. Skirting the line had become his specialty. Instead, she’d shifted closer to him, as if she was never going to let him go.When Ty had visited his mom a few years earlier, she told him that she’d embraced the concept that everything happened for a reason, no matter how good or bad. So if he had to hit this kind of bottom to meet Samantha, then that was the way it had to be. “Do you believe in love at first sight? Soul mates?”

  “Honestly, I never believed in the concept of soul mates before I met you,” she replied.

  “’Cause I’ve been looking for mine my whole life.” He turned away from the ceiling to focus on her eyes—dark and comforting—taking him all in. “I can’t make any promises, you know, about what I’ll do.”

  “I know. But what can you make
promises about?”

  “I told you the way I feel about you. For me, that’s the most serious promise any man can make. And it’s not because I’m sick and need someone around, because trust me, this is the worst time to get involved.”

  “Or maybe it’s the best time. Either way, I think we’re about to find out.”

  He sighed, ran his hands through his hair. “If you’re with me out of some misguided sense of loyalty…”

  “That’s not it. I’d never do that to you.”

  “Then why?” He grabbed her, brought her to him urgently. “You’ve got to tell me why. Until I know…”

  Sam quieted him with one kiss, then another, until there was no space left between them. Her body moved against his, fit there perfectly as it had that first night, which held such promise. Ty knew she wasn’t going to give up on that promise.

  “I think you made me believe in soul mates. Weren’t you the one who told me I had a wild streak hidden inside me, waiting to come out?”

  He grinned, stroked her bare hip gently. “I guess I did. So what’s your plan?”

  “The question is, what’s our plan?”

  21

  TY WASN’T HARD TO FIND. As much as he loved the freedom of the open road, whenever he was in Vero, Hunt knew he could usually be found in one of three places—the diner, Magee’s or a garage fixing up his bike.

  Today, Hunt found him in a local garage, working on his Harley. Music was blaring in the background, so Ty didn’t hear him come in. Hunt had to turn down the music before Ty looked up from the wheel base he was greasing.“Hey. Haven’t seen you much since the other night.” Ty smiled but he didn’t stop working, which Hunt didn’t see as a great sign.

  “Same,” Ty said.

  Hunt grabbed a beer from the cooler on the ground and waited. Soon enough his team would be gone again, leaving precious little time to deal with things on this end. “Carly had some family party. I had to go to it with her.”

  “Were you a hit with the parents?”

  “Hardly. I’m not exactly what the moneyed set had in mind for their daughter.”

  “Surfer girl’s rich, huh?”

  “Her family’s rich. I guess she’s doing okay.”

  “What’s a rich girl want with a grunt like you?” Ty asked.

  Hunt took a long pull of his beer instead of laughing like he was supposed to.

  “Sorry, bro. Didn’t realize it’d be a touchy subject.”

  “It’s not.”

  “Whatever you say.”

  “Dammit, Ty.” He threw the bottle into the trash bin across the room. “Don’t start with me.”

  “Sorry, Jon. Calm down. You used to be able to take a joke.”

  “I used to be able to do a lot of things,” he muttered. “Are you really taking her with you?”

  Ty finally turned from the wheel he was fixing. He wasn’t wearing a shirt and he’d wrapped a navy-blue bandana around his head. There was a beer bottle by his side and a variety of tools. “Can’t go anywhere without her.”

  “Be serious.”

  Ty stood. “Samantha’s different. Truly different.”

  “Different’s not your thing.”

  “It’s not like I’m kidnapping her or anything.”

  “You aren’t promising her anything, either.”

  “I don’t have anything to promise anymore,” Ty said, his voice tight, and Hunt knew exactly what he meant.

  For a second, Hunt’s life as a SEAL flashed in front of his eyes. It was more than ironic, since he wasn’t the one who was dying. “Dammit, Ty—”

  “What are you promising surfer girl? You can’t promise anyone tomorrow, either.”

  “I’m promising her a date to a wedding. And I can’t help it if my job’s dangerous, but that’s not the same, and you know it.”

  “I’m not talking about your job, which, by the way, is much more dangerous than me taking off on my hog any day of the week. I’m talking about your life.”

  “Let’s talk about your life, instead,” Hunt said quietly, needing to hear his brother say it.

  After a long pause, Ty confirmed Hunt’s worst fear.

  “The cancer’s back.” His brother chewed his bottom lip for a second before he spoke again. “The doctors say there’s a chance I could beat it. If I want to try.”

  “What do you mean, if? You’ve got to fight this thing, you’re going to fight this thing if I have to tie you up and drag you to the hospital myself.”

  But Ty was shaking his head. “Maybe this is the way it’s meant to be, Jon.”

  “Screw you. And screw your philosophy.” He started to walk away, but Ty got in a parting shot, and one that stopped Hunt cold.

  “You can’t control everything, bro. No matter how hard you try.”

  “Just watch me,” Hunt said.

  Ty responded by throwing an old muffler directly at his head, but Hunt didn’t care.

  “You pick some woman and decide she needs an adventure rather than taking time to care for yourself? What the hell’s that all about?” Hunt demanded, happy that for once, Ty wasn’t all cool and composed. Since that’s how it usually worked. Hunt got angry and Ty would just smile.

  “I prefer to think that Samantha picked me, and that I’m the one headed for the adventure.” Ty’s jaw was tight when he spoke, but he met Hunt’s eyes.

  “Cut the crap. You need to go to the hospital, not strut around like some bad-ass without a care in the world.”

  “Is that what you think I’m doing?” Ty shook his head, walked away and took a few deep breaths.

  “You’re making the wrong choices.”

  “And you have control issues. You pick needy women to fix so they can stand on their own, and then you’re off again in search of the next one. I may wander the open road, but you’re the one with wanderlust in your soul. You get frustrated when you can’t solve everyone else’s problems. Well, you know what? You can’t solve someone else’s problems. And you shouldn’t have to. People who solve their own are that much stronger for it, but I guess you’re not looking for somebody strong, an equal. Why should you, when it’s easier to concentrate on someone else’s life than on your own, easier to stay in control than to hand over the reins?”

  “I did that. Handed everything over, and look what happened.”

  “Sometimes you do have to trust, Jon.”

  “I just want you around.”

  “And I want you happy. Settled.”

  “Ty, I’d…”

  “I know you’d do the transplant for me again. But it almost killed you last time. I couldn’t watch you go through that.”

  “You don’t get to make that decision.”

  “Actually, I do.” Ty shrugged. “And I haven’t made it yet. Not completely.”

  Hunt sighed with relief. The people around him were trying to kill him. That was the only reason he could think of for all of this.

  “What are you going to do, Jon? Let Carly lead you around like some pretend member of society? Are you having fun now?”

  “You don’t know anything about it.”

  “I know you’re falling for her. Hard. And what’s she doing for you?”

  Hunt didn’t know how to answer that. Hell, she was doing something for him, but he wasn’t sure exactly what.

  Hunt said nothing else to Ty, simply turned and left and had no clue where he was supposed to go.

  CARLY HADN’T BEEN ABLE TO sleep, so she spent most of the night writing her article.

  She tried to tell herself that the insomnia wasn’t because she hadn’t heard from Hunt. And before she knew it, two days had passed, without a word from him. She checked in with Samantha, and Ty hadn’t heard from him, either.This is what it’s like sometimes, Ty had told Sam, who’d relayed the message to her the morning after Nicole’s party, because Carly and Ty were still on shaky ground. Jon just drops out of sight and then shows up again. I’m sure he’s okay. I know it’s a pain that he can’t tell you much, but you’ll
get used to it.

  The thing was, she very much wanted to get used to it. She liked thinking that Hunt might be around a lot longer than she’d anticipated because suddenly, she couldn’t picture herself without him. Was it possible for her to fall for someone so fast?

  When Carly heard the bike roar up in the driveway sometime after five in the morning, she had to force herself not to run out and meet him. But when ten minutes passed and he hadn’t rung the doorbell, she went downstairs. Once she opened the door, she found him standing, balanced against the bike, looking off into space.

  “You’re early, even for the dawn patrol,” she said.

  “I’m not here for a lesson,” Hunt replied.

  He appeared tired, rumpled, as if he hadn’t slept in the two days since she’d seen him. “Are you okay?”

  “Fine. I’m fine,” he said. “Spent the night riding.”

  He was scaring her. She knew that the words Hunt and control were synonymous. Right now, he didn’t look like he had a grip on anything.

  “Why don’t you come inside? I can make you some breakfast,” she offered, holding out her hand to him.

  He glanced at it tentatively for a second, then stuffed his hands into his pockets.

  “I’m not hungry.”

  “Please, tell me what’s wrong.”

  “Nothing. Everything. I shouldn’t have come here,” said Hunt.

  “But you did come here.” She held out her hand, and this time he did take it. Took it and wound his fingers through hers, and even though his hand was larger in size and strength, she felt as if she was the one holding him up.

  “Sorry I had to leave the party like that.”

  “I understand.”

  “No, you don’t. Not really.” He stared at the horizon for a second, then back at her. “Is Samantha still planning on going with my brother?”

  “Last I heard. She’s been pretty wrapped up with him, even put in her resignation. She’s describing meeting Ty as a life-altering experience. I guess I can’t argue with her anymore, since bike week seems to have changed my life, too.” She laughed, but Hunt cut her off.