Be My Valentine

by R. J. Groves

  ‘How long do we have?’ she said, her voice so quiet he had to make sure he’d heard her correctly.

  ‘Until I go back?’ She nodded, and he let out a long breath. He’d tried not to think about it, but he knew it would come around. No matter what, time would always still happen. ‘I leave next Sunday.’

  ‘A week,’ she breathed, her face dropping. Her eyes shimmered with unshed tears and her cute little nose crinkled. His chest ached with her. ‘That’s all I get? I don’t hear from you for months and I only get a week with you?’

  ‘That’s the life, Harley,’ he said, wishing it really wasn’t. ‘I can only really take leave in intervals. The ship was docking, so the timing was right. We go back out in a week. I—I would have taken longer if I could.’

  She sniffed, dropping her gaze. ‘Will you have reception?’

  He shook his head slowly, wishing he could make this easier. The lifestyle involved with his career had never been an issue before. Then again, he’d never had a reason to want to spend more time on land. Until now.

  But he couldn’t just change that. The navy had been his life for all of his adulthood. He was born to be a sailor—he’d always known that. It’s what he was good at. It’s what he knew how to do.

  ‘I don’t know,’ he said honestly. ‘Sometimes we have reception and oftentimes, nothing. It depends on where we go.’

  She glanced up at him, a lone tear rolling down her cheek. He wiped it away with his thumb and lowered his hand to hold both of hers in both of his.

  ‘Is it dangerous?’ she whispered, seemingly holding her breath.

  ‘There’s always a risk.’ He wasn’t going to start lying to her now. His job wasn’t easy. For the most part, he hadn’t been in danger. But that didn’t mean it would always be the case.

  ‘So we get a week, and then what?’

  He brought her hands to his lips and held them there a moment, only pulling them away to talk. ‘And then we figure out the next step.’

  She smiled, but she didn’t seem entirely convinced. ‘You’re not much of a planner, are you, Joey?’

  He shook his head and pressed his lips to hers. He poured everything he had into it and hoped she could tell. There were some things that just couldn’t be said with words. He cupped her face between both hands and urged her to look at him.

  ‘I know this,’ he said. ‘What we have. It’s special. And I don’t want to lose you. But I understand it’s not the life for everyone. Just … don’t break my heart, okay?’

  She let out a sob, her hand reaching up to cover her mouth as she shook her head, squeezing her eyes closed. ‘I don’t want to, Joey.’

  ‘Hey,’ he said, urging her to open her eyes again.

  When she did, all he saw was raw emotion. No matter what, he couldn’t let her slip away. She was a practical woman. And he knew he’d be pushing it to ask her to wait for him. But he sure as hell wasn’t going to spend the rest of the week in misery, the end of their time together nearing and taunting them. He wanted to enjoy this week with her. Even if she decided she couldn’t do long-distance with him, that the circumstances would be too hard. It would break him if that happened. But he wanted to spend every waking moment with her before he left.

  ‘Come away with me.’

  ‘What?’

  She looked surprised. It surprised him, too. He had no plan of where they’d go or what they’d do. But hell, if taking her away somewhere was the only way he’d get to spend as much time with her as he could and make it truly memorable, then so be it.

  ‘Come away with me.’

  Chapter 7

  Harley wasn’t sure she’d heard him right. Then he’d said it again. Come away with me. She could have sworn her heart stopped beating. The thought that they only had a week together—in which time she still had to work—well, she’d known his visit was limited. But a week? A week of what, making love and getting attached and then he’d be gone for God knows how long? She couldn’t do that!

  She was already too attached to him as it was. She would already be miserable when he left again, and they’d only spent the day together. She had never felt like this with any other man. She’d never felt cherished and spontaneous and loved by any other man. Joey had completely and utterly ruined her for anyone else. And the only thing she regretted was that he’d have to leave again. She knew that she wouldn’t see him for months—likely not even hear from him for much of that time. She would never be able to move on from this man. But she also wasn’t sure she could deal with not hearing from him or seeing him for so long.

  ‘Name a place, and we’ll go.’ He was sitting upright now, his expression excited. She struggled to sort out her thoughts.

  ‘What? Joey, are you crazy?’

  His eyes glinted with mischief. ‘Maybe I am. So be crazy with me. Harley, we have a week together.’

  He said it as though it sounded like a long time. But she knew that if she went away anywhere with him, she’d only be more of a lost cause. But if she didn’t …

  ‘Where’s somewhere you want to go? We can spend the week there, enjoy each other, and not think about us being apart after it.’

  ‘But we can’t.’ She forced the words out, but she wasn’t entirely convinced. They couldn’t, could they?

  ‘Why not?’

  She stammered. ‘I have to work, for starters.’

  ‘Call in sick.’

  ‘I’d need a medical certificate for that long.’

  ‘Call in a favour?’

  She shook her head. ‘Joey, I—I can’t. This is all happening too quickly. Can’t we just enjoy this? Now? How we are?’

  He tried to hide the disappointment from showing on his face, but not before she’d caught it. It was the right thing to say, wasn’t it? They couldn’t just go away. People didn’t just do that. She couldn’t just do that. He might be on leave for the week, but she still had appointments with clients coming out her ears. Finally, he smiled, pulling her into his arms.

  ‘Yeah, of course, darling. Anything you want.’

  She pouted into his chest. It wasn’t about what she wanted. She never got what she wanted. She wished that, for once, she could get what she wanted. And for now, that was to keep Joey here, in her bed, making sweet, sweet love and to keep feeling his touches, his kisses. Feeling that slow burn through her body and pretending that he wasn’t going anywhere.

  ***

  Her wishes came true—for the night, at least—and then she had to snap back to the harsh reality of working life. She’d dropped Joey back at Andie’s the next morning where his spare clothes were and managed to get to work only ten minutes late. As soon as she walked through the door of Bride and Beau—a clever name for a bridal shop, she’d thought—and blinked through the blissful haze hanging around her, she knew something was wrong. A few tradesmen walked past her with a huge pane of glass while others cleaned the shattered glass on the floor. Men and women in police uniforms seemed to be examining every inch of the shop. Her boss, Jannette, was talking to a man in a brown suit who had a notepad. She looked stressed, probably for a good reason. Harley scanned the room until she found Andie frantically manning the phone, making and answering calls. She beelined towards her.

  ‘Hey, what’s going on?’

  Andie’s eyes were wide as she hung up the phone. ‘Haven’t you heard? It’s all over the news.’

  She shook her head, feeling a pang of guilt that she hadn’t heard anything. Joey had been keeping her so busy and distracted that she hadn’t even thought that anything else might have happened.

  Andie’s eyes followed a young policeman searching through the racks of expensive gowns. Harley flinched. Jannette would not like the way her things are being handled. Andie reached for Harley’s arm and pulled her close.

  ‘We were broken into last night. They don’t know who it was.’

  Harley couldn’t believe her ears. ‘Did they take anything?’

  ‘Some of the expensive jewellery. But that’
s not what they’re worried about.’ Harley gave her a look to go on, not able to form any words. Andie leaned closer again. ‘They’re looking for something that doesn’t belong. Something they might have left behind. I’ve only heard rumours—something about possibly being related to that string of break-ins.’

  ‘You think it could be?’

  Who would break into Bride and Beau? They were one of the more modest shops in the street, one that really didn’t draw that much attention. She racked her brain. Had she seen anyone looking suspicious recently? Harley searched her mind for anyone who might not be happy with her boss or the business. She couldn’t think of any unhappy customers, and she couldn’t think of anyone in Jannette’s personal life. True, she didn’t know much about her personal life. Still, the break-in alone would damage the business. Surely this was connected to the other break-ins in the area she’d heard about. A mystery robber who seemed to always leave some kind of contraband behind. She’d thought it was all just hearsay.

  ‘I don’t know,’ Andie whispered, standing straight as Jannette and the man in the brown suit neared them.

  Harley still couldn’t believe all that was going on. No doubt she’d have to put in more time that week to get everything in order. She tried to push aside the sadness that the extra hours at work would be cutting into the little bit of time she still had with Joey.

  ‘Oh, Harley, you’re here,’ Jannette said, looking slightly relieved, but also weary. ‘You don’t know who could have done this, do you?’

  Harley noticed the man eyeing her suspiciously. ‘No, of course not,’ she said, hoping she didn’t sound defensive.

  She didn’t know. And she shouldn’t sound defensive. But there was just something about police and detectives that made her nervous and feel like she was the suspect. Judging by the way Andie held herself, she probably felt the same.

  ‘Everything’s going to be okay though, right?’ she added, avoiding the man’s gaze—she was sure his eyes had narrowed as he studied her.

  ‘We don’t know,’ Jannette said, looking to the man. ‘Detective Attler?’

  ‘We have cause to believe this may have been a targeted attack,’ Detective Attler said, finally sharing his gaze between the three of them. ‘There’s no telling if it’ll happen again, or worse.’

  ‘Which is why,’ Jannette tagged on, ‘we need to close down for a while.’

  Harley swallowed, glancing at Andie. She didn’t look surprised. Maybe Jannette already mentioned it as a possibility to her, since she would have been at work on time. The detective excused himself to go talk to a senior policeman.

  ‘Close down? For how long?’ Harley said.

  ‘Until the culprits have been caught, I suppose,’ Jannette said. ‘And we’ve made sure there’s no danger. I think it would do us all good to have a few weeks off regardless. You’ll still be paid, of course. Consider it bonus leave. Andie, you’ve cancelled all client appointments for the next few weeks?’

  ‘I have,’ Andie said. ‘The brides are all very sorry to hear about what happened.’

  Jannette nodded solemnly. ‘Well.’ She let out a sigh, looking around them. ‘I’ll get some professionals in to clean up after the police have finished their thing. You two don’t need to hang around. Go enjoy the rest of your day.’

  Harley still couldn’t believe what had happened overnight. Trust something bad to happen the night that something good actually happened to her. The break-in was devastating, and not knowing what will happen with the store that was already struggling to keep afloat—what would happen with her job—made it all worse.

  But another part of her—a smaller, more selfish part of her—focused on the fact that she now didn’t have to worry about going to work for the next week. She felt horrible for even thinking it, but she couldn’t help but feel a bit happier that she could spend more time with Joey in his week off.

  She just wished it hadn’t come at such an expense.

  ***

  ‘Margaret River?’

  ‘Well, hello, beautiful.’

  Joey pulled the beautiful brunette into his arms and kissed her. It had only been a few hours since he’d seen Harley, but God, it seemed to drag on for days. It didn’t make much sense—he’d spent months on end away from her and, while it was still hard to be away for so long, it didn’t seem to take as long as those past few hours did. But still, she’d gone to work. And he was pretty sure her workday was a lot longer than a few hours. He glanced up and down the street and pulled her into the house with him.

  ‘You better come inside before my fiancée sees you. She could be here any minute.’

  Harley laughed—a sound he could never tire of. ‘Oh, stop it!’

  She slapped him playfully on the chest and pushed herself up on her tiptoes to kiss him. He registered the fact she was wearing very different clothes—and a lot less formal—than she was when she’d dropped him back at Andie’s place that morning.

  ‘So, what do you think?’ she said, her eyes wide. ‘Still keen for that week away?’

  He tilted his head to the side, pulling back just enough to study her face. ‘I thought you had to work.’

  ‘Well, I did, but there was this break-in last night and now Jannette’s given us a few weeks off to give the cops a chance to find out who’s responsible—’

  ‘Wait,’ Joey said, shaking his head. God, she could talk fast sometimes. ‘A break-in?’

  ‘Yeah, I mean, it sucks, and we don’t know what’s going to come of it, but for now, I have the next few weeks off.’

  He could tell the news of the break-in saddened her, but at the same time, she seemed relieved—elated, even. Hell, he couldn’t stop himself from feeling happy that she no longer had to work for the next week. The fact it was because of a robbery only made him feel guilty about feeling happy.

  But love was a complicated thing, wasn’t it?

  Harley’s expression grew serious. ‘You didn’t mean it,’ she whispered.

  ‘Of course I meant it,’ he said, pulling her close again. ‘I mean everything with you. But are you sure? You won’t be needed back at the bridal shop?’

  ‘Jannette seemed pretty serious about us taking time off. She looks like she could do with it herself. And if she needs anything, I’m sure Andie can take care of it while we’re gone.’

  ‘You’re probably right about that,’ he mused. His sister was one to be there whenever she was needed.

  ‘So …?’ Harley prompted, wiggling her eyebrows.

  ‘So let’s do it,’ Joey said, planting a kiss on her lips. ‘You and me. Margaret River. Are you packed?’

  She nodded, biting into her lip, her eyes shimmering with excitement. ‘I wanted to leave as soon as we could.’ He was certain he hadn’t imagined her cheeks turn a shade pinker.

  He pulled away, giving her arms a squeeze as he did, excitement building inside him. He’d never gone anywhere with a woman before—not like this. Not a spontaneous trip for a week to be alone with her. No interruptions. No work. Just Harley. To be honest, the trip felt long overdue. He just hoped she felt the same.

  ‘I’ll grab my things.’

  Chapter 8

  Joey listened to the sounds of the ocean as the early morning light filtered in through the slit between the curtains. It was almost dark when they’d arrived at the beachside cabin in Margaret River, but Joey wouldn’t have traded it for anything. Seeing Harley’s excitement in every town they went through, that they just had to see more of, filled Joey’s heart even more. And the more it filled, the more he fought the thought at the back of his mind that he’d be leaving again soon. And how leaving might just hurt more than he was willing to admit.

  He focused on the roar of the sea outside and Harley’s steady, even breathing as he held her naked body against his. Two of his favourite things. He couldn’t help but feel that he was exactly where he belonged and yet, at the same time, he felt torn. How could he belong here when his place was on a navy ship somewhere out on
the water? The same water he could hear now. The navy lifestyle wasn’t conducive to family life. But he didn’t have that, did he? This thing with Harley … it was real. But it was also new. And he knew she was already worried about what would happen when he had to leave. But they still had the rest of the week to enjoy before they had to figure it out. And the week had only just begun.

  He felt Harley stir in his arms and he pressed a kiss to her forehead. ‘Mmm,’ she hummed, stretching her body against his. ‘What are you thinking about?’

  ‘How peaceful it is here,’ he said, tracing patterns on her back with his fingertips. ‘You hear that?’

  ‘The waves?’

  ‘Yeah.’

  She propped herself up a little, resting her chin on his chest. ‘I suppose you’d hear that all the time, wouldn’t you?’

  He shook his head slowly, his thoughts drifting back to his ship. ‘It’s different. You can hear everything here. The waves crashing on the shore. The birds. The calm. The only place you can really hear the water out there is if you’re on the deck and, even then, the sound is dampened by the roar of the ship. It’s not like this.’

  Harley let out a long, slow breath. ‘I never thought of it like that. I thought it would still sound the same.’

  ‘I did too,’ Joey admitted, twirling a lock of her hair around his finger. ‘It wasn’t until I went out on the ship the first time that I realised I hadn’t even thought about ship noises.’

  ‘What’s it like out there?’ Harley moved her fingers over his chest, tracing the patterns on his tattoo. ‘You must like it.’

  ‘Yeah, I do.’ He watched her fingers move, following each line of his tattoo. ‘It took a bit of getting used to—going from being on land all the time to suddenly living on the water. But I love it. And you’re with the same people all the time. They become your family. I couldn’t imagine doing anything else.’

  Her fingers stopped moving and she shifted so she was no longer looking at him, but he hadn’t missed the disappointment that flickered over her face. She took a breath and held it in as though she was readying herself to say something, then let it out slowly. Joey released the lock of hair and ran his hand over her back, memorising the feel of her in his arms. He knew the line that must be running through her head. He’d heard it from some of the guys on the ship who’d had women say it to them. Did he have to go back? Couldn’t he do something different?