“I don’t blame you.”
“The day after the hijacking I was utterly terrified. I swear if Troy hadn’t shown up on my doorstep, I wouldn’t have left my house for days.”
“You’ve been doing awesome,” Harper said. “I have to admit I was worried, too. You’ve handled everything amazingly well.”
“Honestly, I’m a little worried. I’ve been so busy, it hasn’t totally sunk in yet. Troy and I started dating pretty much right away. I love spending time with him, but I’ve hardly been alone. I’m kind of worried that someday it’ll all sink in, and I’ll totally flip out.”
“You could go to counseling,” Harper suggested gently.
“Yeah. Maybe. I did finally start PT for my ankle. Between work and everything else, I’m not sure how I could squeeze counseling into my schedule. Hey, there are the guys!” Caitlyn said, a smile breaking out across her face. Troy and Logan were heading toward them, both looking freshly showered and slightly sunburnt. She didn’t know how Troy handled his very physical career. It seemed like all those guys did was train and train some more.
“Hi! What’s wrong?” she asked as the guys got closer. Troy looked somewhat tense, and although she’d only seen Logan once on the beach, he looked serious as well.
“They finished processing everything from the yacht. Some military officers’ ID cards are missing, including the admiral’s. The PD was taking a damn long time to catalogue it all, which is an entirely separate issue since the Navy wanted control. But we didn’t suspect those guys got away with anything. Most of them were killed onboard.”
“Wow. That’s kind of strange. Nothing was missing from my purse.”
“Yep. The wallets still had cash in them. The gunmen had collected jewelry from the hostages, but all of that was found and accounted for as well. The missing identification is a damn big problem, especially since one of the gunmen escaped at some point. Anyway, I don’t mean to be a downer,” he said, ducking for a quick kiss. “It’s just been a stressful day. I take it this is Harper?” he asked with a smile. “I’m Troy,” he said, holding out his hand.
Caitlyn introduced her friend, and she saw Logan looking at her curiously. Hopefully this night hadn’t been a bad idea. She’d love for her friend and Troy’s to date as well, but it was just drinks after all. Maybe they’d hit it off; maybe they wouldn’t.
“Shall we go grab a drink?” Logan asked. He gestured for Harper to go ahead, and the two of them began talking as they headed toward a nearby bar.
“He seems subdued,” Caitlyn said.
“Yeah. It’s been a rough day. I’m glad as hell to see you though,” he added, ducking down for another kiss. Caitlyn’s hands went to Troy’s head, and she pulled him closer, loving as he relaxed and kissed her again. She could tell Troy was tense, and she hated that they were all still worrying about the incident from weeks ago.
“You smell amazing,” he murmured, heat in his blue eyes as he looked down at her.
“It’s that vanilla lotion,” she said.
“Well, you look good enough to eat. Think I can come over later on?”
“I thought you have to be on base early tomorrow.”
“Well, I do,” he said with a chuckle. “But I wouldn’t mind some time alone with you.”
She took his hand, tugging him along the sidewalk after Logan and Harper. “Of course you can come. It feels like I haven’t seen you in forever, although I know it’s only been a couple of days.”
Troy squeezed her hand. “I feel the same way, Butterfly. If I had my way, I’d be spending every spare moment with you. Preferably in bed,” he added as he ducked lower, his lips at her ear.
She flushed, and Troy chuckled. “Can you stay the night?” she asked as they walked slowly after their friends, Troy nuzzling her ear.
“Only if you don’t mind that I’ll have to sneak out early.”
“You’ll only hear me complaining if you wake me up,” she joked.
Troy squeezed her hand tighter. “What if I promise to make it worth your while?” he asked huskily.
Her heartbeat quickened, but her gaze was drawn to Harper and Logan arguing about something in front of the bar. Logan still looked tense, but it was her friend’s expression that caused her alarm. “Hey! What’s going on?” she asked in surprise as she hurried toward them. “What’s wrong?”
Troy was right at her side, looking equally baffled.
“I’ve got to split,” Logan said. He glanced at Harper again, who still looked mad as hell. “I’ll see you tomorrow, T. Bye Caitlyn.” Without another word, Logan turned and headed the other way, hands shoved in his pockets.
“What was that about?” Caitlyn asked.
Harper rolled her eyes. “I met that asshole six months ago. Turns out, he’s a total dick. It took me a moment to place him when you guys first walked up. Don’t worry, we didn’t sleep together or anything. Not that he didn’t ask. You two enjoy your drinks and dinner. I’ll just head out.”
“Harper, no. You can join us.”
“Absolutely,” Troy said. “I don’t know what happened between you and Logan months ago, but I can talk to him if he needs to apologize.”
“Hey, it’s no big deal. I’m sure you guys want some alone time. Call me tomorrow, all right?” she said, looking at Caitlyn.
She nodded uncertainly. If Harper didn’t want to stick around, she couldn’t make her. It seemed weird she was so mad at Logan considering they hardly seemed to know one another. They watched her walk away for a moment, before Troy’s stomach rumbled. He chuckled. “Want to just head straight to dinner? I’m
