Seal of Honor(87)

“Had to,” Gabe said. “There are no dolphins in D.C. You promised me a swim with dolphins, woman.”

She choked, caught somewhere between tears and laughter. And here she’d thought he was too out of it to hear anything she said during that long, horrible night. “You remember that?”

“Hmm. Vaguely.”

Her heart did a back flip that would have made her dolphins proud, but she couldn’t bring herself to relive that night and dredge up all the bad memories. Not yet. Not when seeing him again, alive and well and here, made her so freaking happy she struggled to hold back tears.

Instead, she took off her sandals, sat down on the end of the dock, and dangled her feet in the water. She watched her dolphins fling their new toy around with so much excitement she feared it might break.

“You brought them a toy.” And if she wasn’t already in love with him, she’d have fallen hard just then. “Thank you for that.”

Gabe swam toward her, strong arms slicing through the waves with ease. Goodness, he was even more graceful in the water than out of it, fast and lithe like her dolphins.

Reaching the dock, he folded his arms on the edge and kept his lower half submerged, but he was definitely sans swim trunks under the water.

“Well,” he said with a mock-serious expression, “this amazing woman I once knew told me—several times—that I needed to learn manners. Apparently, it’s rude to come calling without a gift.”

“Very true.” She smothered a laugh. “Gabriel Bristow, are you skinny dipping?”

“Like I said.” He grabbed hold of her legs and pulled her over until he was propped between her thighs. His hands slid under the skirt of her sundress, kneading her soft flesh. “It’s rude to show up without a gift. The dolphins got the toy. You get me.”

Oh, that did it. The tears she’d been fighting spilled over and she threaded her fingers through his wet hair. “I do, huh?”

“For as long as you’ll have me. I’m in love with you, too, Audrey. Have been practically since minute one.”

“Then why did you walk away?” And hurt me so badly. Although she didn’t say that part aloud, it was there, hanging in the air between them, palpable as if she had said it.

“Hell, I don’t know. Stupidity?”

“I won’t argue that.”

“And, uh…” He hesitated and cleared his throat. “And fear.”

Her SEAL, afraid? Somehow, she found that very difficult to believe. “Nothing scares you, sailor.”

“You do. Or what I feel for you does. It makes me raw. Exposed in ways that… God, I can’t even put it into words. I was terrified of keeping you. Terrified of losing you. I, uh, still am.” He lifted a hand to show her the slight tremor in it. “I’ve never been so goddamn frightened in all my life, but I couldn’t stay away. I’ve been miserable.”

Really, she shouldn’t be so petty that his confession made her giddy with a spiteful kind of glee. But she was and it did. He’d been just as miserable this past month as she had, which almost made all the tears she’d spilled over him worth it.

Almost.

But she’d need ice water in her veins to stay mad at him after a confession as sincere and heartfelt as that.

“I tried to find you,” she told him. “When Bryson got out of the hospital, I went to D.C., even attended one of Raffi’s plays in New York, hoping he’d tell me where you were. He wouldn’t, but he did say he’d have a talk with you.”

“Talk?” Gabe snorted. “That’s what he called it? Man, he reamed me a new one for walking away from you.”

“Hm. I like Raffi even more now than I did. And I liked him a whole lot before.”

“I knew you would. But it was actually Quinn who gave me the push I needed.”

Audrey didn’t bother hiding her disbelief. “Really?”

“He called me a coward and he was right.” He pulled himself up further to wrap his arms around her waist and laid his head in her lap. “I wanted to come right away, but I had to take care of some business things first. I wanted at least a solid week with you without interruptions.”

God, that sounded like heaven.

“How’s your brother doing?” Gabe asked.

She sighed. “He’s back to normal, throwing himself into work. I suppose I shouldn’t complain. He does make a conscious effort to be there more for his sons. And for me. He even came to my show. But…. I don’t know. After everything, I expected more of a change, I guess.”

“Change is a hard thing to do.”

“Yes,” she agreed, “it is.” And yet Gabe was willing to change his life by letting her into it. Oh God. She was not going to cry again.