Two Hearts Undone Read online

  TWO HEARTS UNDONE

  A Wounded Warrior Romance

  By

  Tamara Ferguson

  ©2016 Annie Acorn Publishing LLC

  Silver Spring, MD 20906

  annieacornpublishing.com

  Cover Art by Angel Nichols

  [email protected]

  http://www.angelwingsdesigner.com/bookcovers.htm

  The story Two Hearts Undone is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to real people or events is completely accidental. A few literary liberties may have been taken in the interest of creating great literature.

  A Note from Annie

  It is with great pleasure that we at Annie Acorn Publishing LLC add internationally beloved, From Women’s Pens author Tamara Ferguson to our list of affiliated authors.

  Tammy, as many of us know her, is more than a great author. She is also a tireless supporter of indie authors, many of whom owe much of their initial success to her helpful tweets thru her Twitter account @Tammysdragonfly.

  So bless you, my friend, and welcome aboard!

  - Annie

  Two Hearts Undone

  “What?” Melinda McDaniel’s mouth dropped open, as she stared into the deep brown eyes of her nemesis, Steven Ryder.

  Steve growled, “You heard me.” Then he grinned.

  Mel’s stomach did a flip-flop, but what else was new? She’d had this same stupid reaction to the man each and every time she had run into him over the last few years. Finally, she managed to speak. “You’re asking me out on a date?”

  He shrugged. “Well, yeah.”

  “But…” Mel knew her eyes were wide as she stared into his.

  Was she ready to date anyone yet? But when she considered the particulars, she started. Had it really been three years since Hawk had been killed?

  She gazed thoughtfully at Steve. He actually wanted to go out with her? She had never been comfortable with the fact that she’d been immediately attracted to this man, because they hadn’t stopped arguing since the moment they had met.

  Their first encounter had been the year after Hawk had been killed, when Steve had worked as a physical therapist for Luke Bryant, her former fiancé’s best friend. As a wounded warrior pilot who’d lost a limb, Luke had required a steady dose of patience and understanding, and apparently, Steve had provided it. Luke was thriving now and about to be married, after finally allowing his friends and family back into his life.

  “But, what?” Steve asked, quietly.

  “I just never thought about it, that’s all.” Still searching for words, Mel continued to study him. He was damned good-looking – that was for sure.

  Steve’s chocolate-brown eyes were intense in a strongly-chiseled face, and his ash-brown hair, streaked with gold, was cropped neatly over his ears. His shoulders were broad, and his hips were narrow. At around six foot four, he moved with the power of an athlete.

  Then she noticed him fidgeting. Was it only her imagination, or was he actually nervous?

  But, as usual, just as she began to consider the idea of going out with another guy, the guilt kicked in.

  With raven-black hair, deep-blue eyes, and an easygoing way about him, Hawk had been the mirror opposite of Steve. She and Hawk had spent every free moment they could spare on the road together, exploring on his bike. God, how she missed him!

  Turning away from Steve, Mel struggled to hold back her tears.

  *

  Steve’s heart sank. Apparently, he still hadn’t given Mel enough time to grieve, and inwardly, he cursed himself for approaching her a few months earlier than he’d intended.

  But the woman was driving him insane.

  True, his wife had died around the same time that Mel’s fiancé had been killed in Iraq, but Amy had succumbed to cancer – a long, lingering death. He’d had time to prepare for the inevitable, and by the time she had passed away, it’d almost been a blessing.

  Mel’s fiancé had been killed in action, her grieving following a much slower and more difficult course.

  If anyone had told him he would be secretly lusting after this woman, when he’d met her two years ago, he would’ve called that person crazy. In her tight leather skirt and high-heeled boots, with that whisper of a tattoo peeking from beneath the strap of her sports bra, well, he hadn’t been sure what he’d thought about her.

  Except that he’d been angry at himself – mad about his unbearable attraction for Mel, because she was totally different from Amy.

  Inwardly, he’d been kicking himself for setting a double standard. Since when did he judge people on what they wore or how they looked? Was this his way of fighting his attraction, along with constantly squabbling with her?

  He’d recognized right away, because of her behavior and dedication to work, that Mel was playing the guilt game. He ought to know, because he had been playing the same game himself.

  During the last several months, though, he had discovered that she was beautiful. And not just on the outside.

  “Why don’t you take some time to think about it?” He reached out and squeezed her hand, when he noticed she was blinking back tears.

  Whoa, sensation wracked through his senses. Touching her wasn’t enough! He wanted to reach out and yank her into his arms. For months, now, he’d been thinking about how much he wanted her.

  She had the most beautiful, silky-straight, coppery-red hair he’d ever seen. At first, she had worn heavy makeup, and he had assumed she dyed her hair. Over the last year, though, she had toned down her look, maybe because she’d been asked to do it by the coordinator of the special education facility where they both worked.

  No, there wasn’t a dress code per se. Mel must have wanted to change her look.

  And that auburn hair? Unquestionably natural, and he’d spent hours dreaming some pretty vivid dreams about running his fingers through it.

  God, it was hard to control himself around her.

  He watched as Mel looked down at their hands, where he clasped hers warmly.

  Ah, so she’d felt it, too.

  He dropped her hand, and Mel seemed dazed, staring into his eyes.

  Spinning around, he walked away – a wide smile on his face. Oh, yeah, he thought with satisfaction, the attraction was definitely mutual. Maybe it hadn’t been too soon to approach her after all.

  *

  “Alright, what do you suggest?” With his arms and legs crossed, Steve leaned against the door of the Crystal Visions Director’s office.

  His friend, Jeremy Townsend, shrugged from behind his desk, giving Steve a slow grin. “You still need an occasional assistant, right?”

  “Well, yeah, for assisting in therapy, but Mel’s an R.N.”

  “We’re still short on staff, and Mel asked about picking up some extra hours, because she wants to help out more.”

  Steve hesitated. “I don’t think she’d work with me, even if I asked her to.” He grimaced. “She tends to avoid me.”

  Jeremy glanced at the paperwork on his desk. “I don’t see any reason why I can’t be the one to ask – discreetly, of course. I’m developing a new scheduling system anyway.”

  Steve grinned. “I’ll owe you one.”

  “Yeah, you will.” Jeremy nodded at the doorway. “Now, get out of here and back to work, so I can get this new schedule done. I’ve been working too much overtime lately as it is.”

  Steve laughed and lifted his hand in farewell, as he opened the door and slipped through the doorway.

  *

  How was this going to play out? Mel asked herself, as she peeked into the offices of the rehabilitation center, located a half-mile away from the school. Somehow, she had avoided working with Steve the entire eighteen months, during which she’d been rotating her services betwee
n the local hospital, the nursing home, and Crystal Visions. Now, that would change.

  The center housed a huge weight room and sauna, along with a gymnasium. Two Olympic-sized pools had been added the past spring. Now the workouts in the therapy pool provided the most effective rehabilitation for physically disabled students who attended Crystal Visions, as well as for returning wounded warriors, who would soon reside in a facility being constructed nearby.

  Since Steve wasn’t in his office, Mel glanced at the huge dry-erase board mounted on a wall in the outer office. Once the wounded warrior facility opened, they would hire a secretary, but currently, Steve handled all the therapy sessions for Crystal Visions students himself.

  Definitely a difficult task for one person to manipulate, Mel thought as she studied the board, especially considering there were fifty students attending the school now, over half requiring some kind of physical therapy.

  She strolled along the hallway toward the entrance to the steamy conservatory that housed the therapy pool where, supposedly, Steve was with a patient.

  Low in the water, Steve was working on balance with one of the younger students. Disabled since birth, Ben had been born without an arm and a foot. The facility where he’d been living before hadn’t had the funding for prosthetics. One of the first residential students in the new Crystal Visions’ housing, the eight-year-old orphan had managed nicely over the past eighteen months.

  She laughed softly to herself. Funny how she had come to know the name of every student at Crystal Visions, becoming familiar with their disabilities as well.

  Just then, Ben stood up in Steve’s arms, sputtering out water. “Mel!” He giggled. “Look what I can do!” He broke away and swam awkwardly, splashing an awful lot of water.

  Still, he could do it, Mel thought. Ben was swimming! It was hard to believe that this was the same awkward kid she had met last year.

  Although Ben had warmed up to her right away, shy, self-conscious, and lacking in trust, he’d been a huge challenge for Steve. She suspected Ben’s trust issues had something to do with his history as the only son of a single mother, who had died from a drug overdose, leaving her son to live in and out of institutions all his short life.

  “Oh, Ben.” Mel blinked back tears. “That’s fantastic!”

  Then her eyes met Steve’s. Unguarded and tender, the look in his eyes took her breath away.

  Breaking away from his gaze, Mel inched up to the edge of the pool, where Ben sat on the stairs, so she could help him from the water.

  Just then, Ben’s personal assistant, Adam Beecher, strolled from the locker room. “Hi, Mel.” He moved immediately to assist the youngster. “I can get him for you.”

  Effortlessly, Adam lifted his charge and rested him in a waiting wheelchair, where Ben giggled when Adam tickled his nose.

  Although many of the students with serious disabilities were assigned paid personal assistants funded by the federal and state governments, the facility still lacked personnel. Luckily, the college internship program created by Jake and Danielle Loughlin, who had created Crystal Visions, ran smoothly, the result of a healthy influx of part-time assistants working year round.

  Mel waved at Ben as Adam wheeled him into the locker room, where he’d get a warm bath after his workout. Although his movements were still awkward, Ben was already working with two prosthetics to replace his foot and arm. Now he only required Adam’s assistance attaching and removing them, having made amazing progress. All he’d needed was the right kind of encouragement.

  Steve stood in the shallow pool, and Mel held her breath. Whoa.

  It was hard to believe she’d never seen the man without a shirt on before. She stared at his incredibly broad, muscular shoulders, before her eyes traveled down the damp dusting of hair covering his chest to his powerful thighs.

  And a nice butt, too…

  Mel nearly laughed out loud at the direction her thoughts were taking. Hmm.

  But what was that on his lower back? She watched as he pulled himself onto the edge of the pool – a tattoo? It looked familiar. Had he been in the Navy? While she had always been an open book about herself, she realized Steve hadn’t volunteered much information about himself over these past few years.

  Mel frowned, once Steve stepped from the water, wearing a skimpy speedo. “Geez, that bathing suit is sure puny enough. You’d think you’d want to wear something a little less suggestive.”

  He gave her a wide-eyed stare and, instead of answering her with his usual mocking response, he bent over and coughed, finally bursting into loud laughter. “You’re giving me a lecture?”

  Mel stared down at the T-shirt and short denim skirt she wore. Since Hawk had passed away, she hadn’t worn the clinging leather and low cut blouses that he’d loved to see her in. Besides, those spiked boots and high-heels had begun killing her feet, even though she’d switched to the required shoes for work. “What’s wrong with what I’m wearing?”

  “Nothing.” He sounded rather gruff.

  Strolling to a bench immediately outside of the men’s locker room, Mel grabbed a towel from the stack and brought it to Steve. “Here, you’d better wrap this around your waist.”

  Glancing to where Mel was staring, Steve barked out a laugh as he quickly wrapped the towel around his waist.

  “What’s so funny?” She walked with him towards the locker room.

  “You, that’s what.” He suddenly halted, becoming serious as he looked her over slowly. “You gotta realize, Mel, how much you turn me on. You know, you continuously surprise me. I know you’re a nurse, but you’re not even embarrassed by what you just saw, are you?”

  Nope. Mel had grown to like the tension between them, so she didn’t blink an eye at the question. She gave him a half-smile. “Nah. Why should I be?”

  Steve laid his hands over her shoulders. “Alright, Melinda McDaniel, why don’t you just admit it? I kind of turn you on, too, don’t I?”

  Holding his gaze, she gave him a barely discernable nod of agreement.

  He stared into her eyes. “Alright, then. You’re supposed to assist me in the afternoons. How about a working date tomorrow, since it’s Friday? I promised Ben a trip to the beach, because he’s been trying so hard.” He grinned. “I thought I’d surprise him at the last minute. Otherwise, he’ll be so excited, he won’t sleep tonight.”

  Steve’s fingers lingered, almost caressing her shoulders. He was so big and broad and sexy. It was making her dizzy, being so close. Finally pulling his hands away, he turned and headed towards the locker room.

  “Let’s meet in my office at noon. I’ll bring our lunch and a snack for Ben,” he called over his shoulder.

  Mel felt a strange sense of certainty as she watched her co-worker disappear into the locker room. Hawk would always hold a special place in her heart, but there’d be no more living in the past. It was time to move forward, because that’s what he would want her to do.

  *

  The following day, Steve was seated at his desk in his office going over the next week’s schedule when Mel walked in through the doorway. Glancing up, he was instantly distracted by her filmy black cover up, paired with some very short shorts and, man, those legs. He drew in a long, unsteady breath.

  She had a smirk on her face when he finally looked into her eyes, and Steve cleared his throat. His reaction hadn’t been unusual. Normally, he wouldn’t have been so obvious, but he’d decided that was about to change.

  “Mel.” He grinned as he stood, already wearing a T-shirt and a pair of swimming trunks. “You look great as usual.”

  A look of uncertainty filled her eyes. Obviously, she wasn’t quite sure how to handle this next phase of their relationship. “I’m glad to see that you’re wearing more appropriate swimwear,” she said, crossly.

  He turned to her with a sly smile. “Yeah, right.”

  Mel blinked, and Steve chuckled. She was still fighting her attraction for him, and he was getting a kick out of throwing her off balance.
He’d better give her a break today, though. “Want to go along with me to tell Ben that he gets to play hooky?”

  She sent him an unguarded smile, and his heart thumped hard against his chest.

  “Well, come on then.” He switched off the lights in his office. “I parked my truck by the school this morning, so that we could take off from there.”

  Leaving Steve’s office, they walked along silently, side by side, through the parking lot, until they finally reached the entrance of the school. Terry, the school’s administrative assistant, waved through the open window of her office and buzzed them in.

  Ben was in the school cafeteria finishing his lunch, when Steve bent down and whispered into his ear.

  “We’re really going to the beach?” the boy asked, excitedly, and as Steve lifted him, Ben’s face wore a heartwarming smile.

  His voice seized up in his throat, Steve found himself unable to respond.

  When Ben squirmed so hard that Steve pretended he was going to drop him, Mel laughed and Ben stilled, giving Steve a wide-eyed stare.

  “That’s what I promised,” Steve finally answered, with a smile.

  Adam grinned, as he handed over a bag of supplies for Ben. “I sent along some extra towels.” He rubbed the boy’s head. “I stuck some toys in there for you, too, kiddo, for playing in the sand. They’re yours to keep.” He added, “I guess I’ll have a little time off today?”

  “I’d say it’s well-deserved,” Steve stated.

  “You guys have fun.” Adam smiled at Mel and tickled Ben’s nose, before sitting back down at the table with the rest of the kids.

  “I can walk, Steve,” Ben said excitedly.

  “Why don’t you save your strength, buddy? Let’s try walking at the beach, today, and see how well you do there,” Steve answered, carrying Ben through the cafeteria and into the hallway, where he rested him on his feet.

  The three of them made their way outside into the parking lot, and soon Steve was loading Ben into the front seat of his truck. Mel took her place in the passenger seat beside Ben, and once Steve had stashed the cooler behind him in the back seat, he revved up the engine.