Page 27 of Her Honorable Hero

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“Griff,you don’t have to do this,” Miranda laughed.

It amazed him that after this long together, his wife could still be self-conscious around him. He could mention the fact that he’d been in the delivery room with her, but he wasn’t a foolish man.

“Hush, this gives me pleasure,” he said, as he stroked the wash cloth down her pale skin. God, her beauty blew him away. It always had.

“You’re the one who said she didn’t want to get her hair wet in the shower,” he reminded her.

“You know the blow dryer always wakes Livvie up.”

Griff loved the way she arched into the warm cloth. When he was done he blotted her with one of their new, soft bath towels.

“Okay, Missy, it’s way past your bedtime. Let’s get you under the covers.”

When they were under the comforter, he pulled her into his arms and tried to blot out what she had told him. How come he wasn’t surprised when she gave him that look?

“Okay, I told you mine, now it’s time for you to tell me yours.”

“I have,” he said, trying to shut down any more talk of the train wreck. It would take a long time for her words to work their way out of his system.

“Griffin, I told you how it was for me. It’s only fair that you return the favor. I vaguely remember you telling me about it after the fact, but now I want to really know. What happened? How was it actually?”

“Well, I told you that all I could think about was you and getting to you. I was with Josiah, and his need to get back to Scarlett was just as bad. It was like looking in a mirror. I’ve been on some hairy fucking missions, but nothing, not one damn thing, has scared me like that day.”

* * *

Three Years Earlier

“Josiah, can you hear me?”Griff shook the older man. Except for the cut on his arm, he looked okay.

Josiah Hale’s eyes popped open. “We crashed?”

“Affirmative.” Griff breathed easier, seeing that his Captain, a fellow SEAL, was going to be working with him.

“How bad?” Josiah asked.

“Bad. We’re right outside of Del Mar, beside the cliffs overlooking the ocean. This car is leaning over. When I looked out the window, I could see the car with the women was on its side, and it doesn’t look stable.”

“How not stable?” Josiah bit out the question.

“Can’t tell from here. Worst case? It’ll take a hundred foot drop at any minute.”

Just saying it made bile rise in Griff’s mouth.

“Do you know why we crashed?” Josiah pushed himself off the floor, giving a quick glance to his arm. Griff thrust a towel that he’d found from the café at Josiah so that he could staunch the bleeding.

“We were going too fucking slow for it to cause something this bad. It’s got to be an explosion. We could have unfriendlies,” Griff said grimly.

“Fuck.”

Josiah pulled out his phone and pressed a number on his speed dial. He waited.

He looked at Griff. “She’s not answering.”

He placed another call.

“Liam, I have a situation.” His voice was calm and commanding. “Amtrak train crashed heading south to San Diego outside Del Mar. I’m on it with Scarlett, she’s in another car that could fall into the ocean. It’s going to be a cluster for the emergency workers to get to us, we’re not near a highway.” He looked for Griff for confirmation.