Exposed by JC Harroway

Author:JC Harroway
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin Enterprises, Australia Pty Ltd

Chapter 9

Tom tossed her rucksack and carry-on into the boot of his car with proficient ease before ushering her to take the passenger seat and slipping behind the wheel. They passed the first few miles to Heathrow airport in silence, Eden’s scraped-raw dread increasing the closer they travelled. Closer to Dan.

She couldn’t avoid him. Didn’t want to. But her humiliating exit from his house held such a finality, part of her couldn’t bear to see his handsome, jovial face—a reminder of the obstacles between them they’d found too big a hurdle. And she had to see him. Had to face him in order to complete the challenge. If she could fast-forward her life, she would—zip straight to the part where she took her sign-off papers from Emily and Steve and disappeared. She’d never have to face Dan again. She’d hand the paperwork over to her commanding officer and, with any luck, in a week or so she could be back at work—not full active service, of course. Not right away.

She had a surgery scheduled for the week after she returned from America. Once that was behind her, she’d have a better idea of the range of movement in her scarred hand, a factor that would determine whether she could eventually return to her role as it had been, or whether she’d be forced to accept a dreaded desk job.

Tom must have heard the sigh she hadn’t realised she’d allowed to escape. ‘Okay, Kid?’ The nickname, a hangover from childhood, jarred inside Eden’s head, creating the beginnings of a headache. Tom only used it these days when he worried about her. He’d used it a lot in recent months.

Was she okay? She’d lost perspective. Unsure of anything—what she wanted, who she was, what her future looked like? Perhaps that was a side effect of the PTSD, the depression? She’d certainly struggled with lack of interest and motivation in the past months. What did the doctors call that? Anhedonia?

Her reaction to Dan touching her had shocked the hell out of her—made her skin feel like it was peeling from her body. Not his touch itself, which had been warm and soft, despite her burn-damaged nerve endings that left some of her sensations distorted. But his face afterwards. He’d looked like she’d accused him of killing babies at the hospital, not merely losing himself and accidentally grazing her chest with the gentle exploratory caress of a would-be lover. A caress she’d craved, only to discover it was intolerable.

Her voice, when it came, scraped over tense vocal cords. ‘What would you do, if you couldn’t serve?’ Eden focused on the traffic ahead of them while she held her breath and waited for his answer, the outlines of the cars blurred by the persistent drizzle that fell.

Tom’s silence surprised her. She’d expected an easy and instant dismissal. Why would he have ever thought of such an inconceivable notion? Fit and healthy, her brother teetered at the peak of his career.

‘Anything.’ He shrugged, indicating and pulling out into the fast lane.

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