“I guess those years in drama club paid off, huh?” She scooped some spaghetti pie onto her plate and told herself to shut up. She had inserted her foot in her mouth way too many times today. The problem was she’d isolated herself so long that she’d forgotten how to hold a normal conversation. Not that she’d needed words with Quinn last night. Heat flooded her cheeks at the memory. Awesome. Now even her subconscious was at it. Seriously, shut up, Delaney.
30
Quinn made a mental note to send his mom flowers. Not that he’d had any doubts when he and Greer had approached her about mothering Delaney, but he’d underestimated his mom’s speed. Two hours with his mom and Delaney looked more relaxed at dinner than he’d seen her since he left her in bed this morning—aw, hell, he shouldn’t have let his mind go there. Especially not with Delaney looking so damn hot.
He grimaced, knowing he wouldn’t have her in his arms tonight. Their truce was over, at least until he could figure out how to talk her into another one. And after the scene at the diner today, he’d decided he needed to back off and give her space to breathe with everything she was about to deal with. Her amnesia and panic attacks had moved to the top of that list.
She had looked right at Major Roubillard, a doctor she’d been stationed with, worked side by side with, and not recognized him. Except some part of her brain must have. That had to be what had set off her panic attack.
“Hey, Delaney.” Greer looked like she was inspecting the basket of garlic knots for quality control. “Does the name Major Roubillard ring a bell? I think you called him Doc Gary.”
Quinn watched Delaney’s face closely. Greer must be as worried as he was about another panic attack, and it looked like she was testing the waters.
Delaney sat back in her chair, her forehead creased in concentration. With a grimace, she dropped her fork to her plate and squeezed her head with her hands. “Dammit. I’m getting pretty sick of butting my head against this blank wall.”
“It’s not a big deal.” Greer shrugged. “You got a postcard from him, is all. I guess an Army buddy, maybe.”
“Yeah, I wouldn’t know.” Her hands worried the napkin in her lap.
“Sometimes the universe unfolds things in the right order, no matter what we want to happen,” Seamus tried to reassure Delaney.
“That’s absolutely true.” Mama Cates reached over and patted Delaney’s shoulder.
“Maybe I can ask my doctor to hypnotize me when I see her tomorrow.” Delaney rubbed her forehead. “Shock therapy, voodoo, something. I’m tired of living in this fuzzy limbo.”
Greer sympathized. “I know it’s hard, but remember what your doctor told you. The brain works on its own time frame after trauma.”
“Own time frame? It’s like my brain’s stuck in a mini ice age.” Delaney stood up, picking up dishes to clear the table. “Glaciers pass by me in the fast lane.”
“Y’all sit. We’ve got it.” Quinn quickly grabbed up some dishes and followed her. He used his body to bump her out from in front of the sink. “Here, I’ll rinse and you can put them in the dishwasher.”
“You’re such a control freak.” She stuck her hands out, waiting for the first dish.
They worked as a team until all the dishes were cleared. Quinn turned to her, drying his hands on a dishtowel. “Ma invited you to stay with them for a bit. At least until we catch whoever vandalized your house.”
“Oh. Between losing it at the diner and our sleepover, I forgot someone was trying to run me out of town.” Delaney ran her hand across her forehead.
“I thought you’d prefer here since our truce is over. Unless you’re interested in extending it?” Today had been a stressful day for her, and tomorrow wouldn’t be easy either. “I could be there to hold you if your nightmare hits again.”
“Better not.” Her gaze skittered away from his.
Whoa, wait. What was that? Something had flashed across her face, and he’d swear it had looked like fear. “Are you worried about the nightmare?”
He bent his knees, trying to look into her eyes, but she made an abrupt about-face for the dining room. He reached out, grabbing her hand, wanting to make sure she was all right. “Delaney . . .”
Turning to face him, she pulled her hand slowly from his and wrapped her arms around her middle. “There’s more to the dream that I didn’t tell you. . . .
“I see children, pretty little girls with huge brown eyes looking up at me, reaching out to me, laughing, calling my name. I feel so happy to see them. My friends are standing next to me. Then they’re gone and I’m covered in blood and I . . .” Delaney looked directly into Quinn’s eyes, and the pain in hers shattered him. “I think it’s my fault they’re dead.”
Well hell.
So much about what Delaney had been going through suddenly made more sense. How did a person live with that kind of soul-shattering fear? Fear she hadn’t wanted to unload onto Greer so she’d kept it to herself. Where it ate away at her every day.
He stared at her, his gaze moving over her face, feeling the tension grow in her body with each drawn out tick of time that he stayed silent. Say something, idiot.
“Okay. Let’s just deal with the facts.” His lips flattened into a line before he huffed out a breath. “Tell me, what do you remember that leads you to believe that?”
“That’s just it. I don’t remember anything.” She avoided Quinn’s eyes. “Except in my dreams. I hear a voice begging me to help them . . . and I wake up knowing I didn’t. I froze. I should have saved them, but I didn’t. It’s my fault people died that day, and I’m not sure I can live with that.”
“Oh, Laney.” Quinn reached out to cradle her face with his hands, gently lifting her face until his eyes locked with hers. “Is it possible that’s survivor’s guilt?”
His mom came around the corner into the kitchen. “Quinn, I need a moment with you. Now.”
He shook his head, keeping his eyes on Delaney. “Ma, now’s not a good time.”
“Quinlan, now is the perfect time.” She pulled that look out of her bag of mom tools.
Seamus stepped in, taking Delaney’s elbow. “Come keep me company over my coffee, and you can help keep Greer from eating all the pie.”
Quinn’s mom pulled him out to the front porch.
“Ma, could we talk about whatever this is later?”
“Quinn, have I ever acted like you needed to have your head examined or lectured you about making smarter choices in your life?”
If Ma hadn’t taught him not to roll his eyes at her, he would have. “Pretty much weekly, like clockwork, since I was in sixth grade.”
Mama Cates nodded her head. “You know everyone thought your crush on Delaney was sweet when it started. Then, over time, it seemed unrealistic, or unwise. Crazy even. Almost like you had created this imaginary creature in your mind that no other girl could live up to, but didn’t really exist in real life.”
Quinn crossed his arms over his chest. He’d heard this before. From everyone. A lot. He shook his head. “I’m sorry, Ma. But from the moment I met her, there was something there, even if it was only on my side. I started to doubt myself, especially when Greer felt sorry for me, so I tried to move on, live my life.
“Then Greer’s all, ‘You have to do me this favor,’ you know, and the minute I saw her again, I knew. I even tried to fight it, but that lasted all of three days. Ma, trust me when I say I’ve examined this from every angle recently. I’m sorry if you think I’m crazy, but I’m pretty sure she’s it for me. So, please don’t tell me to move on, or that you’ve got some other woman for me to meet.”
“Quinlan Cates, you listen to me—”
“Ma, I love you, but I’m tired of hearing that I’m an idiot.”
“Well, you are an idiot—if you don’t do everything within your power to secure that girl as fast as humanly possible. If you have to trick her or . . . or blackmail her, or heck, kidnap her.”
Quinn bent down to peer into his mother’s face, no
t sure he heard her correctly. “Ma, what are you saying?”
“I’m saying I’m sorry I doubted you. She’s tough, and a smart-ass and cusses like a sailor,” she said.
“She’s got a great right jab, too.”
“She’s a fighter, all right. But she’s also funny and smart and . . . and I think I love her already.” Mama Cates poked him in the arm for emphasis. “So, grab her before she gets away.”
“I would, but I haven’t convinced her we belong together yet.”
“Your brothers have always said you were slow.” She reached up and pinched Quinn’s cheek as if he was five. “This is the first time I agree with them.”
31
Well, that was a first. Delaney shut the bedroom door, leaning against it for a moment. Her life was becoming so strange, almost like the explosion had knocked her into an alternate reality. Delaney had never experienced the support and comfort of a family before, but she was pretty sure that was what had just happened. Wow. Did kids who grew up with a loving family get how lucky they were? No wonder Greer was the “normal” one, since she had had love from Quinn’s family from kindergarten on. Thank God for that.
If tonight was anything to go by, she was going to love being at the Cateses’ house. Already, she felt like she’d found the very thing she’d never had growing up but always wanted . . . a warm, loving family. She was afraid to get too hooked, for the hole it would leave in her life when she left.
Delaney hummed her way into the bathroom, where she stripped down to her Jockeys before washing her face and brushing her teeth. No way was she wearing one of those new slinky nightgowns to bed.
Her sore muscles and sharp headache were real enough. Moving to the bed, she dug around for the aspirin bottle she had stashed in her purse. The headache had been stabbing at her ever since the scene she’d made in the diner.
A light knock on her door turned her around. “Yes, Mama C?”
Quinn walked in, shutting the door behind him. “It’s not Ma.”
“Go away,” Delaney said, turning back to her quest for aspirin.
When Quinn didn’t say anything, she turned to make sure he wasn’t locking the door. He wasn’t. He just stood there looking at her.
“Would you stop?” Her cheeks heated, and she had the sudden urge to knock his ego down a peg. “Oh, hey, good try on the shopping trip, but I won.”
Quinn shook his head to focus on what Delaney had said. “What? What did I try, and what did you win?”
She motioned to the bright thongs strewn across the bed. “I cannot believe you stooped to bribing your mother to buy me thongs. But the joke is on you, ace, because no one said I had to wear them and you still have to paint the foyer.”
To Delaney’s eyes, Quinn didn’t look like he was getting it. Heck, it didn’t even look like he was paying attention. His eyes ping-ponged between the colored thongs lying on the bed and her Jockey-clad body. “I feel a little superior standing here in my Jockeys knowing that just having those sherbet-colored thongs in my drawer is enough to force you up a scaffold.”
* * *
The woman had not a clue. If she did, she wouldn’t be standing there so calmly. She’d be pissed. Pissed to find out her long, lean runner’s body didn’t need colored scraps of silk to look exquisite. The white ribbed tee hugged her body like a lover. It was a teasing veil over her breasts. The white panties cut low below her hipbones but straight, although just barely, over her most amazing ass.
“This is your non-sexy answer to the thongs?”
Delaney put one hand on her hip. “Yup. Say it, Quinn. I win. You lose.”
Nope, not a clue about men if she thought this wasn’t sexy as hell. But lucky for him he was smarter than he looked. “When you’re right, you’re right. You win. I lose. I’d like my lovely parting gift for playing though.”
Quinn walked until he stood a foot away from Delaney. The crease in her forehead reminded him of the other reason he’d come in.
“I brought you this.” He lifted up the bottle of water he held in his left hand and unscrewed the top, before handing her the open bottle. He took Delaney’s empty hand and placed two aspirin from his pocket in the center. “And these. For the last hour, you had that crinkle you get when you have a headache and you were rubbing your leg like it hurt.”
“Oh, God, you’re right. I’ve had an icepick jammed in my forehead since lunchtime.” She quickly downed the aspirin with a swallow of water. “Thank you.”
“Now for my lovely parting gift. A good-night kiss.” Quinn took the bottle of water from her and carefully recapped it before tossing it on the bed. He pulled her close until their lips were a mere breath apart.
“Hey, our truce is over.”
“I’m calling another one.”
“This is a bad idea,” she whispered, her lips lifting up to his.
“It can’t be. It feels too right.” He adjusted her body tight against his. What started as a soft good-night kiss quickly ignited into something hotter, flaming out of control. Delaney’s hands ran through his hair, caressed the back of his neck, and blazed a trail of fire across his shoulders. His lips pressed hard. His tongue played with hers. He had to pull back before he lost control.
“This can’t be anything,” she said against his lips.
“This is something.” He kissed his way up her jawline.
“No. It’s a hormone thing. It’s nothing.”
“It’s not nothing,” he whispered in her ear. Quinn forced himself to step away and leave her room before he said what his heartbeat confirmed. It was possible it was everything.
32
“Captain Lyons, I’ve read over your medical records and I spoke with your doctor at Walter Reed yesterday. He’s mighty glad you’re in my office today.” Dr. Harris sat behind her government-issue desk, smiling. “I am too. So, how are you doing?’
“Fine.” Delaney nodded, but sat up straighter when the doctor tilted her head, looking at her over her reading glasses. The weight of two pairs of eyes pressed in on her. Greer’s throat clearing was so obvious her sister might as well have coughed “bullshit” into her hand. Delaney crossed her arms over her chest and focused her eyes on the diploma over the doctor’s shoulder. “I’m fine.”
Greer shifted in her seat, drawing her attention.
“Look, I’ve got it easier than half the soldiers we passed in the hallway just now.” And damn if she didn’t feel guilty about that. They sure as hell hadn’t given up like she had. Even now, she was terrified to open up. She shook her head and frowned over at Greer.
“I’ve already told you you’re my hero. Don’t shake your head.” Greer frowned right back at her. “You’re the strongest person I know. But stop it. You’re being more of a burden trying not to be a burden. So, just be weak for one minute. Right now. Tell this nice doctor the truth.”
“Remind me again why I let you come with me.”
“Because deep down you knew I’d do this. And it was either me or Quinn.” Greer wiggled her eyebrows at her.
“Right.” She turned back to the doctor. Rubbing her hands on her thighs, she released a small chuff of air between her lips. “Okay, so maybe not so good.”
Dr. Harris pushed her glasses back up the bridge of her nose and nodded. “Well, let’s see what we can do about that. As you know, rehabilitation involves a variety of components, so it’s really just a matter of finding out what areas are working and what you need more of.”
Delaney shoved her hands under her thighs and rocked slightly, tamping down the urge to run out of the office. Pain spiked in her temples. Dr. Harris made it sound so temptingly simple. Sure, she’d worked hard and struggled in rehab for over six months before imploding, but it had never been simple.
“I read over the report from your physical therapist yesterday. It’s good to hear your progress on that front.”
“Well, my physical therapist is stricter than the meanest, crustiest drill sergeant you could ever meet.” Delaney tilt
ed her head in Greer’s direction.
“She’s talking about me. If I weren’t her sister, I’m pretty sure she’d have fired me weeks ago.”
“Okay, let’s get you in a gown and examine your residual limb. Your doctors at Walter Reed had your new prosthesis delivered overnight, so we’ll be able to have our prosthetist fit it on you. And then we’ll discuss what other support you need. How’s that sound?”
Gut-wrenchingly scary. “Fine.”
“I’m going to step into the waiting room.” Greer grabbed her hand and squeezed. “Hey, you’ve got this.”
Delaney watched the door close behind Greer, wishing she had a sip of whatever confidence-booster Greer was drinking. Greer and Quinn, and Quinn’s family, were her safety parachute. All she had to do today was relax into the safe landing.
Dr. Harris removed her glasses and sat back in her chair. “Between advanced protective gear and battlefield medical techniques, we’re saving more soldiers than ever before. From that first Golden hour to the forward surgical hospitals and then the airlift to Germany—that whole process is working like a well-oiled machine. But stateside?”
She couldn’t complain about her surgeons, physical therapists, prosthetists, nurses, or volunteers once she'd gotten to Walter Reed. They were amazing, but they’d only accounted for a small part of her time there. In between the few hours of rehab appointments were too many long, lonely hours spent in her hospital room or sitting in her wheelchair in a sterile hallway. Delays and long waits due to lost paperwork and an understaffed, overwhelmed hospital led to frustrations for patients and staff alike. There were lonely, isolated, frustrated hours where pain and doubt had had time to become best buddies, decided to room together, and rented space in her head. And things had only gotten worse when she’d progressed to the apartment off the hospital grounds.
Still Crushing on His Best Friend’s Older Sister: Cates Brothers # 2 Page 18
