The Special Delivery: Complete Collection

by Lillian Cordell

  THE SPECIAL DELIVERY

  LILLIAN CORDELL

  Text copyright © 2014 Lillian Cordell

  Also by Lillian Cordell

  The Special Delivery Series

  The Delivery

  Sorry We Missed You

  Trick or Treat?

  Table of Contents

  The Delivery

  Sorry We Missed You

  Trick or Treat?

  The Delivery

  Copper brown leaves gently tumbled along the gutter in the icy breeze. On the path beside the road, Amy Evans overtook the leaves, her thick black coat pulled tightly around her with one arm in an attempt to keep out the cold, overcast day.

  As much as she loved living in Ostwald, when the weather began to change it always became bitterly cold. Having lived here her whole life she would have hoped that after twenty four years she would have acclimatised better. Apparently not, she thought as she pulled her coat tighter.

  Pushing aside several locks of sleek chestnut hair she glanced up as a car shot past. Why of all days did it have to be today that her car had decided not to start? It couldn’t have happened on a nice sunny July day could it. It had to be the middle of October. It had to be the day that the buses were running late. It had to be a Friday.

  It had been a bad week as it was without today. Performance reviews were bad enough on their own, let alone on the day her car had refused to start. After ten minutes of trying to get the car to start she had given up, deciding to run for the bus.

  When she had arrived at the bus stop she was just in time to see it disappear around the corner. For the next half an hour she had waited, shivering, at the bus stop before the next bus arrived.

  The only ray of sunshine on the dreary October day had been Kaylee, an upbeat work colleague of Amy’s. At lunch time she had gone out to buy a box of doughnuts when she saw the look on Amy’s face. The remains of the box of doughnuts were currently tucked under Amy’s arm.

  Muttering under her breath Amy adjusted the box as she rummaged for her keys in her coat pocket. Giving her car a dirty look as she passed, she cut across the wet lawn, climbing the three steps outside the white clapboard house.

  Slamming the door shut behind her she leant back against it, closing her eyes as she sighed in relief. At last the week was over.

  Kicking off her shoes she wandered in to the kitchen, shrugging off her coat to reveal a tight fitting royal blue shirt as she went. Coupled with the black skinny jeans it hadn’t offered much protection from the cold. Part of her hoped that she would see Tom waiting for her, a cup of hot coffee at the ready.

  The kitchen was empty, as she had expected. Draping her coat over the back of one of the chairs that sat by the central work surface she looked around. Tom had been gone over a week now. Despite all the time that had passed, his key still lay on the work surface as if he had just come home and left it there.

  The house had felt so empty since he had left. In truth it had still been too big for just the two of them when he had been there.

  All the way through her childhood she had thought this house had looked incredible. When her father had died five years ago he had left a huge sum of money to be split between Amy and her sister Rachel. Less than a month later this house had been placed on the market. She had taken it as a sign and jumped at the chance to buy it.

  Putting the doughnuts down on the side she opened the fridge, picking up an almost full bottle of white wine that she had put in there the night before. Pulling a glass out of the cupboard beside her she uncorked the bottle, filling the glass a little more generously than she would have normally.

  She wasn’t going anywhere tonight, she decided. Right now all she wanted to do was take a hot shower and go to bed. The sooner this week was over the better. A hot shower seemed like a good idea, she thought as she shivered slightly. The tiled floor always made the kitchen cold in the winter.

  Leaving the half empty glass of wine on the side in the kitchen, Amy crossed the hallway, heading up the narrow wooden staircase. At the top she crossed the landing, pushing open the door of her bedroom. Glancing at the unmade bed she pulled the towel off the rail by the door, running the soft baby blue material between her fingers. The house felt so empty with just her there. It would take time to get used to, she guessed. It wasn’t like she had never lived in the house alone before.

  For the best part of four years she had lived on her own. Now, after having had Tom live with her for six months, she couldn’t remember what it had been like before.

  Tom, she wondered, what would he be doing now? As frosty as their relationship had become at the end she couldn’t help missing him. No, that was wrong, she didn’t miss him. She missed the idea of someone being there when she came home after a long day. Slinging the towel over her shoulder she closed the bedroom door again. She would just have to make do by herself for now.

  Turning on the bathroom light she was momentarily dazed as the light hit the porcelain white tiles. Everything in the bathroom was exactly the same white, it was one of the few things she didn’t like about the house. Despite mentioning that she would get it refitted to her sister on several occasions she had never got around to it.

  Hanging the towel over the warm radiator she ran a hand through her hair. The underfloor heating felt so much better than the cold kitchen tiles. Closing her eyes she relished the feeling as the warmth spread through her toes.

  Tiredly she slipped her clothes off, stepping into the shower. With a click she turned on the shower, sighing as a wave of warm water crashed over her, driving the cold away.

  Running her fingers through her wet hair she tried to unknot several strands. According to Kaylee running her hand through her hair was a habit she had picked up since Tom had left.

  There she was again, thinking about Tom. She couldn’t work out why she was dwelling on it so much. In truth Amy had been happy when he had left. Their relationship had never been that close. For some reason he had always tried to keep her at arm’s length when anything even got close to being physical. She had kept telling herself that it would come but it never did.

  Running a hand down her side she thought about all the times he had pushed her away. Was it her, she had wondered. She had never let on about it bothering her. In the end she had settled for waiting for him to fall asleep before sneaking off somewhere quiet.

  The house was all quiet now, Amy thought as her fingertips glided across her hip. For once she had all the time in the world. It wasn’t like Tom had ever done much for her anyway.

  Banishing the thoughts of her ex-boyfriend, her hand dipped lower. For the first time that day the shivers that spread through her weren’t from the bitterly cold weather outside. Instead she chose to think about those quite minutes she had been able to steal over the last few months while Tom had been sleeping.

  As a soft moan escaped her lips she heard another sound in the house. There was a bell ringing. “Damn it!” she sighed in frustration, her wandering hand hitting the tiled wall harder than she had planned.

  Slapping the off button on the shower she climbed out, grabbing her towel. Wrapping it around her she rushed out of the bathroom and down the stairs, trying to make sure she had covered herself completely as she went.

  Just as she reached the bottom of the stairs the doorbell rang again.

  “I’m coming!” she called loudly as she ran towards the door. “I might have been if you hadn’t turned up,” she added under her breath.

  Yanking open the door she stopped dead. Barely a couple of inches from the end of her nose was a box that was almost six inches taller than her.

  “I’m sorry to disturb you,”
a man said as he appeared beside the box. He was almost as tall as the box, his messy black hair sticking out in all different directions. “Sorry,” he apologised again as he looked at Amy standing in the doorway with wet hair and nothing but a towel on. He looked like a deer caught in the headlights.

  “Hi,” she replied quietly as she took in the fitted light blue button down shirt he was wearing. “Can I help you?”

  “I’ve got this package for Mr Frank Sullivan. There wasn’t anyone in when I called and I was wondering if you could take it for me?” he asked as he tried to stop his eyes wandering while Amy shivered in the cold. “I really would appreciate not having to carry it all the way down the road again.”

  Looking past him she could just make out the outline of a van parked half way down the road in the darkness. “Yeah. Sure.” Amy said, glancing around for somewhere to put it. “It isn’t exactly the smallest package is it?”

  “Not the lightest either,” he laughed, his blue eyes lighting up with relief when she agreed. “Where do you want it?”

  “I don’t know,” she hesitated as she looked around again. “Anywhere in here will do I guess.”

  She wouldn’t mind showing him where she wanted it, she thought as she caught a glimpse of his toned stomach when his shirt caught on the box as he picked it up. Awkwardly he shuffled through the door with the box.

  “Hold on a second,” she said quickly as she bent down to pick up the shoes she had been wearing earlier, moving them out the way. Aware that his eyes were on her back she let the towel slide slightly further up than she would normally have let it.

  In truth moving the shoes had made less room than there had been before but he didn’t really care. Glancing up at him she saw him look away quickly, a tinge of colour appearing in his cheeks.

  Straightening up she helped him slide the box in to the little space she had made. “Is that alright?” he asked when her hand accidently brushed against his.

  “Yeah, that’s good,” Amy replied, leaving her hand there a little longer than normal. “Are you new here, I don’t think I’ve seen you around before?”

  “Fairly new,” he said as he stepped back from the box, preferring to look at it rather than Amy. “I moved here a couple of months back to be closer to my girlfriend,” he added.

  Damn, Amy cursed in her head. No wonder he had been so intent on avoiding eye contact with her. “She must be a lucky girl,” Amy said grudgingly.

  “Who knows,” he sighed. “She left me for one of my friends a few weeks ago.”

  Taken aback Amy blinked. “I’m sorry,” she said in a mortified whisper. “I didn’t mean to…”

  “It’s fine,” he tried to assure her. “It’s my fault, I didn’t need to mention it. It’s just been one of those days.”

  “I know how you feel,” Amy smiled. “I’ve been having one of those weeks.”

  “At least your boyfriend wouldn’t leave you for someone else,” he said sweetly as he produced a clipboard from behind the box. “Anyway, thanks for taking that package for me. If you could just sign this. I owe you one.”

  “No, he just decided to leave all of a sudden,” Amy replied before she could stop herself as she signed the form. Why was she telling a delivery man her problems?

  “Well he must be losing out if he let someone like you go. Thanks,” he smiled as he checked the clipboard. “Amy.”

  “Thanks. No problem,” she replied as she lifted the name tag on his shirt with one finger. “Danny.”

  “Right, I’ll let you get back to your evening,” he said as he turned away from her.

  “Actually, you know that one you owe me?” she asked on impulse. “I’ve just opened a bottle of wine, why don’t you come have a drink? I don’t know if I can sit at home on a Friday night and drink alone. It would be a bit depressing. If you know, you haven’t got any other plans?” she asked hopefully.

  “Well, now that I’m done I was going to go home, order a pizza and have a beer while I watched whatever rubbish they have on telly,” Danny replied slowly as he turned to her. “I guess I could put that on hold for one drink.”

  Smiling, Amy turned towards the kitchen. “Come on, I’ll find you a glass.”

  Slipping into the kitchen Amy couldn’t help but smile. All the thoughts she had been having about Tom had disappeared when Danny had turned up. Looking up she saw Danny standing in the doorway nervously.

  “You can come in you know. You don’t have to stand in the doorway, I don’t bite,” she joked. “Unless you’re in to that?”

  Eventually he cracked a smile as he took another couple of steps in to the kitchen, looking around as he did so. “This is a really nice place. Much nicer than the tiny flat I’m renting at the moment.”

  “I grew up looking at it every time I went past it while I was walking to school,” Amy explained as she filled Danny’s glass and topped up her own. Sliding the glass across the surface towards him she put the cork back in the bottle. “It does feel a bit empty when you’re on your own here though. Doughnut?”

  Taking one of the doughnuts from the box Amy was offering him, he thanked her after taking a sip of the wine. “The lounge is this way,” Amy said as she led him out of the kitchen and down the hallway.

  Opening the door they were met by the large lounge, a huge white fur rug covering most of the wooden panel floor. In silence they walked over to the cream coloured leather sofa, the fur rug tickling the bottoms of Amy’s bare feet.

  “So have you been doing deliveries long?” Amy asked as she bit in to a jam doughnut she had picked out, tossing the box on to the mahogany coffee table.

  “Just a couple of months,” Danny replied. “Just since I moved to Ostwald.”

  “Damn,” Amy muttered as a lump of jam fell out of the doughnut, landing on the top of the towel.

  Laughing, Danny watched as she ran her finger along the towel, scooping up most of the jam. Catching his eye briefly she closed her eyes, sucking the jam off the tip of her finger slowly.

  When she opened her eyes again she found him watching her intently. Resisting the urge to laugh at the effect it was having on him she smiled innocently.

  Somewhere outside the crack of thunder broke Danny’s gaze. Flushing he looked away, his eyes settling on the coffee table. “I should probably get going,” he muttered as he stood up. “I’ve taken up enough of your time as it is.”

  Before he could take more than a couple of steps the house was filled with the sound of torrential rain hitting the windows. Standing up as well Amy reached for his arm. “Come on, you can’t go out in that, you’ll get drowned. Why don’t you just wait it out?”

  “I don’t know if I should,” he said reluctantly.

  “I’m sorry about the jam thing,” she lied. “I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable, it’s just…”

  “Just what?” Danny asked curiously.

  “It’s nothing,” Amy replied as she felt the heat rising in her face. “I’m sorry, it just feels like it’s been a long time since anyone else has been here. It gets a bit lonely.”

  “I guess I could wait the storm out,” Danny said reluctantly as he went to sit down again. Just before he did she saw a glint of something silver on the seat.

  “Thanks,” Amy smiled meekly. “I hope I haven’t ruined your Friday night.”

  “Of course not,” he said as he shuffled in his seat, reaching for something that he had sat on. Producing the silver square he looked at it for a second. “Why is this on the sofa?” he asked as he handed it to her.

  Mortified, she took the condom wrapper from him. Taking a drink from her glass she tried to hide her face, which she was sure had gone bright red already, for as long as possible.

  “I’m sorry, I don’t know how long that’s been there,” she said quickly. “My boyfriend…ex-boyfriend. He wasn’t exactly good at spotting signs. I might have put them around the house hoping that he would get the hint.”

  “Did he?” Danny asked, watching her over his
glass.

  “No,” Amy laughed. “It’s weird, I thought guys were always only after one thing. It’s like I got landed with the one guy that wasn’t.”

  “Well I’m sure he missed out,” Danny said sweetly.

  “You’re sweet, Danny,” Amy whispered as she leant forwards slightly. Gently she kissed him, tasting the sugar from the doughnut on his lips. For a moment he didn’t respond. Shuffling closer she felt his hand on the small of the back as he kissed her back.

  Suddenly his lips disappeared from hers, the hand he had placed on her back disappearing as well. “I’m sorry,” he said quickly. “I shouldn’t be doing this while I’m working.”

  “I thought you were finished for the day? Or have you got a delivery for me?” Amy asked coyly as she twiddled a strand of hair round her finger.

  “I have finished but you know…” he began, trailing off when she leant forwards again and began undoing the buttons on his shirt. Taking the little resistance as encouragement she pushed the shirt off the back of his shoulders as he slid his arms out of the sleeves.

  “See, no one would know now,” she said quietly as she threw his shirt on the coffee table, her eyes not leaving his toned chest for a second. Without waiting for a reply her lips found their way to his again.

  Shuffling closer, she gently pushed him against the back of the sofa as she deepened the kiss. She felt him shiver as she ran her hand across his chest slowly. When he didn’t pull away she flicked her tongue across him lips. In an instant he granted her access, his tongue flicking at hers playfully.

  Deep inside her, Amy felt the embers of a fire roar into life. On the rare occasion that Tom had actually managed to take the hint it had always stayed frosty. Now she realised how little there had been between them. Had he been reluctant because he had seen that or had it been the other way around?

  She was dragged from her thoughts when Danny’s warm hand appeared on her thigh, pushing tentatively at the bottom of the towel. A little moan escaped her lips as she pulled away slightly. For a moment he froze. The poor guy probably thought he had done something wrong, she thought.

  Taking pity on him, she decided to put him out of his misery. Leaning against him heavily she pulled her leg out from underneath herself. Settling herself on his lap gently she watched his eyes open slowly.