Love Me

by Olivia Cunning

  “Maybe I should crawl under the house and check the foundation more closely.”

  “Will any amount of damage stop you from buying the place?” Owen asked.

  Chad considered Owen’s question and weighed it from several angles before shaking his head. “Nope. This house is mine. I’m even going to write the current owners a letter about how their home will help a disabled vet regain a normal life.”

  Owen sucked air through his teeth. “Pulling out the big guns, huh?”

  “I play to win,” Chad said.

  Owen pounded him on the shoulder. “You always have.”

  The realtor advised him on how much to offer, and Chad low-balled it. He wasn’t sure if the people were desperate to sell the place, if they knew they were lucky to get any offer at all with all the foundation work the house might or might not need, or if Chad’s short but heartfelt personal note had softened them up, but within hours they accepted his offer without haggling. It also helped that Owen had loaned him enough money that he could make a full cash offer without involving bankers or mortgage companies.

  “Should I be worried that they jumped on that offer?” Chad asked the realtor a few days later at the closing table.

  “You should be ecstatic.” She patted his hand. “It was the letter that did the trick. They saw that story about you in the local paper and know your parents and brother live nearby.”

  “So it was a pity deal,” Chad said, but then he shrugged. “Where do I sign?”

  “I think it was more of a gratitude deal.”

  She opened a folder and pulled out a crayon drawing of a United States flag with a family of four stick figures in line and a green person in a crooked wheelchair holding the little boy’s hand. “Thank you for your service, Sergeant Mitchell” was written in bold black crayon across the bottom of the page.

  “Have you ever seen a grown Marine cry?” he asked the realtor who was blinking back her own flood of tears.

  “Just once,” she said, wiping an eye on the back of her hand.

  He carefully folded the drawing and tucked it into the pocket of the suit jacket Lindsey had talked him into wearing for the occasion. He still hadn’t shown her inside the house, but doubted he’d be able to keep her away for long now that it was his. He was getting around so well with his crutches that she had a hard time keeping up with him, so maybe he could sneak inside, lock the door, and pretend he wasn’t home. He knew he’d be crushed if she hated the place even after he fixed it up.

  “Read and initial here,” the realtor said, pointing to a spot marked with a sticky arrow. “And here.”

  Less than half an hour later, Chad became a home owner. And he owed his brother a hell of a lot of money. The pipsqueak knew better than to call the house a gift. Chad really did understand why Lindsey kept that ridiculous I Owe You list. For certain people, it was harder to accept charity than to offer it. He happened to be one of those people too.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Lindsey stared out Owen’s back door, knowing she was going to have to say good-bye to Chad in a few minutes, and that she needed a moment to pull herself together so he wouldn’t realize how much she depended on him being near. Tonight, Chad would be staying at his new house for the first time, and the thought of sleeping a single night without him against her was already eating at her. It wasn’t as if she’d never see him again, but it felt like a step in that direction. A step in the wrong direction.

  Although she felt some of bitterness toward the ugly house two blocks down for stealing Chad from her, she was dying to see the inside. She’d even walked past it a few times since he’d bought it a week ago, and honestly, the place looked as terrible as the first time she’d seen it. And now it was accessorized with a huge dumpster rapidly filling with bits of wood and drywall and used toilets. She couldn’t help but wonder if he was afraid that she’d fall through termite-infested floors or get some horrible lung infection from whatever mold grew in the walls or be carried off by roaches and rats, but knowing him as she now did, he was probably just afraid that she’d criticize his impulsive decision to buy the place. Based on the listing pictures she’d peeked at online, the inside was just as bad as the outside, but it didn’t matter. She wished he understood that she’d never do anything to bring him down and was sorry she’d laughed herself silly when he’d first told her he wanted to buy the place.

  He’d been so busy with the house remodel and physical therapy the past week that she hadn’t seen him much outside the bed they habitually shared. She missed him terribly and kept offering to help him fix up his house. Not because she had any skills—and with less than six weeks until the baby was due, she had no business breathing in paint fumes and standing on ladders—but because sleeping beside him just wasn’t enough. She was used to him being around. She wanted him to stick around. But she knew he had to make a life for himself. When he moved into his new place, she’d miss sleeping curled into his side even more than she’d miss the sex.

  “I guess I’ll see you around,” Chad said, which startled her to turn from the backdoor.

  His packed bag sat on his lap, and she felt like trying to squeeze herself inside as a stowaway so he wouldn’t leave her behind. She hated that he was in the wheelchair again. He’d been using crutches to get around unless he had to carry something—like the bag in his lap that she’d never fit inside. His prosthetic had come in, but his workouts at the gym had strengthened his leg enough that it had to be sent back for fitting adjustments, a development that both delighted and frustrated him.

  When she didn’t answer him and did nothing but stare at him with her heart lodged in her throat, he added, “Don’t look sad, angel. Don’t you think it’s time for me to stay a night in my own place?”

  He could tell she was unhappy, so why didn’t he stay? She’d tried to prepare herself, but nothing could have made their looming separation easier.

  “Yeah, it’s time,” she said, her heart aching at thought of losing him as part of her daily life. And he was moving less than two blocks away.

  “In a few days, I’ll bring you over to see the house,” he said, “but I want you to promise to stay away until I get some more things taken care of.”

  “Like the roach infestation?”

  He scowled. “There is no roach infestation.”

  “Termites?”

  “A few, but they’ve already been exterminated. I still have those sewer alligators to deal with, though, so you have to promise to keep your distance.”

  “I’ll miss you,” she blurted. She bit her lip before anything else slipped out. She wasn’t supposed to let herself get attached to him. She knew that.

  “I thought maybe you’d like to go out to dinner with me tonight.”

  “Like a date?”

  He grinned. “You can call it that if you want, or you could call it a meal.”

  “Is Owen coming?”

  Chad licked his lips. “Do you want him to come?”

  Not really. She’d love to go on a date with Chad, and only Chad, but she hated to leave Owen out. The brothers were close, and it was good to see them together. She had the feeling that Owen had replaced Kellen’s missing friendship with his brother’s, but it wasn’t her business. She didn’t want to come between the two of them as she feared she’d been the wedge that had driven the friends apart. The whole band had imploded almost the moment she’d shown up.

  “Do you want him to come?” she asked.

  “Not especially,” he said.

  “Me neither,” she admitted. She hoped Owen didn’t get his feelings hurt by being left out. Caitlyn had left the state for a business meeting, and he’d been more than a little needy for the past few days. Normally he’d spend his free time with Kellen, but since he couldn’t do that, he’d been monopolizing Chad’s time and even Lindsey’s.

  “Then it’s a date,” Chad said. He wheeled himself to the back door. “I’ll pick you up at seven.”

  “Do you want me to drive?” H
er car was in the shop, and Owen’s still had that troublesome manual transmission.

  “Nope. I want to pick you up for our date at seven. I’ll see you then.”

  When he left, she didn’t feel as depressed as she’d anticipated. She was going to see him again in less than twelve hours.

  “A date,” she said, smiling broadly. She hated to get her hopes up, but maybe he liked her as something more than the body that warmed his bed and the hands that changed his bandages. Maybe someday he might even love her. She couldn’t think of anything she wanted more than his love.

  By the time seven rolled around, Lindsey was a nervous wreck. She couldn’t explain why, exactly. Maybe it was because her relationship with Chad was evolving no matter how slowly and she liked what they already had. What if dating ruined everything? She knew she was being silly, but she’d never had much luck in the dating arena. It seemed every time she got serious about a guy, he bailed.

  When the doorbell rang a few minutes before seven, she assumed it was a delivery because Chad always used the ramp at the back door. She was in the bathroom upstairs reapplying her lipstick for the fifth time, so she yelled to Owen, “Can you get that?”

  A minute later Owen called up the stairs, “Your date is here.”

  Why had Chad come to the front door and rung the bell? He was family and was welcome to come right in whenever he pleased. She gave her hair one last smooth-over with her hands and skipped down the steps, feeling lighter on her swollen feet than usual. God, she was a barn. Why had Chad even asked her out? He smiled up at her from the bottom of the steps, and he was standing. Using crutches to support himself, but definitely standing. He looked dashing in a button-down shirt—blue, like his eyes—and neatly pressed khaki shorts. When she stopped in front of him, she couldn’t stop herself from stepping up on tiptoe to kiss him.

  “I keep forgetting you’re so tall,” she said.

  “I figured you were tired of looking down at me.”

  “Over me, under me, above me, beside me, I’ll never tire of looking at you.”

  He bent to kiss her, taking his time to draw out the hunger between them. He slowly pulled away, but she circled his neck with one arm and leaned in for another sample. When they parted at last, she smiled at her once perfectly applied lipstick, which was now more on him than her, and rubbed at his pinkened lips with her thumb.

  “Hey, kissy faces, I thought you were going out,” Owen said. “Have pity on the guy whose girlfriend is out of town.”

  Lindsey almost asked him to join them if he was lonely, but caught herself before the invitation slipped out. She definitely didn’t want him to tag along. She hoped their first official date ended early. Not because she and Chad wouldn’t have a good time, but because she already had a burning desire to be alone with him in the privacy of their cozy bed.

  “Why don’t you call Kellen and see if he wants to hang out with you tonight?” Chad asked.

  “He’s in Prague,” Owen said with a scowl. “Which means he’s far away from me, thank God.”

  “You’d be happier if you’d just forgive him for whatever he did and make up,” Chad said.

  So Chad didn’t know why Owen was so angry with Kellen either. She’d figured that Owen shared every secret with his brother and now wondered if Owen had even told Caitlyn.

  “Fuck that.”

  “Then go play your bass,” Chad suggested. “That used to always cheer you up.”

  “It reminds me of Kellen,” he said. “I’d rather rip the cabinets out of your kitchen and take a sledgehammer to a wall or two.”

  “Be my guest,” Chad said, “but remember: no open concept.”

  “You made your plans perfectly clear.”

  To Owen perhaps, but to Lindsey he’d been entirely tight-lipped about what was going on with the house.

  “You’re tearing out the kitchen?” Lindsey said.

  “Nope,” Chad said. “Owen is. Are you ready? Our reservations are at seven thirty.”

  “We needed reservations?” she said. “Am I underdressed?”

  She’d donned her only dress for the occasion—an ankle-length turquoise shift with beadwork along the edge of the round neckline. She didn’t have many clothes. Everything she’d owned before she’d lost her job was now woefully too small. She’d lucked into some fantastic buys, including the dress she was wearing, at a new-mom’s yard sale, but the pieces weren’t really her style. She preferred shorter hem lengths and pastels.

  “You look amazing,” Chad said. “And it’s not an overly fancy place, just popular. I wanted to make sure we got a table and were seated as soon as we arrived.”

  So they weren’t standing around waiting, she presumed. Did he feel comfortable going to a crowded restaurant? She was honored to be his date, and happy to show him off to the world, but she knew he still had issues with the inevitable staring.

  “I’m ready if you are,” she said, hoping he’d tell her if he wasn’t up for a public appearance. She’d be just as happy to stay home and order a pizza as long as he stayed to share it with her.

  “As ready as I’ll ever be.” He spun toward the front door, using his crutches to maneuver in that direction. She had to admit that she preferred the crutches over the wheelchair too. Not because the chair bothered her—he seemed safer in the chair—but because he seemed so much happier and more confident when he was standing. And she also got a nice view of his perfect ass as she followed him from the house.

  He paused to hold the door for her, and she pulled her eyes up to meet his.

  “Are you checking me out?” Chad asked.

  “Guilty.”

  He laughed. “I’m glad I didn’t wear the baggy shorts then.”

  “Me too.”

  He struggled a bit going down the porch steps on his crutches, and she had to ball both hands into fists to keep from helping him. She knew that offering assistance—which he never wanted—would annoy him and start their evening off on the wrong note.

  “Stairs,” he muttered under his breath. “The bane of my existence.”

  “Yet you conquered them.”

  “Try not to sound so proud,” he said, maneuvering toward the black sedan parked in Owen’s driveway.

  “I am proud,” she said. “You amaze me.”

  “Don’t be too amazed. Sitting around feeling sorry for myself isn’t my style.”

  He was far better at picking himself up and moving forward than she was. And since he’d come into her life, she’d found a new level of confidence in herself. If Chad could get through his struggles, then she could overcome her much smaller problems.

  “Nice car,” she said. “Does it belong to your parents?”

  He gave her a look that made her question her sanity.

  “I saw it parked in their garage,” she explained why she’d thought it belonged to his folks.

  “They were storing it for me while I was deployed.”

  “Well, it’s nice.” She examined the sleek lines and the Starfleet-like emblem on the trunk. Beam me up, Scotty. “An Acura, right?” she asked as she followed him around to the passenger side.

  “Yep, it’s a TLX.”

  She’d always wondered why Acuras had letters instead of real names. It made them seem cold and lacking personality. She didn’t know a TLX from a BLT, but she did know a nice car when she saw one.

  He opened the door for her, and she was greeted by a red-leather interior that made her toes curl. “Sexy,” she said, a little breathless. Compared to her twenty-year-old Toyota Celica, this thing was a Lamborghini.

  He smirked at her. “Me or the car?”

  She ran a hand along his jaw and stole a kiss. “Both.”

  “What can I say? I’m a total babe magnet.”

  There was no denying that. And he was dating her. Sleeping with her. Maybe someday he’d love her. He was so much more to her than a good lay and a thoughtful friend, but she was too damn afraid of losing him like she’d lost everyone else she cared about
to tell him how she felt.

  She slipped into the passenger seat, wondering exactly how much bigger her belly would get in the next six weeks. Soon she wouldn’t have a lap at all, and then where would Chad put his head when she stroked his hair to help him sleep?

  “You look great in my car, angel,” he said before he shut the door.

  She tried not to grin too stupidly at his flattery. It was bad enough that he made her palms sweat and her heart throb. She could hide those things. The goofy grin was a sure sign that she was completely smitten. He was just getting over a particularly cruel breakup. Hard to believe Josie had dumped him only a month ago. Even harder to believe he’d only been in Lindsey’s life for a month. She felt like she’d known him since before she’d taken her first breath. Still, Chad probably wouldn’t appreciate his rebound pussy falling for him, and no matter how good he was to her, she knew it was unlikely that he’d get truly serious about the first woman he’d been with after such a terrible breakup. He and Josie had been together almost ten years, even if they hadn’t touched each other for more than a few days in the last six.

  Lindsey took a deep breath and tried to locate her poker face before he climbed behind the wheel. After he opened the driver’s side door, he stuck his crutches in the back and slipped into the car beside her. She couldn’t help but notice his grin was almost as goofy as the one she sported whenever he was near and that his car had an automatic transmission.

  “I’m glad I got up the nerve to ask you out,” he said, using both hands to shift himself into a more comfortable position in his seat.

  The nerve to ask her out? The man had more nerve than an entire bomb squad, and it wasn’t like she had dozens of men begging for dates.

  “I’m glad too,” she said. “Why did you wait until now to start driving your car again?”

  “My parents put it in the shop,” he said. “To have the pedals adjusted to the left. Just got it back today.”

  “So you can drive it with your left foot!” She wasn’t sure why that was such an amazing revelation for her. “Your parents are so great.”