Releasing Raven [Braden Security 4] (Siren Publishing Classic)

by Dale Cadeau

  She didn’t realize that she had been starved for company until she found herself hanging on his every word. Maybe it was the man himself that made her think off all the things that she was missing. Every time he looked at her with those brown eyes of his, she melted a little bit, and his voice seemed to send shivers down to places she had thought dead. By the end of the evening, Brad was lucky that she was in a chair, because she might just have jumped him and had her way with him. Not that he would accept her offer, he would probably turn her down gently. A man like Brad probably had woman offering, anytime he felt the urge. Why would he want a broken-down woman like her? Oh, she knew her own worth, made a good living, and paid her bills. But she knew she couldn’t compete with women that could jump on the back of his motorcycle or go dancing with him, stuff others took for grant. She would give anything to be able to do any of it again, without thought.

  Leaving the steaks on the counter, she carried the vegetables over to the table and started to cut them up. Just as she was grabbing her grab stick to reach a bowl out of the top cupboard, the doorbell rang. Maybe that was Brad? Who was she fooling, her luck couldn’t be that good. Still holding the stick across her lap, she wheeled herself to the door and opened it,

  “Yes, what can I do for you?” She had forgotten to turn on the outside light, so she knew someone was on the step, but couldn’t make out who.

  A broad arm reached in through the door and flipped the light switch on. Brad came into view and Raven couldn’t help a big smile coming to her face. She looked him up and down, so glad that he had come over. Finally her eyes landed on his face and she made out his scowl, and that his eyes were glaring at her. Raven had never seen Brad this mad before and it made her wheel a bit back from the door.

  “What’s wrong?”

  Brad followed her inside the house and slammed the door behind him “You have to ask, what’s wrong? Are you crazy? You just opened the door, without asking who was there and didn’t even turn on the light, so you could see? I could have been anyone, and you could be robbed, raped, or dead with your thoughtlessness.” Brad’s face was red as he unleashed his worry about her safety.

  Raven was also starting to see red as she listened to him berate her. Who did he think he was coming in and telling her how stupid she was? She had looked after herself for years. Maybe she was careless this time, but her thoughts had been elsewhere when she answered the door. Wheeling her chair back from Brad, she looked him directly in the eye.

  “Well why don’t you come in and tell me what’s really on you mind? Not that I’m going to listen.”

  Turning her chair, she headed into the kitchen, yelling over her shoulder. “No, I take that back. Get out and lock the door behind you.” Raven was almost spitting the words out as she picked up the knife from the table and almost cut her finger as she tried to slice the cucumber with shaking hand. Putting the knife down, she laid her head down on the table, on top of her folded hands. She felt her whole body start to shake and tears running through her fingers and wetting the table beneath her. Raven stayed like that for a few minutes, feeling sorry for herself, when she remembered that she hadn’t heard the front door close behind Brad.

  Wiping her eyes with her fingers, she turned and looked back to the kitchen entrance. Standing there, leaning back against the door frame with his feet crossed and his arm crossed over his chest, stood Brad. He didn’t look any happier than a few minutes ago at the door.

  Hiding her face back in her hands, she told him, “I thought I told you to get out. You don’t have to stay and feel sorry for me. I know you’re right. I didn’t take the precautions that I should have. But I can look after myself. Just leave and lock the door.” Raven took a long breath and felt the tears filling her eyes again.

  Brad straighten from his slouch at the door. He hadn’t meant to make her cry. Maybe he had come down too hard on her, after all they were just starting to be friends. But his instinct was to protect her and if she wasn’t going to do it, he sure was. This lady got under his skin every time he saw her. Tonight he should have stayed home and not come over until the morning, but he wanted to make sure she was safe. He admitted to himself that he also wanted to share his day with her. Tell her about his new truck and how they could go out and about now. Walking to her chair, he crouched down on his knees until he was level with her and reached out a hand and brushed her hair from her face. She still had her head buried, but he could hear her quiet sobs. Reaching an arm around her, he gently lifted her shoulders until she was seated properly back up in the chair. She left her hands on the table and continued to look down at them, but she stopped crying. When he knew she was not going to move, he took one of his hands and grasped her chin, turning her face toward his. Her blue eyes swimming in tears stabbed at him.

  “I’m sorry,” Brad said as he wiped her tear-stained face. It just about broke his heart, to see her look so discouraged and down. That was the last thing he wanted to do to her. He knew, from the little he had got to know, that she was a proud and strong woman. She didn’t let the wheelchair hold her back or define her and Brad admired her for that.

  “You’re not mad at me?” Raven asked with a hiccup.

  “Oh, I’m mad at you, but I’m also sorry that I made you cry. It just hit me that anyone could have been on the other side of the door and you’re all alone here. Even though I live across the street, I wouldn’t have heard anything and been able to help you.”

  Raven moved her chin from his hand and took over wiping her face with a tea towel that was on the back of the chair beside her. She tucked her hair behind her ears and moved her chair back, which made Brad get up off his knees and stand. When Raven was far enough away to think, without Brad’s unique smell getting to her, she cleared her throat and looked up at him. Brad was standing with one of his hands grasping the back of a kitchen chair. God, he made her so mixed up, he made her so mad, but then he was so gentle and he did apologize to her.

  “Well thanks for being so direct. But I don’t want you to think you have to look after me. We just met the other day. I have been looking after myself with Mary’s help for years.”

  “Are you done?” Brad asked a bit impatiently, as she stopped and took a breath.

  “Yes, I don’t have anything else to say. Just that I don’t want to be anyone’s burden.”

  “Okay I understand, you don’t want to be a burden, and you can look after yourself most of the time with a little help. I just want to be one of the people that you come to when you need something. And it’s not because I think I have to look after you, I want to. I want to get to know you better. I want to see were this leads us. I will admit that I was attracted to you from the first time I saw you. That makes me want to protect you. That’s just built into my DNA. Anyone I care about, I want to make sure that they are safe. So maybe I did come on a bit strong at the door, but with my job, my brain just naturally jumped to the worse cases scenarios. In the army, we always had to be prepared for anything popping up. It scared me, when you opened the door without checking who was there, and not turning the light on to see clearly who it was. But I didn’t mean to jump on you and make you cry.”

  Brad took a deep breath and calmed himself. Walking over, he grabbed the arms of her wheelchair before she could move back again. Bending over, he looked at Raven, still looking lost, sitting in her chair, “Why don’t we start over, you promise to be more careful and I tell you why I came over here.”

  Raven put one of her hands over his on the chair arm and gave it a squeeze, “Okay, I’d like that. I promise to be more careful. Let me go and I can make us supper, while you tell me why you came over to see me. I saw you come home tonight and noticed the shiny new truck parked in your driveway.”

  Brad let the chair go and followed her over to the kitchen table and sat down, as she picked up a knife and started slicing up the vegetables.

  “That’s why I came over. I wanted to tell you about my new truck. I just bought it today. On my way to th
e office this morning I did some thinking. I thought of asking you out, but with only my motorcycle, I can’t do that. I had nothing to take you any place in. So on my way back, I stopped at a dealership and picked up a truck that I think will be big enough for both of us and your wheelchair.”

  “Well that’s really nice of you.” Raven blushed at Brad words, as she watched him pick up a carrot and start to nibble on it. “But you shouldn’t have gone to the expense. I make out with the wheel trans when I want to go someplace. I could have just used it and met you wherever you wanted.”

  Brad stopped chewing on the carrot and reached out with his other hand, putting it atop hers, stopping her movement with the knife, “I don’t think that would be much of a date. My dad taught me that you pick a lady up at the door and bring her back home safely.”

  “Your dad sounds like a great guy.”

  “My dad is the best, he and mom are now retired down in Florida. I don’t see them as much as I should, but they have a great relationship and my mom is my dad’s whole world. I would be asking for my ears to be boxed, if I ever expected a girl to meet me some place.”

  “Well you really haven’t asked me anywhere yet? Don’t you think you should have, before buying the new truck? What if I say no?” Raven pulled her hand away from his and grabbed the bowl and started to put all the cut up vegetables into it.

  “Maybe I was just hoping that you would take pity on a lonely guy and go out to dinner and maybe dancing after. There’s a club that a friend of Clay’s owns. Clay is one of my partners. You’ve probably seen him at my house. Anyway, we could go tomorrow night and I could treat you to supper for a change.”

  Raven backed away from the table, with the bowl of salad on her lap. “I think I might like that, less the dancing.”

  “Oh, I think we should keep the dancing in, after all you went jogging with me. I know you enjoyed yourself, so why not try dancing?” Brad watched as she went to the stove and opened the bottom drawer and pulled out a frying pan.

  “Aren’t you going to barbecue those steaks? I know you have a barbecue out back.” Brad got up and took the pan from Raven and laid it on the top of the stove.

  “That would be great, but it’s dark. Maybe you don’t think I think about my safety, but I do and I try and stay in the house after dark.”

  “I’m glad that you do, and I do believe you watch out. Why don’t you set the table and I’ll go out back and take care of cooking the steaks. That, I can do.” Brad walked over to the sliding doors that led out of the kitchen to her back deck and grabbed the steaks off the counter. Starting up the electric barbecue, it was soon hot and he put the steaks on. As he watched them sizzle on the grill, he thought of how this was so peaceful and nice. Raven’s garden was full of flowers and he could smell their sweet fragrances blending with the cooking meat. He could get used to this. The noise of the sliding doors opening got his attention and he watched Raven wheel out with two beers on her lap.

  “Thought you might like one of these. I don’t drink much, but I will admit that on a hot night, I like to have one. It helps with my frustration from my work. It can get very frustrating, especially when my characters stop communicating with me. They sometimes become mute and don’t speak to me for days.”

  Brad took one of the beers she handed out to him and twisted the cap off and grinned down at her. “They stop talking to you, maybe they don’t have anything to say.”

  Raven grinned up at him as she opened her beer and took a sip. “Are you making fun of me? That’s not very nice. I bet your dad would have something to say about that.”

  “I’m not really making fun of you. To tell you the truth I’m fascinated with people who can out of thin air come up with a story that captures a person’s imagination and takes them along for the ride. I love a good book.” Brad flipped the meat and took a long sip of his beer.

  “You don’t look like the type that would read.” Raven watched Brad as he took a drink and was envious of the bottle on his lips. She wanted to feel those lips on hers, she knew it was crazy to be jealous of a bottle, but Brad just got all her hormones going. If she was older she would think she was having the change of life, with the hot flashes she got every time Brad was near. Laughing at her fancy, she stopped when she noticed Brad giving her a strange look.

  “Are you laughing at me now? Don’t you think that I like to read? In the army, I found it kept me sane when waiting for the next mission.” Brad grabbed the plate and took the cooked steaks off the grill and turned it off. “Why don’t we go inside and eat these before they get cold.”

  Raven turned and made her way back to the kitchen, with Brad following her. The table was all set and Brad put the meat on the platter in the middle of the table.

  Brad walked up behind Raven. He made sure she was comfortable and put the brake on the chair. Taking the chair across from her, he picked up his napkin and placed it on his lap, and reached out to grab the salad bowl.

  “Can I give you some salad?” Brad looked at her holding the bowl, with the tongs in his hand.

  Raven didn’t know whether to be impressed with his manners or mad that he might think she needed help. “You don’t have to serve me. I’m perfectly okay. Or is this another thing your dad taught you?” Raven asked as she placed her napkin on her lap and look a little peeved back at him.

  “Yes, Dad always made sure Mom was first. But I also want to do it for you, no reason other than I want to.”

  “Okay.” Pleased, Raven blushed and looked at her plate.

  After their plates were full, the conversation became smoother and Brad told her about his meeting at the office and buying the truck. Raven told him about her newest book and how it was going. Brad insisted on cleaning the table and putting the leftovers away while Raven made coffee. They took the coffee into the living room and after setting it down on the coffee table, Brad picked Raven out of her chair and sat her on the couch. Brad sat down close and nestled beside her.

  Brad picked up one of her hands, rubbing her knuckles back and forth with his fingers, he found that he liked touching her and even though their thighs touched it wasn’t enough for him. “So where should we go for supper tomorrow—Italian, Chinese?”

  “Sorry, I misspoke earlier. I can’t go tomorrow night. Tomorrow I have my physio, and then my brother usually pays a visit at night.”

  “The same brother that was yelling at you the other day?”

  “Yes, that’s him, he usually isn’t so vocal. I know he only wants the best for me.”

  “Okay, if you say so, maybe I don’t understand why he was yelling. Why don’t you tell me a little about him and your family?”

  “There’s really no family now to talk about. My parents were killed in an auto accident, the same one that left me in this chair. My brother and I are the only ones left. Both of my parents were only children and our grandparents passed a long time ago.”

  “Tell me more about your brother, and I would like to know about the accident. But only if you want to tell me.” Brad released her hand and picked up their coffee cups from the table and handed hers to her.

  “I really don’t like to talk about the accident. It brings a lot of bad memories back, and the doctors try to understand, but they don’t.”

  “What do you mean they don’t understand?”

  “When I woke up after the accident in the hospital, I didn’t remember anything, so they had to tell me about losing my parents. That was traumatic enough, but when they tried to make me move, to make me walk, I found I couldn’t. They told me after extensive tests, that they found nothing major wrong with me, just some bumps and bruises and a broken arm. They told me I had something called conversion disorder and it was my mind stopping me from walking and it would get better in time. So I went through months of therapy and as you can see I’m still in my wheelchair. I really think that they missed something. It can’t be my mind, I think I have a very active one, but a stable one also. I’ve been trying to save up, to ha
ve more tests run at a specialized clinic that is known for spinal injuries. It’s taken me years saving, but I’m almost at my goal, if their prices don’t increase.”

  “So you think that the doctors missed something? Why doesn’t your brother help? He seems to be well off. The way he was dressed and the car he drove, they must have cost a few bucks.”

  “I don’t know, maybe I’m just grasping at straws, but I have to make sure. I can’t ask my brother, every cent my brother has or can raise goes into his campaign. He is determined to win a seat on the city council. What you see is a veneer, just what he wants you to see. Everyone thinks that he is well off, but the fact of the matter is that he’s living on credit. That’s what we were fighting about, money. He wants me to move into assisted care and sell the house.”

  “Why does he want you to do that? You seem to get along fine in this house and you have Mary to help you.”

  “The way he sees it, it would be easier. There would only be one monthly amount to pay that would include around-the-clock care. It would give me less worries and he offered to help with managing my money and taking care of any bills. I think the real reason is that he wants to hide me so he doesn’t have to admit that he has a disabled sister. I don’t think that it fits in with his perspective of how he should present himself to the public. If I went into a home, he could say that he was looking after me and getting me the best help. It would gain him sympathy and help toward people seeing his nurturing side, maybe garner him some votes. With me living alone, he said it looks like he has deserted me and not done his part. It hurts his public image, and if I cared for him, I would think of that and not be so stubborn about moving.”

  “Well I think he is an ass.” Brad took her cup and his and put them down on the table then he sat back and put an arm around Raven, holding her tight.