Rescuing Harley: Delta Force Heroes, Book 3

by Susan Stoker

  She cut off her own words when Coach didn’t speak, but merely sat down on the floor in front of her and pulled her into his embrace. It was awkward, they were both too tall to really be sitting on the floor of a small bathroom, but it still felt comforting to Harley.

  Neither said anything for a long moment.

  “We never really talked in-depth about what happened, did we, Harl?” Coach’s words were low and gentle.

  She shook her head, but didn’t speak.

  “I’m sorry. I should’ve asked. It helps to talk about it. The Army has gotten a lot better over the years in having their soldiers talk about shit with a psychiatrist when they get back from deployments. I’ve had my share of sessions, and as much as I hated it at first, I’ve found that it really does help me work through things in my head.”

  “I walked out on your friends,” Harley told him without lifting her head from Coach’s shoulder.

  “They’re fine. I’m sure Rayne is grilling Hollywood on her friend Mary, and why she called Truck instead of her. Hell, I’d like to know that myself, since it’s always seemed as if Mary can’t stand Truck, but I have more important things on my mind at the moment. Tell me, Harl. All of it.”

  Without moving her head, Harley did just that. If nothing else, she supposed Coach had a right to know, as it happened to him too…even if he wasn’t conscious. She didn’t leave anything out. From her thoughts about how beautiful the jump had been at first, how fast they seemed to be falling when she’d seen the plane above their heads, to the moment she flinched away from the shape coming at her head.

  She told him when she realized for the first time that he was unconscious and how, when she’d tried to turn to look at him, she’d flipped them over and had almost put them into a flat spin. Harley even described her despair when she couldn’t reach his hand or the steering loops to help them get to the ground.

  It wasn’t until she told him how she was afraid that he’d break his ankles when he landed that Coach moved.

  He pulled back and took hold of her head in his hands. He leaned in close, and whispered, “I’m amazed by you Harley. You did everything right. Everything.”

  “No, I—”

  “Harley, listen to me,” Coach insisted, not letting her continue. “Yes, you were scared. I would worry about you if you hadn’t been. But you didn’t panic. Even when we were on our backs. You used your head and got us back in the right position. When the AAD fired, you figured out what needed to be done, steered us away from a building, and then even got us landed. I could’ve been hurt more in so many ways, but you did everything right. I’m so sorry that this happened. So fucking sorry. But at the same time, I’m glad. If nothing else, it showed you how tough you are.”

  “I don’t think I want to go skydiving again anytime soon.”

  Coach chuckled softly. “I don’t blame you. And don’t worry, this isn’t like riding a horse. There’s no need to get back on just to prove you can.”

  Harley nodded and looked up at Coach with dry eyes. “I’m okay now. Thanks for making me talk about it. You’re right, I do feel better.”

  “You’re welcome.”

  “I’m ready to go back outside.”

  “We’re leaving.” Coach shifted to the side and stood up, holding his hand down to Harley.

  Without thought, she allowed him to help her to her feet. “But, that’s rude. I need to go back out there and—”

  “I already told them we’d be leaving.”

  “Seriously, Coach. I don’t want them to—”

  “It’s fine. They understand.”

  “Would you quit interrupting me?” Harley groused, putting her free hand on her hip in agitation.

  Coach smiled. “If you quit trying to say things that aren’t true, then I’d quit interrupting you.”

  Harley rolled her eyes. “Please. I’m trying really hard to get better at this social thing. I’d like to say good-bye to your friends.”

  Coach eyed her for a moment, then put his hands on either side of her neck.

  Harley liked the feel of his warm hands on her. She didn’t feel confined or pressured. He was just resting his hands on her body. She closed her eyes and sighed, bringing her own hands up to rest on his forearms.

  “Okay. Not that they would, but I won’t let them, or anyone else, bully you into talking about what happened if you don’t want to.”

  “Thanks. I don’t want to talk about it,” Harley admitted immediately. “At least not to them. I’ll let you tell your friends whatever you want to…later. I’m just going to go out there and thank Fletch and Emily for their hospitality, maybe give Annie a hug if she can tear herself away from her Army men long enough, and tell everyone else it was nice to meet them.”

  “Sounds like a plan.” Coach didn’t pull back or otherwise move.

  “Coach?”

  He sighed. “I’m thinking about when I can see you again.”

  “After today, you still want to?” Harley joked.

  He didn’t even smile. “Oh yeah. Even more than when I picked you up.”

  “You’re strange. Did you know that?” Harley teased, moving her hands up to grasp his wrists. They stood like that for a moment.

  “We all go back on duty next week. We generally get up early and do PT, physical training, then we have time to go home and shower. We work pretty much all day, most days, with some flexibility. There’s a chance we could get deployed at any moment. Sometimes we have a week or so notice, but more often than not we might only get an hour or so.”

  “Okay.”

  “I want to spend time with you. Meet your brother and sister. I’d love to watch you work, and help answer any questions you might have while you’re doing it. I loved playing the video game with you the other night, I’d like to do more of that too. I think with time you’ll get more comfortable with my friends and their girlfriends as well. Bottom line, Harley, is that the thought of dropping you off at your place and not seeing you again for who knows how long, isn’t that appealing to me. I like you. You’re fun to be around. Relaxing. I don’t feel like I have to put on a show with you. You have no idea how refreshing that is.”

  “I do know. I feel it too.”

  Coach leaned down and pressed his lips against hers, lightly, teasing her lips with his tongue, but not deepening the kiss when she opened to him. He pulled back. “Okay, so we’ll talk on the phone. We’ll do dinners together, your place or mine. We’ll text and maybe chat online. If I can figure it out, I’ll hook up my game player to the Internet and we can play together that way. I’m not rushing this.”

  “I can help figure out your game system thing.”

  “Good. But make no mistake, Harley.”

  He paused long enough, that Harley felt the need to ask, “No mistake about what?”

  “I want you. I want to feel you writhing under me as I take you. I can’t wait to see what you’re hiding, not so successfully, under those T-shirts of yours. But this isn’t just a sex thing. I like everything that I’ve seen so far.”

  “I’m not perfect, Coach. Far from it.”

  “I know. Neither am I. I wouldn’t want to be around you so much if you were. Don’t you get it, Harl? The fact that your house is a mess, you eat too fast, tend to leave dishes in the sink, and forget to shower because you’re so into your work…they’re just a few reasons I’m into you. You’re real.”

  “Oh.”

  “Yeah. Oh. After a while, when we’re more comfortable with each other, and we’ve made out a few times, and when we can’t keep our hands off each other for one more minute, we’ll move our relationship to the next level.”

  “I’m a virgin,” Harley blurted out, then immediately closed her eyes in embarrassment and hurried on. “Well, not exactly. There was this guy in college, he was trying to get me off and shoved his fingers inside me, thinking what he was doing was sexy, but it hurt. I accidently kneed him in the balls and that was that. Anyway, he didn’t call me again, and I haven�
�t exactly been feeling the need to jump into bed with anyone else. So I hope you don’t build up what you think is gonna happen in your mind. It’s probably gonna be awkward and I’m gonna suck at it.”

  Coach chuckled and Harley opened her eyes, only to see him even closer than he was before. “It might be awkward. Sex with someone the first time usually is, Harl. But I can promise you, I won’t hurt you. I’m gonna make you feel so good, you won’t feel uncomfortable at all.”

  “I’m so embarrassed I told you all that.”

  “I’m not. I’m glad. I was already going to go slow with you, now I know I just need to make sure you’re really ready for me before I take you.”

  Harley couldn’t look away from Coach’s hazel eyes. She felt as if she was in someone else’s body. This sort of thing didn’t happen to her.

  “Come on, Harley. Enough heavy talk for the bathroom. Let’s go say ‘bye to my friends and get you home.”

  “Yeah, I do need to work some more on my game.”

  Coach smiled and leaned down and kissed her one more time, before enveloping her in a hug. Without a word, he let go, and took hold of her hand. They left the bathroom together and went back onto the porch.

  Harley said her good-byes, got a hug from Annie, just as she wanted to, and she and Coach left, promising to come back again soon.

  After arriving at her townhouse, Coach walked her to her door, smiling as the curtains fluttered in the window next door. Good ol’ Gretel, keeping watch on the neighborhood.

  “Don’t stay up too late. I’ll call you later. Okay?”

  “I’d like that. I’m sorry if I made you leave before you were ready.”

  “It’s fine. I was ready to go. I have a slight headache and I’m gonna go home and take a nap.” He held up a hand to forestall any comments from her. “And before you say anything. It’s not bad. I’ll take a Tylenol or two and sleep for an hour, and be fine.”

  “Call me when you get up.”

  He smiled. “I will. Will you answer?”

  “Of course. I might be engrossed in my code, but I always have my phone nearby just in case Davidson or Montesa calls.”

  “Or me.”

  Harley blushed, but agreed. “Or you now.”

  Coach kissed her one more time, and brushed the back of his hand down her cheek. “We’ll talk soon. Later.”

  “Thanks for taking me to meet your friends, Coach. Even if I was a weirdo.”

  He merely smiled as he stepped away from her. “My pleasure. ‘Bye, Harley.”

  “‘Bye, Coach.”

  She watched as he climbed back into his Highlander and pulled out of the parking lot. Harley closed the door and smiled. It’d been a weird day, but she was pretty sure she and Coach were now dating. She hugged herself. It felt good. Damn good.

  14

  “Hey, Coach.”

  “Harl. Are you about ready?”

  Harley looked up at the clock over her computer. Shit. She meant to get up about thirty minutes ago and change, but as usual, got engrossed in what she was doing.

  “No.” She didn’t try to lie.

  Coach merely laughed. “Yeah, I didn’t think so. It’s okay, our reservations aren’t for another hour. Go get ready. I’ll be there in thirty.”

  Harley smiled. He hadn’t told her he was doing it, but it was obvious he’d started telling her he’d be there thirty minutes before he actually would. He’d call before he came over as his thirty-minute warning. She appreciated it. She’d never be ready if he didn’t prod her to get going before he came over.

  “Okay. I’ll leave the door open for you.”

  “No,” Coach said. “Don’t. It’s not safe. I’ll just knock when I get there. No big deal.”

  “I should give you a key,” Harley mused, more to herself than Coach as she walked toward her bedroom so she could change.

  “As much as I’d love to have unfettered access to you and your place whenever I wanted, I would rather you wait and give me a key once you’re one hundred percent sure of our relationship.”

  Harley sat heavily on the side of her bed. The unmade state not fazing her in the least. “What do you mean?”

  “I mean that I have a feeling you’re waiting for the other shoe to fall,” Coach said matter-of-factly. “There’s a part of you that still believes I’m going to ‘wise up’ and realize I don’t know what I’m doing with you. That I’ll be there one day and gone the next.”

  Harley didn’t say anything. She couldn’t. He was right.

  “Right. So until you’re sure of my feelings for you, I’ll wait. You can give me a key to your place when you completely trust that I’m not fucking around with you. Okay?”

  “I don’t mean to—”

  “I know you don’t. And it’s fine. To tell you the truth, I like it.”

  “You like the fact that there’s a part of me that doubts you really like me as much as you seem to?” Harley was confused.

  He chuckled. “Yeah. It means that when you do finally realize it, I’ll have you heart and soul. You’ll be mine forever.”

  “Um…”

  “I’ve had a key made for you since the barbeque at Fletch’s house a month ago.”

  “What?”

  “Yup. I’ll bring it over tonight. I probably should’ve waited and talked about this face-to-face rather than over the phone, but when you said you’d leave your door unlocked, I couldn’t. So…go get changed. I’ll be there in half an hour and we’ll go meet Davidson and Montesa at the restaurant. We’ll come back to my place and hang out for a while. Yeah?”

  Harley swallowed hard. “Okay.”

  “And don’t worry. I’m not going to do anything crazy in front of your siblings. They’ll like me.”

  “I’m not worried about that.”

  “What are you worried about then?”

  “Gah. You are too perceptive, Coach.”

  He laughed. “What are you worried about, Harl?”

  “That they’ll think you’re too good for me.”

  Coach burst out laughing on the other end of the line. He laughed so hard and so long, Harley got mad. “Coach! It’s not funny.”

  “Oh man, it’s hilarious. Harley, your brother and sister are gonna like me, but there’s no way they’re going to think I’m too good for you. You have it all backwards. They’re gonna start out the night thinking you, their baby sister, is way too good for me. I’m an Army soldier. They’ll probably think I’m out only to get in your pants. Eventually, hopefully by the end of the night, they’ll see that I’m crazy about you. That as much as I want in those delectable pants of yours, that’s not why I’m with you. I’m nowhere in your league, but I’m hoping that my sincerity and genuine interest in you will shine through and they’ll give me their blessing anyway.”

  “I don’t know what to say to that.”

  “That’s because I’m right. Go get dressed. Time’s a ticking. I’ll be there in twenty-five minutes now.”

  “Okay. See you soon.”

  “‘Bye, Harl.”

  Harley clicked off her phone and fell backward on her messy covers.

  Was Coach right? She’d always thought he was too good for her, but now that she thought about it, she could see his point. She’d earned her master’s degree and had a great job that she loved. She had a great family and was happy with her life. Army life wasn’t exactly the most stable, with all the moving around the soldiers had to do. Not to mention the fact of Coach’s mysterious “missions.” He’d been gone once since they’d been seeing each other, and it was only for three days, but it was enough for her to really question what it was he did for the Army. Before she slept with him, she needed to know.

  She sat up and ran her fingers through her hair. Yeah, Montesa and Davidson would be more concerned about Coach and if he was good enough for her. The thought made her grin. She was sure Coach could hold his own against Montesa’s courtroom tactics, but it’d be fun to watch.

  Her brother and sister had be
en pushing her to let them meet Coach for a couple of weeks, ever since they’d figured out that she’d been spending every extra minute with the man. Between their schedules, and hers, this was the first time everyone had been free.

  They were meeting at Bella Sera. It was a high-end Italian restaurant, but not so much so that her siblings would feel uncomfortable. It was a local favorite and Coach figured Montesa and Davidson had most likely been there before. Montesa had wanted to bring John along, but Harley refused. She didn’t want anyone else ganging up against her, or Coach, in their quest to make their relationship work. It was bad enough he had to go head-to-head with her siblings, adding in extra people wasn’t fair right off the bat.

  Standing up, Harley wandered to her closet, knowing just what she wanted to wear. Montesa had bought it for her a while ago, and it wasn’t normally something Harley felt comfortable wearing. But tonight seemed right. It would make a statement to Montesa that she was wearing the dress for the first time…but also to Coach. Hopefully he’d read her message to him loud and clear.

  Harley got dressed and studied herself in the mirror in her bathroom. She felt good. Pretty. She had no desire to dress like this on a regular basis, but she understood a bit more now why women got all dolled up when going out with their boyfriends or husbands. She just hoped Coach would appreciate the effort she’d gone to for him. And make no mistake, it was most definitely for him, and not herself.

  Hearing a knock on her door downstairs, Harley shoved her feet into the two-inch black heels that she’d only worn once. Again, Montesa had urged her to buy them one day, and in a moment of weakness, Harley had given in. They had straps that wound around her ankles, and her freshly painted red toenails peeked out the toes. They weren’t Jimmy Choos or Manolo Blahniks, but for her, they might as well have been.

  She made her way carefully down the stairs, so she didn’t fall flat on her face in the unfamiliar heels, and to the door. Looking through the peephole, Harley saw that it was indeed Coach and opened the door, anticipation at his reaction coursing through her veins.

  “Hey, Coach. For once I’m ready when you get here.”