by Trish Wylie
‘Not like my inbox was overflowing with emails, was it?’ he asked before she could find a place to start.
Jo shook her head. ‘You didn’t want to hear from me.’
‘You’d be surprised the difference an email can make to a Marine in a war zone. I saw guys go for days on the smile they got hearing from folks they barely knew in high school.’ His gaze swept the surrounding area for a place to sit before he laid a large palm against the small of her back to guide her. ‘It’s a reminder of home. Some guys needed that.’
‘Did you?’
‘My problem was never remembering.’ He frowned.
The unspoken ‘it’s trying to forget’ made Jo’s voice soften in response. ‘You’re not a machine, Danny.’
‘There are times it would be a lot easier if I was.’
‘You say the stupidest things sometimes.’ But as they approached an available bench she wondered what she’d have done if she’d thought an email made a difference to him back then. Even if it was from someone he hadn’t liked. ‘If I’d known I’d have written.’ She smiled up at him. ‘You’d have got War & Peace on everyday life in Manhattan.’
‘With daily tips for the fashion-conscious Marine …?’
‘I heard it’s all about the camouflage this season.’
‘I’ll think about letting you write next time I go.’
‘You’re going again?’
‘Not likely to happen soon,’ he said in a tone that suggested he was disappointed. ‘There’s three months left on my papers before I decide whether to re-up.’
‘You’ve already decided, haven’t you?’
‘Once a Marine, always a Marine.’
Jo frowned at how little she liked the idea of him being overseas again. She might not have lost sleep over it last time, but she knew she would now. ‘You’re a cop too. Doesn’t that mean anything?’
‘I’ve been both for a long time.’
‘I know, but it’s like you’re married to the Marines and fooling around with the NYPD on the side.’
‘I don’t fool around,’ he said seriously.
If he thought it was something she needed to hear, it wasn’t necessary. Any relationship she’d heard he had might not have lasted long, but she couldn’t remember there ever being a suggestion he was fooling around. He wasn’t the kind of guy who cheated on a woman. It was part of the Brannigan loyalty and honour code.
‘Kinda feels like you’re more faithful to one than the other,’ she pointed out in relation to his work. ‘Semper Fi, that’s the motto, right?’
‘Ooh-rah,’ he replied in a low rumble, smiling when she rolled her eyes. ‘The Marines are my first love. You never forget that. Being a cop is different. It’s a marriage that was arranged for me before I was born.’
‘You didn’t want to be a cop?’
‘Let’s just say it took a while to find my niche.’
Since she’d always assumed all of the Brannigans had the same calling, Jo was surprised. But if he’d loved it so much, ‘Why did you leave the Marines?’
‘I didn’t.’
‘You switched to the Reserves and came home.’
‘Things change.’
‘Do you regret it?’ she asked as she sat down.
‘Not on the good days,’ he replied.
It seemed a tad ironic to Jo she had accused him of not knowing her when she was discovering so many things she hadn’t known about him. Usually she liked to think she swayed towards giving people the benefit of the doubt. But with Daniel there had always been a wall of distrust; one they built higher and wider every time their paths crossed. She was still wary of him but that was understandable. Trust wasn’t built overnight.
As he turned to hand over the pizza box, she looked into his eyes and saw a hint of shadow. Experiencing an immediate pang of regret, she tried to lighten the mood. ‘I’ve decided I’m giving you a relaxation make-over.’
‘If it involves bubble baths and scented candles you can forget it.’
Curling her fingers, she punched him in the upper arm to even up the score for the sucker punch of his infamous smile. ‘Don’t mock what you haven’t tried.’
Daniel glanced at his arm as she shook her hand. ‘Been wanting to do that for years, haven’t you?’
‘You have no idea.’ Unfortunately, now she knew who would come out of it worse, it wasn’t an option any more.
Reaching out, he captured her hand and ran his thumb over the rise and fall of her knuckles. As he repeated the caress heat rushed up her arm in waves. That part she’d almost gotten used to. What she found harder to handle was the message she could read in his eyes as he did it. At first she’d thought it was her imagination. Then, as it was with everything between them of late, she chalked it up to one of the numerous sexual messages he silently transmitted to her. It had been easier to think of it that way. But in the sunlight—the vivid blue of his eyes bright enough to put the sky to shame—it felt like something more.
I’ll take care of you, it said.
Jo didn’t like it. She didn’t need him to take care of her. She could take care of herself.
Holding her gaze hostage, he did something unexpected and bowed his head to place a kiss on the skin he’d caressed. Jo watched, mesmerized, as his chin lifted and he smiled.
Seriously, where had this Danny been hiding for the last five and a half years?
‘Let me know if you need anywhere else kissed better …’
‘Well, that’s a shame.’ She sighed and reached into the box for her slice of pizza. ‘Opportunities to be gallant are rare in this day and age. And you just blew yours.’
When there was a chuckle of deep laughter, she turned her head to study the effect it had on his face. Mocking amusement she was used to; the glint in his eyes that hinted he knew something she didn’t and his enjoyment was at her expense, she knew all too well. But the way it relaxed some of the tension around his eyes, suggesting he’d experienced a moment of the kind of fun he obviously needed thanks to her?
Well, as it happened, it felt pretty darn good.
She was smiling back at him when her phone rang. Digging in one of the pockets of her skirt to retrieve it, she checked the number and frowned.
Darn it. Not now.
‘Hi, Stu … No, I appreciate it.’ She glanced at Daniel from the corner of her eye. ‘Can you try and keep him there for me? Thanks.’ Pushing the phone back in her pocket, she dropped the pizza into the box and wiped her hand with the napkin. ‘I have to go.’
‘I’m coming with you.’
Yes, she’d thought he might say that. While he could catch her off guard with some things, in others he was as predictable as queues for the Empire State Building. She shook her head, ‘It’s your day off. You’re going to do something fun.’
‘It took two days and a late night for you to free up time in your schedule,’ he pointed out. ‘Your idea of what we did with it may have differed from mine, but the general idea was to spend it together.’
‘I know,’ Jo replied with another pang of regret.
He had been remarkably patient in regard to her schedule versus his shift pattern. Discussing it made her realize the number of times he would have to sacrifice much-needed sleep to see her. For a second it made her resent the intrusion of the present by the past a little more than usual. But he had been right about what he could see in her eyes the night he surprised her in the hall. For one month out of every twelve, she was resigned to doing what she had to do.
Leaning forward, she placed a quick kiss on a clean-shaven cheek before standing up. ‘I promise to make it up to you when I get back.’
‘Nice try.’ He stood up with her. ‘I’ll drive you there. It’ll be quicker.’
Not in Manhattan traffic, it wouldn’t. ‘I know what you’re doing and it’s not that I—’
Taking a step forward, he laid a hand on the wide red belt at her waist, his voice low. ‘Are we headed for an argument?’
‘I don�
��t want us to be,’ Jo confessed.
Avoiding his gaze, she brushed an invisible piece of lint off his jersey with the backs of her fingers. No matter how addictive it had become, she liked being able to touch him. She liked the heat she could feel through his clothes, the solidness of his presence. But since she couldn’t get used to him being there, she lowered her arm.
‘Sooner we go, sooner we can be back,’ he said firmly.
When he took her hand and turned them around, Jo tried to find a way to get out of it. The idea of him taking a deeper step into her old world than he already had sent a chill down her spine. Jack was the key to a door she didn’t want to open.
Behind it was the old Jo, the invisible girl who had been lonely and lost. Despite the need she had for it, Jo knew the risk associated with accepting help. She had watched the effect it had on some of her peers; how well-meaning people with good intentions could begin to make decisions for them until they didn’t have control over their lives any more. With hindsight the new Jo supposed it wasn’t that dissimilar to the battle for independence teenagers fought everywhere. But in the present it felt like a much-needed reminder not to lean on a man like Daniel, even for a moment.
Huge mistake, the little voice repeated.
Something dangerously close to panic crossed her chest as his truck came into sight. Glancing down the street, she saw the sign for the subway station. Looking at his truck again, she frowned at the idea of an argument. The phrase ‘rock and a hard place’ jumped into her head.
‘Danny …’ When they stopped to cross the street, she tried to reclaim her hand. ‘I—’
‘I know you don’t want me to go with you.’ Tightening his fingers, he turned to face her. ‘But if you want me to bend a little from time to time, you have to do a little bending of your own. You know that, don’t you?’
Oh, he was good. Negotiation 101 obviously hadn’t been lost on him during the NYPD training. He knew exactly the tone of deep, rough rumble to use on her, had enough sincerity in his eyes to make her feel she was letting him down if she didn’t make an effort. She frowned at his chest again. If it was something other than Jack she could try to bend, but—
‘Look at me, Jo.’
With a blink, she obeyed.
‘We’re good right now, aren’t we?’
She nodded. They were. It was another part of the reason she didn’t want to take him with her.
‘So we go in, you do whatever you need to do, and then we get to enjoy the rest of our day.’
It sounded so simple when he put it like that.
Nudging the tip of his nose against hers, he angled his head and placed a kiss on the corner of her mouth. ‘I can think of at least a half-dozen fun things we can do when we get back …’
Eyelids growing heavy, Jo smiled as he placed another kiss on the other corner of her mouth. She knew what he was doing but while the rest of the world disappeared around them she could feel her resistance melting away.
‘You have a one-track mind,’ she mumbled as he changed the angle of his head.
‘There’s a reason for that.’
Slanting his mouth over hers, he spent several minutes persuading her to go against her better judgment. She might have issued the challenge after their elevator argument but if she knew how well he could do it …
He lifted his head, long fingers flexed around hers, his alert gaze sweeping over the traffic while she stared at him.
If she could just figure out what it was that hadn’t been there before. What made her see him differently and want him so much the memories of all the times they argued faded into the distance …
‘Let’s go, babe.’
CHAPTER EIGHT
‘The jacket you never wore? The jeans you swore you’d get back into one day? Sometimes you have to be firm about the things you keep and the things you let go.’
JO LEANED across the wooden bar to greet the man in front of the optics with a kiss above his greying beard.
‘Well, aren’t you a picture?’ he said with a smile.
Taking a step back, she placed her hands on either side of her waist and struck a pose. ‘You like?’
‘I do.’
The sound of laughter pulled her gaze to the other side of the room as her hands dropped. ‘How far are we in?’
Daniel noticed the change in her voice; as if it was a question she had asked a hundred times but already knew the answer. He stored the information away with her reaction to the phone call. The change in her then had been immediate too. One minute he was sitting next to bright, full-of-life, sassy, sexy Jo and the next it was like sitting next to a shell. At the time it had felt as if something were stolen from him.
Daniel had resented the hell out of that.
‘Coming up on three hours,’ the man replied.
Jo glanced to her side. ‘Sorry.’ She waved a hand, ‘Daniel, meet Stu. Stu, meet Daniel.’
They shook hands across the bar.
‘First time she’s brought anyone with her in ten years,’ Stu said with a smile. ‘Can I get you anything?’
Daniel shook his head. ‘Designated driver.’
‘Better order something if you’re staying.’ Jo looked across the room again. ‘This could take a while.’
As she walked away, Stu explained, ‘It’s in the timing. She takes him home too early, he finds his way back. If not here, it’s somewhere else.’
Nodding as if he’d already known, he watched her father greet her with an arm around tight, narrow shoulders before making introductions. Immediately Daniel wanted to scoop her up and take her back to where they were before the call came. But he had to treat it as a recon mission. With that in mind he’d let her handle Jack her way, for now.
‘You could try barring him,’ he said dryly.
When he looked at Stu again, he discovered he was being studied with caution. ‘Jo said she’d prefer to get a phone call than spend time searching for him.’
‘It’s good to know she has people who will do that,’ he replied with sincerity.
The older man visibly relaxed. ‘Used to be more of us, but bars change hands over the years.’
When Jo returned, she lifted her chin a very visible inch before looking Daniel in the eye. ‘Is there any point telling you to go home?’
‘No,’ he replied.
‘Figures.’ She flashed another smile at Stu.
‘I’ll take one of your famous coffees if there’s a pot on the go.’
‘Is the designated driver sure he doesn’t want one?’
‘He takes his black.’
‘I’ll bring them over.’
They were sitting in a corner booth when Daniel broached the subject with, ‘How many bar owners have your phone number?’
‘Danny—’
‘It’s just a question.’
‘No, it’s not.’ She sighed heavily. ‘It’s an opening to an argument. Don’t make me regret bringing you here.’
Stu arrived with their coffees. As he watched him return to the bar Daniel lowered his voice. ‘I’m not going to argue with you.’
‘I’m glad to hear it.’
‘But I’m not going to stay silent.’
‘If what you have to say involves a lecture on how to handle Jack you can forget it. I’ve been doing this for a long time. I don’t need your help.’ She reached for her coffee and took a sip.
When she glanced across the bar as she set her cup down, Daniel lifted his hand. Sliding it beneath a curtain of silky hair, he wrapped his fingers around her neck, soothing tense muscles with a firm, circular movement. It took a minute, but eventually her head became heavy against his forefinger.
‘Mmm, that feels good.’
Ignoring the reaction from his body to the low moan, he smiled. ‘Magic fingers …’
‘And I didn’t even have to put coins in the slot.’ ‘You can pay me later.’
The brief smile his comment earned faded as she glanced across the bar again. ‘It’s not th
at there aren’t some things I’m fine talking about …’
‘So start there.’
‘… but before I do I want your word you won’t interfere.’ With a blink of long lashes, her gaze tangled with his. ‘I mean it, Danny. No advice, no leaflets for places I can get help and when we leave here we don’t talk about it again.’
‘I’m not the first person you’ve said that to.’
‘You’re not the first Brannigan I’ve said it to.’ She shrugged a shoulder. ‘Liv tried to get involved once.’
If she hadn’t, they would have had words. Considering she only tried once, it was still tempting. But if he opened his mouth in Jo’s defence his sister would know something was up. She could be intuitive that way.
He took a short breath. ‘I can’t give you my word—’
‘Then we’re not talking about it.’
‘I’m not done.’ He moved his fingers to ease the returning tension in her neck. ‘Learning to communicate better after so many years of arguing was never going to be easy. If blunt is what it takes from time to time then—’
She arched a brow. ‘You know I’m going to remind you of this when it’s your turn, don’t you?’
The fingers on her neck stilled. She didn’t know he had no intention of talking to her about his nightmares. If he hadn’t been likely to talk about them before, spending time with her had made him twice as determined. He didn’t want the darkness of his subconscious to intrude on what was rapidly becoming a haven. He dropped his arm to his side.
‘I shouldn’t have said that,’ she said with regret. ‘I knew this would happen. I should have listened to the voice that told me—’
‘What we’re doing is still a huge mistake?’
A hint of astonishment mixed with a sparkle of anger in her eyes. ‘Not what I was going to say.’
‘Tell me I’m wrong.’
‘What’s happening between us has nothing to do with this,’ she argued.
Putting together what she said with his thoughts on the subject of discussing his nightmares, Daniel realized, ‘You don’t let your old life cross over into the new one and vice versa, right?’
