“Are you sure you’re ready for me to meet your family?”
“The question is, are you ready to meet Team Marshalls?”
“Bring it on.”
“As soon as I talk to Dylan again, I’ll text you the details.”
I lean down and gently kiss her lips.
“I’m sorry I can’t hang with you tonight. Brotherly duty calls. Avery can be a pain and most times she can handle things, but she really needs me.”
“It’s okay. Go handle your business. You don’t need to explain anything to me.”
“But I want to . . . explain things, tell you where I’m at . . . so you don’t have to . . . you know, like in a relation—”
What the hell is wrong with my tongue?
“A relationship?” she finishes, cutting me off at my rambling and I haven’t got a fucking clue why suddenly it’s so hard for me to spit it out. “I’m not dating anyone else.” She shakes her head as if she’s mulling over what she just told me.
I smile at her and these feelings that are consuming me will get me in trouble because I just want to pick her up and take her back to the bedroom and have my way with her.
Instead, I rub the back of my neck with my hand as the word relationship, enters my thoughts. That word has not been in my vocabulary since Paula.
“I should have told you about me and Paula. I’m sorry,” I say as I cup the back of my neck. “We were best friends before we got together. Then we broke up and have remained friends since then.”
“It’s okay. She explained everything to me,” Delilah says as the house keys jingle in her hand. “She told me about you, her, and your friend Kyle and all the crazy stunts you did as kids.”
“What else have you two ladies gossiped about?”
“Secret chick code things,” she says, shrugging.
I burst out a laugh. “So, I guess she told you about the time we dressed up our rival school’s mascot in a tutu and painted makeup on it the night before their prom?”
“No, but thank you for that bit of information.”
My head is in la la land as I gaze into her topaz blue eyes and fucking hell, I have fallen head over heels for this woman. How the hell did that happen?
I pull her chin up and kiss her soft lips. The words commitment, relationship, and girlfriend cross my mind as our tongues intertwine. I feel like I’m in high school all over again.
I want to tell her how I feel about her, but the haze of our kiss consumes this very moment. Her hand slides up my chest and my arm swoops around her waist, bringing her closer to me.
I’m doing my fucking best holding myself together, taking control of my emotions and testosterone as they collide. And yes, I want Delilah more than I have ever wanted any other woman. But I need to bide my time with her.
I’d be a grade-A asshole for taking advantage of her knowing what I know. I’d be just like that shitbag, Todd, treating her like she’s less than worthy.
And Delilah is so much more than just worthy.
Not only is she beautiful inside and out, she’s strong, resilient, and making a new life out here. And hell if I will be the one that fucks that up for her.
I break the kiss, and I immediately miss her lips on mine.
“I’ll call you when I’m done.” Our foreheads touch. “I’d ask you to come. . .”
“Brody, you need to be with your dad and sister. It’s your time. And I’d be an intrusion.” She kisses my cheek. “Go spend some quality time with them. I’m sure you have some catching up to do. And when you’re ready for me to meet them, I’ll be ready.”
“Well, it’s about time.” Avery wraps her arms around me and kisses my cheek. “I thought I’d never see my big brother. I was thinking you’re avoiding me.”
“Avoiding you? Never . . . This place on the other hand, yes.”
The last time I was here, the man I call Dad, just stared at me then accused me of stealing his journals when I was bringing them to him.
Being here angers and saddens me at the same time. I should want to come here, see how Dad is doing, but I can’t come to terms with watching this man wither away. The man I know so well, yet his eyes tell me I’m a stranger to him.
So why do I come? For my sister. Her heart of gold still has hope that our dad’s brain will wake up one day. Finally see his children, chuckle, and tell us the joke’s on us. But that’s wishful thinking.
Avery drags her hand through her hair and takes in a bolstering breath. “I know the last time you were here must have been difficult.”
“Difficult? That’s a fucking understatement.” I slightly raise my voice at her and she sure as hell doesn’t deserve it. I rub my hand over the stubble of my jaw and shake my head. “So, what happened, Ave?”
“Dad had a panic attack this morning, and they had to restrain him. Doctor Williams wanted us to talk to him. It’s been over a week since he’s seen either of us. Maybe it will calm him.”
“I don’t think anything will work anymore.”
“Brody, we have to try. We can’t give up on him.”
“It breaks me to see him like that.” An image of his dark blue eyes staring back at me flickers in my head. I miss my dad. The baritone laughs. The stories he would tell me about his missions. And the cryptic riddles of advice that were nonstop, those brain teasers I rolled my eyes at, but make perfect sense now that I’m all grown up.
“How do you think I feel, Brody? I have been coming here at least once a week so he won’t forget. But with the swimsuit line and the traveling, it’s getting harder to visit him. Now that you’re home, I need you. So, I figured if we both go in together, maybe he’ll remember us. It’s been too long since he’s seen us in the same room.”
I pinch the bridge of my nose, draw in a breath, and try to shake the memories of the last time I saw my old man. “Fine. We’ll try it your way. But don’t get your hopes up, sis. He may tell us to fuck off.”
“Why are you such a jackass sometimes?” she snaps, and I deserve it.
“It’s called being a realist.”
Her optimism overwhelms me and yet I still manage to be an ass as she levels her glare at me.
“I’m sorry. I just had one of the best days I have had in a while and to end it like this, wasn’t in my plan.”
Her smile spreads wide as her eyes lighten the mood. “Who were you with today?”
“I spent the day with Jerick.”
Avery nods at the orderly passing us. “And Paula?”
I laugh as I shake my head. “She’s engaged, remember?”
“Then who else put that twinkle in your eye? Because I know it wasn’t just a twelve-year-old boy. Is it the date you’ll be bringing to the show?”
“Maybe later . . . let’s go inside and see what we can do for Dad.”
“Oh, now you want to go inside? Are you seriously shafting me again, Brody? Is she a secret you care about and don’t want to jinx? Or a fling you don’t care about and is pointless for me to meet?”
“I care about her and when the time is right, you’ll meet her.”
“At the show, right?” she chides with her hand on her hip.