Liberation

by Becca Van

  She dislodged his hold on her arms. “Am I?”

  Delta waved her hands in the air in agitation. “You all must think I’m useless.” Tears burned her eyes but she refused to let them fall. She spun away and stalked into the kitchen, grabbed a clean cup from the cupboard, and poured herself another cup of coffee from the pot. She didn’t want to be near them right now, so she ignored the fact she already had half a cup of coffee sitting on the dining room table. She took a big gulp from the mug, relishing the burn of the hot bitter brew as it slid down her throat. Even though she was aware of movement behind her she kept her back toward the men, ignoring them. She felt hurt beyond belief and wished she could yell at them for thinking so little of her, just like everyone else she’d met in her life.

  Why did people always seem to think she was mentally and physically impaired as well as deaf? She had two arms and legs, and a brain. She was as capable as any other normal person.

  She tensed when hands clasped her shoulders and while she tried to resist when those strong hands turned her around, she wasn’t strong enough. She didn’t need to look up to know it was Major holding onto her. His scent had filled her nose as soon as he came up behind her. He clasped her chin between his finger and thumb and tilted her gaze up to his.

  “We know damn well you aren’t useless, Delta,” Major signed as well as spoke angrily. She could tell he was pissed because he was moving jerkily. “Why the hell would you even say that?”

  She stepped back out of his hold, her lower back bumping into the counter edge but she ignored the slight pain. “You and your brothers are taking over. You contacted my staff. One of you organized for the security company to fix up the damage at the diner. I have insurance. I was going to contact the company this morning, but you didn’t give me the chance.”

  “Come and sit back down.” Major held his hand out to her.

  She eyed his large, callused palm and although she wanted to be petty and ignore his peace offering, she wasn’t like that. She needed to hear him and his brothers out as well as explain how she needed to control her own life. Delta had a feeling if she gave them an inch, they would take a whole damn mile. She couldn’t let that happen. With a sigh, she placed her hand in his and let him guide her back to the dining table. She was glad to see that Luke and Damon didn’t seem to be paying them any attention and were talking to each other.

  Instead of helping her back into her previous seat, Major sat down, snagged an arm around her waist and tugged her onto his lap. She crossed her arms over her chest and glared at him.

  “First of all, we are not trying to take over, baby. When I offered to contact your staff, you could have said no. I was just trying to be helpful. Secondly, we didn’t arrange for Giles to get the workmen to fix up the diner. That was his idea. He called late last night to apologize. He had a new guy working the monitors who either didn’t give a shit about doing his job or was just plain incompetent. The security guy should have picked up that that the power had been cut to the building and called the police right away. If he’d done that, you wouldn’t have been in danger and there would be no need for the construction workers. Giles decided to foot the bill as an apology to you. He’s trying to make amends.”

  Guilt at her outburst assaulted her heart. Delta was so used to people thinking she was an idiot, she’d automatically jumped to conclusions. The hurt and anger faded. “I’m sorry. I’m just so used to people treating me like I’m an imbecile, I overreacted.”

  “You don’t have to apologize, baby.”

  “Yes, I do.”

  Rocco took her hand in his, lifted it to his mouth and kissed the back of it. He winked at her and then said, “We like that you have fire in you, honey. You’ll keep us on our toes.”

  Delta blinked and then nodded. She’d expected them to be pissed at her after her outburst. Other people would have been, but not her men. She glanced over at Ace to see him leaning back in his chair with his hands locked behind his head and a big grin on his face.

  She realized then that she would never understand how the male psyche worked.

  “We ran the prints,” Luke said.

  Delta tensed, hoping that the sheriffs knew who’d broken in and trashed the diner.

  “We don’t have anything to go on,” Luke continued. “We were only able to get partial prints and nothing came up on the data base.”

  Damon leaned his elbows on the table. “Do you know who’d want to hurt you, Delta?”

  “No.” She sighed. “I’ve only met a few people and they’ve all been women.”

  “That doesn’t mean anything,” Luke said. “Women can be just as dangerous as men. Even though you weren’t attacked, thank the Lord, this was personal. Someone is real pissed with you.”

  “What about when you were in Chicago?” Damon asked. “Did you leave an ex-boyfriend or a disgruntled customer behind?”

  “I didn’t date,” Delta answered. “I only ever interacted with people when I was working at the bank.”

  “Did you upset a fellow employee?” Luke asked.

  She shook her head and then lowered her gaze when heated embarrassment suffused her cheeks. After sucking in a deep breath, she met Luke’s gaze again. “No. None of the employees ever gave me a second glance.”

  “That leaves the customers.” Damon frowned. “Or maybe the bank manager?”

  “The manager may have been an ass but I don’t think he would bother to follow me here.”

  “You can’t know that for sure, baby,” Major said.

  “Actually, I do. He didn’t want to employ me at all, but apparently the board of directors told him to.”

  “That could be reason enough for motive.” Ace crossed his arms over his chest.

  “I can’t see it. The smarmy weasel had me segregated from the other employees. The only time I ever interacted with anyone was when I was serving the customers.”

  “Can you remember their names, honey?” Rocco asked.

  Delta nodded. “Most of my customers were physically impaired in some way, too.”

  “I’ll need you to write their names down on a list for me, Delta.”

  “Okay.” She sighed. She would do as Luke asked, but she had a feeling he was barking up the wrong tree.

  If she hadn’t been so exhausted, so replete after making love with her men, she would have stayed up all night trying to work out who had a grudge against her, but she had a feeling she wouldn’t know unless she came face to face with the bastard. She’d never done anything to deliberately hurt anyone else or to treat anyone differently than she’d wanted to be treated herself. She knew what it was like to be looked at as if she had two heads.

  Luke and Damon rose and headed toward the entrance. Ace and Rocco followed the men from the kitchen to see them out.

  Delta sighed tiredly and leaned against Major. All she wanted to do was head back to bed and fall into a deep sleep, but she needed to head to the diner to make sure everything was being fixed the way she wanted it. She also needed to give Enya the money she would have spent for the baking she’d done. After that she wanted to go over the books and then maybe she’d find time to write the list the sheriff wanted.

  She needed to contact her lawyer to write up a partnership contract for Enya and Lilac as well. After everything was done, she would need to rewrite the employee schedule, and maybe she would give herself a day off every once in a while. Although the diner was still her dream and passion, she was tired, and after thinking things through, she wanted to share her business with the other two women. Every time she met those women’s gazes, she saw sadness and vulnerability in their eyes. She might not know what they’d been through or what was haunting them, but she liked them a lot and wanted to keep them around. She wasn’t trying to buy their friendship, even though it may have seemed that way. What she was trying to do was help them out in the only way she could. She had a terrible feeling they’d endured more than she ever had. This was her way of being a friend and helping them out
at the same time. They’d already proven to her they were trustworthy, fantastic chefs, and she wanted to deepen the friendship that was already forming between them.

  She’d never imagined wanting to do anything but cook after making the decision to follow her passion, but Major, Rocco, and Ace had made her rethink things. Although she still wanted to cook and run the diner, her priorities had changed. If she continued working the long hours she had been, her relationship with the Porter men would be doomed before it really got off the ground. No relationship, new or otherwise, survived without putting any time or effort into it. She wanted to be able to spend more time with her men and she wouldn’t be able to do that if she had no spare time.

  Delta just hoped that Enya and Lilac didn’t refuse the partnership offer, because she wasn’t certain she had the energy to keep going the way she had been.

  She wasn’t sure what she’d do if the other women refused her offer. No, that wasn’t true. Delta would just face every day like she usually did.

  * * * *

  Major hoped that Delta wasn’t still hurt and angry with him and his brothers, and while she’d apologized for her outburst, he thought she might still be upset with them. Every time she breathed out she was sighing loudly as if she had the weight of the world upon her shoulders.

  He grasped hold of her braid and pulled gently until her gaze lifted to his. “Are you okay, baby? You’re not still pissed at us, are you?”

  “No,” she replied. “I’m sorry I went off on a tangent.”

  Major stroked a finger down her cheek. He loved how soft her skin was against his flesh and knew he would never get enough or ever get sick of touching her. “Stop saying sorry, Delta. You’re allowed to be human, just like the rest of us. Now, why are you frowning?”

  “I’ve just been thinking about all the things I need to do.”

  “Like what?”

  “Well, I want to go down to the diner and make sure the contractors are fixing things up the same as they were.”

  “You don’t need to worry about that, baby. Giles, Remy, or Brandt will make sure of it.”

  She sat up a little straighter and Major had to bite the inside of his cheek to stop the moan bubbling up in his chest from escaping. Even though he and his brothers had made love to her, she was still such an innocent. Delta seemed to be totally oblivious to the fact that her sexy ass was rubbing against his cock and every time she moved, he was getting harder and harder.

  “I don’t know those men though.”

  “Do you trust me, baby?” he asked and held his breath while awaiting an answer. Air exploded from his lungs when she nodded and the tension he didn’t know he was holding in his muscles dissipated.

  “I do. Trust you that is.”

  “That’s good, because I can tell you now that Giles and his brothers will make sure all the work is top-notch. You don’t have to worry about the construction workers cutting corners. Okay?”

  “Okay, but I still need to go.”

  “Why?” Major couldn’t help himself. He’d been eying her braid and while he loved her hair, he hated the way she’d tied it up. He loved seeing her long blonde hair falling down around her face, past her shoulders with the ends swishing at her hips. He tugged the tie from the ends and threaded his fingers through her hair until it was falling down her back.

  “Hey, what are you doing?”

  “Looking at your hair. I love how thick, shiny and soft it is. And there’s so damn much of it.”

  When she harrumphed and glared at him, Major couldn’t help but smile. She was so fucking cute and sexy. “Do you know how long it takes to put up?”

  “You should wear it down all the time.”

  “I can’t. I need to have it up when I’m working around food. Can you imagine how mortified I’d be if someone found some of my hair in their dinner?”

  “I hadn’t thought of that.” He combed his finger through the silky mass and then massaged her skull lightly. When she moaned and closed her eyes, he nearly came in his pants. She was so fucking sensual and didn’t have a clue how she affected him or his brothers. Jealousy pierced his heart as he envisaged other single men staring at her beautiful hair and gorgeous body. He had a change of heart and decided she could, should, wear her hair up, whenever he and his brothers weren’t around to protect her. When he realized he was being an ass, even if he hadn’t voiced his thoughts out loud, he brought his mind back on track.

  “Why do you still need to go to the diner?”

  “I have some paperwork to catch up on and I need to go through the kitchen to see what if any of the supplies were ruined.”

  He hated to tell her but she needed to know so she could reorder ingredients for when the diner was ready to reopen. He leaned his forehead against hers and then kissed her softly on the lips. “You’re going to need to buy everything, baby.”

  “Everything?” she asked and lowered her eyelids.

  His heart clenched when a tear leaked from the corner of both of her eyes and he wrapped his arms around her when she pressed her face against his neck. He was still holding her close when Ace and Rocco came back.

  “What’s going on?” Rocco asked as he rushed toward Delta.

  “Is she all right?”

  “Yeah. I just told her she needed to replace all her kitchen ingredients.”

  Delta sat up when he started talking and gazed at Ace and Rocco.

  Rocco crouched down in front of her and cupped her face in his hands. “Everything will be okay, honey. We’ll help you get all the supplies you need and want.”

  “No, I’ll put in an insurance claim. I’ll get Luke to email the damage report to the company.” She met Major’s gaze again. “Can you get this Giles person to put in writing that his company is covering the repair costs?”

  “Sure, baby. Why don’t we all go to the diner? That way we can introduce you to Giles and/or his brothers and you can ask him yourself.”

  “Don’t you have chores you need to do here?”

  “You’re more important, Delta.”

  “But this ranch is your livelihood, you can’t just ignore it.”

  “We aren’t ignoring it, baby. I was up before daybreak mucking out the barn and making sure the cattle had plenty of feed and water. Ace and Rocco can pick up the slack when we get back,” he said firmly.

  Delta sighed and nodded. “I just need to redo my hair and then we can go.”

  Major watched her sexy ass swaying back and forth as she hurried away.

  “Do you think this is a good idea?” Ace asked.

  “We can’t stop her from working, Ace.”

  “I know. That’s not what I meant. I’m just worried that seeing the diner in such disrepair will break her.”

  “Our woman is a lot stronger than she looks,” Rocco said. “She’s had to deal with a lot in her life and from what I can tell, she hasn’t let other people’s prejudices or actions hold her back.”

  “Yeah, okay. You’re right.” Ace scrubbed a hand over his face. “We need to talk to her about those nightmares.”

  “Yes, we do,” Major agreed. “But we’ll leave that for later. Right now, we need to help her with whatever she wants done. Delta isn’t used to having help. She’s never been able to lean on someone when she needed to. We have to show her that she can rely on us to back her up when she requires it.”

  “You don’t think she trusts us?” Ace snapped.

  “No, that’s not what I mean. She trusts us, bro. She would never have agreed to make love with us or try a relationship if she didn’t.” Major shoved to his feet, gathered the used coffee mugs and took them to the kitchen. He rinsed them and put them in the dishwasher.

  “What we need is for her to talk to us more,” Rocco said. “She’s been on her own for so long, she’s never had to answer to anyone. That didn’t come out right. Delta’s intelligent and she thinks a lot without voicing what she’s thinking. We want her to be able to bounce ideas off of us. We want her to be able to
come to one or all of us if we she has a problem, and while she’s trusted us with her body and she knows we’ll never intentionally do anything to hurt her, we need her to trust us with her heart. We start earning her respect and trust by helping her out where we can, and hopefully, the rest will follow.”

  Major was surprised that Rocco was able to voice his thoughts better than he was. Ace, although, a little impatient, was usually the one to be able to tap into a female’s psyche better than he and Rocco could. Although his younger brother was no expert on the opposite sex either, he was usually more in tune to their emotions.

  “What he said.” Major pointed at Rocco and then turned toward the doorway when he heard Delta returning.

  Major just hoped that seeing the diner didn’t bring her to tears. He was already furious at the fucker for scaring her. It would tear his heart out if he saw her crying again.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Leo couldn’t believe that Woodall Construction Company had been called in to fix up the diner he’d wrecked. While he couldn’t show it, inside he was laughing with glee. He’d been directed to remove the booth seats which were going to be replaced. The other guys were pulling up the linoleum floor since he’d ruined it by slashing it with his knife.

  He’d made sure to keep his expression blank so as not to give himself away, but when the two sheriffs had shown up, he’d started sweating up a storm. When they’d first walked through the door, he’d thought the law had been there for him. He hadn’t been able to breathe until they began talking with the Woodall brothers. When they disappeared into the kitchen he sighed with relief. The only way he was going to get through the day was to go about his work as he normally did and pretend that nothing had happened.

  Leo had been watching the sheriffs and the deputies since the moment he’d hit town and knew they weren’t stupid men. There was a rumor about that the sheriffs always checked out anybody new to town, but so far he’d been lucky. Maybe he’d be able to keep flying under the radar since he was working for Trent and Tristan Woodall. The sheriffs might think that the Woodall brothers had checked him out before they hired him on.