Wild Hearts (The DiCarlo Brides)

by Heather Tullis

  “Wow, that was fast,” Jeremy said when she emerged less than five minutes after she’d gone down. “I thought it was against the law for a woman to change that quickly.”

  “Not when she’s me. Cleo, where’s your coat?” Delphi flipped hers around to pull it on and Jeremy came up behind her, taking the coat and helping her with it.

  His fingers brushed against her neck. It was obviously not an accident. “You smell good too. You always do. What is it?”

  She managed not to squirm to rid herself of the goose bumps that had formed on her shoulders. “It’s a special blend. One of my mother’s friends makes it for me every year.”

  She heard him smell deeply near her nape, close enough she felt the air move when he breathed. “So you have your own personal scent. I should have expected that. Too classy for Chanel or some other over-hyped perfume.”

  “I like Chanel. On women my mother’s age.” She stepped away from the warmth of his hands on her shoulders. He made her all too aware of him—and herself—when he was near her. “Come on Cleo.” She held out a hand to her and Cleo latched on.

  “I want Oreo. I like Oreo shakes the best,” Cleo told them.

  “Then that’s what you’ll get,” Jeremy said, acting as if their little interlude had never happened. “What do you think about burgers? Are you pro-cheese or not?”

  “Who doesn’t like cheese?” Cleo asked. “Everyone should like cheese.”

  “You’re so right.”

  Delphi felt Jeremy’s hand at her back as he ushered them out to his car, a 1969 De Tomaso Mungusta, that seated four, if the people in back were short—which Cleo was.

  It wasn’t long before they were pulling up in front of Wendel’s, the mom-and-pop burger joint on the end of town. It still felt like the old places you saw on TV shows and smelled of frying food and the sweetness of ice cream. Or maybe Delphi was just anticipating the shake she intended to order.

  And the beer battered fries. She didn’t allow herself fries often, but she was addicted to these and always got them when she went to Wendel’s—all half-dozen times she’d been there.

  “Jeremy, it’s so good to see you.” A perky redhead with a cleavage-bearing tee and a bue miniskirt walked over. ‘I haven’t heard from you for a while. We miss you when you don’t come around.” She glanced at Delphi, sized her up and dismissed her, turning back to Jeremy, batting her eyelashes at him.

  “The business keeps me hopping, even off season lately. You tell Lance hello for me, and I’ll stop in to talk motorbikes with him again soon.” He glanced at the cashier. “Looks like our turn to order.”

  “I’ll tell him. Call me sometime.” She waved over her shoulder as she sashayed out of the building.

  Jeremy turned his gaze back to the menu board as if it was nothing out of the ordinary.

  Delphi thought it probably wasn’t unusual and tried not to mind the fact that he had an active social life. That was why she told him she wanted no strings, after all. Wasn’t it?

  They ordered their dinners and took up a seat at a booth near the front.

  “Where would you want to go on a honeymoon?” Cleo asked. “I think going on a ship to nowhere sounds boring. The ocean is pretty, but what do you do the rest of the time?”

  Jeremy met Delphi’s eyes, and his lips twitched as if he struggled to hold hack a smile. “There are a lot of things to do on a ship; games and pools and shows and stuff. I’m sure they’re staying busy.”

  “Kissing, probably. They really like to kiss.” Cleo looked at Delphi. “You two really like to kiss. Does that mean you’re going to get married too?”

  Jeremy has been taking a drink of his soda and choked on it, then started to cough.

  Delphi smiled, finding his reaction amusing. “People usually spend a lot longer getting to know each other before they start thinking about marriage, bug. Don’t rush us; we’re having fun just hanging out right now.”

  “Mom said that too, and now she’s married anyway.”

  Their number was called and Jeremy hopped up to grab it. When he returned, he asked Cleo about school, apparently not willing to continue the previous topic any longer. Delphi was impressed with how well he handled Cleo, the way he included her in the talk and treated her like an equal instead of a stupid little kid. She remembered being Cleo’s age and having adults talk down to her, being treated like she couldn’t understand anything and thinking that if people would just explain things, she would get it.

  They enjoyed dinner, lingering over their ice cream before taking off to see a movie.

  “You have to promise me you won’t tell Rosemary how late we let you stay out on a school night.” Jeremy held open the door for them at the theater. “She scares me.”

  “She does not. Everyone says that but she’s nice. She’s not scary.”

  “That’s just because she likes you so much,” Delphi said, though she wasn’t nearly as nervous around Rosemary now as she was when they first met. Rosemary put on a lot of attitude, but she wasn’t nearly as hard as she pretended to be. Delphi hadn’t realized that until Cleo came into their lives a few months earlier.

  “I’ve known her my whole life. Have you?” Cleo gave them both an imperious look. She hadn’t known then that Rosemary was her mother, but Rosemary had been a family friend, visiting often so she could watch her daughter grow.

  “She’s got us there,” Jeremy said.

  “Can’t argue with that logic,” Delphi agreed.

  The movie ended up being a family flick, not exactly date night material, but with Cleo around, they couldn’t go see the high-adrenaline movie playing in the next room. Delphi sat between Jeremy and Cleo and enjoyed the feeling of his hand in hers when he held it through most of the show. She was even pleasantly surprised at how entertaining the movie was. She hadn’t seen a kid’s show in well over a decade and had forgotten how good they could be.

  When Jeremy saw them back to the house, Jonquil had finally come in from working on flowers for an anniversary party the next day and waited in the living room. She looked straight at Cleo. “I hope you were a good chaperon for them. They need supervision.”

  “Of course. They didn’t even kiss or anything.” She pulled off her jacket and hung it on the hook by the front door.

  “Yeah. You want to put the rug rat to bed so we can correct that problem?” Jeremy slid an arm around Delphi’s shoulder.

  Jonquil jumped up. “Happy to. Come on cutie. Let’s go dissect their date.”

  Delphi tried to act as if it didn’t embarrass her, but she would have preferred if Jeremy hadn’t put them in the spotlight.

  “Did I make you uncomfortable?” Jeremy asked when the other two had disappeared through Cleo’s bedroom door.

  “A little, yeah.”

  He turned her to face him. “I’m sorry. I wasn’t thinking about that.” He slid his hands onto her waist and drew her closer. “I’ve spent the whole evening thinking about this.” He leaned in, setting his mouth on hers. His touch was gentle, but firm, his mouth moving over hers, drawing her out, coaxing away the embarrassment.

  She let everything else go, focusing on him, on the moment, knowing it wouldn’t last. His hand lifted to cradle her cheek and he took the kiss a few degrees deeper. She let him, steeped in the moment, loving the feel of his calloused palm against her skin, the scent of his cologne in her nose and the gentle way he treated her, even while the tension circled around them.

  Knowing Jonquil would be coming back down the stairs any moment, Delphi finally pulled away. “We probably ought to stop right there.” She set her hands on his shoulders, wishing to linger. “Jonquil will be out any moment.”

  “Yeah. Your sisters don’t have a habit of discretion.”

  She chuckled a little. “She just likes to poke at people, but she’s easy to get along with most of the time. Better than some.”

  “Next time we should leave the squirt with her and do something with just the two of us.”

  Her h
eartbeat had started to slow, but now it picked up again. “You want another date?”

  “Why not? We have fun together.” He feathered the hair back from her eyes.

  “Aren’t you the kind of guy who usually only dates a girl once or twice before moving on?”

  He stiffened under her hands and pulled away. “You really think I’m that guy? That guy who shows a girl a good time, kisses her like I just kissed you, and then walks away to chase after the next woman?”

  Was he offended? “I don’t know, Jeremy. You seem to go out with a lot of women.” She crossed her arms over her stomach, feeling defensive and wishing she’d kept her mouth shut on the thought that had popped into her head. She liked him, more than she had thought possible, and hadn’t meant to upset him—she honestly hadn’t expected their relationship to go anywhere. “How do I know how you end your nights with them before moving on to the next?”

  “I’ve dated my share of women. But I haven’t been dating anyone else for a couple of months now. And I haven’t kissed hardly anyone like I do you. If you think that’s the kind of guy I am, then maybe this was a mistake.” He turned and walked out the front door, slamming it behind him before she could react.

  Grinding her teeth, Delphi hurried after Jeremy, calling out so he stopped at his car door and turned to her. “Look, I’m sorry.” She shivered in the evening air. “I didn’t mean it like that. I just... I wanted to get it all out there, I guess. I don’t know what to think where you’re concerned.”

  “Why did you go out with me if you think I’m a jerk?” His fist clenched on his car keys.

  She didn’t know how to answer, hadn’t let herself put it into words, not even in her own head. “I don’t know. I wasn’t thinking about you like that. Not really. You interest me. We have fun and it’s good to be able to talk with someone who knows motorcycles.” He didn’t say anything so she pushed on. “I like you. I didn’t expect it to go anywhere, partly because you do date a lot, usually. I didn’t want to have expectations of something more between us and then get hurt. I figured Vince would take your head off if you did something stupid, so I was safe enough.” His best friend was protective of all his new sisters-in-law. She reached out and took his fist in her hands. “And you’re one hell of a kisser. Seriously, you knock my socks off and that hasn’t happened for a really long time.”

  He kept staring at her for a long moment, his jaw muscle jumping. “I had fun tonight. You surprise me all of the time. I’d like to see you again because we click in a way I haven’t with anyone for a long while. You’re right that I don’t usually date anyone for long, but I don’t kiss someone the way I kiss you and walk away without a backwards glance. We have some serious chemistry. I keep thinking that I’ll get you out of my system with just one more date, that we’ll both be ready to move on. But by the end, I just want to see you again. One more time. I don’t know how to deal with that, or what to think about it, but I don’t want to hurt you either. So it’s your call.”

  Delphi considered his words, wondering what the right choice was and whether seeing him again was going to be good or bad. She decided to follow her heart for just a little longer. “All right. We keep dating, no strings attached. The moment one of us wants to walk, we speak up. No hard feelings.” She wasn’t sure she wouldn’t be hurt if he walked now, but she was an adult, responsible for her own emotions and as long as they were straight-forward, that was good enough for her. It would have to be.

  He studied her for a moment before slowly nodding. “Agreed. So, what’s your schedule like?”

  “I’ve got some time Wednesday night. How about you?” She shoved her hands into her back pockets.

  “Works for me. I’ll double-check my schedule and text you with a time.”

  “All right.” She kept standing there, wrapped her arms around herself, freezing, watching him, wondering if she should just turn around and go back inside.

  Jeremy stepped in though, touched her shoulder and dropped a brief kiss on her lips. “See you then.”

  He turned to get in the car and she stepped back out of the way. She wanted to watch him pull out, but decided that would be a little too high school, so she turned toward the front door.

  As soon as she walked inside Jonquil started talking. “I was starting to think you were going to climb in and go home with him.”

  “Nope. Just hashing out time for our next date.” She didn’t want to get sucked into girl talk. “I need to finish a few details for a project. See you in the morning.”

  Jonquil frowned. “Sure you don’t want to talk first? Your chat out there seemed kind of intense.”

  Had Jonquil been peeking through the window? “Nope, I’m fine.” Delphi headed down the stairs without a second look. She needed some time to wrap her head around everything.

  Jeremy returned to his apartment over the photo studio, confused. He was a no-strings kind of guy, so why was he unhappy about her suggestion? It wasn’t like he saw this going anywhere, so that was fine, right? He vowed long ago that he wasn’t going to settle down with George DiCarlo’s daughter, no matter how beautiful, classy, funny, or exciting she might be. Not that he’d thought she was all of those things to begin with, but he knew better now and he definitely hadn’t changed his mind about there being no future for them. Not at all.

  It burned him that she thought he was a player, though. Just because he didn’t get serious easily didn’t make him a player. He hadn’t left a string of broken hearts or anything. He was still on good terms with the ladies he dated. Most of them anyway, and he couldn’t help that Sarah Ann thought it was love at first date, or that Janice had developed an unhealthy obsession which had required a court order to make her relinquish.

  He put the car in park and decided to put the worry out of his mind. They had another date, they would have fun and then maybe he would be ready to end everything. Or she would. And that would be that.

  He locked up the car and looked at the back stair entrance to his place, then noticed the window was open and the screen was missing. When had he opened the window? He could have sworn he hadn’t opened that one since last fall. He took the stairs two at a time and as he reached the top, he realized the door was partially open. Grateful to Vince for convincing him and Gage to get concealed carry permits along with him a couple of years earlier, Jeremy pulled the gun from the holster at his back and called inside. “Is anyone here?” There was no sound. “If anyone’s in there, I’m coming in and I have a gun, so you better tell me now.” He cocked the pistol so a bullet entered the chamber and nudged the door open. It creaked a little and he reminded himself to oil the hinges. His eyes widened when he saw the mess inside. Someone had tossed his place.

  His heart pounded as he entered the kitchen, finding broken dishes and containers of salt and sugar spread across the floor. The cushions were off the sofa in the living room and the end table drawers had been pulled out and dumped. His favorite lamp lay broken on the floor. He moved carefully through the room, his gun out in front, hoping he wouldn’t have to use it.

  His bedroom was a similar mess with the mattress off the bed and his clothes strewn everywhere.

  The place was small, only four rooms, so it didn’t take long to clear the space. His television was gone—not a major loss since it was a decade old and he had been planning to upgrade to a flat screen—along with the DVD player, and the PlayStation. These were a bigger deal, but not the end of the world. He was glad his laptop and camera were still in the car.

  That made him think of the photo equipment downstairs and he rushed to his studio.

  The computer was missing, the new tripod he’d bought and several other very expensive pieces of equipment had been stolen as well and the drapes he used for picture backdrops had been ripped or slashed. The front window was broken—the river rock an old girlfriend had given him with the word “Believe” carved into its surface lay on the sidewalk out front, explaining how the glass had broken.

  Fury burned
through him and he called the sheriff’s office to report the damage. Then he called Vince and Gage—he could use their moral support. He went back to his car for his camera to document everything for the insurance company. It was all just stuff, he reminded himself, but it was stuff he’d worked his tail off to earn and replacing the equipment would not be cheap, or quick if he had to wait for the insurance check first.

  “Whoa,” Vince said when he walked into the studio fifteen minutes later. “Who would have done this to you?”

  “Good question.” Jeremy looked at Deputy Oliver, who had arrived only a few minutes earlier. “I’d like some answers soon if you can. This just burns me.”

  “I can understand that. Angered anyone lately?” The deputy looked up from where he was taking notes.

  “Not that I can think of.” Jeremy couldn’t think of much right now.

  “Lars Anderson.” Vince didn’t even pause to consider. “He threatened to make you pay.”

  “Yeah, but I don’t think he meant that literally. He’s supposed to come by Wednesday to talk about it.” Still, he couldn’t entirely discount the man.

  “Hard to discuss it if you don’t have the files he’s complaining about,” Vince pointed out. “Maybe he was hoping you would be forced to refund his fees.”

  Jeremy rubbed his face. “It’s all backed up. I need to go remotely disconnect my computer from the service so whoever took my stuff can’t delete anything. If they haven’t already.” The thought made his stomach cramp into knots. “They took the router though.” Did he have everything backed up? Could he be missing something still?