by Marie Harte
“That’s because he’s in love,” Maddie said.
Abby smiled. “Yep. That big lout knows he has it good. He’s afraid I’ll bolt. Me. Plain old, ten pounds overweight—”
“I thought it was fifteen?” Vanessa frowned.
“—Abby Dunn,” Abby finished through gritted teeth. “So you see, Del? Miracles do happen.” Then she gave Del a sly grin and a thumbs-up. “Good for you for making Mike work for you. You’re worth it.”
Yet as Del sat staring at the clock, wishing she could be sliding under the shiny red Corvette in the bay, she felt anything but worthy. When Dale popped in the doorway, she nearly bit his head off.
“What?” she snapped.
“Uh, the guys say, um… They want you to…”
“Just spit it out.” Figured they’d send in the weak one, the youngest, so she wouldn’t send him back out minus his ass.
He said in a rush, “The hostile work environment is killing production.”
“They want hostile? I’ll give them hostile.” She went into the garage and chewed some major ass. The slackers gave her a lot of glares, scowls, and attitude, but they turned-to on the vehicles. She slammed back into her office and went through accounting, calling in the guys when she had questions on some of the orders. In the garage she heard a lot of clanging and swearing and, though she couldn’t be certain, she suspected several unflattering comments about her leadership style.
An hour and a half later, Dale knocked on the door again.
“What?” she barked, buried nose-deep in invoices.
“Um, Del, they, uh…”
“Spit it out.”
“They want you to leave. They say your bad attitude is killing morale.”
“Foley,” she yelled.
She heard nothing from the bay.
“Fuck it. Fine. I’m going to Ray’s. You all can kiss my ass. And be prepared to work even harder tomorrow,” she shouted.
Not even a groan. She more than needed to leave. It neared five anyway. She’d definitely overstayed another desk day’s welcome.
***
J.T. frowned at his cell. He was in the middle of a sit-down with a new client, and they needed to talk about design detail, the lowdown on the hows and procedure of the tat, and proper hygiene to prevent infection.
He knew the ringtone, though, so he excused himself from his client and took the call in the other room. “Hello?”
“Hey, man, it’s Foley. Look, your demon of a sister just took off for Ray’s. Call the big guy, get his ass over there, and fix this. Or we’re all quitting.”
J.T. swore. “Shit. Okay, okay. Calm down, drama queen.”
He heard mumbling before Foley came back on. “Oh, and twenty says they don’t get back together until next week. Sam and Lou bet on two weeks. But my money’s on Mike. By the middle of next week, latest.”
“How do you even know he wants to get back with her?” Considering what a bitch his sister had been lately, even Satan’s mistress had to be looking good in comparison.
“Liam talks. We’re all family here. Besides, she was really happy with the dude. Just get him back so she’s off her period twenty-four seven.”
“If she heard you say that, she’d skin you alive.”
“You mean kill me, torture me, then kill me again. Seriously. At least you work away from hell. We’re living it, and it ain’t pretty. Fix this.”
J.T. disconnected, then made a call. One he’d been meaning to make, except his father had told him to let things work themselves out. Well, screw that.
“Hello?”
“Mike, it’s J.T. She’s at Ray’s. And she’s in a mood.”
“Aren’t we all.” Mike paused. “Thanks.” Then he hung up.
J.T. grinned, then he called Rena and filled her in. She wanted in on the action, so he called Foley back with his bet, doubling his cousin’s. McCauley might be a pain in the ass, but the guy had skills. He’d tamed J.T.’s little sister for a bit, hadn’t he? And according to Liam, the guy was head over heels in love with Del. “You know what, Foley? Make it fifty. And add a proposal in there for me too.”
“An I Do from Miss I Don’t? Hell, man. You’re on.”
J.T. smiled. He’d be there for the wedding. With any luck, he’d convince the groom-to-be to accept a signature Webster tattoo as a wedding gift. With arms like Mike’s, it’d be a walking billboard for business.
J.T. couldn’t wait.
***
Mike parked his truck at Ray’s, got out, and searched out the biggest-looking asshole he could find. Near the front of the lot, toward the bar, he found what he’d been searching for.
“What the fuck are you looking at?” a guy looking like Mr. Clean on steroids asked him, leaning against a dirty blue Blazer with monster wheels. He recognized the guy as Earl’s bouncer friend from the last time he’d been by. Perfect.
“You work here, right?”
“What if I do?”
“You’re a bouncer?”
“I’m security.” He crossed his arms over his chest. “Oh right. You’re the prick that hit Jim.”
The others around him watched with narrowed eyes. No friends here.
Not in the mood to play nice, Mike leaned close. “I want my truck in one piece when I get out. That’s your job, right? So do it.”
Mr. Clean stepped closer. “Yeah? What’s it worth?”
In Mike’s mood, he had no urge to play nice. “Your nuts.” Mike waited, dying for a fight.
Fortunately, Mr. Clean’s friends didn’t like his attitude and attacked. He made short work of them, then waited for Mr. Clean to say something.
The fucker put up his hands. “Easy, guy. I’ll make sure it’s watched over—like every other car in the lot.”
“Fine. But if my truck has even one scratch on it, I’m coming for you.” Annoyed at not getting the real fight he needed, Mike grunted and walked past him.
Wishing he felt more bad-ass for handling two dirtbags, Mike did his best to pump himself up to deal with the real threat at Ray’s. He put his shoulders back and walked past the clusters of groupies toward the entrance. He’d come straight from work, wearing his nasty jeans and a ripped T-shirt stained with teak oil. He had dirt under his fingernails, probably smelled like hell, but had no problem dealing with his princess while looking less than refined.
If she loved him the way she said she did, she’d take him, warts and all.
He’d never been so nervous in his freakin’ life.
Pushing through the doors, he noted a few patrons sitting nearby whom he recognized from the night he’d visited. Unfortunately, the place had filled up. Earl stopped him with a hand on his chest.
Mike glanced down at the hand, then up at Earl, who smiled at him.
“Nice moves in the lot. Come on in. She’s in the corner.” Earl lowered his hand. “Word of warning—she’s majorly pissed.”
“Great. Thanks.” He wound through a bunch of folks dressed much like himself and spotted Lara behind the bar. Tonight she wore a shirt that read Bartender. Obviously not waitressing this evening.
“Hey, handsome.” She crooked a finger at him, and he leaned across the bar. She kissed him on the cheek. “Want a beer?”
“I’d love one.” Before he could ask, she fetched him a Heineken. “On the house if you turn her frown upside down.” She nodded to Del.
“I’ll do my best. But if she starts throwing shit at me, you might want to clear the room.”
“Oh honey. Don’t you worry. Rena told us all about your situation with Del. God, you are so sweet.” Lara gave a sad sigh.
Mike frowned. “Wait. What exactly did Rena tell you?”
“Go, go. Before she sees me talking to you and tries to punch me out. She’s been a bitch lately. And God knows I don’t want to have to handle her in a mood.”
“Ah, okay.” He had no idea what the hell Lara had been told, but he made his way to Del regardless. Seeing her put everything right. She looked thinner an
d in pain. Annoyed with the world, yet still so beautiful. And alive.
Thanks to his talk with Liam, he knew he had to get his head on straight before dealing with Del. After many days of soul-searching, he knew what he needed. And what she needed. But getting her to talk to him had proven difficult. She had a head injury he didn’t want to further, and according to Rena and J.T., the woman still wanted nothing to do with him.
Too fucking bad.
“Hey, sweetness. Mind if I sit?” He didn’t wait for her to answer and sat, pleased to see her wide eyes.
“What the hell are you doing here?”
“I’d say slumming, but we both know how that turned out when Jim said it.” He took a swig of his beer. “You’re looking better than last time. How’s the head?”
She shrugged, keeping a wary eye on him.
“I’m here to talk.”
“Really? I thought you were here for the ambience.”
A few tables down, a man spilled his beer onto another guy. The girl with him dumped a pitcher over his head, adding to his sopping clothes. Then the three laughed like loons at each other and took turns grabbing drinks to douse over themselves.
“There is that.”
Earl and another bouncer dragged the happy drunks away before they flooded the bar.
Mike glanced at Del again, secretly pleased at how intently she studied him.
“I’m busy. What do you want?”
“Busy and angry, I’d say. Okay. Rumor has it we broke up. That true?” He kept his voice even, pleasant, and waited.
She toyed with her glass, and he readied to duck.
“You would know.”
“You’d think.” He finished his beer and held up the bottle so Lara, who hadn’t stopped watching him, could see he needed another. “And fries,” he yelled.
“For God’s sake.” Del hunched lower in her seat.
He looked at her, then back at the bar and yelled, “Make that two.”
Lara nodded.
“You’re always yelling,” Del griped.
“How else can people hear you? Especially in here?” Instead of the alternative music he expected, a funky rendition of “Viva Las Vegas” jammed from the overhead speakers. “Okay, I’ll bite. How did I break up with you? Because I don’t remember.”
“Too busy wallowing in guilt.”
“That’s true. I felt awful you’d been hurt saving Colin, when I should have been there protecting you both.”
She frowned. “How’s that? You went to the bathroom. I told you I’d watch him, then he nearly got run over. It was my fault.”
“Right. Now who’s got a bad case of the guilts?”
She flushed.
“You losing weight? Your hair looks bigger than your face.”
She snorted. “Compliments will get you nowhere.”
“I saw your dad.”
“Yeah?” She pretended not to care, but he could see her listening intently to everything he said.
“Bastard had me crying like a baby.” He hadn’t intended to admit that, but he wanted her to know.
“He—what? He did?” She sat up straight. “Did he hit you?” She looked him over.
“No. Well, kind of. We talked about J.T.’s mom…and about Lea.”
“With my dad?” her voice rose. “He won’t even talk about her to me or J.T.”
“He talked to me because he knew I’d understand. When you love someone the way I loved Lea, the way your dad loved Bridget, it leaves a hole in your heart when they leave you.” A hole in his heart. Such an apt way to describe how he’d felt without Del.
Del blinked and looked away. “I know.”
“Your mom left you a long time ago, way before she died. I’m sorry for what she did. For what I did, though I didn’t mean to.” Mike sighed. “You have the worst damn timing.”
“For being honest? Screw you.” She angrily wiped her eyes, and he felt awful—and glad. If she hadn’t cared, she wouldn’t cry.
“My hole has been huge and ignored for six long years. Then you came into my life, and you started filling it up. Your snarky attitude. Those grubby fingernails. That sexy ring in your brow. Your bitchin’ ass, and I don’t mean the one on your arm.”
He reached for her hand and pulled it close, despite her protest. Over her shoulder in the distance, Earl gave him a nod and looked over the crowd, ignoring an objecting Del. With the noise in the bar, only someone close could hear them in the corner. He just hoped she didn’t start swinging at him before he could finish saying what he needed to.
“What do you want from me?” she snarled. “I put it all on the line for you and you told me—”
“That we should talk about it later. Jesus, Del. I’d just watched my son and the woman I love nearly die. You’d think you could cut me some slack.”
She tensed and blinked at him. “What?”
“Seeing you on the pavement, just lying there, bleeding… It took me back to a very dark place. Then having to visit you in the hospital… Seriously, the last time I was there before this accident, Lea bled out after giving birth. So yes, I was way fucked up when we talked.”
She didn’t try to jerk her hand free. “And maybe scared?”
“No maybe about it. I haven’t felt so deeply for anyone since Lea. Then you came along, flaunting that ass, feeding my boy sugar, kissing me with that mouth that always makes me burn. I mean, come on. How could I not love you?” He smiled.
She teared up. “Don’t lie. I know you don’t really—”
“Love you? I do. And not because you can tolerate my brothers’ odd girlfriends.”
“They’re not odd.”
“And my hyper son.”
“He’s not h-hyper.” She grabbed a napkin and blew her nose with her free hand.
“Or that you can swallow me like a boa downing an ostrich egg. I know, the visual’s not the best, but Colin has gone on and on about snakes since the field trip, and I know more than I’d like to about their dietary habits.”
She snorted.
“He misses you, you know.”
She wiped her eyes. “That is so low, playing the kid card.”
“I know. I’m a desperate guy.” Feeling as if he’d gained some ground, he waved away Lara with the tray of food and moved around the table to Del. He picked her up and seated her sideways across his lap, praying the chair wouldn’t give way. “Del, I’m not the only one with baggage. Your mom did a number on you.” He stroked her scar. “I won’t lie and say I expected this, because I didn’t. It’s been a long time since I’ve said this to a special woman. And I didn’t think she existed out there for me anymore. But she does. You do.
“I love you. And I want to marry you.”
She stared at him with huge eyes. “Wait. Marriage?”
“Sweetness, I want it all. But you have to know, if you take me, you have to agree to getting not only a kid, but a puppy too. Colin wanted me to tell you that.”
“He did?”
“You’re not going to faint, are you?”
“Shut up. I don’t faint.” There, her voice sounded stronger. He’d been worried for a moment. “So Colin’s good with us being, uh, together?”
“Uh, yeah.”
When she smacked him on the shoulder, he knew they’d be all right.
“I’m not done,” he continued. “You get my stellar family, and we really know how to barbecue. You get my brown house with my brown furniture, and you get to fend off Maddie when she tries to get you to change that brown furniture. Because I’m not dealing with the diva designer anymore. That’s part of your job description.”
“What’s wrong with brown?”
He grinned. “Exactly. I love you so much. We’re so alike.”
“We are?”
“Who else gets your jokes?”
She settled her arms around his neck. “There is that.”
“And who else can make you come like crazy?” he said on a whisper and kissed her, as he’d been aching to d
o for days. “Del, I miss you so much. Come home with me. With us.” He looked into her shining eyes. “Colin’s a part of this. I won’t lie. He’s bugging the crap out of me about a little brother. The puppy was pushing it, but I’ll let you deal with the brother issue.”
She bit her lip. “Mike, are you sure? I just… When you didn’t say it back in the hospital, it about crushed me.”
“It’s hard to admit a feeling you’re scared shitless to have. You have no idea what almost losing you in that parking lot felt like. I never want to feel it again. I’m scared as hell I might have to, but I can’t stand the idea of never living with you and finding out if you’re as amazing as I think you are. And if you think about it, I’ve seen your morning face and still want to be with you. That’s magic right there.”
“You’re an ass.” She kissed him.
“Your ass. Well, you know what I mean.”
She laughed softly. “I do.”
“That’s what I want you to say when we walk up the aisle together. I want it all, Delilah. With you.” When she said nothing, he blurted, “I even promise to like your brother. I already like your dad and Rena, but I’ll throw in Jethro as a bonus.”
She stared into his eyes, and then she smiled. “Shh. That name’s a family secret.”
“Then marry me or I’ll tell everyone I know, and I know a lot of people.”
“Blackmail, huh? I guess I’d better then, to save my poor brother.”
“Yep. Marriage, babies, dogs, the works.”
Her bright smile teetered.
He frowned. “What? What’s wrong?”
“Your mom hates me.”
“Oh, that.”
“Yes, that.” She scowled. “Mothers-in-law can be vicious, so I’ve heard. And you are clearly a momma’s boy.”
“Hey.”
“Well? You took Grace out when she said to.”
“Oh.” He flushed. “Okay, I might have stretched the truth about that. Grace and me that night? That was actually me being totally afraid I was falling for you. So I asked her out to stop thinking about you. Not my mom. And no, it didn’t work.”
Instead of being angry, she looked pleased. “Really? I scared you back then?”