“You wanna talk?” Ron asked at last.
Eric had only told him that he’d said something thoughtless and they’d had a fight. He didn’t know the details. “I asked Louie to check her out,” he blurted out.
Ron grimaced. “Like, full-on background check?”
“Well, it was geared more towards her ex-husband, to see what his deal is, but that required getting info on her too.”
“And you found something?”
Eric sighed. “There were rumors of an affair with one of the other professors she worked with. She was a teaching assistant in the biology department, where she also worked as a paid research scientist, and her ex told everyone she was screwing this guy, which led to their divorce.”
“And you believe that?” Ron cut his eyes to Eric.
“Well, no, but I thought I should ask her about it.”
“How, exactly, did you ask her about it?” The look on Ron’s face told Eric he’d fucked up royally.
“I just told her that a buddy of mine had dug into her and Derek’s past to see what the guy was up to and there were allegations of an affair.”
“And?”
“That’s what she said.” He blew out a breath. “And I told her I needed to know what happened.”
“Oh, for fuck’s sake, Eric, are you an idiot?” Ron glared at him. “You made her defend herself instead of asking something like, ‘Why would he think that?’ I mean, it didn’t occur to you she would be hurt that you even had to ask?”
“But what difference does it make? Cheating isn’t nice, but a lot of times there are extenuating circumstances and I thought maybe… Like if he’d hit her or something. Oh, hell, I don’t know what I was thinking.”
“So what are you going to do?” Ron asked, looking out to where Delilah had just gotten up on her board again.
“I don’t fucking know. She’s pissed and has every right to be, but she can’t go doing something this reckless, especially if I’m out of town.”
“You’d better make things right before she leaves your sorry ass.”
Eric glanced at him. “You think she’d leave?”
“It was a marriage of convenience, and while she technically doesn’t have anywhere to go, she strikes me as pretty independent. I think she’d rather live day-to-day than stay with a man who doesn’t believe in her after the way her ex treated her.”
“Great.” He watched Delilah glide in and fall off the board right at the end. She came out of the water, dropped her surfboard and sat down on the sand, staring out at the horizon. Damn, he wanted to talk to her.
“You want to go talk to her?” Ron guessed.
“I think maybe she needs time to cool off. Would you talk to her now or wait?”
“I’d go now, but it’s not my relationship. I don’t know her like you do.”
“I think we’d just fight more right now,” Eric said. “I’ll let her surf and then we’ll talk when she gets home.”
“O-kay.” Ron gave a little shrug. “It’s your funeral.”
“Fuck.” Eric leaned back in the seat and sighed.
“Hey, who’s that guy talking to her? Is that Diego or whatever his name is?”
“Shit. Yes.” Eric immediately got out of the truck with Ron behind him.
They walked through the sand towards Delilah and Diego. She’d stood up and was inching away from Diego, but he seemed to be talking a mile a minute.
“Hey, babe.” Eric approached without hesitation, sliding his arm around her waist. “What do you want, Diego?”
“We were just talking,” Diego said, taking a step back.
“You were talking,” Delilah snapped.
“I told you to stay away from her,” Eric said quietly. “She likes to surf here. If you keep showing up, we’re going to have a problem.”
“It’s a public beach,” Diego said. “I can surf anywhere I want.”
“Fine. Then we’ll find somewhere else.” He tugged Delilah’s hand and though she resisted at first, she finally followed him.
Neither of them talked until they were almost to the truck. “What did he say?” he finally asked her.
“It was weird. He said I should leave San Diego before it was too late. I asked him what he was talking about and he said I would find out pretty soon if I didn’t get out of town.”
“He’s in touch with your ex,” Eric grunted angrily. “I knew it. Sonofabitch.”
“I’ll drive Delilah’s car to my house,” Ron spoke automatically. “And I’ll call Cheeto to come help me deliver it to your house in the morning or something.”
“But—” Delilah began.
“I know you’re mad at me,” Eric interrupted. “And I deserve it. But right now, this is about your safety and Elias’s. I could get called up any minute and I need to know the two of you are safe when I’m gone.”
She seemed about to protest but finally nodded. “You’re right.” She climbed into his truck silently and he mentally sighed. It was going to be a long night.
Chapter 17
Delilah didn’t say a word as she went to take a shower. She shut the bedroom door behind her and didn’t come out again, so Eric gave Elias a bath, put him in his pajamas and gave him a snack. By the time he got him to bed, Delilah had been closed off in their room for over an hour and he knocked lightly before going in.
She was on the bed but not asleep, the bedside lamp on and the TV going without sound.
“I’m sorry,” he said after a moment.
“I know.”
“I was trying to help, to see if we could find a way to get Derek out of your life for good. I know you didn’t cheat on him. I shouldn’t have phrased it the way I did, but I was caught off guard. I wish you’d told me that was how he tried to discredit you.”
“Oh, so now you believe me?” Her eyes were filled with hurt and he hated that he was responsible for it.
“I always did. I wasn’t sure how to approach the whole thing and I fucked it up. I’m really sorry.”
“Is that how it’s going to be? Some little thing happens and you immediately think the worst of me? Do you honestly believe that I ran away from my life, my career, everyone I’ve ever known, because I had an affair?”
He looked down. “Yeah, I know. When you put it like that, it sounds ridiculous.”
“Why would you do that, think that about me? I thought we meant something to each other now?”
“We do. It hasn’t been that long, though. You know?”
“It’s been long enough for me to trust you with my life. I married you, even though that could give away my whereabouts if he found a good detective, because I trusted you immediately. I took your name. I’m helping you raise your son. I’ve—” She was cut off as his pager went off.
“Fuck.” He snatched it out of his pocket and groaned. “I have to go. Wheels up in two hours.”
She turned away, staring at the TV. “Be safe.”
“Honey, we need to finish this conversation. Hey.” He gently reached for her chin. “Please don’t write me, us, off yet. Please?”
“I’ll be here when you get back,” was all she said.
Eric had never had trouble concentrating when he was on a mission, whether he was deployed in the Middle East or on a short-term recon mission anywhere in the world. He’d learned to compartmentalize his personal life after more than a decade in the military and all his years of training, but this time was different. Yes, he was on task, but late at night or early in the morning, his thoughts drifted to his wife.
And she truly was his wife now. Time, it seemed, didn’t make much difference. When you knew, you knew. He’d known this quickly with Maria, but that was because they’d been young and he’d needed time to wrap his head around the concept of forever. He’d known she was important right away, though, and that had happened with Delilah too. Yes, his family had a big part in that because they’d somehow vetted her, but their connection had been strong and instant. Erin, Mark and Ron all loved her.
They were cautious, of course, but first impressions were important in their lives, whether it was military, intelligence or bodyguarding, so he trusted their instincts as much as his own. And Delilah hadn’t set off any flags.
He was the only one who was reluctant to trust her completely and deep down he knew it was fear and insecurity. Fear of getting hurt again, losing someone else who was important to him, and insecurity because she was hotter than hot, and on the inside, he was still chubby Eric whose fellow Marines had constantly teased him about his appetite. Why would this beautiful brainiac want to be with a military guy who made a decent but not impressive salary, and already had a kid to boot? Would she leave once Derek was no longer an issue?
That was the root of it and he hated the deep-seated insecurity he harbored. Everyone close to him thought he’d simply worked hard to get into not just good shape, but amazing shape, but the discipline it had taken came from his grief, not any true need to change. He’d liked who he was, the goofy one who loved to eat and talked like a gangster to make his friends laugh though he had two college degrees and spoke six languages fluently. Delilah was special, though. And she was his. And he was going to lose her if he didn’t get his head out of his ass.
“If you don’t stop tossing and turning up there,” Ron grumbled from the bunk below him, “I’m going to knock your ass out.”
“Sorry.” Eric hadn’t realized he was doing it. “Can’t sleep.”
“Wanna go for a walk?”
“Sure.”
They were at a small military base in Afghanistan and it was a low-key mission. They’d finished the job earlier today but weather conditions prohibited them from leaving, so they were planning to head home in the morning. In the meantime, he was pissed at himself about what he’d done and unsure what to do next.
“This about Delilah?”
“Duh.”
“What are you gonna do?”
“If I knew that, we wouldn’t be walking around at three in the morning.”
“Did you apologize?”
“Of course.”
“She didn’t accept?”
“The fucking beeper went off right in the middle and when I said we had to talk about it, she said she’d be there when I got back.”
“So what’s the problem?”
“What do I say to make this up to her? What do I do to show her that I trust her, and it was just a knee-jerk reaction, nothing more?”
“I don’t know, man. Women are odd creatures. We love them, and they’re way more evolved than us, but they’re confusing too.”
“I don’t have the money to spoil her with expensive gifts or anything like that.”
“You already did. You bought her a car and a surfboard, which was something really important to her.”
“Well, my family bought the surfboard.”
“I don’t think Delilah’s interested in money in that way.”
“I don’t think so either. She’s so careful about what she spends, even after I added her to the bank account and got her a debit card.”
“Look, I don’t think this is the end for you two. I really don’t. She’s mad, hurt, whatever, but she’s not just going to walk away because you said something dumb. Tell her you love her, that you’ll do anything to—”
“Whoa.” Eric stopped walking. “We haven’t used the L word yet.”
“Why not?” Ron looked confused.
“Because it’s been like five minutes.”
Ron rolled his eyes. “Dude. It’s been two months. You’re married. Is it soon? Sure. But where is it written that love has a specific time frame? Stop being a douche and do what you have to do to show her how you feel.”
“What if I don’t know how I feel?”
“Don’t you?”
“Maria’s been gone five years, but fifteen years ago, I pledged myself to her for eternity, in front of the whole world. How do I do that again with someone else?”
“She died. You didn’t cheat or leave her or decide you changed your mind… She died. Maria was my friend too and I’m willing to bet everything I own, including my family, that she would not want you to be alone. She’d want her son to have a mom. She’d want you to be happy. Maria didn’t have a selfish bone in her body. And you know it. Don’t make this about her. Accept the situation for what it is—you’re scared.”
“Yeah, I’m scared. What does a brilliant scientist who looks like Delilah want with a Marine like me, who’s bound to grow back into his dad bod any day now?”
“This is about your weight again? Eric, did Maria care about your weight?”
“No, but…”
“But what? She wasn’t beautiful?”
“Yeah, of course she was, but we met as kids, and she knew me. Plus, she was just a regular girl. All she wanted in life was to be a mom and a wife. Delilah is going to do big things one day; I know it. She hides it because of what she’s been through, but I can see the fire in her. And I don’t know if I have that fire.”
“You do. More fire than I have, man. All your degrees and languages. The CIA has been hounding you for years. Louie can get you in at the NSA in a heartbeat. You’re going to do more than Force Recon, my friend. I would bet my last dollar on that. But I don’t think any of that matters. All that matters is this.” He put his fist against his chest. “Yours and hers.”
Eric stared at him for a long time. “Maybe you’re right.”
“Of course I’m right, asshole. Now can we go to bed?”
“I guess so.” They started to walk again. “Thanks, dickhead.”
“Any time, asshole.”
Eric smiled to himself. He was going to fix this. He had to.
Chapter 18
Delilah hadn’t left the base while Eric was gone. Though she could have, she just hadn’t felt like it. There was a playground on base and she’d taken Elias there one day, but it was too hot to stay for long and they’d wound up at home playing with water guns and the garden hose. Today she was just sad and bored. She talked to Bobbi every day but Bobbi was busy with the baby, and Leslie had gone back East to visit her parents. She didn’t dare call Antonia because no one needed to know what was going on with her and Eric, since she honestly didn’t know herself.
He’d apologized and that had been nice, but it still hurt that he’d thought that about her. They had a lot of soul-searching to do if they were going to stay married. She couldn’t stay with him, living and loving and building a family, if he didn’t trust her. He didn’t have to be in love with her, but trust was important. Derek had never trusted her, even though she’d never done anything to make him doubt her, and then when she’d caught him killing his mistress, he’d lost his mind.
While Eric would never hurt her physically, he’d gutted her emotionally with his lack of faith. Professor Barnes had been a good friend, her mentor, and he’d been there for her when she’d realized she had to run. He’d given her a little money, just a few hundred dollars, to help, and he’d driven her to her first stop. He was gay, something no one but a few close to him knew, so the idea that they’d been having an affair was ludicrous. Not many people knew his secret because he was a tenured professor and didn’t want any drama in his professional life, but he’d told her because they’d grown close while working together.
Maybe it was time to go back to Boston and face the music, she thought sadly. Derek might kill her, but at least she’d be free, one way or another. She didn’t want to die, especially not now that she had Eric and Elias, but she might not actually have Eric, and Elias would always be safe with his father. She brought an element of danger that had bothered her from the beginning, but Eric and his entire family had assured her he could handle it. And he had. If only he trusted her the way she trusted him. Maybe it was different with guys. God knows, she hadn’t had much luck with them in the past.
“Please, Lilah, can we go to the beach? It’s so boring in the house.” Elias turned pleading eyes on her.
She chewed her lip thou
ghtfully. What was the harm if they went to one of the bigger, really busy beaches? She wouldn’t let Elias out of her sight and with the crowds everywhere, surely there would be help if she needed it? Diego didn’t scare her, for some reason. She didn’t understand why he’d been showing up all of a sudden, but she wasn’t actually afraid of him. Just to be safe, she’d call Bobbi and tell her where they were going.
“What if we came too?” Bobbi asked. “We have a big beach blanket and a great umbrella that I can keep the baby under. I’ll pack a cooler and we can all hang out. I haven’t been to the beach since last summer. Besides, this way, I can keep an eye on everything while you’re in the water.”
“Are you sure?”
“Of course. I don’t like bullies and we’re going to stand up to him if we have to.”
“Bobbi, my ex is a lunatic.”
“Well, he doesn’t know me, so it’ll be fine. Since you have the surfboard and everything in your car, and I have all these car seats in mine, why don’t we just meet there in forty-five minutes?”
Delilah told her where to go and they disconnected. It would be good to get out of the house and not think about Eric for a few hours.
The afternoon was long, lazy and fun. Though it was hot, Bobbi’s umbrella gave them time out of the sun and the kids were having a blast. Delilah had surfed a few waves but was too worried about leaving Bobbi for a long time with four kids to keep an eye on, so she mostly let Julian and Elias take turns trying to get up on the board. Sam had no interest, happy to build sandcastles and stay close to her mother. The baby seemed to enjoy the heat, sleeping in his bouncy seat most of the day.
“What time should we get out of here?” Bobbi asked her around five, when the kids started complaining about being hungry.
“Are you done? Do you want to go home?” Delilah looked around regretfully. “Honestly, this is my favorite place in the world. The beach is where I find my zen. After I moved to L.A., the beach was the only place I could really relax. Now it’s become my happy place. I don’t know if I could ever live somewhere without a beach again.”
Protecting Delilah - Kat Mizera Page 9