Wilder Days. Linda Winstead Jones
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have been tough.”
Del’s thumb rocked against Vic’s shoulder, an easily offered comfort she didn’t brush away. “The divorce?”
Vic nodded. “At first, she didn’t really understand. I think she spent years waiting…waiting for Preston to come home. When she finally realized that he wasn’t coming home, she got angry. She’s still angry, but she’ll be okay.” Vic took a deep, stilling breath. “The tough-girl image is an act, mostly.”
Del nodded. “I understand.” Okay, it was a lie. He didn’t understand. But since he wouldn’t be around long, he didn’t need to, right?
He didn’t like the uncertainty that washed through him. What if he was around for a while? What if even after the Mayrons were caught and Vic was safe, he continued to see her?
Like she’d let him. Vic had made it clear that truce or no truce, he was not welcome in her life.
The spot Del had chosen as their hideout didn’t look like much, but Vic approached the cabin with the hope that the inside would be better.
It wasn’t.
“Oh, my God,” Noelle said as she stepped from the sagging front porch into the main room of the sprawling cabin. “This is a joke, right? We’re not actually going to sleep here.”
“Haven’t you ever heard of roughing it, kid?” Del asked with a wide smile on his face.
“This was all your idea, wasn’t it, Wilder?” Noelle asked, casting a narrow-eyed glance over her shoulder.
Del’s grin remained in place.
Noelle began to explore, very quickly discovering that there was no phone and no air-conditioning. She expressed overly exuberant delight upon finding indoor plumbing.
While Noelle disappeared down the hallway to choose the bedroom that would be her own, Vic faced Del.
“I’m sure we’ll be okay here,” she said, steeling herself to send Del away. “Thanks. When all’s clear, I guess you’ll let me know. Right?” Her heart caught in her throat as she looked up at him; her mouth went dry. He had to get out of here. What if one morning he looked at Noelle and just knew? Then what?
She didn’t like the way he looked at her, his smile fading, his eyes going dark. “Who said I was going anywhere?”
“You can’t…”
“I can,” he interrupted. “And I will.”
He took one step toward her. One step was all the room she had. With that simple move he robbed her of her safety zone, her personal space, the shield that kept him at a distance. This close she could feel his heat, see the stubble on his jaw. The faint, intriguing scent of his body drifted to her.
“You’re still angry,” he said softly.
“Of course I’m still…”
“I’m sorry,” he whispered, cupping her chin and forcing her to look him in the eye. “I should have told you what I do as soon as I had the chance. It’s just that when I realized what you thought, it hurt a little.”
“What else was I supposed to think?”
He nodded, once. “Fair enough.”
“You…you investigated me,” she said in an accusatory tone of voice.
“Yes, I did.”
“Why?”
Del hesitated. “I can’t assume anything, Vic. I need to find out why they went after you. There are other ways to get to me. I can’t figure out how they connected us. It’s been such a long time.” He moved a little bit closer.
“So investigating me was just…part of the job.”
“No.” His head dipped. “I wanted to know.”
“You wanted to know what?”
“Everything.” With every heartbeat he moved closer.
Vic licked her lips. “There’s not much to know. My life is…pretty dull. At least…”
Del kissed her. She’d known it was coming, had passed and ignored her chance to step out of the danger zone and away from this kiss that was going to complicate everything. Her life. His. Her heart.
She loved the way Del kissed, his lips gentle and firm, his body molding to hers and his arms wrapping around her. He gave everything he had to this kiss, the way he had always given everything of himself to whatever he did. The movement of his mouth over hers rocked her to her core, made her forget everything else.
His tongue swept over her bottom lip, and she couldn’t contain the catch in her throat that gave away her response. One caressing hand was in her hair, the other stayed firmly at her spine. Every now and then his fingers rocked, comforting and much too arousing.
There was comfort in a kiss. She had forgotten that. She had also forgotten what it was like to be swept away by physical sensation. To feel as if she were melting, as if her knees might buckle at any moment. Her lips parted more widely, as unconsciously she invited more. And more.
“This,” a cold voice called from too nearby, “is totally disgusting.”
The kiss ended abruptly and Del backed up a step just as Vic did. To his credit, he looked almost as shaken as she felt.
“Gross,” Noelle muttered. “Why on earth did you two kidnap me from a perfectly decent vacation to make me watch this disgusting display of lewd middle-aged behavior?”
Del recovered quickly. “You’re our chaperon, kiddo.”
“Don’t call me kiddo,” Noelle said coldly, her eyes pinned on Del. “We’re not going to bond or anything, so you might as well save your time and energy.”
“No kiddo, huh?”
“No kiddo.”
“How about I call you ladybug, instead?”
Noelle made a guttural noise that very clearly spoke of her distaste, before spinning around and heading for the kitchen.
Del smiled down at Vic. “I think she’s beginning to like me.”
Vic shook her head. “I’m sorry. She’s really not always so…awful.”
And no matter how much a kiss made her think otherwise, she knew Del would not be around long enough to get to see Noelle’s better side.
Going to bed early was preferable to watching the two lovebirds. How incredibly gross.
Noelle kicked back on the bed, her eyes on the ceiling, her headphones and the music in her ears drowning out any sounds that might drift through her closed door.
This was bad. Really bad. Yeah, her mom did date now and then, but never guys like Wilder. She spent more time with her friends than with guys, especially Wanda Freeman. Wanda had even fixed her best friend Vic up a few times, but that had always been a disaster. There were men from Grandpa’s company, dweebs like that stiff James Moss, or that guy who smiled all the time, Ryan what’s-his-name. She had never worried about those guys because they never kissed her mom like that, or went to a crappy shack in the woods on vacation or called her kiddo and Ladybug. She snorted. Wilder obviously thought if he played nice with the kid it would make a difference to the mother. Fat chance.
If only her Dad knew about Wilder, he’d do something. He’d come in and run that thug off and realize that the three of them belonged together again. It had been such a long time…she barely remembered what it was like to have a father and a mother. Her dad steered clear of her because her mother was always there, and that was obviously uncomfortable for him. It wasn’t his fault that he rarely came around, or that when he did he didn’t stay long. It wasn’t his fault that he never smiled anymore, or that he was always so anxious to leave.
Yeah,