Chapter 21

21

B reakfast had gone as I knew it would—Logan trying his best to charm Delaney. I found that I didn't care my friend had been innocently flirting with her all through breakfast. Not when I'd had the pleasure of sitting next to her ,watching her smile and hearing her laugh.

Damn, she was gorgeous.

Everything about her pure beauty.

Her embarrassment had waned at the mention of Logan's sisters, and the bond that had started continued to grow. Both of them ganged up on me when they could.

Their jabs were met with half-assed protests. I gave zero fucks they were having fun at my expense. I was happy Logan had kept talks about our deployments to a minimum and instead focused on the team antics.

We'd spent hours at the café, then since we were already on Atlantic Avenue, near 38 th Street, Logan had suggested we take a walk down the boardwalk and show Delaney the Naked Warrior Monument.

I had mixed feelings about this. Not because I didn't want Delaney to see it but because I had friends who were honored on the wall surrounding the statue. Gold stars that weren't simply tokens—they were great men who'd answered the call and in doing so had given their lives.

I'd visited the memorial many times over the years since it had been erected, and each time I was left with a hole in my gut. I didn't want this trip to be about sadness and sacrifice. I wanted to see Delaney smiling and happy. However, as soon as Logan had told her about the statue, she insisted we make the trek.

The atmosphere changed as soon as her tear-filled eyes read the inscription, and by the time we'd left, she, too, had felt the gravity of service.

Thankfully Logan was with us, and he had an uncanny ability to make those around him happy. Which knowing how he was raised was a goddamned miracle. Earlier when he'd told Delaney about his sisters and skimmed over why there was an age gap between them, I was happy Laney hadn't gone any deeper. Logan's father didn't leave, his mother had killed him in self-defense. It was a topic that was never talked about. He'd told the story once and made it more than clear it was never to be discussed again. None of the team ever talked about it, not even amongst ourselves.

Now after spending the day with Logan tagging along with us, we were sitting in the restaurant bar waiting on the rest of the guys to show up. Delaney was squirming in her seat, obviously anxious to meet the rest of my friends.

"You got sand in your panties, girly?" Logan was immediately commenting about her movements.

"I'd appreciate it if you didn't talk about my woman's panties," I grunted.

"See? He's easy to rile up." Logan chuckled.

"Just a little nervous," she admitted. "I've never met Carter's friends."

"Never?"

"Nope."

"Well, I'm afraid you're not gonna start meeting them tonight," Logan returned. "We're not friends, we're family."

"I like that," Laney whispered, then she froze and her eyes narrowed.

I turned to follow her gaze but saw nothing out of the ordinary.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing. Sorry." Laney shook her head and looked back to Logan. "I love that you're all close like that."

"Laney. What'd you see?" I demanded.

"It's nothing. A woman walked by and for a second she looked like Natalie."

"Natalie?"

"You know, the—"

"I know who Natalie is. Did the woman look like Natalie or was it Natalie?" I asked for clarification though my gut was already telling me the answer.

"Looked like her. We're eight hours from home."

"That doesn't mean shit, Laney. Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I'm sure. What is it with you and that woman? You're scaring me again, acting like she's some crazy psycho."

Shit, I didn't want to scare her, especially not when she was already nervous about meeting the guys. But everything inside of me was telling me Natalie was not who she said she was.

"I just don't like her."

"You don't even know her."

"Neither do you, baby. And I'm sorry I'm worrying you, but I cannot ignore my gut. Something's telling me there's something off about her."

"Who are we talking about?" Trey asked from behind me.

I knew the moment Delaney's eyes took in the guys, most notably Trey. I hadn't lied when I told her he should've been a model or movie star. She had the same response every woman had, only she recovered faster than most. I would've been jealous had I not known Laney the way I did. She may find him attractive but she'd never cheat on me. Not even mentally, so while she could appreciate Trey's good looks, that's where it'd end.

"No one, brother. Good to see you." I stood, bringing Laney with me up off her bar stool and offered my old team handshakes, then made the introductions.

"Delaney, this is Drake, Matt, Trey, and Luke."

"Hi." Her smile was open and friendly but nerves had set in.

I pulled her closer to me and pride filled me when she returned the gesture and put her arm around my waist and hooked her finger around my belt loop.

It was something I'd never had the pleasure of feeling. We'd never gone out socially where I could openly claim her. It was startling, a reminder of the simple things we've never had.

"Table's almost ready. We asked for the patio," Logan told the guys.

"You ever been here, Delaney?" Matt inquired.

"No. First time in Virginia Beach," she returned.

Matt glanced at me, his confusion clear as day, then back to Laney. "Food's great but the view is better."

"So I've been told."

"How'd you meet Church?" Luke asked, shocking the hell out of me.

I figured one of the guys would ask, but I never imagined it would be Luke. I told Laney he was standoffish and not to expect much conversation from him. I didn't want her to take it personally, it was just Luke's way until he got to know you. Didn't know why he was that way and I'd respected his privacy enough not to pry.

"Um. We grew up together. Our dads served together in the Army," she answered.

"So you're the one."

"The one?"

"Luke," I warned.

"Yeah, the one that's had him tied in knots and miserable."

Delaney went stiff and pressed closer. Fucking hell.

"Not cool, brother," Logan joined the conversation.

"What? Just pointing out the obvious. We've known Church a long time. Never seen him really smile. Never seen him with a woman. Never known him to be happy. He goes out with us, has a few drinks, pretends to have a good time, but mostly it feels like he's there to babysit, then he goes home. Alone. Always wondered. Years I've waited to understand why a man whose field is wide and varied would never take what was being offered. Have to admit, for a long time we thought he was gay. Tried to let him know we were all cool with it if he was and waited for him to come out. Then one night he slips and mentions a girl from back home, one that meant everything but he could never have. Clearly, you're the woman. Unless in the last few months, Church's done an about-face and is suddenly picking up randos."

Even though Luke's idiotic, diarrhea-of-the-mouth had confirmed what I'd told Delaney, that not only had I been faithful but I'd never truly been happy, I was pissed. Laney was clearly uncomfortable and I'd told her she had nothing to fear about meeting my friends. I didn't appreciate Luke making me a liar.

"You thought he was gay?" Laney chuckled.

Out of everything Luke had said, that was not what I'd pictured her honing in on.

"Of course we did. What else would explain him turning down every sweet piece of tail that approached?"

"Maybe he'd been saving himself for marriage?" Laney joked.

"Right." Luke smiled. "Never thought that was a real thing."

"Maybe he'd just felt generous."

"Generous?"

"Yeah, not taking any of those women to bed, leaving the rest of you to have a chance."

"Right." Luke smiled huge. "That could've been it. But it wasn't. Which brings me back to you being the one. Have to admit, I thought Church was crazy. Now not so much."

"Table's ready," the hostess announced, interrupting Delaney and Luke.

I glanced down at Delaney and she was rolling her eyes. My vision shifted back to the hostess and she was openly gaping. I didn't have to follow her line of sight to know she was looking at Trey. I wanted to laugh and explain to Laney that this was a regular occurrence. And while it was amusing that she'd told Luke that me not taking women home was in an effort to give the rest of the guys a shot at getting laid, the truth was, when Trey was with us, none of them had a chance.

"The table?" Delaney broke the silence, irritation thick.

"Yeah. Right this way," the hostess snapped out of her Trey-induced trance and walked us through the packed restaurant out to the back patio, seating us next to the railing, giving us a perfect view of the Atlantic.

"Your…um…server will be right out. Enjoy." The woman scampered away after dropping menus on the table.

"So, what's good?" Delaney asked and all five of my friends were openly studying her. All with matching smiles.

"Anything," Logan answered.

Silence fell as everyone looked over the dinner options. Drake was the first to set his menu down and break the hush.

"What do you do, Delaney?"

"I'm a teacher. High school math."

"A teacher?" A lascivious grin plastered on his face and I knew where his mind had gone.

Asshole.

"Yeah."

"You don't look like any teacher I ever had." He shook his head for good measure. "Bet the boys are fighting to get into your class, suddenly taking a liking to mathematics."

"They're taking a liking to something, though I doubt it's addition and subtraction," Logan mumbled.

"Gross," Laney complained.

"Maybe, but it's the truth," Drake told her.

"We can't be friends," Laney declared. "If you ever say that again, I'll have to break up with you."

Five men sat up straight, all eyes on Laney, then the patio was filled with booming laughter.

"What?" Laney turned to face me. "It's disgusting. I wanna throw up a little now."

"Babe. Seriously." I smiled.

"Seriously, what?"

"You're fucking hot. I've seen you leave in the morning to go to school in your heels and skirts. They may be teenagers, but they're definitely hot for teacher."

"Carter!" she snapped. "Can we please end this conversation before I quit my job."

"Sure, baby. You know what you want?"

"Yes."

Delaney disgruntled and full of attitude was hot as hell. I couldn't stop the chuckle and I didn't try. When her lips tipped up and she gave me one of her pretty smiles it hit me, like they always do, straight in the heart then in my dick, and like all the other times before I was fighting getting hard.

Her smile turned wicked, she knew what she was doing to me and she liked it.

The waitress came over to take our orders and spent a good amount trying to talk to Trey, making her time at our table longer than it needed to be.

"Well, that was annoying," Delaney muttered. "So, Carter tells me you have some fun stories to tell me."

"No, I didn't. I told you to ignore any story they tell you, not that they'd be fun."

"Yeah, yeah, same difference." She waved her hand in front of her face and glanced around the table hopefully.

"Vastly different, Laney baby."

"He ever tell you about the time he lost a bet and had to eat a bag full of gummy bears?" Matt asked.

"Gummy bears? That doesn't sound like a punishment."

I groaned at the memory and Matt smiled. Dick.

"The eating part isn't, but the evacuation of your gastrointestinal tract is," Matt explained.

"Really?" Laney laughed.

"Oh, yeah. It was a mad dash to the head," Drake added, chuckling. "And we were on deployment."

Delaney's laugh grew louder until she had tears running down her cheeks and she was shaking. "Sorry, sorry," she wheezed.

"It's not that funny," I grumbled.

"Yeah, it is," she returned, trying to control her hilarity. "I wished I would've known about that when we were younger."

"At least I didn't have to go to the rub and tug and get my balls waxed."

"Wha…what?" Laney stuttered in amusement.

"Oh, yeah. Logan there had to get his balls waxed. He bet us all he'd beat our run times by five minutes. He lost. That afternoon we took him to a local massage place that also did waxing. I'll never forget the look on the woman's face when we told her what we needed. Logan marched straight into the back room, dropped his pants, got up on the table, cupped his balls, and shouted, ‘Let her rip,'" I told Laney.

"That wasn't the best part," Trey added. "The woman was Asian and she didn't look pleased, until she smeared the hot wax on his testicles and he flinched. Then she counted down, ‘Three…this is gonna hurt…two…you should be ready…one.' She tore the paper away and I swear to God the tortured howl from Logan made her day."

"No. Wait." Matt snorted. "Remember when she started waving her hand fanning his balls saying, ‘Oh, no, look at the swelling. Not responsible for that. Men no wax sensitive parts. I think you missing skin. I have cream for that.'"

"The missing skin wasn't the worst part," Logan grouched. "A week later when the hair started to grow back. I'm sure I looked like I had crabs the way I was diggin' at my crotch."

Delaney lost it. Her head tipped back and she cracked up.

The rest of the world around me ceased to exist as I took her in.

So damn beautiful. Every part of her.