Page 39 of Adoring Delaney

“Yeah, I know it’s not. You thought I’d let you trample over our history and bullshit yourself. You hadn’t planned on me calling you out on it so now you’re pissed. You forget how well I know you so I know what you’re trying to do and I’m not gonna let you do it.”

Wrong thing to say.

I knew this when Delaney’s blue eyes flashed with anger and she leaned in so she could seethe without our dinner mates hearing.

“You’re an ass.”

“Yep. But an honest one.”

“Glad you know me so well while you’ve kept me in the dark all these years.”

“Nothing but your own stubbornness is stopping you from asking all the questions you want. But I will warn you, I won’t lie to you. So be careful what it is you think you want to know about me. Because my answers won’t change shit about shit. You are mine, no matter what you learn.”

“You’re crazy,” she blurted.

“Yep, crazy in love with you.”

Delaney’s eyes closed and she looked like she was praying for patience. My gaze went to the window and I caught sight of Natalie, the woman who’d chatted Laney up. She was walking through the parking lot empty-handed and got into a sporty little Jetta with Florida plates. Could have been a rental, or her story about moving to Georgia from Illinois could’ve been bullshit.

Either way, I hadn’t liked the way she’d sat so close to us. And I really didn’t like the way she looked at me, open and hungry. By the time the woman had glanced back to Laney she’d hid her response and she’d done it well. That was the part that had bothered me the most. The woman was good, she was used to lying, and she could mask her feelings at will.

“Have you ever been shot?” Delaney asked and my eyes slid back to her.

“Yes.”

“The scar on your arm? The one you told me was no big deal?” Her brow lifted and her mouth twisted.

“I did not lie to you. It wasn’t a big deal. It was a graze and took a few stitches to repair.”

Maybe this wasn’t a good idea.

“Did you like being a SEAL?”

“Yes.”

“Then why’d you leave the Navy?”

“There were a lot of reasons. Some having to do with family and me missing out on important stuff. Part of it was you. I’d given up us being together and having a family for long enough. The regret had piled heavy and I wasn’t willing to put us aside any longer. And the last two deployments had taken a toll. One in particular was really bad, the other just hammered home I’d seen enough.”

“What have you seen?”

“Let’s shelf that question until we’re at home and not in a busy restaurant.”

“Right,” she mumbled.

“I didn’t say I wouldn’t tell you, Laney. But I’m not going to tell you about the carnage and evil I’ve witnessed in a place that I cannot hold you or give you a deeper explanation than just telling you I’ve seen people die, people that I had a hand in sending to hell.”

Her eyes widened in shock and I wondered if she’d ever thought about what I did. If she knew that every time I’d come home to her I’d done so with blood-soaked hands. That every time I crawled into bed next to her and held her, I’d come from a place where I’d dealt out death and fought to stay alive. All things I never wanted her to consider or contemplate.

Now I was questioning my actions. The imagination was a powerful thing, if she’d allowed her mind to wander, her version of what I’d done may’ve been worse than the reality.

“Did that happen a lot?” she whispered.

“Yes.”

The waiter came back to our table, I rattled off my order, but never took my eyes off Delaney. Her skin had paled and she stuttered out her menu choices.

“Laney?” I called when the man left our table.

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