Sail With Me (8 page)

            
Once inside she politely showed Jake the bathroom and excused herself as she went upstairs to change.
 
She was feeling more relaxed around him now and decided to just throw on a pair of denim shorts with a white tank top.
 
She adjusted her ponytail, brushed her teeth, and applied a fresh coat of shimmering clear gloss to her lips.
 
When she finally came downstairs she was surprised to find Jake in the backyard throwing a tennis ball for Fetch.
 
He was no longer in his suit but in shorts and a tight fitting t-shirt.
 
He was barefoot and holding onto a glass of wine.
 
“Hope you don’t mind, I found this in your kitchen and took the liberty of opening it up.
 
I poured a glass for you too,” and gestured to the small plastic table next to her lounge chair.
 
“I always keep a bag of workout clothes in my truck; never know when you’ll have the opportunity to go for a run.
 
Plus it just feels good to get out of that monkey suit.”
 
She didn’t mind at all.
 
She only wished she could take her eyes off of him.
 
He turned to throw the ball and Delaney wanted to die.

She picked up her wine and took a sip.
 
The bottle had been sitting on her kitchen counter collecting dust next to her iPod docking station.
 
Kevin had bought it to celebrate her birthday but she had thrown him out of the house a week before the celebration.
 
Now here she was, almost three years later, sharing it with a man she just meant eight days ago.
 
Carrying her glass into the house, she opened up the refrigerator and stared at the Diet Coke and yogurt.
 
She then opened the freezer and in the back corner hidden behind the chocolate chip ice cream she spotted a box of French bread pizza.
 
Feeling desperate, she held the box over her kitchen sink and scraped the frost from the box.
 
She couldn’t find an expiration date so she tore it open and heated up the toaster oven.
 
After setting the timer for twenty-five minutes she walked back outside.
 
Jake was walking along the edge of the tree line with Fetch at his side.
 
She watched as he walked the perimeter and would occasionally stop to pick up a large stick and throw it into the woods.
 
Delaney picked up the box of matches she had left outside a few nights before and walked around lighting citronella candles.
 
She heard the toaster oven alarm and went inside to plate the pizzas.
 
Balancing dinner and her glass of wine, she opened the screen door and headed toward the table.
 

Within seconds, Fetch had smelled the food and came sprinting across the yard with Jake close behind.
 
“Stouffers French Bread Pizza, I could recognize that anywhere,” he commented with that already familiar crooked smirk on his face.

“Well, it’s this or you starve to death.
 
I strongly suggest you sit and eat as fast as you can before Fetch takes it right off the table.
 
Trust me, I’ve seen the dog eat a rack of ribs in under five minutes.”
 
Topping off both of their drinks, she sat down and crossed her long thin legs and was thankful for having had a recent pedicure.
 
She could feel Jake’s eyes on her and was enjoying every bit of the attention.
 
It had been so long since she had feelings for a man, and Jake was the first since her divorce.
 
Eating their dinner in a comfortable silence, she felt full and placed the leftovers on Jake’s plate.
 
Without hesitating he broke off a piece of the crust for Fetch and ate the rest followed by the remainder of his wine.

Jake cleared the table and carried the dishes inside.
 
Delaney stayed outside enjoying the evening air and soft breeze.
 
She heard her kitchen window being pushed open and the music of Chris Isaak flowed out.
 
Seconds later Jake appeared and offered his hand in a gesture to dance.
 
He pulled her closely against him with one arm wrapped around her waist and the other holding her hand.
 
With her head against his bare chest she could hear the thumping of his heart.
 
His hardness was pressing against her stomach and it felt electrifying.
 
She opened her eyes just long enough to see the sky lit up in shades of pale reds and purples as the sun went down.
 
It was perfect, and she wanted to remember every second.
 

Leaning his forehead against hers and looking directly into her eyes, he gently said, “Delaney, Delaney, Delaney.
 
I can’t get my mind off of you.
 
I want every inch of you.”

Leaning down and cradling her face in his huge hands, he gave her a deep opened mouth kiss and ended it with a kiss on the bridge of her nose.
 
He wrapped his long arms tightly around her and took in the smell of her hair.
 
She wanted so badly to jump into his arms and wrap her thighs around him but instead she pushed him away.
 
“Jake, I feel the same way.
 
But I have some feelings to sort out first.
 
I’ve only been with one other man and you know how that ended.
 
I just want to get to know you better before we take this any further.”

Letting his fingers run down the side of her beautiful face, all he said was, “I’ll wait however long it takes.”
 
He kissed her again then turned and walked towards his truck.
 
He could feel his rod of pleasure pressing against his pants and he thought it would surely explode if he didn’t get out of there.
 
She could hear the sound of the engine turning over and the gears shifting into reverse.
 
She hesitated then ran to the end of her driveway to catch him but it was too late.
 
His brake lights were already fading in the distance.
 
Fetch was standing at her side now and started whining.
 
“I know girl, I’m a complete idiot.
 
I just turned down the hottest man I’ve ever known.”
 
As she walked into her house, she saw the stack of DVDs sitting on the desk.
 
She considered watching them but decided to go to bed instead.
 
It was a restless sleep.

Chapter Twelve

After she set up her morning coffee and dressed for her run, she stepped out onto the porch to stretch.
 
Her cell phone was chirping but she didn’t feel like walking back into the house to get it from its charger.
 
She ignored the call and took off in a sprint from her top step.
 
Running hard and fast, she didn’t even notice when Mike and Cecily passed from the opposite direction.
 
She didn’t notice anything, not the birds singing or turtles crossing the road.
 
She didn’t see William opening the store and carrying in the newspapers.
 
She only had one thing on her mind and that was Kevin.
 
Growing up she always listened to her parents, she was a good kid, even a good teenager.
 
There were some intense times of typical teen rebellion but nothing extreme.
 
As her mind wondered she thought about their wedding night.

She had some boyfriends during high school and college but Kevin was her only serious one.
 
She could still hear her mother’s voice, “If you give the milk away for free no one will want the cow.”
 
Where did the comparison to a cow come from?
 
She always hated it when her mother said those words but she listened and didn’t have sex until her wedding night.
 
Kevin was rough, he had been with a lot of women and didn’t want to take things slow.
 
She recalled laying in the dark staring at the glow of the bright digital red numbers on the alarm clock next to the hotel bed.
 
His large hands lifted her hips from the mattress as he tore at the string of her silk panties. Her thighs were trying to squeeze together as hard as they could, trying to stop the inevitable.
 
Kevin was going to take what he wanted, and give nothing in return.
 
Holding her hands over her head, he pushed his way into her canal and over the next four minutes pounded the virgin out of her.
 
His grunting and thrusting became faster and faster as the smell of beer on his hot breathe lingered around her face.
 
Attempting to push him off only seemed to turn him on more and he banged away with more force as she was being crushed by his weight.
 
He gave one final prolonged thrust with a deep moan.
 
She could feel his poison filling her and knew the marriage was doomed before it had started.
 
Eventually he rolled off and passed out, not waking until the morning.
 
She laid there and cried for the loss of her innocent self, the throbbing pain between her legs, and the realization he had never even kissed her.
 
Still wearing her lacey push up bra and stilettos, she climbed out of bed and into the shower where she scrubbed the scent of her drunken pig of a husband off of her until she was raw.

Slowing to catch her breath, she checked her time and realized it was the fastest she had ever run.
 
She cooled down in the driveway, doing a series of stretches and breathing exercises.
 
Walking into her garage she searched around for a hammer until she found the heavy one with the claw on the back.
 
Returning to her front yard she took the hammer and tore the thermometer from the oak tree.
 
She walked to the side of the house and dropped it and the hammer into the trash can.
 
Now she was completely rid of Kevin.
 
She silently promised herself not to think about him again.
 
She wouldn’t replace the thermometer either; what difference did it make if it were ninety degrees or one hundred degrees?
 
At a certain point, hot was just hot, the number really didn’t matter.

Chapter Thirteen

Scanning the employee parking lot, she didn’t see Jake’s truck.
 
Feeling disappointed, she walked into work and wondered if he would show.
 
Sitting behind her desk, she pulled out her cell phone and remembered the call she ignored from the morning.
 
She clicked on the display and an unfamiliar number was shown.
 
The small voice mail icon was glowing and she clicked on that next.
 
After entering her numeric pass code, a woman’s voice sounded on the other end. “Detective Davenport, my daughter Caroline told me about the conversation you had.
 
I think I may have some information you could find helpful.
 
You can reach me at this number. Thanks, Susan O’Sullivan.”

Delaney was curious to find out what Susan had to tell her.
 
She scrolled through her caller ID and added the number to her list of contacts and gave her a call.
 
The woman answered on the second ring and Delaney could hear the anxiety in her voice.
 
“Detective Davenport, I’m happy you called back so soon.
 
I hope you can come over today, I have something to give you.”
 

Delaney’s ears perked up and she wondered what she could have for her.
 
“I can be right over. I have your address.
 
See you soon,” and then she hung up.

Before leaving she went to the break room and took a Diet Coke from the refrigerator.
 
She turned to leave and Jake was in the doorway.
 
He looked so good, freshly shaven and bright eyed with a beautiful smile.
 
“Late start today?” was all she managed to get out before she found herself standing within inches of his body.
 
He looked down at her saying “truck issues” and left it at that.
 
On the way back to her desk she told him about the phone call from Susan O’Sullivan and that she was on her way to find out what the woman had.
 
She also brought up the DVDs they didn’t watch, but didn’t invite him over to watch them.
 
She decided to let it hang in the air to see what he would say, but when he was silent she didn’t push the topic.
 
Delaney grabbed her Coach bag from under her desk and checked her cell.
 
She shoved the piece of paper with the address into her pocket and followed Jake out to the parking lot, watching his cute butt the entire time.
 
Halfway through the parking lot she saw his truck parked caddy corner in the far back of the lot.
 
A trailer was attached with a sailboat in tow.
 
“Jake, what the heck is that?”