Nanny for the Army Rangers by Krista Wolf

 

Fourteen

 

 

DELILAH

I walked in well after midnight, passing through the empty foyer and ducking past the plastic construction curtains. I expected to encounter an empty living room, but it was still lit by the flickering light of the television.

“Welcome home,” smiled Liam.

He was still there, and so was Julius. A few takeout containers from a local Chinese restaurant lay scattered across the coffee table, alongside a bunch of empty beer bottles.

“How was your date?”

I couldn’t believe they were still up! All three of the guys were early risers, choosing to work out — or do “PT” as they called it — between four and five in the morning. In the two weeks we’d lived together, I’d never seen them up this late before.

“It was… good,” I said, dropping my pocketbook to one of the side tables. “An even better question: what are you guys still doing awake?”

It was everything I could do not to chuckle. The two of them had waited up for me, like a couple of overprotective brothers. All things considered, the gesture was sweet. A little overbearing and maybe a tiny bit of an invasion of privacy… but sweet, nonetheless.

“I’m thinking you waited up for me,” I said. “Even when I told you not to.”

“Or,” Liam countered, “we’re just enjoying an 80’s action movie marathon.”

I turned to look at the screen. Arnold Schwarzenegger was blowing up sixteen people at once. That didn’t narrow things down much, until I saw a teenage Alyssa Milano.

“Commando,” I nodded approvingly. “The poor man’s Rambo.”

“Are you kidding?” Julius instantly sat up straight. “Schwarzenegger blows Stallone away. Always has.”

“Uh… Rocky?” I quipped, and left it at that.

“Total Recall?” Julius shot back. “Conan the Barbarian? Terminator?”

I laughed loudly. “He didn’t even act in that movie! He was literally a robot.”

I sank to the couch, letting out a grateful sigh as my legs thanked me.

“Predator then,” Liam snapped his fingers. “Better than all those others.”

“Hmm. I haven’t seen that one,” I admitted. “Still…”

My sentence trailed off into the midnight silence. I couldn’t tell if their looks were utter disbelief or genuine disgust.

“What?”

“You’ve never seen Predator?” Julius breathed.

“No. But I’ve seen clips, and—” I stopped. “Seriously though, what are you guys doing up?”

Liam stared back at me for a long moment. Eventually, he let out a sigh of resignation.

“Fine, I guess we were a little worried about you.”

I felt an odd warmth of flattery. “Why?”

“Well we figured the date took place where you used to live, so you had pretty far to drive,” said Liam. “And the roads are still wet, so…”

“That’s it?” I smiled. “Wet roads?”

“Plus you’ve never met this guy before,” Liam continued. “He’s a total stranger, Delilah. You don’t know—”

“He could be a crazy asshole,” Julius cut in. “A really bad guy. Maybe even a serial killer, or—”

“Actually he was quite nice,” I cut him off. “A perfect gentleman. We had dinner, then drinks, then walked around town for a while, just talking about stuff.”

“In the rain?” asked Liam.

“Yes,” I shot back immediately. “Under an umbrella. In the rain.”

My curtness seemed to force their hand. Eventually they settled back into the cushions, looking like they felt more than a little foolish.

Ah, crap.

I felt abruptly guilty. I had to admit, it was still cute that they were looking out for me.

“Anyway,” I sighed, “I don’t know if we’ll go out again. It was hard to tell if he liked me, or—”

“Hard to tell if he liked you?” Liam shot up again. “Are you kidding?”

I chuckled. “What do you mean?”

“Look at you!” he cried. “You’re drop-dead gorgeous! Plus you’re smart, funny—”

“Kind,” Julius cut in. “Loving. Confident…”

“Humble?” I laughed.

“Not really, no,” Liam laughed with me, “but that’s fine. Humility is overrated anyway.”

It was definitely sweet, whatever was going on right now. And it made me feel even more welcome and loved.

“Whoever this guy is, he’d be the biggest asshole if he didn’t call you again,” Julius continued. “If I were him, I’d be calling you right now.”

My phone was resting next to my pocketbook, on the table. All three of us looked at it.

“How’d the date end?” asked Liam. “What did he say?”

I thought for a moment. “He said he had fun,” I shrugged. “And that he’d be in touch.”

“Be in touch?” they both swore at once. I giggled.

“Yeah.”

“And that’s it?”

“Well…” I reached behind me and shook out my hair. “He also kissed me goodnight.”

The guys did everything they could not to react. Their restraint was almost comical.

“And how was it?” asked Liam.

“It was fine,” I said truthfully.

“Did you say fine?”

I blushed. “No, I mean… it was good. Definitely good.”

“Good?” confirmed Julius. “Just good?”

“Yeah,” I asserted. “A good kiss.”

They looked at each other again. Both of them shook their head slowly, as if sharing some secret knowledge.

“What?”

“Well I’m afraid you’re screwed then,” said Liam. “Sorry.”

My brows came together defiantly. “How do you figure?”

“That was your first kiss, Delilah,” he went on. “The initial one between you and him. You could have a hundred more kisses together, a thousand, ten-thousand, but you’ll never have another first kiss.”

I was taken aback. I really was.

“The first kiss should be magical,” Liam continued. “It should transcend greatness. It should be the culmination of a mutual magnetic attraction, the coming together of two people in a moment of intimacy and passion.”

Holy shit. I looked over at Julius, who was smiling, with his arms crossed.

“And you said it was ‘fine’.”

I crossed my own arms. All of a sudden I was defiant.

“It was a good kiss,” I said defensively. “Maybe even a great kiss, I don’t know. Maybe I was just downplaying it for your benefit. Or I’m not describing it correctly. Or maybe—”

“Show us, then.”