Nanny for the Army Rangers by Krista Wolf

 

Twenty-Eight

 

 

JULIUS

“And just where do you think you’re going?”

The voice was such a low whisper it was almost a hiss. It stopped me in my tracks on the path from the front door, causing me to whirl around.

Delilah stood there disheveled and smiling, clutching one of the blankets around her. Even just waking up she looked radiantly beautiful.

“Taking a quick ride,” I whispered back. Adding a smile of my own, I raised the two cages until they dangled from the ends of my arms. “Gotta drop off some friends.”

She gasped at the sight of the two big raccoons, one stuck in each trap. Right now they were going crazy, skittering around in tight circles.

“Oh my God,” she exclaimed, trying to control her excitement. “You actually got them?”

“Some of them, yeah.”

“Where are you taking them?”

“There’s a nature preserve not far from here,” I told her. “50 acres in Cutchogue. Trust me, they’re gonna love it there. Much better than eating the plaster out of our walls.”

I half expected her to protest, or to tell me I couldn’t release them until we’d caught the whole family. Instead she ducked back inside, but not before poking her head out.

“Give me two minutes,” she murmured into the morning silence. “I’ll come with you.”

Though I usually enjoyed mornings alone, I felt a surge of excitement at her offer. There was a part of me that couldn’t get enough of Delilah. Even after last night.

Especially after last night.

Loading the traps into the back of my truck, I started the engine and ran the heat up. True to her word, she was back within two minutes. This time, unfortunately, with clothes on.

Easy, buddy.

I had to temper my excitement as she climbed into the passenger side and pulled on her seatbelt. Up until yesterday, Delilah was the cute live-in Nanny we’d hired to help out with Jace and Courtney. But now, well…

Now things were much more complicated.

“Can we grab coffee on the way?” she asked.

“Unless you want to see my evil, non-caffeinated twin,” I grinned. “Shit yeah we can.”

Delilah chewed a fingernail as she settled back into her seat. “Hmm, I don’t know,” she reasoned. “Evil twin Julius sounds interesting.”

“He’s a monster,” I told her. “Trust me.”

I’d hoped to get rid of the raccoons and return while Delilah was busy with her morning routine, changing and feeding the twins. I desperately needed to speak with Liam. We needed to reconcile what happened. But as we turned out of the driveway and onto the road, all I could think about was her.

“You think the monitor’s really going to wake him up?” she asked with genuine concern. “I mean, I’d hate for the twins to be crying in their cribs.”

“Liam’s a light sleeper,” I said. “He’ll be fine.”

Delilah turned to stare out the window. The morning sun set her caramel brown hair on fire with beautiful, almost blonde highlights.

“Even after last night?”

Holy shit. Talk about being direct! I gripped the steering wheel in silence for a quarter-mile, trying to think of what to say.

“Are we not supposed to talk about last night?” Delilah asked slyly.

I shrugged. “We can talk about it.”

“Good,” she said. “Because I need you to know how amazing it was. But better than that, I need you to know how it shouldn’t change anything. You know, with me and Jace and Courtney.”

I was overwhelmingly relieved to hear that part. My greatest fear — and the one I wanted to talk to Liam about the most — was that we’d screwed up a good thing.

“You guys ever do anything like that before?” she asked.

“No,” I said. “Never.”

“You sure?” she pressed. “Because the two of you were suspiciously good at it.”

I let the wheel slide gently under my palm, guiding us through another quarter-mile of the quiet, sun-splashed streets.

“By necessity we’d shared many things out in the field,” I told her. “Razor blades. Socks. Toothbrushes.”

“Ewww,” Delilah giggled.

“We’ve split MRE rations so old they could’ve fought in the first Gulf War,” I went on. “Or possibly even Vietnam.”

I turned to look at her for a moment. Her eyes were ridiculously brown.

“But we’ve never, ever shared a woman.”

The sun glinted momentarily off a portion of the windshield. We both shielded our eyes from it.

“Huh,” she said, to herself more than me. “First time for everything, I guess.”

We drove in silence for a while, stopping to grab coffee from one of those all-in-one convenience store gas stations before getting back on the road. The entire time I couldn’t keep my eyes off her. Now that I knew what she looked like naked, it was even harder to look away.

Back on the road, we traveled a few more miles while sipping our coffee. There was a lot to process, a lot to say. Right now though, I just wanted to enjoy the morning.

The Downs Farm Preserve eventually appeared, and I eased into it. We took the traps, carried them a good distance into the woods, and then set them down. The raccoons inside were silent and motionless. Either they were suddenly carsick, or plotting revenge.

“What are the chances we open these things and immediately get attacked?” Delilah smirked.

“I’d say 50/50.”

She didn’t look happy with my answer. “Really?”

“Want to head back to the truck?” I offered. “I can open them myse—”

Halfway through my sentence Delilah straddled one of the traps. She lifted the latch and opened the door in one smooth motion.

Oh SHIT!

Sure enough, the raccoon exited, turned ninety-degrees, and made a beeline for me. I leapt out of the way at the last minute, hitting the ground hard enough to partially knock the wind from my lungs. In the meantime, the raccoon skittered past me and disappeared into a pile of brush.

“Oh my God!” Delilah laughed. “You were right!”

I’d been joking of course, but that didn’t stop me from leaping back to my feet. Without thinking too hard I grabbed her, pulled her in, and crushed her against my chest. She looked surprised as I bent to kiss her, savoring the feel of her soft, pliant lips against mine.

“You taste like coffee,” she giggled.

“Good coffee?”

“I’m not sure yet,” she responded. “Let me see…”

With that she kissed me back, sliding the fingernails of both hands through my thick, morning-tousled hair. Her face looked beautiful in the morning light, even with the remains of last-night’s makeup. Other women might’ve made me sit in the truck an extra few minutes while they worked to remove it, but not her.

“Yeah,” she breathed, when she was done swirling her warm tongue through my mouth. “Good coffee.”

The other raccoon was sitting there in its cage, watching our little morning makeout session with its head tilted to one side. We both looked back at it and laughed.

“Ready to join your friend?” I asked it.

I opened the trap, and this time the animal refused to leave. It chased its tail in a tight circle a few times, before pausing to look back at us.

“Could you hurry it up?” asked Delilah, adding a smile. “I’m dying for breakfast.”