Reflecting On Wishes (The Wishes Series) (27 page)

“Pop the hood, Delilah…”

“Jake! Oh God, Jake, I’m so glad it’s you. I was so scared!”

“It’s pouring down rain, pop the hood, Delilah.” He said sharply.

She tried starting her car one more time, wanting so badly to drive off and leave his mean self, standing in the rain like an idiot. But her car failed her yet again and now an awful smell was coming from it.

“Delilah, stop trying to start it. You’re overheated. Pop the hood, darlin’.” His voice was a little calmer now as if her trying to start her car again brought his manners back
to mind. She pulled the latch and cringed when smoke rolled out into the rain and she heard him curse. A few minutes later he shut the hood and came back to her window. Now he was completely soaked.

“Your radiator hose is busted. You’ll need to call a tow-truck. Lock it up and get in the truck and I’ll take you home.”

He stayed right outside her door as she gathered her things and locked it up. He even ran over to open his door for her, “Get in on my side; it’s probably a muddy river over there. Be careful now…” He practically lifted her up and set her behind the wheel, waiting patiently for her to scoot over so he could climb in.

Once the door shut, the sound of the pouring rain lessened enough so they didn’t have to yell. The silence was overbearing.

Lilah was sitting in the middle of the seat, nearly as soaked as he was. He made no move to pull onto the road. He just rested his hands on the steering wheel while water dripped from his hat. Not his old work hat either. This was a fancy hat. She’d seen him wearing it when he was out on the town. He must have been on his way out, maybe on a date. The thought of that made her chest ache and a rush of jealousy washed over her.

“Has your car been overheating? A hose doesn’t usually just blow apart like that without warning.”

Her skin flushed with heat and she fidgeted with her hands, trying to cover it up by wiping the rain water off her bag.

“Were you going out on a date? You’re all dressed up…”

“You’re avoiding my question, Delilah.”

“My uh, my check engine light has come on a few times. I meant to get it
checked; I’ve just been so busy I forgot.” Now she felt stupid for it. She was a grown woman and she should remember to take care of things like that. Her dad was always telling her she needed to be responsible with her belongings.

“Did you call your dad or one of your brothers?” he asked as he reached across her and opened the glove box, pulling out a wad of napkins from fast food restaurants and giving her half of them while he used the other to wipe off his face and neck.

Lilah felt the tears coming. She felt so immature for not taking care of her car and for forgetting her phone at work. Now, of all people to see her fail at something it had to be the guy that she had a crush on, that clearly found her to be nothing but an irritation.

“I forgot my cell phone at work.” Even to her, her voice was barely over a whisper and sounded shaky at best.

“Delilah…dammit you can’t go around driving a car that’s having problems, without your phone, on a secluded road in the damn dark! What were you thinking? You could have been hurt. It could have been a crazy person that stopped and…”

She burst into tears and scooted over to the far side of the truck, turning her head to face the window. “Take me home! Please…” she sobbed.

He cursed under his breath and moved closer to her, gathering her in his arms, “I didn’t mean to yell at you, darlin’. It just scared me to think of what could have happened to you. Please don’t cry. Everything will be fine. I’ll get you home and see about getting your car towed to the garage to get it fixed.” He pressed a tender kiss to her temple and ran his fingers over her damp curls.

It made her mad. All of it. She was acting her worst, surely looking her worst, and now he felt sorry for her.
“Just take me home. I can take care of myself.” She sucked in a deep breath and it was all him. The scent of leather and
Stetson
cologne and his own natural woodsy scent made her body ache. She wanted to bury her face in his neck and wrap her arms around him so she could feel the sinewy muscles he was made of, but pride had kicked her stubborn side into gear and she shoved him away. “Now…take me home now.”

“Okay then,” he got back behind the wheel and started the truck, pulling back onto the road heading in the opposite direction he’d been going.

He no more than got the truck pulled up in front of her house and rolled to a stop when she launched out of the passenger side not even sparing him a glance when she ran inside.

Jake took his hat off and
set it on the seat beside him. With one last glance at the front door that she’d disappeared behind, he pulled out of her driveway and headed straight back home.

***

The day had been a rough one. His eighteen hour class-load was stretching him thin and he was honestly second guessing his career choice. What the hell had he been thinking when he decided he wanted a medical degree? He wasn’t the only one that was unsure of the career. Two of his second year classmates dropped out already and the first quarter had barely begun. Dominic slung his heavy back pack over his shoulders as he walked up to his bike, fitting his helmet strap under his chin. Digging his keys out of his pocket and throwing his leg over his VMAX had already afforded him the beginnings of stress release. As soon as he fired her up and released the kickstand, Dom rolled his shoulders and pulled out of the parking lot of the college, trying to leave his worries at the curb.

His sister had come home late the night before courtesy of Jake Kringle of all people
, the guy his sister and Chelsea were over the moon for. Dom didn’t see what the big deal was about the guy. Who cared if he wore shit-kickers and a hat? That didn’t make him ‘man of the year’ did it? Dom switched gears as he merged onto the highway and let the wind help clear his mind.

He told Lilah to have her car towed home and he would fix it when he got out of class. Their dad agreed to pick up a new hose at the auto parts store and have it waiting for him. Dom had grown up tinkering on cars with his dad and older brother. A radiator hose was no big deal to change out. A little manual labor would feel good right now. Work with his hands for a while instead of his brain, which was feeling pretty wiped right now. Dom was hoping his twin would tell him what happened between her and Jake. She had been crying when she got home and he didn’t believe it was because of her car breaking down either. If he found out that cowboy had done something to hurt her…well, he’d make sure he never made that mistake again. Dom was in the mood to do a little shit-kicking of his own.

A few hours later, after his mom had sidetracked him with a helping of warm blackberry cobbler and vanilla ice cream, Dom was in the driveway with the hood up on Lilah’s Mustang when he heard a car coming down the road. A quick glance around the hood revealed it was the one woman that had a knack for setting him on edge. Chelsea pulled up in her green Ford Taurus that had seen better days. She smiled when she spotted him and it made him grip even tighter to the wrench he had in his hand.

Lilah got out of the passenger side, slamming the door hard enough to make him wince. It appeared to not have been hard enough though, because Chelsea was laughing when she got out of the car. “Bump your hip against it, Lilah, you have to really work to get it to shut.” As always, Chelsea looked beautiful. Not a model type beauty but a natural, fresh kind that always made his brain fuzzy when he saw her. A baby blue tank top showed off her assets well enough
, that Dom worried he might actually start salivating like a man starved. The blue jeans she wore hugged her full hips and tapered down her long legs in a way that made him ache. Damn it all to hell.

“This car hates me, Chels! I can never get the door to cooperate.”

He shook his head when his twin swung her hip hard against it, still failing at getting the latch to catch and hold the door shut.

“Hi, Twinnie! Can you get this dang door to shut before I throw my hip out? Pretty please?” She gave him a hug, mindful of the grease that was already on his jeans and hands
, but it didn’t deter her enthusiasm even though she was wearing a light yellow dress.

“Since you asked me nicely,” he teased, walking around the car. It was obvious just by looking at the door that it was hanging lower
, so Dom simply lifted up on the door and pushed it shut. It worked like a charm. “You’re door hinges are loose causing the door to hang open lower on the outside so you need to lift it up when you close it.”

And didn’t it make him feel good when Chelsea hugged him as he walked back by her.

“Thanks, Dom! You’re a peach. I never thought of lifting up on it like that.”

“I can tighten them up before you leave tonight so you don’t have problems with it.”
What am I, a mechanic now?
That was the trouble with women. They made you want to take care of them and protect them.

“Thanks, but there’s no rush working on mine tonight. I’m staying over for
girl’s night. We rented some movies and bought snacks. You can join us when you’re done if you want.”

“Ah, thanks, Chelsea. But you two have your
girl’s night. I don’t want to interrupt or be subjected to a bunch of chick flicks.” He grinned at her and got back to work on his twin’s vehicle with his mind on things that didn’t pertain to cars.

“Suit yourself, but we got a couple of action movies too. You wouldn’t be interrupting. I enjoy spending time with you, Dom. If you decide to join us, wear your pj’s and bring your pillows. We’re dragging her mattress into the TV room.”

He raised his head up too fast because he cracked his noggin on the edge of the hood and spit out a few choice curse words. Chelsea was going to be in her pj’s…not that he hadn’t seen her in her pajamas before. She and Lilah had been best friends for years and there had been many, many sleepovers.

“Good thing you have a hard head,” she patted his head and turned to walk away.

“What kinda snacks did you get?” He didn’t want her to leave. He should want her to, hell he should have kept his mouth shut and let her walk away but being in her presence put him at peace and left him on edge. It felt good and scary at the same time.

He watched as s
he turned to face him, sliding her hands in her back pockets when she came towards him. He was jealous of her hands being able to be so close to her lush ass which filled her jeans to perfection.

“
Ben & Jerry’s Cake Batter
ice cream, we stopped by GiGi’s and got some of her homemade beef jerky sticks and we got the stuff to make seven layer dip to eat with tortilla chips.”

“Wow, sounds like it’s a night for vegging out and trash talking whoever pushed the two of you the wrong way. Any chance you’ll confirm or deny that this has to do with that Jake guy that brought my sister home last night?” Yeah, he was fishing for information, but he knew that it would be easier to get it from Chelsea than his twin at th
at point. He leaned against the car and crossed his arms over his chest.

“Well, as much as I’d like to fill you in, that’s for Lilah to share when she’s ready. You know she always ends up telling you everything. It just happens in her own time.”

“Got it…it was worth a try. Maybe I will join you two tonight.”

Chelsea gave him a sweet smile before lowering her eyes to look at the ground. “I’m glad to hear that.”

Ms. Lola’s diner smelled like coffee and carrot cake when they came inside. They were warmly greeted by some of the patrons, namely the old-timers at the coffee table where the older men would gather to shoot the breeze. When Ms. Lola burst through the swinging doors from the kitchen and clapped her hands together, Angel was even more thankful Dakota had suggested they stop and get a walker from the rehab center for her to get around with. By the time she reached Ms. Lola, they both had the shine of tears in their eyes when they embraced.

“Baby girl, baby girl! Would you look ‘atchu…I knew the Lord would bring you ‘round full circle, I did. And there’s my handsome boy. The two of you make this ol’ girl happier than a pig wallerin’ in mud, I do declare.”

Laughing, Dakota hugged her and kissed her cheeks, before carefully leading Angel to the barstools at the counter so she could rest.

“We’re both pretty happy too, Ms. Lola. I’m even happier now that I know you’re making us a picnic lunch. I gotta admit, walking in here and smelling that carrot cake has my mouth watering.” Angel rested with her arms on the counter as Dakota sat beside her and Ms. Lola moved behind the counter.

“Oh, honey child, you’ll be glad to know you got a big ol’ hunk a that cake with fresh cream cheese icing I made just this morning in your pic-a-nic lunch. I take care a my babies, I do.”

While she shuffled off to the back, Dakota slipped his arm around Angel’s back and pulled her close, giving her a soft, nibbling kiss to the tender lobe of her ear. “God, you smell so good. I may have to have you for lunch.”

“That sounds perfectly fine with me. Well, as long as I get that carrot cake for dessert.”

He loved how playful she was, and how comfortable things were between them now. Her body language had changed. She no longer held herself aloof from
him. Instead she leaned towards him as if they were two magnets being pulled together at all times. Her hand was always reaching out for his just as their eyes searched for each other in a room.