Chapter 5
Chapter Five
Dalton hadn’t said anything when he’d followed her home after Angelica’s party. At the time, she’d still been feeling vulnerable about what had happened in Teresa’s backyard, so she hadn’t cared that he saw how she lived.
Now, though, she had to wonder if he’d thought it strange and weird.
Was that why he hadn’t contacted her?
Although he hadn’t said that he would, there had been a flicker of hope in her belly, that he might call or text her.
Then again, if she wanted to, she could’ve called him herself.
Steff groaned and fell back on the cushions she’d scattered on the ground before she’d started her daily sun-worshipping routine.
The old Steff would’ve sent him a cheeky text after he’d followed her home. No, the old Steff wouldn’t have needed Dalton to follow her home. She would’ve been able to do it herself, and she would’ve spent the whole party flirting with Dalton.
Who knows what might have happened if the old Steff still existed?
Could she get her back?
She hadn’t called her therapist, and she should. She was tired of living the way she was, but it was also hard to take that first step. To pick up the phone and call.
Last time she’d gone to therapy, Steff had told her therapist that she would work on being better. Doing better and reclaiming her life. None of those things had been achieved. If anything, all she’d done was climb deeper into the hole.
At least her apartment was neat. After living in a messy apartment, there was no way she was going to continue living that way.
She wasn’t OCD about her cleaning, but she gave her apartment a good weekly once over.
And that every surface wasn’t cluttered.
They weren’t bare and stark, but prior to her being taken, there were times she let magazines or catalogues build up on her side tables and kitchen counter.
Now though, she kept them clear, and the only things on display were intentional. Like the vanilla-scented candle. Or the fake fern in its white pot. They brought her a tiny piece of happiness.
The sun had shifted, and Steff wiggled down so that her toes were still connected to the warm rays. There would only be another half an hour she could do this before the sun moved away from her window.
As she lay back on the cushions, her eyes drifted shut, and a vague memory of her therapist giving her some breathing exercises to use to calm herself should she feel a panic attack approaching, came forward.
This time, instead of ignoring it, she tried it out, even though there was no panic attack on the horizon.
Slowly, her muscles relaxed. Connected more to the warmth of the sun’s rays. Her mind let go of the fear that she lived with constantly, and in its place was the memory of sitting in Teresa’s backyard talking to Dalton.
He’d been so gentle with her.
So caring.
That had to mean something, didn’t it?
The melodic sound of her ringtone burst the bubble of peace she’d been floating in, and it took a couple of seconds to ground herself before she reached for the phone.
She never answered numbers she didn’t know, and fully expected to see “No Caller ID” flashing on her screen, instead she saw Dalton’s name.
A flutter of excitement sprung to life, and she quickly accepted the call before it went to voicemail. “Hello.”
“Hi Steff, did I catch you at a bad time?”
There was something about hearing his deep voice right in her ear.
She shivered, not in fear, but in awareness.
A sensation she never believed she’d feel again, and it scared her a little.
But this was Dalton, he wouldn’t hurt her.
Of that, she was sure. “No, I was.” She paused, not ready to share her ritual with him. “Reading.”
Her Kindle was close by, but she hadn’t opened it all day.
“Hope the book is good.”
“It’s okay.” The last time she’d opened the book had been the previous evening, when she’d read a couple of pages before putting it down again because she couldn’t focus. If Dalton asked her what it was about, she wouldn’t be able to tell him, because she didn’t remember a thing of what she’d read.
“Right.”
Silence sprouted between them, like it had when they’d been driving home after the party. That silence was warranted though, because they’d needed to focus on driving. Even late at night, LA traffic wasn’t one to be taken lightly. This quiet felt different.
Was he nervous?
No, that didn’t seem possible. Not for a man who did what Dalton did for a living.
“Um, is there—”
“Did you—”
They both spoke and stopped at the same time and, surprisingly, a little giggle erupted out of her. She was rewarded with a chuckle coming from Dalton.
“You first,” she managed to get out before he did.
“I was going to ask if you’re having a good day.”
“It’s okay. How about you?” Perhaps if they did the mundane the nervousness of talking to him would pass. She hadn’t felt it when she’d been sitting opposite him at the party.
“Today’s been long. Busy and frustrating.”
The tiredness in his voice was evident now. “I’m sorry, doesn’t sound like a fun day at all.”
“It is what it is.” He paused, and she wondered what he was doing. Was he home sitting on his couch? Or was he still at the office? Considering it wasn’t even five in the afternoon, he had to still be at work.
Were there other people around, listening in?
Did it matter if there were? It wasn’t like they could really hear what she was saying. All they could hear was Dalton’s side of the conversation. Unless he had her on speaker, but she squashed that thought, because there wasn’t the echo, or tinny sound, associated with being on loudspeaker.
She was overthinking things. All she needed to do was go with the flow and see what happened.
“Still, I’m sorry it’s been all that. Do you finish soon?”
“Yeah, not long to go. Don’t have any security jobs on tonight.”
“Do you have a lot of them?”
“We can do, but if my team and I are getting ready to go away, the other guys will take them, seeing as they all have significant others.”
“How often do you go away?” Steff knew that SEALs got deployed often, sometimes for months on end. Is that what happened with Dalton now, even though he was working for a private security company?
“Not often, and if we do, it’s usually quick trips. We get in, do what we have to do, and get out as quickly as possible. Most of what we do, even though sanctioned by the government, are missions that if they go pear-shaped, they’ll disavow all knowledge, and we’ll be left out to hang.”
“They can do that to you? Doesn’t seem fair. They’re sending you to do their dirty work, the least they could do is support you.” Had there been times when that had happened to Dalton in the past? If that was the case, then how did he get out of not being put to death? Or being kept captive?
She shuddered at the thought, and coldness swept over her. She brought her knees up, and one arm hugged them.
“We’re good at what we do, so we don’t get caught. And we know the risks. Knew them when we agreed to work with the FBI.”
Another thought struck her. “Should you be telling me this? If what you do is so secretive, then you shouldn’t talk about it, right?”
Dalton chuckled again, and the sound chased away some of the cold. “I’m not telling you about specifics of the missions we go on, but I can tell you about the basics like that. Plus, now you know what you’re getting in to.”
It took a second for his words to sink, and when they did, she inhaled deeply. It sounded like he wanted to date her. Or was going to ask her out, but she didn’t want to assume anything.
“What are you saying?”
“I’m saying that I want to get to know you better, Steff. I want to take you out. Or, if you don’t want to go out, I’ll cook or bring food to you. Either at my place or yours. The choice is yours.”
He sounded so casual as if this was something he’d always done. And maybe it was, but the fact of the matter was, he wasn’t seeing anyone right this moment, and he wanted to see her.
The question was, did she want to see him?
Did she want to date him knowing what she did now about his job?
More accurately, would Dalton want to date her, when some days, opening her front door was a mountain she couldn’t climb?