SEALED with a Kiss (Midnight Delta #4) (4 page)

“I’m sure you do like laughing at me better.  But I already
have
my woman.  Seems to me like you
don’t
have yours.  Let’s see if Jack and I can give you some advice.”

“You can’t.  I just have to man up,” Billy said dejectedly.

“What do you mean?” Jack asked.

“Rebecca Barnes is my social studies partner.  I want to ask her to the Valentine’s Day Dance.  I’m nervous about asking her out, but I just have to man up and do it.”

Clint shared a pointed look with Jack.

“You know that half the asking is really up to her, don’t you?” Jack asked.

“Huh?”

“What Jack means is she puts out signals as to whether she likes you and whether she wants to be asked.”

“She does?”  Clint looked at the boy who was soon going to be a man.  He was now at the gangly stage where his feet and hands were too big for his body.  He looked almost like a puppy as he glanced from him to Jack and back to him again.

“Yep.  Women and girls have been leading us around for years.” Clint chuckled.  “At least it’s what my sister Jenny told me when I was fourteen.”

“I still don’t get it.”

“Billy, how comfortable do you feel around Rebecca?” Jack asked.

“I’ve never felt so good around a girl.  She makes me feel smart.  When we’re together, she acts like I’m her best friend even though I know Cammie is.”

“That means she really likes you,” Clint piped up.  Billy rolled his eyes.

“Clint, I know that.  She likes me as a
friend
.”

“No girl makes a guy, a teenage guy, feel that good unless she likes, and I mean really,
likes
him,” Jack said.

“But what about you?  Do you really like her?  Is this her first dance?  Because this shit is important.  I remember when somebody was an asshole to my little sister.”  Clint gave Billy a hard stare.

“Damn, Clint, the kid wouldn’t be this tied up in knots if she didn’t really matter to him,” Jack said. 

Clint smiled.  “Sorry Billy, just had a flashback to my sister crying.  Seriously dude, she’s sending out the right signals.  She
likes
you, likes you.  Go forth and ask her out.”  Clint cocked his head.  “I just heard our names called.”

****

“W
ere you giving Billy dating advice,” Lydia asked later that night.

Clint traced the soothing lotion onto Lydia’s back, paying special attention to the three raised scars.

“Yes.”

“Do you wish somebody had given you advice when you were growing up?” she asked as she arched into his touch.  Clint loved the fact she now relished his hands on this part of her body she once tried to hide from him.

“No, I like who I turned out to be.  If I had been more social, I don’t know if I would have gotten my mad computer skills and ended up being your Dork King.”  Lydia giggled, and he peeked over her shoulder so he could see her breasts bounce.

“I can tell your ogling my breasts,” she whispered.

“I’d have to be dead for three years before I stop ogling your breasts, Ms. Hildalgo.” He poured more of the luscious smelling lotion into his hands, and then smoothed around her ribcage and cupped her generous flesh.  She let out a moan of pleasure.

“I think tonight I want you to let me have my way with you, what do you think of that?”

“I think since I end up with three hundred million orgasms that way, I’m all for it.” 

He kissed the shell of her ear.

“Lie down on the bed, baby.”  She shifted from a sitting position, and was soon lying in front of him like a succulent playground.  The mind boggled, his eyes kept shifting unable to figure out where to look.

“Clint, please touch me.” Lydia lifted her arms.  He linked their fingers and eased over her, then brought her arms outward until they were spread wide.  He let go. 

“Keep them there, baby.  I don’t want any interruptions while I play.”  She whimpered, but nodded.

“Good girl.”

He scanned her again, and took in the visual feast she presented.  Her breasts jutted up, her rose brown nipples against her golden skin were too much to resist.  He swooped down and started to suckle.

“More.  Harder.”  He kept going, his fingers plucking at her other nipple, continuing until her hands clutched his head. 

Bingo.

“Lydia, where do your hands belong?”

“Dammit,” she whined, but eventually she put them back. 

He laughed at her slow progress.  He lowered his head and rewarded them both.

“Please, Clint, you promised me orgasms,” she panted out.

He trailed his hand lower, and she parted her thighs in welcome.  She was so ready, so needy, so wonderfully wet.  He found her engorged flesh, and played in time to the licks on her nipple.  She let out a wail of completion that shot satisfaction to his soul.

This time, when her hands moved and she grabbed his ass, he didn’t care. 

“I’m claiming my orgasm the way I really want it.  With you inside me.”  Who was he to disagree?

With shallow thrusts he tested her, and she whined in frustration.

“Stop teasing!”

He smiled.  Teasing Lydia was a joy.

She pushed upwards, and he retreated.  She growled, and he laughed. 

“Clint!  You’re killing me.”

“Put your hands over your head.”  Her eyes heated up, and her body clenched around him.  He wasn’t going to last.

Finally she released him, and complied, which arched her torso like a beautiful temptation.  He pulled her tight against him, and started a strong rhythm. She let out a happy laugh.

Clint kissed her smiling lips, and she took a nip at his.  They played and loved, as she pressed up, and he thrust down. 

“So good, you’re so damn good at this.”

“It’s you, Lydia, it’s always been you, love.”  She wrapped her legs around him, and demanded more, which he gladly gave.  And once again, she proved to him it
was
her as she took him on a tour of the stars.

––––––––

J
ack Preston

“Hop on in.”

“Don’t you think I should be driving since I beat you yesterday?” Billy teased.  Jack liked the kid even more for the smart ass comment.

“Tell you what, you can definitely practice in my car when you get your learner’s permit.”

“Really?” Jack pulled onto the Five Freeway heading north to San Clemente. 

“Really.  But no lapping the other cars like you did yesterday.  I don’t want you to get pulled over and have your learner’s permit pulled the first day out.”

“Jack, why are you willing to come out to the Food Pantry so early in the morning on a Sunday?”

He loved kids, they asked what was on their minds.

“My mom and I lived in a women’s shelter when I was little, I always try to give back when I have time.  Sophia told me about this place, and it sounded like a great place to volunteer.  Frannie and Tony said this is when they get deliveries and needed the most help sorting the food.”

“I know, it’s why I come on these days.  Usually Mason or Sophia drop me off.”  Billy yawned.  “But Sundays are Sophia’s one day to sleep in, so it was great when you said you could pick me up.  Thanks.”

“No problem.”  They stayed silent for a while.  Both admiring the view of the sun glimmering on the Pacific Ocean.

“Take a left here, and then the first right,” Billy directed.

A truck was already at the back, and a man who had left middle age behind, was helping the deliveryman unload the truck. Jack eyed the dolly he was maneuvering, and guessed it to have at least two hundred pounds of boxes.  He stopped the car quickly and got out.  Billy followed at a fast clip.

“Hey Mr. D,” Billy called out.  “I brought reinforcements.  He’s the brawn, and I’m the brains,” Billy quipped.  “Mrs. D, your big new recruit is here, and Mr. D. is trying to get another hernia,” Billy yelled into the back door of the building.

“Billy, I can’t believe you would tell on me like that.  For shame.” 

“Tony, stop with the dolly this instant,” Frannie DeLuca said as she came outside, the early morning light causing her flaming red hair to glow.

“I’m fine.  I have it all under control,” he grunted.

“Let the young guns do the heavy lifting,” she had the raspy voice of a former smoker, and the loving tone of a wife who adored her husband.

“I know exactly where this needs to go,” Tony protested.

“And you can supervise, when Jack takes it there.  I’m assuming you’re Jack, right?”

“Yes, ma’am.  I’m great at taking direction.”

“Good to know.  I’m great at bossing good looking men around.” She winked at him.  “Isn’t that right Billy?”  She put her arm around the young man and headed him into the building.

“I’m happy to have you lift and carry.  But tell Frannie I made a big deal about protesting.  I like her to think I’m still a stud, okay?”  Jack laughed.

“You got it, Mr. D.”  He followed the man in, maneuvering the dolly.  They made quick work of unloading all of the food onto the appropriate shelves.  Next came the pallets of fruit.  Tony looked at them in disgust.

“Seriously, they send more of this crap every week.”

“What?” Jack asked as they unloaded crate after crate of bananas.

“Rotten fruit.  There is no way we can set out this stuff for the people.  I’d say more than two thirds will have to be thrown out.  They’re using us for a tax write off.”

“Tony, don’t get so upset, remember your blood pressure.”  Tony pulled over a large green trash can, and sorted through the produce.

“To hell with my blood pressure.”  Tony threw the fruit forcefully into the can, and Billy winced.  He looked at Jack.

“Hey Mr. D, I meant to ask you something,” he whispered, after Frannie walked away muttering about stubborn men.

“What is it kid?”  He threw two bunches of bananas into the container.

“Jack was telling me girls gave off signals if they liked you.  Is that true?”  Tony paused with the next batch in his hands, looked over at Jack, and then back at Billy.

“You like some girl?  A lot?”

“I want to ask her out.”

“That’s a lot,” Tony said, as he sat down on one of the pallets, the rotten fruit forgotten.  “So Mr. Navy SEAL, what was your advice?”

“I had some generic advice, but I really need to know more about the girl.”

“She’s been hurt I think.  She’s in foster care.  I think she’s been abandoned, but she hasn’t told me.  Sometimes I see she’s really sad.”

“That’s a special kind of girl, who will probably need to be treated delicately.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Yes you do,” Tony interrupted.  “Think of your sister after those thugs hurt her.  Mason had to be very cautious with her.”

“He did?”

“Ah damn kid, you were still with the Bards, weren’t you?”  Tony remembered.

“My fiancé, Beth, had been hurt, and she needed to know she was safe.  I didn’t have to do anything I didn’t want to do, so it was no hardship.  But, I did have to make sure she knew she was valued and cared for more often than I would have with a woman who hadn’t been hurt.  Does that make sense?”

Jack saw Billy’s perplexed look.

“I needed to give her more outward signs of affection and care, I couldn’t assume she knew what I was thinking and feeling, even when it made me more vulnerable.”

“Oh.”  Billy nodded.  Then he grimaced.  “That must have been kind of hard.”

“Not when you really care.  I loved Beth.  I’d have done anything for her.”  Jack thought back to those early days with her, and he couldn’t help but smile.

––––––––

D
rake Avery

It had taken Drake two days to find the perfect opening.  He knew Mason would often pick up Billy after school and drive him to his sister’s diner to do his homework.  Then she would drive him back home at night.  This just required a little bit of planning.  Step one was arranging it so his lieutenant had to stay late at work, which he had done.

“Mason, bummer about you having to redo the training manual.  I don’t know how it could have gotten corrupted.”  Mason looked up from the computer and gave Drake a hard look.

“Yeah, pretty weird.”

“Good news is I can go pick up Billy from school and drop him off with Sophia.”  Mason’s frown cleared.

“Thanks, I was worried about that.”

“Not a problem.  What are friends for?”  Drake whistled to himself as he left the annex building.

Drake parked his truck across the street from the school, got out, and waited.  He watched as Billy exited the school.  Billy was with a girl, and he scanned the area. Drake liked the way the kid was aware of his surroundings.  The girl was looking around like she was expecting a ride.  Billy handed her his cell phone, and he could see how she reluctantly took it but finally made a call.  It was obvious she got voicemail. She straightened her shoulders, gave Billy a fake smile, and started to walk away.  Billy easily caught up and started to walk backwards in front of her, trying to convince her of something.  Probably trying to get her to take a ride home.  It looked like it was time for Uncle Drake to step in.  He meandered over to the pair.

“Hey Billy.”  Billy looked over, unsurprised to see him.

“Hey Drake, this is Rebecca.  Rebecca, this is my friend Drake, he works with my brother.”  Rebecca’s eyes got wide as she took in the width and breadth of him. 

“You’re a soldier like Mason?” she asked quietly.

“A SEAL.”  He held out his hand, and she placed her hand in his.  He shook it gently.  He saw Billy’s look of approval, and it made him feel good. 

My how times were ‘a changing’.

“Do you need a ride, Rebecca?  I have my truck right over there.  I was going to take Billy to his sister’s for a piece of pie, and so he could start on his homework.  Of course the pie is the most important part of the scenario.”

She gave a soft laugh.  It was a pretty sound.

“It’s okay, I can walk home.”

“Rebecca, it’s five miles,” Billy protested.

“It’s not the first time.”

“I know, but it’s the first time I know about it ahead of time and can do something about it.  Let Drake drive you.  He’s trustworthy, I promise.”