Where the Streets have no Name (8 page)

H
e didn’t remember.

After everything they did last night, he didn’t remember.

And she didn’t know whether to feel relieved for his alcohol-induced memory loss or let down, like she wasn’t memorable enough to make it through the filter. Truthfully, she couldn’t blame him for forgetting.

So they hadn’t gone all the way,
but he took her to the bedroom where he began peeling her clothing off piece by piece. He’d kissed her mouth, her neck. He’d licked the curve between her breasts and sucked her nipples into his mouth. He’d thrust the steel-girder stiff length of him between her thighs…

The temperature rose in the
main living area of the caravan. Amelia eased out of her sweater, trying not to look at Daniel; hoping he was watching her and fearing that he was at the same time. She hadn’t been ready for more, and she told him as much, then embarrassment settled over her, prompting retreat to the bottle.

“Amelia?”

She wasn’t ready to talk. The thought of putting food in her stomach sounded like torture, but less painful than telling him what happened…what almost happened. The nearest plate on the table held an assortment of cookies. Chocolate. Damn…her hips were not going to forgive her for all this junk-food.

“Amelia…”
Daniel sighed. “Ah hell.” His head dropped into his hands and shoved his hands through his hair. “What did I do to you last night?”

“To me?”

He looked up then. “Not…to you?”

She shook her head, indicating the negative. “
With
me.”

“With you,” he repeated. Disbelief stormed in his eyes. “Did we…uh…”

“No, not…” This was the single most embarrassing conversation she’d ever had.

Daniel laughed, taking her hands in his. “I didn’t hump you like some horny teenager, did I?”

In spite of herself, Amelia giggled. “It’s a pretty good description.”

“Damn, I’m sorry–”

“Don’t,” she cut him off. “Don’t apologise. You were there, I was there, and we both wanted… We both…”

In a flash he was at her side,
his big arms wrapped around her, holding her tight. For a second she tried to fight the urge to return his embrace. Amelia failed. And as her hands slid up to link behind his neck, a shudder tore through Daniel. He held her like he’d never let her go. Held her like he was acting out his heart’s desires.

She
returned his embrace just as firmly, her face shoved into the crook of his shoulder against his neck where she inhaled his manly scent and drove herself wild with the memories of last night.

Later that afternoon
the rain let up to a fine drizzly mist. They decided to continue on with their journey and play by ear when it came to the weather. She’d checked on her computer and the storms were predicted to keep up through the day and into the night.

He stopped at a beach so she could continue spreading her grandfather’s ashes. Each time she performed the task, lovingly and with her head held high, Daniel
longed to hold her close and kiss away the pain. Instead he stood back giving her time and space.

After the beach, Daniel spotted a pub and decided they needed to stop for some food. It was already close to four and the last thing they’d eaten was a plateful of biscuits early that morning.
He pulled up to the small stone building and parked.

“Hungry?”

Her head rolled to the side. Exhaustion oozed from her pores. “Starving.”

“Let’s go get something to eat then. Might as well sit outside with it while the rain has stopped, aye?”

“Sounds good.” She waited for him to come around to the passenger side to help her out and into the pub.

Though she
took no notice, Daniel was acutely aware of the number of eyes attached to him during their walk through the doors. It was to be expected though. In prison he received taunts through the cell bars from other inmates, beatings from the guards and, when sent out with the general population, was attacked with all manner of weapons.

Most of the time, he prayed for death. Prayed for it so hard that, by the time he was told about his impending release, Daniel no longer believed in a God. If one existed, surely he wouldn’t have allowed any of that to happen to one of his children.

Amelia guided him to the bar and, in her usual pleasant way, greeted the large man drying pint glasses. He handed her two menus and she instructed Daniel to have a look at what they were offering. Even before she spoke, he knew exactly what they would be having. It was her new favourite thing, and a dish he’d been missing ever since he was a lad.

The barman came back, ignoring Daniel as he
blatantly flirted with Amelia. The whole display was shameless and despicable. A married man – the thin gold band on his finger told him as much, not to mention his wife in the photograph above the till of the pair of them kissing – carrying on like this and the worst he’d be likely to get is a sharp word from his wife. The world had gone topsy-turvy and he wanted off the ride.

“
Damned Yanks,” the old man at the end of the bar muttered into his pint glass.

Blood boiling,
Daniel straightened up to right the bastard’s mistake when she put a hand on his arm. Daniel turned, looking down at the woman who, despite receiving as warm a welcome as himself, had a smile on her face. It was a real one too, not the forced kind. He could tell, since it reached her cobalt eyes.

“It’s not worth it, really,” she whispered.

“Not worth it? How can you let him think you’re one thing when it’s not even close? He meant it as an insult!”

Amelia
shrugged her shoulders. “Doesn’t matter. Just proves his ignorance and I’m only insulted if I allow his comment to get under my skin in the way he intended it to. There’s nothing wrong with being American, or Canadian, or anything else for that matter. The only thing I need to worry about in life is that I treat people the way I want to be treated. If they don’t return the courtesy, well, there isn’t really anything I can do about it. The man must have had a bad experience sometime in his past and I’m unlikely to change his opinion.”

“
You’re a better person than I am then,” he mumbled, collecting the paper bag from the bar as it was placed there. He held out his arm for her to take and she did, leaning into him for support.

“Nah, just
‘too good for my own good’ as my Poppa used to say.” She giggled, pushing the door open.

If nothing else, the man sure
pegged her.

Like a sad little puppy – rather than the thirty-
two year old man that he was – Daniel helped her across the deserted street, away from the car, to a lone picnic bench near the sea. Amelia reminded him of a child at times, so unaffected by the world, innocent and sweet. The little things, more than anything else, drew him to her like a moth to the flame. Mind, he’d rather be drawn to her flame than anyone else’s. At least her flame would only be there to provide warmth and comfort. The others burned.

Yes, the little things
pulled him in, like how she twirled her hair, bit her lip, and giggled when she read, seeming more like a girl in school than a woman of twenty-five. Or, as she did at that moment, taking off her rain coat to spread over the bench for them to sit on. Ignoring the frigid wind and light spray of precipitation in the air, only caring that their backsides didn’t get wet as they ate.

Amelia
hardly gave herself a second’s thought. If he wasn’t there to do it for her, then who would?

Daniel
continued to have this maddening urge to scoop her into his arms and keep her safe, tucked against his chest. That in itself confused the hell out of him. The last thing Amelia needed was an ex-convict hanging around. If he had any brains at all, he’d cut himself off from her.

But when it came to Amelia, his mind went blank of anything and everything, save for the memories they’
d made over the past few days.

“Come on, Daniel! The chips are getting cold!”

That isn’t the only thing that’ll get cold
, he thought. Better he get sick than Amelia, and he pulled off his own jacket, giving her an
I’m in charge here
look, which she rolled her eyes at.

She laughed, accepting the warmth of his coat before helping herself to one of the cardboard containers of chips.
Just for a minute, he watched her stab the small wooden fork into a chip covered in curry sauce and bring it to her lips.

“Mmm… I think I would die if I couldn’t have this again,” she sighed after swallowing.
“This is just the thing for a hangover too, I think.”

Daniel chuckled, shaking his head.
Just the other day she tried the dish for the first time and practically melted in her seat. Honestly, he’d never seen anyone enjoy food the way she did, other than himself of course. They may have different reasons, but it was something shared, a passion for flavours and textures, the quality of food as opposed to simply quantity.

“Where are you?”

Startled by her voice and the question, Daniel cocked his head to the side in his own inquiry. His eyes and the confused rise of his brows wondered
whatever do
you
mean
?

“You had this vacant look in your eyes
,” she explained. “You get it quite often, actually.”

High time he was honest with her. Though Daniel had not a penny to his name, other than the
euro credit from the government, he couldn’t let her keep him this way. “Have you noticed how people watch me? How they cower or glare?”

Spearing another chip, she gave a nod of her head and bit t
he morsel from its wooden fork.

“And why do you think that is?”

“Doesn’t matter.”

By God, she could be exasperating!
“Amelia, I’ve been in pri–”

“Daniel, I don’t care.
” Sighing heavily, she dropped her fork and turned to face him, straddling the bench. “Sometimes people make mistakes, do stupid things. Hell, if everyone who screwed up was cast aside, no one on this godforsaken planet would have any friends. So listen to me when I tell you that
I don’t care
what you did before the day you met me. Since then, you’ve been nothing short of incredible. I’ll never regret stopping on the side of the road to give you a ride. Never, you got it?”

“But I–”

She pressed the chilled pad of her index finger to his mouth. “
Never
. Now, eat your chips before I eat them for you.”

He would have said something along the lines of ‘yes Mam’ but the thought was just too damned painful to bear.
Instead, Daniel took her hand as she went to remove it, clutched it between both of his, and brought her palm back to his lips. He planted a kiss in the centre of her sensitive palm. Soft. Slid his lips over the skin. Teasing.

Her face turned the deepe
st shade of crimson. Totally worth it.

Embarrassment fit her well
, just like she suited those flannel pajamas she wore each night, with little sheep on them. Funny how something that would be so innocuous on anyone else turned him to putty when it came to Amelia.