Danny's War (Rolling Thunder Series Book 3) (19 page)

“We didn’t? What did we do then?”

“I mean, we didn’t share our feelings.”

Danny abruptly pushed the footrest down, throwing the recliner upright quickly. Tammy braced herself with her arms.  She could sense his irritation at her and worried he was mad. As soon as she had righted herself, she hopped off his lap and stood facing him.

Danny stood too and started walking into the kitchen. He went to the refrigerator and pulled out the iced tea pitcher and carried it to the counter. Pulling a glass out of the cupboard, he looked over his shoulder at Tammy to see if she wanted one. She shook her head no and waited while he poured his tea. She watched him swallowing several times and knew he was trying to calm himself down.

Tammy fidgeted with the bottom of her sweater, rolling it between her fingers and stretching it alternately. She was afraid to move. She didn’t mean to make him mad, but it looked like she had. He drank about half of his glass of tea and refilled it. Turning he put the pitcher back into the refrigerator and walked again to his glass. He turned and watched Tammy stretching the crap out of her sweater and softly swore, “Shit.”

Walking toward her, he watched as the worry on her face grew, her lips trembled and her eyes were glassy. Danny stopped her hand from stretching the bottom of her sweater any further, and pulled her to the sofa. He sat, pulling her down next to him. Blowing out a long breath, he said, “Okay, tell me what we didn’t share.”

Tammy swallowed. “You didn’t tell me how you felt about the video. I know you’re bothered by it, and you’ve said you’ve talked to your counselor about it, but if we’re going to take this big step and move in with each other…before we can do that, we have to talk to each other. You still need to talk to your counselor, but you need to be able to talk to me too.”

Danny searched her eyes for mocking or falsehood, but he didn’t see it. He watched the strain on her face, the tightness of her normally plump lips and the wrinkle in the middle of her forehead deepen as she waited for him to respond. Taking a deep breath, he nodded, “Okay.”

He rubbed the back of his neck with his hand and then slowly rotated his head to ease some of the tension. Straightening his back, he looked into her eyes.

“I hate it. I hate everything about it. I hate that, while neither of us were virgins when we met, to know that other people know what you look like in that most private time…I hate it.”

Danny rubbed his hands down his thighs and watched her bottom lip quiver.

“But, I don’t blame you for it, Tammy. I hate that it’s out there, that I’m helpless to do anything about it, I hate that it hurts you, that you’re embarrassed by it. I hate that that fucker is out there, gloating and laughing, I hate all of that. It enrages me, because I can’t change it for you.”

The surprise registered on Tammy’s face. She watched him trying to self soothe by rubbing his hands down his thighs and across the back of his neck. He kept swallowing, his breathing rapid and sharp.

Swallowing the sob crawling up her throat, she said, “You don’t blame me?”

“Fuck no…Why would you…” Taking another breath he locked eyes with her and gently brought his shaking fingers up to her cheek to wipe away the lone tear trekking down. “I love you, Tammy. I love you so much and mostly, I feel powerless to help you. That’s been my battle from losing my leg forward, this sense of powerlessness and then, I felt it all over again when you told me about the video. But, mostly, I love you.”

TAMMY JUMPED UP
out of her chair and ran around the table as Danny pushed his chair away. He turned toward her as she jumped onto his lap and slammed her mouth against his. She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him wildly, tears wetting their cheeks. She felt him grab a handful of hair at her nape and hold her tight to his mouth. She could feel the shaking in his hand and the heat rising from his body. She continued to ravish his mouth with her own until she felt him tug gently at her hair to pull away. He looked into her eyes and softly said, “I love you.”

Tammy held his handsome face between her hands, wiping the moisture from her tears with her thumbs. “I love you, too.”

“Thank fuck.”

She giggled as relief washed over her. Relief and happiness. He loved her. “We’ll have to work on your language though.”

“That right?” His husky voice rasped as his eyes caressed her face.

“As Noah grows a bit older, you’re not going to be able to say fuck, shit, damn, son of a bitch, bastard or any other crazy ass words you say.” Tammy giggled.

“Ha! Neither are you.”

“I don’t swear that much.”

“Darlin’ you just said ass. You don’t realize it, but the f-bombs fly out of your mouth once in a while too.” A smirk revealed itself on Danny’s face.

Tammy wrinkled her nose. “Okay. We’ll both have to work on our language.”

Danny kissed her soundly, a quick peck, then another. “So?”

“So what?”

Danny looked into her eyes and saw humor. “Are you moving in?”

Tammy pursed her lips and raised a finger to her cheek as she acted like she was thinking. Danny pinched her sides causing her to yelp then squirm. “Yeah, I’m moving in. I have to give notice though. Sixty days.”

“Sixty days?” his voice rose.

“It doesn’t mean I have to stay there the whole time, I just won’t officially be out of my lease until then.” She leaned forward and kissed him again. Loving how his full lips felt against hers.

“What will your parents think about it?”

“Well, I’m sure they’d prefer I didn’t cohabitate with anyone before marriage, but they like you, so I’m sure it’ll eventually be fine. There might be a few lectures until they feel it’s futile and I’m moving in anyway. Oh, and my dad is traveling during Thanksgiving, so they’re having Thanksgiving dinner at their place on the Saturday after. You don’t have to work, do you?”

“I’ll talk to Dog, I’m sure it’ll be fine.” Danny leaned back to look once again into her face. “When is Mr. Moneybags going back home?”

Huffing out a breath, she said, “He took Sally back to Seattle in his ‘private jet’ this morning.” Private jet in air quotes, along with an eye roll. “She stopped in briefly to say goodbye and drop off her keys and security card and such. She was nice and actually kind of smug, like she stole Zeke away from me or something. It gives me a little time to do some research though, so I’m glad they’re gone.”

“I’m glad he’s gone too. I hate the thought of him eye-fucking you all the time.”

“Language.”

“Noah isn’t here.” Grabbing her waist, he picked her up off his lap and set her on the floor. Standing himself, he put his arm around her shoulders and walked her toward the living room. Flopping into his recliner, he pulled Tammy down onto his lap. He reached over to pull his laptop off the table and set it on Tammy’s lap. With his arms around her, he said, “Before Grace got here this morning with Noah, I did a little snooping myself. I found on the City’s website the list of builders vying for the coveted job of developing the downtown area.”

Tapping a few keys he pulled up the list of builders. “Here’s what I found.”

Tammy read through the list of builders. “Hamilton Enterprises isn’t on there. I thought for sure that’s what was behind all of this. Dammit.”

“Language.” Danny chuckled at Tammy’s huff. “I thought I might spend a bit of time researching these builders. They could be using an alias or a dummy company. I don’t know why they’d do that, but you never know.”

“Great idea. It could very well be that they are trying to pull something.”

“Yep. So, Lex will be flying in on Wednesday. Coop will be in Thursday afternoon and Dirks Thursday around dinner time. They’re staying here with us, there’s plenty of room upstairs now that we’re down here.”

“Danny, I can stay at my place while they’re here. I don’t want to intrude on your time with them.”

“Nope. I’ve told them all about you and they can’t wait to meet you. Besides, you’re moving in, so, this is your place now too.” He kissed the side of her head and breathed in the fresh scent of her hair.

Tammy turned as much as she could to face him. Staring into his beautiful brown eyes she whispered, “Wow, I’m a lucky girl.”

Danny chuckled. “Not as lucky as I am.”

***

Tammy sat at her desk at work, poring over financial and activities reports. It had been a frustrating week. She and Danny had been unable to link Hamilton Enterprises with any of the builders on the City’s website. Lex was coming in any minute now and Tammy promised to come home early. Home. It felt absolutely…right. She sat back into her chair as a smile creased her face. Her phone chimed and without thought she reached forward and grabbed it off the top of her desk. Swiping her thumb over the face of her phone to unlock it, she gasped as she saw another alert that the video had received comments. Why was this happening again?

Scrolling to her favorites, she touched the picture of her mom and tapped again to connect the call. Listening to the second ring Tammy glanced at her computer screen to see that it was two forty-six p.m.

“Hi baby, how are you?”

“Mom.” Tammy broke out in a sob hearing her mom’s voice.

“Honey, what’s wrong?”

“It’s starting again. The video, it’s starting again.” Tammy looked out of her office door to make sure no one was around.

“Shit. How do you know?” Denise Davis held her breath and pinched the bridge of her nose.

Lowering her voice, Tammy said, “I’m getting alerts. Two in a week. It stopped for so long, now it’s starting again. Can you call Attorney Gratz?” Tammy’s hands shook at the thought.

“Yes. I’ll call him right now. How are you doing?”

“I’m basically okay. I have Danny in my life now, I just hate that this is all coming up again.” Tammy bit a fingernail.

“Have you told him about it?”

“Yes. We talked about it and it’s good. But, if it takes off again like it did before, it’s going to get rough. Plus…” Tammy choked back a sob. “I can’t…go through that again.” Her voice cracked and her pulse raced.

Denise looked out her kitchen window and watched the neighbor’s cat jump on top of the wooden fence and gracefully strut the length of it. Turning her mouth down at the corners, she turned around and leaned against the counter. “I’ll call Derrick right now and tell him about the video and see what he can do. You know he’s going to ask me. Have you seen Scott at all? Have you spoken to him? Is there any reason he would post this himself?”

Tammy let out a long breath as she stood and began pacing the floor in her office. “No. I haven’t seen him, spoken to him, or even seen anyone we both would know. I can’t think of any reason why he’d risk violating the restraining order now.”

Denise nodded. “Okay. I’ll call you later, baby. Love you.”

“Love you too, Mom.” Tammy ended her call and stopped at the credenza lined with the pictures of the people she loved. Except Danny. She needed to get a picture of Danny for her credenza. As she allowed her thoughts to flow over to more pleasant topics, her phone started playing “I’m proud to be an American” by Lee Greenwood. She smiled as she swiped her finger across Danny’s picture. “Hey you.”

“Hey. I just picked up Lex and his dad, Mr….Charles. Anyway, I wanted to make sure you’re still able to come home a bit early.”

Looking at the clock on her computer, she nodded, though he couldn’t see her. “Yeah. I’ll be leaving here in about fifteen minutes. Should I stop at the store and pick up something for dinner?”

“No. Charles wants to take us out to dinner. Just come home. Love you.”

Tammy’s smile widened at hearing those words flow so casually off Danny’s tongue.

“Love you, too.” She ended her call and set her phone on her desk. Taking a deep breath, Tammy fought to get her head around cleaning off her desk for the day.

“IT’S A PLEASURE
to meet you, Mr. Page.” Tammy extended her hand to Lex’s father, a beautiful smile on her face. She was nervous to meet these people who meant so much to Danny. Their newly declared love seemed so fragile right now.

“Charles, please. It’s a pleasure to meet you as well. Tammy.” Charles shook Tammy’s hand with a firm grip and a broad smile. He was in his early fifties, with graying hair which in his youth was a warm chestnut brown and clear blue eyes that sparkled. Very handsome. On top of the polish was a faint but noticeable Southern drawl which added to the whole package. Lex looked very much like his father, though, there seemed to be a haunted look in Lex’s eyes. Tammy shook Lex’s hand as Danny continued with the introductions.

Danny put his arm around Tammy and drew her into his warmth. He kissed her temple and gave her a squeeze. “I thought we could eat at the Top Hat, what do you think of that?”

“That’s fabulous.” Looking at their guests, Tammy said, “Do you like big juicy steaks and steak fries?”

Lex laughed, “What are steak fries?”

Tammy and Danny both chuckled. Tucking her hair behind her ear, she said, “Okay. Um, they’re thick slices of potatoes deep fried like French fries.”

“Oh, in that case, yes. That sounds delicious, darlin’.” Tammy smirked, there was something about that slow Southern accent that could make a girl fall head over heels.

They enjoyed an evening of getting to know each other. Lex and Charles were very much the Southern gentlemen. Lex would float off once in a while, lost in his own thoughts, but just when Tammy started to worry, he would come back to them as though nothing had happened. Charles watched Lex closely and more than once Tammy caught his eye. He would nod once and softly smile, though it never reached his eyes.

“Dan. What have you been doing about your PTSD?” Lex asked. He fidgeted with his napkin. His eyes flicked to Tammy and then back to Danny.

Danny sat forward, leaning his arms on the table and looked directly into Lex’s eyes. “I still see my counselor twice a month and, recently, I started going into Stateside Home for Veterans and talking to the guys there. It’s amazing talking to those guys, Lex. I was hoping you’d come with me when I go on Sunday. All of you. The men will love meeting you and it’s amazing talking to them. They have so many experiences to share and they’re interested in hearing about ours.” Danny’s smile was broad and he pleaded with his eyes for Lex to agree to join him.