Wilde Blue (Wilde Brothers Book 4) (5 page)

Damn, he was hot. Dani was self-aware enough to know that if there were any chance of her interest being reciprocated, she’d probably run like hell. Life was too chaotic for her to be dating right now, and her taste in men had proven to be more than a little suspect. Crushing on a gorgeous man who lived like a monk was safe enough, though.

Wasn’t it?

Dave arrived at the door with rainwater running down his face and a smile on his lips. “Welcome to spring in Chicago,” he told her as she moved back to give him room to join her under the small awning.

“Are the storms always like this?” she asked, sweeping her hand in an arch to describe the bruise-dark clouds overhead.

“This is actually a pretty tame one. Wait until the wind is so bad it’s throwing the hail sideways and the thunder rattles the fillings in your teeth.”

“Tame? I’m a West Coast girl. This doesn’t seem very tame to me. Our storms usually come in the winter, not suddenly materialize out of the clear blue summer sky.” She pulled the bar towel she kept tucked into her apron loose and offered it to him. “It’s mostly clean, and you look like you could use a little help drying off.”

“Thanks.” He took the towel and scrubbed it over his face and head, then laughed. “And now I smell like…burgers?”

“You’ll have every dog in the neighborhood following you home tonight, lucky man.”

“It’s a good thing Chase isn’t allowed inside or the mutt would be all over me.” He handed back the towel before running a hand through his tousled hair, smoothing it into damp spikes.

“Ben and Kelly aren’t here tonight. In fact, it’s pretty quiet. I think the storm sent most people home early. The only Wilde here is your dad. Your mom offered to watch Carla tonight, so you’ll be able to eat in relative peace.”

“How quiet is it?” he asked, and for some reason the tone he used made her heart skip a beat and her stomach flutter.

“It’s not dead, but the rush seems to be over. Why do you ask?”

“I was hoping to steal you out of the kitchen for a while, but only if you have the time. I talked to Tag today. I thought you and I could talk about the weekend after next, and what I need to be watching for.”

She nodded. “Of course.”

This was the part she’d been dreading. It didn’t bother her to tell the story of what happened to her and Casey that night. It was the way people reacted to it, and to her, after they knew the details. She hated seeing the pity in their eyes and the way they either faded out of her life or tried to wrap her in bubble wrap and protect her from everything. She wasn’t made of glass and didn’t need anyone’s sympathy. Most people didn’t understand that.

“Have you eaten?” he asked.

The question caught her off-guard. “Uh, no. I was going to, but I got distracted watching the storm.”

He cocked his head to the side and was silent for a moment before speaking. “Will you have dinner with me? We can grab a booth at the back and talk and eat at the same time.”

“Sounds good. What do you want to eat? I’ll whip up something for us both and join you out front.”

“Have one of the others make it. Come sit with me.”

For a second she thought he was going to reach for her hand, but instead he pointed down the hall toward the entrance to the pub. When she hesitated, he furrowed his brow and shook his head, crossing his arms over his chest in a way that made his shirt tighten across his biceps in a distracting fashion.

“No arguing. Even
I
let my staff take breaks, and I’m the mean brother, so I know damned well Jared gives you plenty of breaks that you probably never use. You’re going to sit down and relax, Dani. I have a feeling you don’t do that often.”

“I doubt you do it often, either. Your family is convinced you’re a workaholic. From what I’ve seen, I’d say they’re right.”

His frown deepened, but there was a hint of a smile on his lips as he cocked a brow at her. “What did I say about arguing? Take your apron off, Chef. You’re on a break.”

“You sound like your dad,” she muttered, but she reached behind her to undo the tie on her apron. A break did sound like a good idea.

“It’s a cop thing.”

“Nope, it’s a Wilde thing. Your brothers do it, too. I don’t know how your mother puts up with you guys.”

“She doesn’t put up with us. She rules us with an iron grip.” He leaned forward and dropped his voice to a whisper. “Don’t tell her I said so, but we’re all afraid of her.”

“Ha!” Dani laughed. “She’s a sweetheart.”

“Remind me to tell you the story of how my parents met, and how she had to save my dad from her stalker by breaking a vase over the bad guy’s head. I’m hoping Tag’s kid is a girl…and takes after her grandmother.”

The mention of his brother’s name reminded Dani of why Dave was here, and what he wanted to talk to her about. “You can tell me over dinner. I’ll let the staff know where to find me and put in an order for your usual.”

“I have a usual?” he asked, looking perplexed.

“The last few times you’ve been in you ordered the same thing, a pulled pork sandwich, light on the sauce, with a side of extra-crispy fries.”

“How’d you know that?”

She grinned up at him. “You’re the only person I know, besides me, who likes their fries that way.”

“A woman of good taste. I knew I liked you for a reason. I’ll go say hi to Dad and snag us a booth. See you in a minute.”

With that, he was gone, leaving Dani standing in the hallway, still trying to figure out what had just happened. He’d said he liked her. What did that mean? And was he actually flirting with her? She was so out of practice, she couldn’t be sure. Besides, Dave was supposed to be a devout bachelor—one who’d asked her to join him for dinner.

“You’re imagining things, girl. He doesn’t date, and even if he did, men that look like him don’t date chubby, single mothers with violent exes stalking them. Not even in your wildest dreams is that happening,” she murmured to herself.

Dani headed back to the kitchen to put in her order and let the others know she was on break. She barely resisted the urge to grab her purse so she could touch up her eyeliner or put on a quick coat of lip gloss.

There isn’t any point because this isn’t a date.

Chapter Four

Dave settled into one of the more private booths near the back of the bar and sipped his beer while he waited for Dani to reappear. He used the moment alone to try and puzzle out how the hell a simple plan to get a few details from Dani about her ex had turned into the two of them having dinner together. Not that it was a date or anything. She was on her break and they were in the middle of his family’s business. It was definitely not a date, and yet somehow he felt like it was more than just a casual conversation. He had to admit he was looking forward to spending time alone with her.

This is not a date. If it were a date, I’d of taken her somewhere a hell of a lot nicer than this place. Dani deserves better than watermarked tables and polished brass bric-brac.

He frowned into his brew. Where the fuck had that thought come from? “I’m losing my mind,” he sighed to himself and took another drink.

A murmur of masculine appreciation came from somewhere to his right and he glanced up instinctively, expecting to see a pretty stranger, only to find Dani walking across the well-worn hardwood floor toward him, her every move attracting admiring gazes. Jealousy flared hot in his gut, and before he knew it he was on his feet and walking over to meet her, glaring at anyone who dared to look at her.

“Uh, hi,” she said, looking up at him with a slightly confused expression when he finally reached her side. “Something wrong?”

“I wasn’t sure you could see me tucked in the back corner,” he said and gestured past the curve of the mahogany bar to the booth he’d picked out. Dave could only hope she didn’t call him on his rather lame explanation. Without another word, he gestured toward their seats and set a gentle hand on her to guide her back to their table.

Dave waited until she was seated before he sat down himself, a display of manners that he didn’t normally concern himself with. Whatever was wrong with him, it was getting worse by the minute.

Dani had brought a drink with her, ice water by the look of it, and she was toying with the straw while the silence stretched out between them, marred only by the occasional boom of thunder.

Now that the moment was here, Dave didn’t know how to ask what he wanted to know. She wasn’t a suspect to interrogate, and he didn’t want to treat her like a victim. Somehow, he knew she wouldn’t appreciate it if he did. Finally, he went with a simple question. “What’s his name?”

“His name is Robert Blackstone the Fourth, Bobby to his friends. When Casey isn’t within earshot, I tend to call him the bastard.” She winced. “That’s my daughter’s real name, by the way. Casey, not Carla.”

“Casey suits her better than Carla. I take it her last name isn’t Walker, either? Carla and Danai Walker. Did you know there’s an actress on that zombie show named Danai? She’s a bad-ass survivor with a katana…” He cocked a brow at her. “But you knew that, didn’t you?”

She grinned. “I did. I love
The Walking Dead
. When it was suggested I create a new identity for us, I couldn’t think of anything better than two survivors on the run from a mindless monster.” Dani held out her hand to him. “I’m Daniella Moore. You can keep calling me Dani, though. It’s what everyone has always called me.”

He took her offered hand and laughed, amazed at her ability to find humor in the situation she was in. The more he got to know Dani, the more interesting she became. “It’s nice to meet the real you, Daniella. I promise your secret is safe with me.”

“I know I’m safe with you. Casey and I both are.”

She withdrew her hand from his, her fingers grazing his palm with a delicate caress that heated his blood while her words kindled a different fire in the cold depths of his heart. At that moment he knew he would never allow anyone to hurt her or Casey ever again.

Still off-balance by the sudden surge of protectiveness he was feeling, Dave simply nodded in agreement. Before he could say anything, there was a deafening boom and the lights flickered and died, leaving them in semi-darkness, the only light coming in from the windows at the front of the building. Beyond the glass, several passersby were looking around them with curiosity at the newly darkened city.

“I’m not sure if I should take that as an omen, or a commentary from the diet gods reminding me I really didn’t need to eat an order of fries tonight,” Dani murmured ruefully.

He grinned. “Nothing wrong with french fries. They’re a vegetable, right? Totally healthy. With any luck, the power will be back in a few minutes. If not, or if the tornado sirens start wailing, your shift will end early. Dad will close the place up and send everyone home. That’s what normally happens.”

“Tornado sirens? Tag mentioned them, but I half-suspected he was kidding. You really have such a thing here?”

Her words were edged with worry and Dave regretted his casual comment. Growing up in Chicago, he forgot that what he considered normal, others might find unnerving. “It’s rare for tornadoes to touch down in the city proper, but it happens from time to time. You grew up in Washington State, right? You’re used to earthquakes. I’m used to big storms and occasional tornado sirens. Frankly, I prefer tornadoes. We get warning they’re coming. Earthquakes, not so much.”

“I see your point, but I still don’t like the idea that a big funnel could sweep down out of the sky and whisk me off to Oz.” She shuddered, but the worry was gone from her voice. “Do storms like this happen often? Big enough to take out the power, I mean. If so, I’m going to need to invest in some candles and a flashlight or three.” She laughed to herself. “And an extra battery for Casey’s handheld game console. If she couldn’t play her
Farm Friends
game for a whole night, I’d never hear the end of it.”

“Not all that often, but it wouldn’t hurt to stock up on a few emergency candles and an extra battery for that game thing. Is that the one I see her playing all the time?”

“Oh yeah. I should warn you, if you ask her about it, she’ll talk your ear off about digital farm animals, especially one called Lucy Goosey. That’s her favorite. She loves that game. It’s probably the only gift that Bobby’s parents have ever given her that she actually enjoys.”

“She has contact with her father’s parents?” he asked, surprised.

Dani shook her head. “Not really. They get a Christmas card from us each year with a new picture of their granddaughter, and they send her a gift every birthday and Christmas. They haven’t seen her since the night of the shooting. They came to see us at the hospital to try and get me to drop the charges. They didn’t understand that it was out of my hands. I couldn’t have saved their good-for-nothing son even if I’d wanted to.”

Dave’s fingers clenched into a fist and he had to force his next words out past a jaw gone tight with fury. “The son of a bitch
shot
you?”

“Sorry, I sort of jumped to the finale there. Would you like me to start from the beginning?”

“He shot you. Fucking hell. What kind of a bastard does that?”

“The nasty-tempered and drunk kind.” Dani sighed softly and put a soothing hand over his clenched fist. “It was a long time ago. Casey doesn’t even remember it. Since we’re already talking about the worst part, you should know that I wasn’t the only one who got shot. I was trying to get away from him, and I was holding Casey as we made a run for the door. The first bullet hit me high in the shoulder, but the second one went through the fleshy part of my arm and hit her, too.”

Dave turned his hand over so that he could wrap his fingers around hers, a silent gesture of support as he struggled to control his temper. He couldn’t believe that Dani’s ex had been released at all. He spent his days putting men like Bobby behind bars, and it frustrated him beyond sanity that the system could fail so badly. “He should be in jail for the rest of his fucking life after that. Tag mentioned he was from a wealthy family. It must have cost them dearly to get the bastard out early.”

“I hope it bankrupted them,” she agreed, her voice low and angry.

“With your permission, I’d like to start making a few unofficial inquiries. I’ll need some information, like the location of the attack and any file numbers you might have. Maybe I can find out how this bastard got out and see if anyone’s laid eyes on him since his release.”

It pleased him that she didn’t try to remove her hand from his. He liked touching her. He knew that if he didn’t let go soon, he’d have to admit he was interested in more than simply acting as her bodyguard for a few days, but there wasn’t a chance in hell that he was going to let go of her hand.

Fuck.

“I can do better than a few file numbers,” she told him proudly. “I kept everything. Photos, news clippings, legal documents, police files, and medical records. Whatever you need, I probably have it.”

“That’s a grim thing to have around. I take it Casey’s never seen it?” Dave asked, the investigator in him already itching to look it all over.

Dani shook her head. “Not yet. When she’s older, she’s going to want to know what happened. When that day comes, she can read it. For now all she knows is that her father is a scary man who tried to hurt us and gave us matching scars. She doesn’t even remember him. She was less than a year old when it happened.”

“Which is why you have everything prepared. Because one day she’s going to wonder if he’s really as bad as you say, and you’re going to need to show her the file to help her understand.”

“Yes, that’s it exactly. She already asks me questions about it. At least, she used to. Since he showed up at her school, screaming demands, she’s stopped asking. She said he scared her.” Dani’s voice lowered. “What scares me is that he got so close. I didn’t even know he was out, and then suddenly he’s at her classroom door claiming there’s a family emergency and she needs to go with him.”

“The office told him where she was?” Dave asked, incredulous.

Dani opened her mouth, then closed it again. Her brown eyes darkened to a stormy black and she shook her head, hard. “Shit. I never thought about it. I was so worried that he was there at all that it never even occurred to me how he found her. The vice-principal and the teacher both said the same thing. He just showed up at her classroom. He never went near the office.”

“Well, we can assume that however he did it, he hasn’t been able to track her since, or you’d have heard from him by now. Maybe his parents helped him. Or he had a friend find out for him.” He tightened his fingers around hers. “We’ll figure it out.”

****

Dani glanced down at their joined hands, then back up at the handsome face of the man who had just offered her his help and support without hesitation or judgment. “If the power doesn’t come back on, you’re welcome to come back to my place for dinner. You could take a look at the file I was telling you about while I cook.”

His eyes widened, and for a moment she couldn’t tell which of them was more surprised by her offer. She hadn’t planned on inviting him home. She’d only intended to thank him for his offer to help.

Dave’s fingers loosened their grip on hers, and she thought she had her answer. He was going to pull away, tell her thank you, but no, and find a reason to leave. She was already chastising herself for being a fool when his hand settled back over hers.

“I’d like that. We can pick up something on the way if you’d rather not cook after working all day in the kitchen.”

“I don’t mind. Cooking relaxes me, and if we’re going to talk about my ex, I’ll need all the calm I can get.”

“Maybe we’ll need wine with dinner, then,” Dave said, his voice deeper than it had been only a moment ago. “I can give you a ride home, too. Unless you feel up to navigating Chicago traffic during a blackout.”

The very thought made her stomach turn. Driving the congested streets of the city was something she was still getting used to when the lights were working. In a blackout, she’d wind up stuck in traffic for hours, or more likely, stuck
and
lost. “I’d be grateful if you drove. I’d rather kiss a pig than even attempt to drive these streets when there are no stoplights.”

Dave gave her the oddest look, then burst out laughing. “You work in a cop bar, remember? You might want to drop that phrase from your vocabulary or you’ll have every man in here either taking insult or hoping for a kiss.”

“Oh, God.” She dropped her head and stared down at the well-used surface of their table, counting the water stains and ring marks as he continued to laugh.

Finally, he got his amusement under control and gave her hand a playful squeeze. “Don’t worry, I wasn’t insulted.”

“From what I see, you’re more likely hoping for a kiss.” Brian Wilde appeared at their table, chuckling at his own joke.

Dani jerked her hand away from Dave’s and scrambled to her feet. “It looks like the power isn’t coming back on. I should go back to the kitchen to help the others get everything put away.”

Brian gestured for her to stop. “They’re fine. I instructed them to start cleaning up before I came over here. The backup generator will keep the fridge and freezer running so nothing will spoil. I checked online and they’re not expecting to have the power back on for another two hours.”

“You’re closing up early, then?” Dave asked, already rising to his feet.

Brian nodded. “I came over to see if Dani wanted a ride home. I’m going to guess that you can see her home safely. Your mother and I can bring Carla back, say, around seven thirty?”