5 Reasons To Love Again

Chapter 8

Oh wow! People are reading and liking my story so far! I was having a busy day at work but when I checked my emails and saw that I had comments on the story, it made me so happy! This chapter is dedicated to the readers who have voted for my story and cared enough to comment... enjoy!

After getting dressed in my jeans and tee shirt, I headed down the hallway to the stairs. Preston had just reached the top and was holding a half eaten sandwich in his hand.

"Ms. Willi...." he started to say before I cut him off.

"Please call me Delphine."

"OK, Delphine. I just wanted to say again how sorry I am."

"Really, it's OK. I'm not hurt, I was just a little startled."

"I just..." He paused and leaned closer looking at my eyes. "You have the most unusual shade of green eyes that I've ever seen."

"I know." I said. "It's this really weird olive or khaki green."

"No, I didn't mean that it was weird! It's so unique and beautiful. I've never seen anything like it. The dark grey ring and you even have freckles towards the center. I really like it."

"Oh, thank you." I said feeling a little shy.

Preston looked a little embarrassed and looked down at his sandwich.

"Well, I really need to get some sleep. I'll see you later." He headed down the other hallway.

"Oh, OK." I said and started down the stairs.

Preston's POV

I had been up all night on a surveillance mission and was dead tired. I had gone towards Brady's room to check back in but heard water sounds from one of our empty guest rooms.

The door was locked but I had one of those spare pins for the door locks hidden in the hallways and used it to get in. I saw the mussed bed and bag at the foot of it. The bathroom door was open and I could hear someone in there. I waited against the wall on the side of the bathroom entrance ready to intercept whoever was coming out.

I saw a flash of dark wet hair and a towel clad body and I went into Academy mode and had the person up against the wall with their hands up. I swear that if I hadn't been so tired my brain would have been working a little better. It was obvious that the female in front of me hadn't broken in to camp in one of our rooms.

Then she looked up and those eyes got me. It wasn't just the color that got my attention. It was the wariness, sadness, and pain reflected in them. She looked fragile and I couldn't believe that I was still demanding an answer from her. I think that I just wanted her to speak so I could hear her voice.

Wyatt walking in right then and making his smart comments didn't help. Brady and Jake showing up to explain things should have woken me up enough to let go of Delphine's wrists but it didn't. Her towel slipping down should have been a big enough clue to let go also but instead I ended up pinning her to the wall with body.

I'll admit that I had to think of other things in order not to respond to the feel of her curves. Then what Brady had been telling me sank in a little and I realized that another person was with her, I felt a little jealous thinking that it might be a husband or boyfriend. She gasped out a girls name Lexine and I turned to see Brady picking up a little girl from the bed. How in the hell did I miss that! I'm still blaming the lack of sleep. The girl wrapped her little arms around Brady's neck and I took a better look at her. She was a cute little thing. Seeing Jake and Wyatt snickering and looking at me, I glanced down and sighed. There was a wet imprint of her body on my clothes.

I blathered out some kind of apology to her but I can't really remember what I said! Seeing that Delphine was shivering a little, I gathered my wits together and ordered everyone out so that she could get dressed. Heading to the kitchen downstairs, I was internally I was debating on whether to assign myself an hour for being such an idiot.

In the kitchen, I started to slap together a sandwich. Wyatt and Jake also entered the kitchen with big grins and kept giving me thumbs up. I glared at them, finished putting the sandwich together and left the kitchen. Brady was heading in with Delphine's daughter and I noticed that the little girl was not wanting to look at me. At first I thought that she might be shy but catching Brady's eyes, he was telling me that there was something else going on and he's tell me later.

When I reached the top of the stairs, there she was. Dressed this time in worn jeans and a faded shirt that clung to her figure. I decided that I would apologize again and looking in her eyes, I turned into an teenage boy going on about the color. Finally I decided to just quit before I became even more an idiot. I just headed to my room.

After I reached my room, I realized that I could have given her direction to the kitchen. "Stupid, stupid, stupid!" I said out loud and I hoped that after some sleep I would once more become the leader of this team instead of acting like a guy whose never seen a female before.