Pride rose.She might have been raised to think what she’d been through was normal, but he suspected that deep inside, she’d known better.Now that she had help, she wanted to help the others.He marveled at her strength.
She was still answering questions for Pike, adding bits and pieces of overheard conversations when Dax came back, a plate in each hand.Hawkeye shifted drinks out of the way and realized that they’d forgotten the soda.He twisted the top open and set it next to her plate.
“What’s this?”Delilah said, looking down at the plate he’d ordered for her.
“Food.All you’ve had in the last twelve hours is the junk the guys brought to the safehouse, and I suspect you hadn’t had much to eat before that.Eat up.”He picked up the burger on his plate and took a huge bite.He continued to watch her out of the corner of his eye.She picked up a fry and popped it into her mouth.After a moment, a second followed.She still hadn’t picked up the burger yet when she pushed at the Pepsi he’d opened.
“Why did you open that?I said I don’t want to waste it if I don’t like it.”
“I want you to taste it.I told you, if you don’t like it, I’ll drink it.”
She shook her head as if she had a hard time believing him.Her gaze on his face, she picked up the bottle and took a sip.She pulled a face he didn’t know how to interpret but it couldn’t have been too bad, because she tipped the bottle back and took another, longer drink.After a moment she set it aside and wrinkled her nose.
“It’s okay, but too sweet for my taste.You can have the rest.”She picked up another fry and ate it.
“All right.There are other flavors, many not as sweet, some sweeter.You can try them all, or not.It’s up to you.”Hawkeye picked up the soda and tipped it back.It wasn’t the best combination of flavors, the soda and his beer, but he didn’t want her to worry about wasting the drink or that he wouldn’t drink after her, even though he’d kissed her to show he didn’t mind whatever germs she might have.
He needed to give her time.If he had his way, they’d be sharing more than the one bodily fluid.He could be patient, but he knew what he wanted.The question was, how to convince her she wanted the same thing?
Chapter Twenty
“Come on, I know youdidn’t get much sleep last night.Neither did I,” Hawkeye said after they’d eaten.He stood next to the table where she sat, holding one hand out to her.“I’ll show you our room and you can nap for a bit.Later, if you’re up to it, I’ll take you out to get some clothes and personal stuff.”
Delilah stood, laying her hand in his.She wanted to tell him not to spend money on her, but she had to admit, the one set of clothes she had wouldn’t last long if it was all she had.Plus, she would need something to change into when she cleaned these.
“I could use some sleep.”She let him tug her to her feet, then followed him until he stopped beside a door and released her hand to dig for a set of keys.He unlocked the door and pushed it open, then motioned for her to go ahead.
“Sorry, I wasn’t expecting to bring anyone back.Give me a minute and I’ll get the place picked up,” he said as he stepped inside and closed the door.
She didn’t say anything but stood several steps into the room, taking it in.The walls were a dark gray, with a couple of Harley Davidson posters.There was a large bed on one side of the room, a chest of drawers between the closet door and another door on the far wall, and a huge desk with three monitors almost as big as the TVs in the other room, on top.A chair sat in front of the desk and there was a pile of what she assumed was dirty laundry on the floor beside the desk.The bed sat unmade, but other than that the room wasn’t bad.It looked lived in instead of like a show place.
“There.That’s better.I could make the bed, but if we’re going to lay down, why bother?”
She looked at him, then at the bed for a moment, then back to him.Could she get in bed with him?He’d had plenty of opportunities to hurt her, if he wanted to.She’d woken in his arms this morning and he had done nothing more than hold on to her while they’d both slept.Or she thought that was all he’d done.Her clothes had still been on and she hadn’t been sore this morning like when Warren had exercised his husbandly rights.That’s what he’d called it.What everyone in Jericho had called sex.Since leaving Jericho she’d learned other words.Still, she didn’t think Hawkeye had done that to her.
“Is this okay?”he turned and looked back to the bed.“I washed the sheets a few days ago.I never bring women back to my room, but I can change them if you’d like.”
