Where the Streets Have No Name(21)

“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 the 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 deepest 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.

Finished with their meals, Daniel helped Amelia back to the car before seeing to the rubbish. He was stiff from being stuck in her tiny rental and suffering the after-effects of overindulging in the whisky. What he wanted most he couldn’t ask for and what he needed, he wouldn’t get. He had no right to ask Amelia for a long soak in a bath and he didn’t dare consider asking her to give in to the attraction between them.