Rules of Engagement by Delilah Devlin

Author:Delilah Devlin
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Military, Romance, Texas
Publisher: Delilah Devlin
Published: 2017-07-19T00:00:00+00:00

After Callie showered away sand and grit, she wandered around her little house, too edgy to settle. Derek was somewhere in town. But not with her. Why was she wasting the short time they had on hurt feelings? She wasn’t a kid anymore. Couldn’t sit in her room and pout when things didn’t go her way. She was a grown woman who had a job she liked, friends she could hang with, and who would give her a shoulder if she needed a good cry. But she had no good reason to cry. Not today, anyway. He was here. For her.

What the hell is wrong with me?

She quit rubbing the moisture from her hair and dropped the towel near the hamper. She knew if she divided a notebook page and wrote down the pros and cons of marrying Derek, the pros would far outweigh the other side. She’d done that exercise already once. Logic didn’t have a thing to do with her intransigence. Fear did. She was a scaredy-cat. A total wuss. There was nothing rational about her fear. She knew Derek was a good guy with good intentions and he’d never intentionally hurt her.

But hadn’t he already done that? Old resentment still burned inside over the fact he’d left in the first place.

Again, Logical-Devil sat on one shoulder. He has a right to a career he loves. He’d be stifled here. Might even grow to resent me for holding him back.

The devil holding up the scared little girl complaints was just as strident. He’ll get what he wants then lose interest. You can’t hold him for the long haul. He’ll leave you.

Fact was, she wouldn’t have minded a test drive. But he hadn’t offered to fly her out in a long time. The last time was four years ago, and her mom had just divorced Mr. Cunningham. Bad timing all around, and so not Derek’s fault. But she’d clung to her old excuses and let him leave again.

She was twenty-eight now. Nearly the big three-O. Was she doomed to be spineless forever? Sometimes, she felt like an old agoraphobic woman, afraid to step out of her front door. Maybe that was it. Some disorder resided within her that made it impossible for her to trust a man completely.

Callie wandered in her old robe into her living room, and then remembered the album she’d stuffed under the seat cushions. She pulled it free, and once again, fanned through the pages, stopping now and then to reminisce.

She halted at a picture from their first camping trip—Derek holding out the camera to capture the moment as they stood in front of their tent. They’d pitched it beside the Guadalupe River, fried their hand-caught fish over an open fire, and snuggled under a layer of blankets when the cool night air settled. Both sets of parents had allowed the trip because they’d realized the futility of refusing to acknowledge they were already having sex. Instead, they’d lectured them about taking precautions, and then gave advice on where the best fishing spots were.

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