The Best of Us (8 page)

Daniel was introduced to thunderous applause and after he made his speech the applause was even louder and was accompanied with a standing ovation. Maybe Carly imagined Daniel being upset, he seemed fine now. Daniel came back to sit beside Carly, no, she wasn’t wrong, he was still upset and it wasn’t just the nerves about speaking.

“
That was a perfect speech.” Carly whispered to Daniel when he sat back down. He didn’t respond except for an acknowledging grunt.

“
Is something wrong?”

Daniel didn’t know what to say. He was ticked off and couldn’t explain it to himself, so how could he explain it to Carly. He had seen his brothers tease Carly hundreds of times, so why did it bother him now? He didn’t know what was wrong with him, ever since he saw Carly for the first time this evening, he felt protective over her. And yes, he had to admit, jealous of other men she gave attention to.

“
Daniel?”

Daniel realized he still hadn’t answered her. “I’m fine.” He turned to look at her and gave her a smile. “Really, I’m fine. Sorry.” He reached over and patted her knee in a gesture that was taken as pure brotherly love, but at that moment, Daniel wasn’t feeling brotherly.

“
Can I have this dance?”

The ball was now in full swing and people were having a great time. Daniel was acting a little more like himself but Carly kept noticing him watching her strangely from time to time.

“
Of course.” Carly got up to dance with a man she had been introduced to as Rick. He was a new fireman at the same station as Daniel. He was a good looking guy, about twenty five, tall and blond with baby blue eyes. Carly had no problem saying yes to the handsome man and headed out to the dance floor.

“
Wow! Look at Carly. What has she done to herself?” Carter asked his brothers. They were all still seated at the table Carly just left. Daniel was trying not to show how much he hated seeing Carly dance with anone else. But it was his fault, he hadn’t asked Carly to dance one time. He felt it was safer not to hold her in his arms but it seemed that neither one of his brothers had that problem. They both had danced with her a couple of times.

“
She does look stunning. That dress is something else.” Harm said.

“
If I didn’t know her so well, I’d be trying to get her number.” Harm said and Carter laughed, but Daniels jaw tightened. What was wrong with all of them? This was Carly they were talking about. She’s like a sister to them and they’re acting like she is just some woman…Okay, so she is a woman, and a very attractive one at that. But still, this was Carly.

“
Daniel, you’re an idiot.”

Daniel turned to look at Harm, “Excuse me?”

“
Oh come on. You know Carly has had a thing for you since she and Jenna became friends. Look at her man! She’s stunning.” Harm and Daniel were both watching Carly.

Carter noticed the look on Daniels face and elbowed Harm, Harm turned to look at their brother. It wasn’t sisterly love that was on his face, it was jealousy. They both smiled and Harm winked at Carter.

“
Excuse me,” Daniel got up and made his way to Carly. “May I cut in?”

Rick turned to the intruder ready with a negative reply until he realized who it was. “Of course,” Rick turned back to Carly. “Please save me another dance later.”

“
My pleasure.”

Rick turned to leave and Daniel took Carly into his arms. He still didn’t look happy.

“
What’s wrong? Is Glynna giving you problems?”

Daniel took Carly awkwardly in his stiff embrace. He held her at arm’s length, his right hand on her left hip, his arm all but locked at the elbow. He held her right hand in his left, out away from their bodies. He kept about a foot of space between them, which to anyone watching, such as Carter and Harm, it looked very uncomfortable and awkward. Of course Carter and Harm were enjoying their brother’s discomfort a little too much.

Carly felt Daniel’s body stiffen, even as far away from him as she was. Looking up at him she noticed he was looking over her shoulder with narrowed eyes. She started to turn to see what had caught his attention, but at that moment, he moved his right hand around to her the small of her back, pulling her up against his chest. He pulled his left hand in, bringing her right hand to his chest, and held it there.

Carly couldn’t help but notice that this embrace made it so that Daniel’s cheek rested at her temple and his warm breath was right at her ear, playing havoc with her thoughts. His warm breath caused goose bumps on her arms. Daniel must have noticed, he asked, “Are you cold?” Carly didn’t trust herself to answer so she just shook her head. Daniel pulled her even closer anyway.

When Carly couldn’t take it any longer, she turned her head and rested it on his shoulder. She couldn’t help but resent that the only reason he was holding her like this was because he was avoiding Glynna. What she couldn’t have known was that Daniel hadn’t seen Glynna. He’d seen another man heading their way and he wasn’t going to let anyone else cut in on their dance. In fact, when the song ended and went into another slow song, they continued to dance, holding each other.

After several minutes of silence Daniel said, “You’ve been getting a lot of attention tonight.”

What an odd thing to say, Carly thought, but since she didn’t know how to respond, she didn’t.

“
You look absolutely stunning.” Daniel said as he stopped moving and Carly looked up at him. They were so close that for the space of a heart beat Carly thought he might actually kiss her.

“
I have an early day tomorrow, are you ready to go?” Daniel said pulling away from her. His body seemed to stiffen and Carly wondered what had just happened.

“
Yeah, sure, that’s fine.” Carly and Daniel headed to their table and said their goodbyes. Daniel had been acting really weird all night, what had gotten into him? Carly wondered.

On the drive to Carly’s place, Daniel didn’t say a word, neither did Carly. She was still trying to figure out what was wrong.

Daniel pulled up to the front of the store and turned off the car. He turned to say something to Carly, but she was already getting out, he hurriedly got out to catch up to her and walked her to her door.

“
Thanks for the night out Daniel, I appreciate it. I’ve been cooped up in the apartment or the store and it’s nice to get out.” Carly decided to act as if nothing was the matter, especially since she didn’t know what it was.

“
Carly,” Daniel stopped.

“
Yeah?” Carly cocked her head to the side.

“
I’m sorry about tonight. I was a jerk and I…” Suddenly Daniel leaned in and before Carly knew what was happening, he was kissing her. He broke the kiss before she even had time to react. While she was trying to get her mind around the fact that Daniel had just kissed her, Daniel issued an explanative not quite under his breath, reached out and pulled Carly tightly to his body.

This time, Carly was a little more prepared. This time she kissed back. She didn’t know what was going on, but this was Daniel. The man she has loved most of her life. If this was the only time she would get to kiss him, she was taking advantage.

Daniel gave a low growl and leaned into the kiss even more. Carly made a soft mewling sound that only made Daniels blood run even hotter. Carly wrapped her arms around Daniel’s neck and kissed for all she was worth. Daniel’s hand was rubbing up and down her bare back and his other hand fisted in her chestnut hair.

Daniel didn’t know how long the kiss lasted only that they were both out of breath when it finally ended. Carly had no doubts that she had as much of an affect on him as he had on her and that left her dumbfounded.

Daniel rested his forehead to Carly’s and just stood there holding her. He lifted his head and with his finger, lifted Carly’s chin until she was looking at him. “This is Carly,” his mind kept screaming but he kept ignoring it.

“
I’ve got to go. Thanks for going with me tonight, I hate these things and you made all the difference.” Daniel leaned down and gave Carly a quick kiss on the tip of her nose, “Good night.”

“
Good night.” Carly didn’t know what had just happened only that this was something she would never forget. She went inside and locked the door then stood there catching her breath. “Man oh man, what a night.”

Carly went to bed that night happier then she had been in a very long time and wondered how she could nurture what was going on between them.

Daniel didn’t go to bed for several hours trying to figure out what just happened and how he could fix it and get them back to where they were.

Chapter Three

“
Oh for goodness sakes!” Carly shook her head at her reflection in the mirror. “What are you doing? This is just another everyday Monday at work.” But Carly knew it wasn’t. It would be the first time since Daniel kissed her that she would see him. It was playing havoc with her nerves. Carly stopped fussing over her make up and headed for the front door.

When she went to unlock the store she noticed movement on the street and stepped out onto the sidewalk to take a look. There was someone getting out of a car a little ways a way. Carly couldn’t quite make out what they looked like, not even if they were male or female.

“
Hey…”

“
Ahh!” Carly jumped and spun around to look at whoever had just poked her in the ribs.

“
Hey Carly, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you. I wasn’t trying to be quiet or anything.”

“
Mike.” Carly said with a relieved sigh. “Sorry, I’m just a little jumpy I guess.” Carly turned to go back into the store, glancing back toward where she had seen the man, or woman, but there was no one there to be seen.

“
So when did you get into town and what are you doing here?” Carly looked up at Mike as she went behind the counter.

“
Late last night, and Daniel asked me to come by this morning. He had some things he needed to get done.” Mike must have thought Carly didn’t want him there by the face she made because he rushed on to say, “I’m sorry if I’m bothering you. I’ll stay out of your way.” He looked like his feelings had been hurt.

While Carly was disappointed that she wasn’t going to get to see Daniel for a while longer, she didn’t want to hurt Mike’s feelings.

“
Don’t be ridiculous Mike. I enjoy your company. I just hope I’m not putting you to any trouble. Really, I can be here by myself if you have things you need to be doing.” Carly tried to find a reasonable explanation to her reaction to the news that Daniel wouldn’t be here.

Mike brightened up, “No problem at all. I have nothing on the books for today and I enjoy your company too.” Carly missed the look of interest on his face as he said the last since all she could do was wonder what Daniel was doing.

Carly gave Mike an absent smile and went to turn the sign to open and turn on all the lights. The day started off without a hitch, Carly only wished it had stayed that way.

“
She’s alone now. I’m going in.”

“
I don’t think that’s such a good idea. We need to just cut our losses.”

“
Not happening. ‘
She’
should have just cooperated! This wouldn’t be necessary if she’d just done what you asked!”

“
I’m telling you, there is too much attention right now…let’s just let it go.”

“
I’ll call you after I talk to her.” Hanging up the phone without waiting for a reply, she got out of the car and headed into Treasures.

Carly couldn’t have said why she didn’t like the woman that walked into the store, but she disliked her on site. Maybe it was the arrogant tilt of her head. Or it could have been the smile that didn’t reach her eyes.

“
May I help you?” Carly asked.

“
I heard Treasures opened back up and wanted to come see who owned it now.” The woman said in a nasally voice.

“
Well, I’m running it right now.” Carly wasn’t going to give any information out, but she wasn’t sure why she was being so cautious. “Have you been here before?”

“
Oh yes. I came in here all the time. I knew the previous owner quite well. She was helping me look for a particular piece of jewelry.”

“
Really?” Interesting. Jenna didn’t tend to deal with jewelry. “I’m sorry, but I’m not sure how I can help. I’m new to all this.”

The woman knew that Carly’s demeanor had changed but she didn’t know why. She couldn’t just turn and leave… “That’s okay. I’ll just look around for a bit.” The woman smiled at Carly and turned to browse the store.