Page 209 of No Headlines Please

Nestled with me under the covers, Delaney softly asked, "Do you think I'm too gullible?"

"Nope."

"But you didn't even think about it."

"Because I didn't have to think about it."

"Oh, come on. You can't be that sure." She was frowning. In the darkness, I couldn't see it. But I could hear it – the little frown she made whenever she was worried.

I ran a hand along her naked back. "Trust me, I'm sure."

"Well maybe you shouldn't be." She sighed. "I wasted over a year on something that wasn't even true. I was such an idiot."

I said it again. "Nope."

"But—"

"What you were was protective of the people you love. There's no shame in that."

By now, it had been over twelve hours since Brian Smelter had made his confession. Delaney had spent most of those hours blaming herself – and not nearly enough blaming the people responsible.

The congressman.

His head of security.

Hell, even the girl upstairs wasn't completely free of blame.

But Delaney?

She'd sacrificed a lot to avoid dragging anyone else into the mess. This included Maisie and Tessa, who'd been shocked as hell when Delaney had explained what happened.

They didn't blame her.

I'd been glad to see it. Delaney had been through enough already.

In a quiet voice, she said, "You make me sound like a hero when I was really a fool."

I gave her a soft squeeze. "You're no fool. Wanna know the truth?"

"What?"

"I admire the hell out of you."

"Oh, stop it. You can't."

"Why not?"

She nestled closer. "Because I don't deserve it."

"Sure you do. In my world, everyone throws everybody under the bus the first chance they get. Friends. Family. It doesn't matter. But you?" I smiled in the darkness. "You're different. I like that."

She laughed softly against my chest. "Yeah, I'm so different, I've kept you up all night."

"Or maybe I've kept you up."

"Fine," she laughed. "We both kept us up."

It wasn't only us. Griff and Maisie had stopped by the house after dinner and stayed until nearly two. Add Ryder and Tessa, and nobody ran out of things to say.