Page 15 of Her Delta Force Protector

Her quiet time as a dead woman had ended three days ago when she had gone on the run, afraid for her father, afraid for herself, after a man showed up at her dad’s, claiming to be a friend from Fort Bragg. Any friend of hers from the base would have believed she was dead, her dad reasoned, so he was suspicious. And rightly so.

She told them about the man. “He was the same one who hurt me. I’m the only family my dad has, and he’s afraid of losing me. He wanted me to change my name, and I did think about it. But I don’t want to be dead. I want my life back.”

Out of desperation she’d called Kade, although she hadn’t been sure he would answer. He could have been out of the country, or he might have blown off an unknown number. Her father had told her that Kade had attended her Celebration of Life, and she’d cried at hearing that. She’d almost called him then, her friend who was hurting for no reason. She had wanted him to know she wasn’t dead. But they were just friends, a guy and a girl who sometimes hung out, sometimes watched movies together, and her problems weren’t his to take on.

In the end, she’d called him anyway. She shouldn’t have, but she couldn’t bring herself to regret it. He was the only person she trusted who had the skills to help her. She hadn’t missed that after his surprise at finding she was alive, that he was angry at her for letting him believe she was dead. She got that and didn’t blame him. Even not happy with her, he hadn’t hesitated to come for her. That was Kade, a man who was loyal to those he called friends.

He returned to the table, the anger she’d seen on his face when he’d walked away replaced by...nothing. It was a warrior’s face, the one he wore into battle. She didn’t know how she knew that, but she did.

In the year she’d known him, Harper had never seen him lose his temper until now. There was a wild side to him, and she’d learned to never dare him to do something. He was always up for a challenge, especially in the name of fun. She’d seen him serious and intense, particularly when he was training or leaving for an operation.

They’d lived on the same street, and although he couldn’t tell her whenever he was heading out, she’d been walking Duke a few times when he was leaving his house, his go bag slung over his shoulder. The first time it had happened, she’d stopped to talk to him. It was as if something had taken possession of her friend. A robot maybe. A mindset that left no room for anything but the operation he was setting out on.

There was something so desolate about that blank look on his face now, that she wanted to wrap her arms around him and make the world go away. She wanted to be the one to put light back in his eyes, the one to make him smile.

Where were these thoughts coming from? It had to be from the sexual tension left over from having a powerful motorcycle’s rumbling vibrations between her legs while she was wrapped around a man’s hard body. She willed the hands that wanted to touch him to stay on her lap. He wanted nothing more from her than to be his friend, so that was what she would stay.

“Give me the plate numbers, and I’ll run them,” Skylar said.

“They’re in my computer. I’ll go get it.” Her first impression of the sheriff had been wrong. When Kade had introduced her to the tall blonde with ice-blue eyes and a gun on her hip, Harper had been a bit intimidated by the confidence and authority pouring off the woman. But Skylar proved to be warm and friendly with a great sense of humor. Harper really liked her.

“Just email me the numbers,” Skylar said. “Kade can give you my addy.”

“Okay. I’ll also send you the pictures that I took of the things I told you about seeing at the warehouse. They’re on my laptop, too.” When she’d called Kade, begging for help, she hadn’t expected to have a sheriff and a police chief also ready to help her. For the first time since that man had shown up in her bedroom, she thought this was a battle she might win.

Tristan stood, smiled at his fiancée as he pulled her up with him. “We have a meeting with the mayor and Miss Mabel in twenty minutes, so we need to head out.” He turned that smile on Harper, and she could see why the sheriff was besotted with the police chief. “You have friends watching out for you now, Harper, who know a thing or two about bad guys. The only person we fear is Miss Mabel. Kade can tell you why you should run in the opposite direction should you see her coming at you.”

Skylar laughed. “That’s the gospel truth. You see her and her cane, run. Unfortunately, Tristan and I are at her beck and call. We’ll come back tonight and bring dinner.” Fuzz came out of hiding and raced to the car ahead of Tristan and Skylar.

“He really doesn’t like Duke, does he?” Harper said.

“It’s not so much that he doesn’t like Duke, but that your dog wears him out. They do play together until Fuzz has had enough.” Kade whistled when Duke, seeing that Fuzz was leaving, chased after him.

Duke put the brakes on, stumbled, got his feet under him again, then raced back to them. He took a flying leap, hit the middle of the table, skidded across it, and landed on Harper, taking her thankfully empty coffee cup with him.

“Oomph,” Harper muttered when seventy pounds of dog fell on her. She laughed. “You big lug.”

“Crazy dog,” Kade said.

“Aw, he just wants some lovin’.” If nothing else, Duke’s antics had put a smile on Kade’s face.

“What male doesn’t?”

She wasn’t sure what to make of the flash of heat in his eyes as he looked at her. Was that heat for her or for women in general...like it wouldn’t matter to him who he got that lovin’ from? The thought of him with another woman sent a streak of jealousy though her, and what was that about?

She’d never known him to have a girlfriend, but he wasn’t a monk. He’d never hid his hookups from her. Not that he’d paraded women past her, but she had been out with him and his teammates sometimes, and on occasion one of them would leave with a woman they met at a bar, including Kade. It had never bothered her...okay, more like she’d refused to let it bother her.

Those men worked hard and played hard, and she understood. When you did what they did, and every day could be your last on earth, you’d live life to the fullest, and boy, did those guys ever. Only one of his teammates was married, and when Todd did come out with the team, he always brought his wife with him. Todd had earned Harper’s respect for that.

Kade Church was the hottest man she knew and had a body to drool over. He was also funny and kind...as long as you weren’t the enemy, of course. But he was her friend, the reason she’d locked down any stray feelings she might have for him. If she thought they could have some playtime and still come out the other side with their friendship intact, she’d sure be tempted, though.

“How did your playing dead come about?” He slid an arm under Duke’s stomach and lifted him down to the deck.

Harper blinked as she dragged her mind back to the business at hand. Too bad, since thinking of her and Kade skin to skin beat the reality of her life now. “One of my friends from Fort Bragg called when I was still pretty out of it. Dad panicked and told her I’d been killed in a mugging. He wanted the people after me to think I was dead. I wasn’t real happy to let everyone think that, but I wasn’t in any condition to protest.

“We don’t know if he meant to kill me and maybe something scared him away, thought he had killed me, or if he was just giving me a warning. I blacked out, so I don’t know if he left right away or what. After the attack, my dad found an apartment on St. George Island for me to hide out and heal. The island is just across the bridge from Apalachicola, so I wasn’t far from him.” She told him about the man who’d come to her father’s house a few days ago, saying he was a friend.

“Tell me he didn’t fall for that.”

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