Page 20 of Her Delta Force Protector

He grinned back. “That’s my girl.” He left his seat across from her and came to her side of the booth. “Scoot over.”

What was he up to? With Kade, you never knew. She made room for him. The only warning she had was that devilish gleam in his eyes before he kissed her. At first, she didn’t respond, because... Kade. Was. Kissing. Her.

Then, oh, then, she forgot where they were, that people were watching, and her mouth softened against his. She slid her tongue across the seam of his lips, and when he hummed his approval, that low, growly sound sent hot need rushing through her.

She blinked when he pulled away and sat back. “What the hell was that?”

“What I said, just giving them something to talk about.”

The kiss meant nothing to him, just another of his jokes, only this one hurt. She forced a smile. “Well, you got everyone looking at us.” And whispering. She didn’t care about that part, but she had been better off before she knew how much she liked kissing him. Katie was heading their way with their lunch, and Harper poked him. “Move back to the other side.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

As Katie set their plates in front of them, she shook her head at Kade. “Still doing your best to cause trouble, I see.” Her lips twitched, belying the stern expression on her face.

“Who, me? Cause trouble? You must have me confused with one of my brothers.”

Harper and Katie both snorted and exchanged eye rolls. Harper decided she liked the woman.

“Enjoy,” Katie said before walking away.

Ordering herself to forget about a kiss that was a joke, Harper started with the soup. “This is delicious.” And Kade was right about the cheeseburger. It was one of the best she’d ever had. If she lived in Marsville, she’d eat here every day. She really liked what she’d seen so far of Kade’s hometown.

Kade pushed his plate to the side when they finished eating. “I still have a few questions. You good with answering them now, or do you want to wait until we get back to the house?”

“Go for it.” Although her wish was that it was all a nightmare, and she would wake up any minute now.

“First one, how’d you get to Myrtle Beach, and why go there? And are you sure you weren’t followed?”

Before she could answer, Katie came back to collect their plates. “Can I get you anything else?” She glanced at Kade. “I have apple pie today.”

“You know I never refuse apple pie. A cup of coffee, too.”

“With vanilla ice cream still?”

“Absolutely.”

“What about you, Petunia?” Katie’s lips twitched.

“I’m too full from that delicious cheeseburger and soup. Just coffee for me.” When they were alone again, Harper said, “Why did you kiss me in front of everyone? Now they’re going to really remember me.” Okay, so forgetting about that kiss wasn’t going to be so easy apparently.

“Because now they know you’re mine.”

“Excuse me?”

“Well, they think you are. That sound better?”

“No.” What was wrong with him?

“If they believe you belong to me and someone shows up asking questions about you, they’ll swear they’ve never seen you before. Also, they’ll let me know a stranger is in town. We protect our own, Harper. If you doubt me, ask Skylar. She learned that, too.”

It was hard to believe no one would breathe a word about her, but there wasn’t anything she could do about it now. The damage was done.

“Tell me about your father. Do we need to worry about his safety?”

He was giving her whiplash. “Okay, my dad. After that man showed up again, I knew it was time to come out of hiding and do something about this situation before the worst happened. My dad’s in a practice with four other doctors who could cover for him. I got him to promise to take a leave and go stay with a friend of his in Gulf Shores. The only way he would agree was because I was coming to you. Dad was a medic in the Navy, and he has a lot of faith in special operations people.”

“So he’s safe?”

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