Page 28 of Her Delta Force Protector

Okay, that wasn’t right. There was more than one pair of shoes sounding in her ears. Preparing to fight if necessary, she glanced over her shoulder and blew out a breath of relief at seeing Kade. When he reached her side, she smiled.

Uh-oh. Not only did he not smile back, but his lips were pressed together in a firm line and anger flashed in his eyes. She didn’t want to start her day with tension between them, but it looked like that was what it was going to be.

“Good morning.” She hoped his attitude was nothing more than he wasn’t a morning person.

“Have you lost your mind, Jansen?”

Okay, she was the reason for that grouchy face. “I don’t think so.”

He grabbed her arm and pulled her to a stop. “Have you forgotten why you’re here? You don’t take off anywhere on your own. You want to run, you take one of us with you.”

Jeez, overreacting much? “I’m safe here.” Those men couldn’t possibly know where she was.

“And you know that how?”

Fine, he might have a point. “I guess I don’t.”

“Exactly.” He started running again. When she just stood there, he turned and jogged backward. “You coming?”

She wanted her life back, the one where if she wanted to go for a run, she didn’t have to have a bodyguard. But if she had to have one, the man waiting for her to catch up with him would do. Letting go of her irritation, she sprinted to his side.

“First one to the stop sign has to give the loser a foot massage.” Because, duh, who the winner would be was a no-brainer, and she wanted his hands on her.

He snorted as he glanced at her. “That’s not how it works.”

“My run, my rules.”

“All right. Looking forward to my foot massage.”

“Oh, no you don’t,” she said when he eased back, jogging behind her. “You can’t purposely lose.”

He smirked. “Watch me.”

By the time they were only a few feet from the stop sign, they were both moving slower than a snail. She was not going to lose out on that foot massage. When they were inches from the finish line, she jumped behind him and pushed him past the stop sign. That was when she felt the gun strapped under his T-shirt, and reality reared its ugly head.

At Kade’s house, surrounded by him and his law enforcement family, it had been easy to forget the danger lurking out there. She hadn’t thought of the possible consequences of being caught alone because she didn’t believe anyone outside the Church family and her father knew where she was. Kade was right, though, and she was embarrassed by her mistake.

“Ha! You won, and I get a foot message,” she said, but the fun wasn’t there anymore.

“So you’re just going to pretend you didn’t cheat?” He tossed his arm around her shoulders as they walked back to the house.

“Me cheat? Never.” In all the times they’d spent together, he’d never put his arm around her. Well, he’d never kissed her until recently. She was beginning to think they’d wasted a whole year of possibilities. She wanted to rest her head on his shoulder, but after his rejection yesterday, she didn’t want to give him a reason to push her away again.

Duke was in the yard, and at seeing their approach, he barked his excitement and launched himself at them.

“Incoming,” Kade said. He stepped in front of her. “Duke, sit!”

Duke skidded to a stop and rolled onto his back.

Harper kneeled next to her dog and gave him a tummy rub. “Good morning, silly boy. What’s that in your mouth?” She pried the scrap of blue material away and held it up. As soon as she realized what it was, she wadded it up in her hand.

Apparently, she wasn’t fast enough because Kade made a laugh-snort sound.

“Shut up.”

He laughed harder. “I’m gonna need Duke to teach me his panty-stealing talent.”

“Stay out of my panties.”

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