Page 31 of Her Delta Force Protector

Once they were gone, Kade put his hands on Harper’s shoulders and turned her to face him. “Hey, none of that, okay? You’re right where you need to be.”

“Just promise you won’t let anything happen to you.”

“Who, me? Haven’t you heard? I’m the baddest badass there is. Villains quiver when they see me coming.”

The hint of a smile appeared. “Quiver, huh?”

“Fucking A.” He pulled her to him and wrapped his arms around her. “Everything’s gonna be fine. We’ll figure this out. That’s why you came to me, because you knew you could count on me. Right?”

“Yeah.”

She rested her head on his chest, and he liked her in his arms. She smelled like coconuts, which made him think of the beach on a lazy summer day, and her in a bikini.Don’t go there, Ace.

He’d planned for them to get down to business this morning, but they could take today and have a little fun. Give her a day to relax and recharge after what she’d been through and her trip to get here.

“Tell you what. Why don’t you get dressed and we’ll have a play day? There’s someplace I want to show you.”

She leaned back and studied him. “Am I interrupting your plans? I mean, you didn’t know I’d—”

He put a finger over her lips. “Hush. I was just hanging out, bugging my brothers until I have to go back and finalize my separation.” His missed job interview wasn’t something she needed to feel guilty over, so he didn’t mention it.

“You’re really going through with it? I guess I thought you’d stay in the Army until you couldn’t pass the physicals anymore.”

“Nope. It’s time. Go. I’ll meet you back down here when you’re ready.”

“Give me thirty minutes.”

While she was changing, he walked outside and called Talon Security. When he got Chase on the phone, he gave a brief summary of Harper’s problem and explained what Skylar had discovered with the license plates and their theory.

“That is disturbing,” Chase said.

“I didn’t know if you’d be willing to dig into it, or if you had someone who could.”

“My brother. Send those numbers my way, and I’ll see what he can find out.”

“Appreciate it. We need names, and right now we’re shooting in the dark. I’ll text them to you in a few.”

“It’s to our benefit to get your woman’s problem taken care of so you can get your ass to work.”

“Copy that.” After disconnecting, he went up to the second floor.

Harper came out of the bedroom before he could call out to her. “Oh, hey. I thought I was supposed to meet you downstairs.”

He momentarily forgot why he’d come up. Her hair was down around her shoulders, and she had on a red sweater that looked thin and soft and hugged her curves, snug hip-hugging black jeans, and red Chuck Taylor high-tops. And damn if she didn’t look both cute and sexy.

She glanced down at herself and frowned. “Is this not okay? Do I need to change?”

His brain had derailed, and he shook his head to get it back on track. “No, you look...” He searched for a word. “Adorable.” Huh? He’d just used the wordadorable? Who was he?

She tilted her head and peered at him. “Are you okay?”

No, he was not. He was not supposed to be seeing her as cute and adorable, and especially not as sexy. She was the girl he palled around with, his movie-watching buddy. He should have never kissed her, that was for damn sure. How was he supposed to put that genie back in the bottle now that it had escaped?

“Fine. I’m fine. Your sweater’s pretty. You get that at Fanny’s?”

“I got everything I have on at Fanny’s.”

He should have told Fanny to load her up with old lady clothes. “I need to send those photos with the license plate numbers to my contact at Talon Security. They’re going to see if they can learn anything.”

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