Page 77 of Keeping Guard
Peyton left work early and went shopping. She had a date! A date with a sexy, mouth-watering, eight-pack abs SEAL boy who knew how to make a girl tingle. She wasn’t even suretinglewas the right word anymore.
She wanted something sexy to wear for her date. Something that would have Noah crossed-eyed and drooling. Nothing caught her interest in the first downtown store, but as soon as she walked in the second one, she stopped in front of a mannequin.
“There you are,” she whispered. The off-the-shoulder sundress had a cream-colored background and vines with green leaves and pink and blue flowers swirling around the fabric. The hem was low in the back—a good six inches below the knees—and would hit her about midthigh in the front.
“That’s called a high-low hem,” a saleswoman said, stepping next to her. “Very sexy without being raunchy.”
Peyton fingered the material. “It’s so soft and silky. I’ll try it on.” By the time she was done, she left with the dress, a pair of high-heel, strappy cream sandals, and dangly pink and blue beaded earrings. Also in her bags were a pale pink, lacey bra and matching panties. She was going to knock a certain SEAL boy’s socks off!
When she let herself into her loft, Lucky greeted her with his usual enthusiasm. She was going to miss her sweet boy when Noah left. She would miss her grouchy pants boy even more. But she wasn’t going to think about that. Not on her date night.
The TV was on, the sound turned down, and Noah was on the sofa, sound asleep. She eased her shoes off, then padded to the end of the sofa. She was happy to see he was getting some sleep. He actually looked peaceful, a look she liked on him.
Leaving him to his rest, she took her packages to her bedroom. She hung the dress on a hanger, then took the bra and panties to the bathroom with her. She had just washed the conditioner out of her hair when her shower door banged open.
“What the hell are you doing here?”
She shrieked. “Good gravy, Noah. Give me a heart attack why don’tcha?”
“What. Are. You. Doing. Here?”
A fire-breathing dragon had nothing on SEAL boy. “Um, washing my hair?”
“Let me rephrase that. How did you get home?”
“My feet. They do this thing called walking. Neat trick, huh?” Okay, he wasn’t amused.
“What happened to you wait for me to come get you?”
Oops. Excited over going shopping for something to wear tonight, she hadn’t even considered she wasn’t supposed to go anywhere by herself. “Ah...”
His gaze roamed over her, his eyes heating for a brief moment before he blanked them. “We’ll talk when you finish.”
“You can talk to me while I shower.” Aaaannd, she was talking into thin air. The man could sure move fast when he wanted to.
She finished her shower, and after drying off, she rubbed lotion over her freshly shaved legs. She put on her new bra and panties. Not wanting to wear her dress until it was time to go, she slipped on her robe and belted it. She dried her hair and then went looking for Mr. Grouchy Pants.
He was in the living room, staring out the window. “Come here, Peyton.”
Did he have eyes in the back of his head? She was barefoot, hadn’t made a sound, hadn’t even stepped into the living room yet.
“Come here.”
She left her spot at the end of the hallway, coming to a stop next to him. “I’m sorry, okay? But it really isn’t a big deal. As you can see, I’m fine.”
“Look out there and tell me what you see.”
There was something in his voice that put her on guard, that he wasn’t just enjoying the view out the window. She reluctantly turned her gaze to the window. It took a moment, then she gasped. “Dalton!”
“So taking off by yourself isn’t a big deal?” He leveled a hard stare on her. “This was your lucky day. He showed up after you came inside, but what if he’d been there when you arrived? You think he’s harmless? Think again. He’s desperate. Otherwise, he wouldn’t still be hanging around. Desperate people do desperate things.”
She thought she might be sick. “How do you know he wasn’t there when I came home?”
“Joseph called when your ex showed his face.”
“How? Joseph doesn’t have a phone.”
“Wrong. I gave him one.”
