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  Mia snapped a plastic lid on a flour container. “I wouldn’t say he’s stiff, exactly. He’s trying to be helpful with the girls, and I sure do appreciate that. I think being in control and trying to manage everything is just his way.”

  “How’s that working with toddlers?” Shasta grabbed the mop bucket from the utility room and rolled it toward the door to the front.

  “There’s a learning curve,” Mia admitted with a small grin, remembering how Emma had refused to eat her peas at dinner the night before. Mia would have either let it go or cajoled the girl into trying at least one, but Kenton had sat there, patiently insistent, until Emma had given in, eaten the peas, and even declared that she liked them. “But he appears to be working it out.”

  “Good for him,” Shasta said and left the kitchen, leaving Mia to think about her housemate.

  He was different from anyone she’d ever known—and certainly unlike any man she’d dated. Those guys were always the casual types. They didn’t take themselves seriously. She’d had a lot of fun with them, and that’s all she’d been looking for.

  Kenton was a different kind of man altogether. And there was something appealing about him that she hadn’t expected. It wasn’t only his killer looks and what she suspected was an amazing body under his clothes. It was something else, a desire to make things perfect when nothing ever could be, that she found endearing.

  8

  “Down, Eliot!” Kenton commanded when Mia came through the door after work and the overexcited dog launched himself at her. Kenton was used to others, even dogs, obeying when he gave an order, but Eliot had his paws on Mia’s shoulders and was trying to lick her face.

  “I’m happy to see you, too,” Mia said to the dog, taking his front paws from her blouse and returning them to the floor. She dropped to one knee next to Eliot and stroked his ears until the dog rolled onto his back with a sigh.

  “He needs some actual training,” Kenton said. “He can’t be jumping like that.”

  “No harm done, and he doesn’t jump on the girls. He’s very protective of them, as a matter of fact.”

  “I guess that explains his reaction to the delivery guy today. The girls were playing on the front porch, and I thought Eliot was sleeping. He wasn’t. Poor guy got one foot on the step, and Eliot hit him square in the chest. I didn’t think that dog could move that fast.”

  “Was he knocked down?” Mia’s face was full of concern.

  “Flat on his back. I helped him up, and he seemed fine. He did say that he was marking the house as having a dangerous dog in the company’s system so other drivers wouldn’t get flattened.” Kenton felt a little bad about that.

  “You’ll get a reputation,” Mia said to Eliot. “I suppose some basic training might be a good thing. Maybe obedience school isn’t such a bad idea.”

  Kenton considered offering to train the animal. He’d worked with canine units in the military and had an affinity for the job. He even thought that, when he retired from the SEALs, dog training for the police or military might be his next career. Eliot could be a good test subject. Kenton figured if he got the recalcitrant animal under control, he could train any dog. But he was hesitant to link Mia’s life to his any more than it already was. They were together out of necessity, not choice—and he didn’t know about her, but he had other plans for himself.

  Mia rose, cocking her head to one side. “Where are the girls?”

  “Asleep in their cribs.” He was proud about that one. The twins didn’t fight sleeping in their beds at night, but daytime was a different thing. He’d put them down still awake, and after ten minutes of chattering with each other, they’d gone to sleep.

  “At naptime?” she said, delight in her eyes.

  Before he could respond, she wrapped her arms around his neck and snugged her body against his in a hug, bouncing up and down in excitement. He put his hands on her waist to steady her, but the friction created between them had his mind going places it shouldn’t. He’d tried not to notice the fullness of her breasts, making a conscious effort to keep his eyes on her face when they spoke. But when she was up against him, he couldn’t miss the lushness of her curves. What would it be like…

  He eased her back reluctantly. “Glad you’re happy about it.”

  “I am. How was the rest of the day?” She wasn’t hugging him anymore, but she was close enough that he could see the dusting of freckles across her nose and cheeks. And her scent was intoxicating. He’d noticed that she wore a floral perfume, but after a day at the bakery, she smelled of sugar and spice.

  “Not bad,” he said. Things had gone fairly smoothly. The girls played according to the schedule, including working on their numbers and colors as he’d wanted them to. He’d had to cut the outside play short after Eliot’s episode with the delivery driver, but he had to admit to being pleased that Mia seemed interested in his successes. She hadn’t agreed with him about scheduling the day, but she was willing to let him try. “The morning snack was an issue. Can you leave me a list of what each of them likes?”

  Mia smiled at him. This close was like a jolt to the heart. “I can, but it changes without warning. I find that offering them three choices works. They can each pick one snack.”

  “Okay, that makes sense,” he said, tucking that information away. “How was your day?”

  “Busy, but good. I saw your mom.” Mia removed her shoulder bag and hung it on a peg near the front door. “She took some cookies home for your father.”

  “He’ll like that.” Kenton laughed. “He has a sweet tooth.” His dad was tall and lean, but he loved candy, cookies, and sweets of all varieties. Kenton did, too, but he rarely indulged.

  “I should get a shower while they’re still sleeping,” Mia said. “It’s a rare treat.”

  He wanted to object to her showering, since he hated the thought of the spicy scent disappearing from her skin, but she had flour on her shirt and probably was happy to have a few minutes to herself.

  “Yeah,” he agreed. “I should check in with my CO and team while I have the chance.”

  Her face turned serious and her shoulders stiffened, and he regretted reminding her of the danger they were in. She shouldn’t have to deal with any of this. It was just bad luck on her part that she was in his home and linked to him. It seemed that she’d had a run of bad luck.

  “Any developments?” she asked.

  “Not that I know of,” he said, “but maybe they’ll have news for us.” He reached for her, touching her arm but resisting the temptation to pull her into another hug. “I’m doing everything I can to keep you and the girls safe. I hope you believe that.”

  “I do.” Her smile was tentative now. “And I appreciate that. Glad to have one of the good guys on my side.” She went past him and up the stairs, leaving him wishing he could have done something to reassure her. If he knew where the threat originated, he could respond more effectively.

  It was the not knowing that got to him. Maybe today, he thought as he headed for his office, he’d get some answers. He checked his email and saw an invitation from his CO to a secure video call in ten minutes. He went ahead and connected to it and found Anderson and Patrick already in the meeting.

  “Hey, man, good to see you,” Anderson said. “Did you get the childproofing done?”

  “Yeah, it didn’t take long.” He’d had the job completed within an hour. The girls were guests in his home, but they deserved to be safe. And, he reasoned, he would have kids of his own in the house someday. It would be one thing that wouldn’t have to be done at that time.

  “You had to childproof your perfect house?” Patrick said with a smile.

  “Do all kids try to stick their fingers in outlets?” Kenton avoided answering the question by posing one of his own.

  “I think it’s universal,” Anderson said. “That’s why they make the covers.”

  “Point taken,” Kenton responded.

  “How are you managing with the insta-family?” Patrick asked. He h
ad been a father longer than Anderson, with a daughter going into third grade, so he saw things from a different angle.

  “It’s not like that,” Kenton was quick to say. “They aren’t my family. But I have learned that there’s no downtime with kids. I’m behind on my home improvement projects and the other things I’d hoped to accomplish while on leave.” Earlier in the day, he’d taken the girls onto the front porch with him, thinking that he’d be able to replace some boards while they played. He’d managed to remove two pieces of rotten wood, but that had been the end of it.

  “Kids upset any schedule you put in place,” Anderson said. Discovering he was a dad a year or so ago had definitely changed his life. Now he was married, with a second baby on the way.

  Kenton considered telling his buddies about the routines he was trying to establish but stopped himself. He’d wait until he could claim success with those things before saying anything. Today he’d had some triumphs, but he wasn’t ready to declare victory.

  “Any chance we’ll meet Mia and the twins?” Patrick asked. “We’d like to.”

  Did Kenton want to introduce his friends and their families to his temporary houseguests? He wasn’t sure. They weren’t his family, even if he was watching out for them. He’d had a moment, though, when Mia had walked through his front door a few minutes ago, that had seemed right, like she belonged. And for as much as he complained about the unruly dog, he’d been damned glad when Eliot had scared the delivery driver into next week. Knowing the animal would protect the kids made Kenton feel better.

  “Maybe,” he said and was saved from adding to that when Colonel Schaffer and two other officers joined the call. After quick greetings, they got down to business.

  “We’re still digging,” Colonel Schaffer explained, “but our best bet at the moment is the resurgence of a drug syndicate operating about fifty miles to your west. When you disrupted their pipeline on your South America mission last year, the syndicate all but disappeared. Now we have credible intel that they are back in business.”

  Kenton thought about that mission. They’d spent weeks crawling through the jungle, gathering data until they were ready to strike the central command of the drug syndicate. At the time, his team had thought they had cut the head off the hydra, but maybe they hadn’t.

  “And attacking SEALs personally?” Anderson asked. It happened, but it sure wasn’t common.

  “Our hypothesis is that they’re trying to establish a safe perimeter. Fitzpatrick was the lead on that mission. If they found out he was in their neighborhood, it seems likely they would strike. It’s an intimidation game. We’ve got the state police and the DEA watching them.”

  “Pardon me, sir, but the thwarted attack on Fitzpatrick’s guests seems out of character for a drug cartel.” Anderson, the analyst of the bunch, was always willing to question assumptions. “Those guys usually take out their enemy directly. They don’t go after kids.”

  “What are you thinking?” Colonel Shaffer asked.

  “Just this: Our last mission wasn’t the success it should have been. The head of the child-trafficking ring got away from us, and he’s still out there. An attack on the twin girls living in Fitzpatrick’s house seems more his style. Harming the family, particularly the children, of those who have wronged him is kind of his calling card.”

  “We’ve thought of that, but our sources in northern Africa believe they have his location pinpointed. We have a team moving in on him, so he’s got other problems. Besides, he has plenty of enemies. Fitzpatrick would be low on his list for retribution.”

  “The data on him shows that he’s a spiteful bastard, if you’ll pardon my language,” Anderson persisted. “I wouldn’t put anything past him.”

  “We’ll take that under advisement,” the colonel said. “In the meantime…”

  Kenton listened as his CO assigned specific tasks to Patrick, Anderson, and the other two officers on the call.

  “What’s my assignment, sir?” Kenton asked. His CO couldn’t expect him to twiddle his thumbs.

  “Keep yourself and the people in your house safe. I don’t want anything to distract you from that. Civilians don’t die because of our missions. Am I making myself clear?”

  “Yes, sir,” Kenton said since he had no choice but to agree. He didn’t like not being more involved, though.

  “If you notice anything out of the ordinary, contact the team immediately. We’re counting on you to protect what’s yours.”

  He wanted to argue that Mia and the girls were not his. He had no connection to them… but he did feel an obligation. Nothing could happen to them on his watch. They’d had enough trauma in their lives without him and his problems adding to it.

  “We’ll talk again in forty-eight hours, unless someone has something specific to report sooner.” With that, everyone signed off.

  Kenton put down the pen that he’d held during the conversation. He hadn’t taken notes, but he had clicked the pen several times, almost without realizing it. One of his few nervous habits. A harmless one, even if it annoyed others.

  He let the conversation play back through his head, especially Anderson’s objections to the idea of the drug syndicate as the perpetrator. While he thought, he organized the surface of his desk, carefully aligning the writing pad and the tray that held paper clips and such. His space was tidy, but his mind wasn’t.

  He was getting nowhere sitting there, though. As he stood, he heard one of the twins cry. Duty called. It was a different kind of duty, but one that tugged at him nevertheless.

  9

  Kenton didn’t like the feel of the air. All day, dark clouds had threatened, and the wind had steadily increased. Maybe the change in weather is what had the twins so cranky. Any progress he’d felt he’d made the day before had disappeared. Even Ava, who was usually a sweetheart, wouldn’t cooperate on basic things like putting on her shoes when they took Eliot out in the backyard. Kenton had finally given up and let the girls go barefoot on the deck while he chucked a ball for Eliot to chase. Apparently, the dog knew how to do one thing. He could play fetch with the best of them.

  Afternoon naps were the only part of the day that went well. The kids were out when Mia arrived home from work, giving both adults a little free time. Mia looked relieved when she got in the front door. With a smile that nearly knocked him backward, she went up the stairs, and he heard the shower running a few minutes later.

  A gust of wind hit the house as they finished dinner, bringing with it the first of the rain. He dashed around the house closing windows against the cool, damp air brought by the storm. He was in the twins’ room when thunder shook the house and lightning flashed outside. A high-pitched squeal from below had him sprinting back to the kitchen.

  Mia had both girls out of their high chairs and was hugging them to her as she knelt on the floor.

  “Everybody okay?” he asked, coming to a stop.

  “Just scared. That was close.” Just as she finished speaking, another bolt of lightning hit nearby, and the power went out.

  “Shit.” His curse was covered by more shrieking from the girls. He reached for Ava, taking her in his arms before helping Mia to her feet while Emma clung to her. “Let’s go in the living room.”

  He led the way, getting them settled on the rug in front of the fireplace where the girls often played. When the girls had calmed down enough for Mia to move off a few feet, he took her arm to speak to her.

  “This is a problem,” he said in a low voice, not bothering to sugarcoat it. “The security system is down, which makes us vulnerable. I’m going to check the perimeter, but I need you to be on alert, too.” He hadn’t spoken much about his security system, but he had quietly upgraded it, adding additional cameras the day after the attack. He didn’t like the idea of it going dark.

  “Someone would have to be desperate to go out in this.” Mia gestured toward the window, where the rain pelted and the trees swayed in the last light of the evening.

  “Maybe,” he s
aid. To him, it seemed like the perfect opportunity for a home invasion. Any unusual sounds would be attributed to the storm. And with no security system alerting him to forced entry, they were sitting ducks.

  A whine made him turn around. Eliot was slinking out from under a chair, inching his way closer to the twins.

  “Thunder is tough on animals,” Mia said before turning to address the dog. “It’s okay, boy.”

  “I’ll be back to check on all of you soon. Keep your phone on you, with my number pulled up.” He waited while she did what he asked before leaving the room.

  He went through the house first, checking the windows on the lower floor and all points of entry. Next, shrugging into a raincoat, he ducked his head and went out into the storm. With the rain hitting his face, his vision was limited, but he’d dealt with extreme conditions before and kept moving until he’d circled the house twice and checked the garage.

  Nothing was out of place except for the branches downed by the storm. He took a minute to squint into the rain and dark. The nearby houses were all dark except for the glow of candles and lanterns. No one appeared to be moving about. He felt some of his worry ebb. He wasn’t going to let his guard down, but he didn’t see any reason to stand in the rain, either.

  He re-entered the house through the kitchen, removing his drenched coat. It had provided some protection, but his clothes were still wet and sticking to him. At the bottom of the stairs, he paused, listening for Mia and the girls. From the living room, he heard happy voices singing a children’s song. Taking that as a good sign, he went to his room and changed into dry clothes. He glanced at the small gun safe in the bottom of the closet. With the kids in the house, he didn’t want to have a weapon out, but did the situation justify it?

  He decided against it. There were plenty of ways he could defend his household without a gun if need be. When he returned to the living room, he found that Mia had a fire going in the fireplace and had lit candles that stood on the mantel, giving the room a homey feel.