Page 36 of Her Devoted HERO

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Getting Austin to bed that night had taken longer than normal. They’d talked for a while. Initially, Kenna thought it was because Jean had made an impression on him, and he needed to process the fact that she was now dead, but she soon realized that wasn’t it. He needed reassurance that she was safe. Hopefully, she’d been able to provide that to him.

She waited until he was asleep before tears fell. It wasn’t fair. It just wasn’t fair. Jean was a beautiful person, inside and out, and she should be alive.

Kenna wandered through the house, swiping at her face, turning off all the lights and heading for bed. She was under the covers when she went to set the alarm on her phone, that was when she noticed she’d missed a call from Dex. She debated calling him back so late. Didn’t SEAL’s have to be up early?

Then she saw the text.

Poppy,

I’m worried, was the doctor at the hospital a friend of yours? Do you need to talk?

She replied.

Yes, Jean is a friend of mine. I’m fine.

Dammit, she’d talked in the present tense. Jean’s dead, she reminded herself.

Her phone vibrated. It was Dex.

“Are you okay?” His voice was warm and worried.

“Yeah.” She settled against the pillows of her bed.

“Ahhh Honey, I’m so sorry for your friend.” He paused, his voice went lower. “For you.”

“All I keep thinking about is her poor dad and being thankful that her mom is dead. It would kill her. Here I am happy that Jean’s mom is dead. What kind of monster does that make me?”

“Human. It makes you human and compassionate.”

“Thank you,” she let out a breath. There was a long silence. “I’m glad you texted me. I wasn’t going to call you back. I thought you’d be asleep.”

“Why didn’t you think I would be awake?” he asked. He had changed to a teasing tone. She needed it. She sank deeper into her pillows.

“Usually we talk about eight o’clock. Don’t you have to hit the base early?”

“Yeah, but I operate on about six hours of sleep a night.”

Now she was thinking about his sleeping habits. Not a good thing. Time to change the direction of this conversation.

“Austin and mom want you to come over to dinner again this Saturday.”

“I’d like a little alone time with you. I’ll do a meal with the fam on Sunday if I can have a date with you on Saturday.”

“We’re going to see each other from eight to two on Saturday when we visit the facilities, isn’t that too much time?”

“No.” Immediate. Decisive.

“What happened to a snail in peanut butter?” she asked.

“Isn’t that what the French eat?” She could hear the smile in his voice.

She liked it. She’d been liking all of their calls.

“I don’t think the French eat escargot in peanut butter, Dex.”

“We’re going slow. We’re still in the getting to know you stage. Last Saturday we had a lunch date, and I got to have a meal with you, your mom and your son. This week, we’ll have a dinner date and a meal with your son and mom over at my place. I’ll grill. Let’s have Rosalie too, so it doesn’t feel too intimate. I promised a couple of the guys some meat at my place. It’ll just be a backyard barbeque. No family I promise.”