Page 69 of Her Devoted HERO

“Seriously, Kenna, you need to stop,” Dex admonished. “Beth is going to get a complex when she gets home. She’s going to think you thought she wasn’t clean.”

Kenna’s eyes got wide. “Oh my God, I’d never thought of that. What am I going to do? I threw away the old contact paper.”

Dex gave a tired laugh. This was not a good situation. They were all on pins and needles. Eventually, Kenna’s vacation would run out. He wasn’t worried about his time off because he had a plan...that he needed to talk to her about.

“Poppy, can you sit down for a moment?”

“I know that look. It’s not good. Has something happened? Has there been another murder?”

He cuddled her closer on the sofa. “Shit, I’m sorry. I’m going about this wrong. No, it’s nothing like that. I have to go to the base tomorrow. Hunter is coming over to help you with household chores. What do you have on the agenda, cleaning the crown molding?”

“Hunter? Why do we need anyone? Nobody knows where we are. That doesn’t make any sense.”

He pulled her closer, for a quick kiss. “Humor me.”

“No, seriously. I want to understand this. We’re safe here. Why should I need a Navy SEAL babysitting me when I wash the windows?”

He sat up straight. “This is a two-story house. You’re not planning on washing the windows, are you?”

“I was until you said that about Beth. Now stay on point, why do I need Hunter here if we’re safe? I thought you said we’re safe.” Her voice trembled just the slightest bit.

His hand caressed her bare arm, she had goosebumps, and he hated knowing they were from fear. “Poppy, you need to humor me. The world I live in, shit happens. So, I take precautions with what is mine. As a matter of fact, we need to talk about where we’re going next.”

“Jack and Beth are coming home next week,” she said softly. “I want to thank them for letting us have this place. If things were normal, I’d go and buy flowers and have champagne waiting for them in the fridge.” Her expression changed from frightened to pissed. “I am so sick of not being able to do one darn thing that is normal. You do realize you bought the wrong kind of tomato sauce for the meatloaf, don’t you? You won’t even let me go to the grocery store. I can’t depend on Hunter to pick up the right flowers for Beth,” her breath caught at the end.

“Baby―”

“No Dex, I can’t take it anymore.” She pushed up off the couch and marched into the kitchen.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m not upset anymore, I’m mad.” She grabbed her purse and pulled out the new cell phone that he had purchased for her from the electronics store. She punched one of the keys.

“Detective Warren? This is Kenna Wright. Have you caught him yet?” Uh-oh, the poor guy better watch out.

“Put it on speaker, Baby,” Dex requested. She shook her head.

She listened to whatever Warren was saying.

“Well, have you found her body? Do you know who she is?”

She listened some more, her expression getting darker.

“For God’s sake, there was a video. Do I need to look at it and figure this out for you?” Her tone could strip paint.

She listened.

“What messages has he left on my cell phone? I want to hear them!”

Dex had enough of this shit. He held out his hand and matched her glare for glare. She didn’t hand him the phone, she put the phone on the counter and pressed the speaker button. Warren was talking.

“...point in you listening. It will just upset you.”

“Clive, this is Dex. Kenna put it on speaker.”

“Tell her she doesn’t want to hear those messages. You know they’ll just freak her out,” the detective said.

Kenna whirled. “You’ve heard them?! Goddammit, Dex! If you’ve heard them, why haven’t I? Just because you two have penises does not mean that you all are in charge. Dex is not the police so why in the hell has he heard these messages, and I haven’t, Clive?” She packed a great deal of derision in that last word.