Page 27 of Her Guarded Hero

“And that’s something we’re going to have to work on,” Dalton agreed. “Because we can be damned sure it isn’t about two pre-teens who were throwing apples against your barn.”

“Well Dalton, I see that you were right, I was worried about nothing.”

She gave her grandfather a sharp look. “What do you mean?”

“I thought you would give us a hell of a lot more trouble for bringing Tate over to the ranch. Dalton thought you would be more amenable.”

“Still noticed you were willing to put up with my wrath,” she sighed.

“Aurora, you mean the world to me. If a trained SPECOP soldier has a hunch, it behooves me to listen to him.”

She grinned.

“Make up your mind, you’re either mad at me, or your happy. Why are you grinning?” Gunnar demanded.

“You’re the one who combined a whole lot of sweet with a whole lot of gruff in one sentence. How could I not grin? I love you too, Grandpa.” She untangled her leg and leaned over and kissed the old man on his cheek.

“Got dessert,” he smiled.

“None for Dalton,” Aurora scowled at the Navy SEAL who was trying to stay unobtrusive. “He doesn’t deserve a reward for stirring up shit.”

“Are you kidding, he’s getting extra ice cream to go with the apple brown betty.” Gunnar pushed up from the table to get the food from the oven.

Dalton looked up from his empty plate and gave her a smile that would melt more than just ice cream.

* * *

“We need to talk,” she whispered outside his door.

Even if he had been soundly sleeping, Dalton still would have heard the moment her bedroom door opened, and there wasn’t a chance in hell he would have slept through her softly worded command outside his door. He listened as she drifted down the hall toward the kitchen. It was still pretty cold for her to be going around barefoot, what was she thinking?

He pulled on his jeans and a flannel shirt which he didn’t bother to button. Did he do that on purpose? Maybe, he admitted ruefully. It was the middle of the night and a gorgeous woman wanted to talk to him. A woman who had caught fire in his arms, damned right he was going to see if he could talk her into a little bit of play. Grinning, he pushed through the swinging door of the kitchen.

“Get rid of the smirk, Sullivan.” Even in the dim light he could see her chocolate brown eyes sparking.

The scent of cinnamon, apples, vanilla and Aurora permeated the room.

The microwave dinged, and she pulled out a single serving dish of left over dessert.

“Only one bowl? That’s not very friendly,” Dalton was unable to keep the laughter out of his voice.

She slid the bowl onto the table and got a spoon. “I asked you in here, so we could talk about you keeping things between me and you going forward. I don’t want grandpa worried about this situation more than he has to be.”

He leaned his shoulder against the cupboard, enjoying how she moved around the kitchen. The sweatpants hid all her charms, but he sure loved the way her breasts looked in her thermal. Aurora should never wear a bra, it was a crime against humanity.

He watched her get a spoon out the silverware drawer. “Aurora, I gotta tell you, he seems in great shape to me. Part of my job is to keep an eye on the health of my teammates, and for his age, your grandfather seems in peak condition.”

“He’s seventy-six years old, he doesn’t need the stress,” she frowned.

When he watched her fold the paper towel and put it underneath her fork beside her bowl he realized she was a woman after his own heart.

“You know, it’s not very friendly, inviting me into the kitchen and then only serving yourself.”

“If you want something, help yourself,” she said as she bent to the freezer drawer.

As he watched her bend over he reassessed his earlier position. Even in sweats, she looked delectable. Dalton moved across the large farm kitchen and put his hand on her hip and peered over her shoulder.

“What are you doing?” she asked throatily, continuing to rummage through the contents of the freezer.