Page 42 of Her Tempting Protector

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“How many Christmas carols do you know?” Cullen asked her.

“Six, just these six, and they don’t seem to be working anymore, he keeps crying.”

“Okay, it’s my turn.”

She gave him the side eye. She’d been around enough soldiers and she didn’t think that AC/DC was really going to soothe the baby. But maybe she’d get lucky and he would be into country, and let’s face it, she was sick of hearing her own voice and Christmas carols. One day she would have to listen to the radio.

When Cullen started the first bar of the old song Summertime, she thought she was falling into a bucket of honey. Adam stopped mid-cry, he was just as enthralled as she was. When the song got to the part where it was ‘hush little baby don’t you cry’, Carys would have sworn that Adam smiled, but she knew better, it was gas. Still, it was a nice thought.

Cullen continued to sing in his deep baritone, the only jarring note was talking about daddy and mommy watching over him, and there wasn’t anything good about Adam’s daddy. But still, Cullen was watching over him right now, and that was good.

As Cullen finished with the last notes of the song, little Adam’s eyes drifted shut.

“You did it,” she whispered. “He’s asleep.”

“Yeah, that sounds about right,” Cullen laughed softly. “I try to entertain someone and I end up putting them to sleep.”

She chuckled. In her opinion there wasn’t anything about Cullen Lyons that bored her.

“I’ve had some shut eye over the last few forty-eight hours, you haven’t. Do you want me to drive for a while? I’ve been four-wheeling, and driven snow mobiles in Montana.”

His head turned slowly toward her, his lips pursed. “Well thank you, ma’am,” he said in a Southern drawl. “That’d be a, ‘no’.”

“And here I was just thinking to myself how much I was liking you. I guess that just went up in a puff of smoke.”

Carys couldn’t decide if Cullen’s burst of laughter made her angry or tickled her because he sounded so darn sexy.

She sighed. It had been worth a try, but she’d known the answer before she’d asked.

SEAL’s!

* * *

“Doc, I thought you were busy crusading around the world, when did you have time to snowmobile in Montana?”

She sighed. “It was with Peter. He and Alex tried to get me to go skiing, but I just didn’t see the appeal. However, after driving through Cambodia, I was definitely willing to give it a try.”

Why in the hell had he just assumed she was single? Why hadn’t they discussed their status?

“Who is Peter? When was this?”

Shit, was she even interested in him? She hadn’t asked him if he had a girlfriend.

Fuck me, am I totally misreading this whole situation?

“Peter is a reconstructive surgeon that I worked with in Haiti. He does everything, but he volunteers at least two weeks a year going around the world fixing cleft palates.”

“That’s very noble.” He wondered just how much money a reconstructive surgeon made. He probably had a mansion in Montana.

“I wouldn’t call it noble. He’s another man a lot like you. However, unlike you, he knows I’m capable of driving a vehicle, and would also know that he isn’t Superman, and would get some shut-eye while I took a turn driving.”

Cullen couldn’t stop himself from laughing.

“Lady, you’re a surgeon, this guy is a surgeon, I’m a SEAL. I’m thinking every single one of us has a big enough sense of self and our capabilities that we would know how far we could push in order to get a job done. If I didn’t know I could make it safely to Wad Gala, I would be pulling over…to rest. I am not finding fault with your abilities, Carys, I’m not. But, would you let me loose in the operating room if you were tired? Hell no. Same goes. Driving and watching out for the three of you is my job, and I’m damn good at it.”

“SEALs.”