Page 53 of Her Devoted HERO

She gave him a confused look.

“I’ve seen shitty mothers. Fuck, I’ve seen absolute monsters. Seeing someone who is so into her kid is like seeing sunshine.”

Kenna smiled wide.

“That’s got to be the nicest thing anybody has ever said to me.”

“Well stick around, I’ve got a lot of nice things to say to you. Unfortunately, we’re doing some maneuvers for the next few nights so I won’t be able to ask you out. Promise me that you’ll get someone to walk you to and from your car at night when you leave the hospital?”

She gave him an exasperated look. He stared down at her. Eventually, he won.

“All right, I promise.”

“If I say, ‘good girl,’ how will you respond?”

“Do you want to be kneed in the nuts?”

He chuckled and cupped her cheeks. He kissed her. Soft.

Kenna responded. Sweet.

He lifted his head. “What was that for?” she asked.

“I get turned on by being threatened.”

“I’ll remember that. I like being kissed by you,” she admitted.

He liked that. Straight up. She just said what she thought.

“Normally, I love spending time with the team, but not this time. I won’t be calling either,” he frowned.

“That’s all right.”

“No, it’s really not.” He made a decision. “Kenna, I’m going to drop by the hospital in a couple of hours with a friend of mine. I want you to meet him so that you’ll know who you can reach out to while I’m out of touch.”

“I thought you said your team would be with you.”

“He’s on one of the other teams. He’s a good guy. You’ll like him.”

“Dex, isn’t this over kill? I mean the cops don’t think this is a big deal.”

“Let me do this, okay?” He stroked her cheek with his thumb.

“Okay.”

***

They grew all of the SEALs big. But it was hysterically funny to see this big man squirm around and look as guilty as her son did when he didn’t finish his homework. Dex had introduced him as Clint Archer, the man who had played the practical joke on him with the dating site. He was also going to be her go-to guy if anything odd came up while Dex was on maneuvers for the next four nights.

“I’m not sure how comfortable I feel with Clint,” Kenna said quietly. Truthfully, she felt fine, but it was fun putting the wood to the man. It was clear he hadn’t thought his joke through, he had only regarded it from Dex’s point of view, not from the women’s. Kenna relished the idea of making him feel just a little bit bad.

“Ma’am, my wife couldn’t make it. But if she had you’d see that she has already kicked my ass all the way to Tijuana and back for this prank. If you ever call me and I need to be at your house, it’s more than likely that she’ll come with me. You’ll like her, and the two of you can rake me over the coals together.”

“Don’t listen to him, Kenna. He’s just playing that up in hopes that I won’t retaliate,” Dex said.

The three of them were sitting in the hospital cafeteria.

“No, I’m not,” Clint protested. “Hell Dex, Lydia will probably help you concoct whatever kind of retribution you have in mind. She said that playing with the hearts and minds of women crossed a line.” He looked across the table at Kenna. “I understand why you don’t trust me.” Clint gave Kenna a sincere look. “It looks like something good might be happening out of this, but still, I screwed up. In the meantime, you’re going to have to allow me to back you up while Dex isn’t around.”