Page 19 of Her Captivated Hero

Gray smothered a grin as he asked, “How’d that work out?”

Riya frowned a little bit. “Actually things didn’t go to plan.”

“Really?” Again, he tried to keep a straight face.

“I had talked to Susan about my plan initially and she was enthusiastic about it, and said I should definitely try it.”

“Hmmmm.”

“So we got close to a little stream, and Jeremy heard frogs. That’s when everything went to hell.”

“He wanted to catch frogs,” Gray guessed.

“I just thank God the stream was only five inches deep, but it was almost all mud.”

“I told them that frogs are impossible to catch, and he told me that his mother let him catch them all the time.”

“And you believed him?”

“How did you know he’d lied?” Her eyes were wide as she asked the question. He couldn’t help it. He couldn’t. He swept in for a swift kiss.

“I was a little boy once, I would have done anything to play in a creek, even lie. So what happened next?”

“Oh, Gray.” She laughed and moaned at the same time. “That wasn’t a stream, it was a slow moving mud puddle. “Jeremy jumped in with both feet, and was covered from head to toe. He was in heaven. Then Hope was crouching down wanting to hunt for frogs.”

“How muddy did you get?”

“By the time we got home, I had to strip all three of us down and throw everything into the wash machine. I had to steal some of Susan’s clothes. Thank God her wash machine is close to the backdoor.”

“Did you catch any frogs?”

“Not a one. Hope came the closest, that’s why I had to shampoo her hair three times.”

“I bet the kids had a ball.”

Riya looked at Gray in amazement. “How did you know? I thought the day was an unmitigated disaster, and instead I’m now considered their favorite babysitter.”

“What’s on the agenda next time?”

“I want to teach them how to make homemade ice cream in a plastic bag. I just hope that we don’t make a mess.”

Gray couldn’t stop his bark of laughter. “I don’t know how you do that, but having a four- and six-year-old make ice cream in a plastic bag sounds like all kinds of a mess. Hell, having my SEAL team do it, sounds like a mess waiting to happen.”

“Nuh-uh. I’ve read up on you guys. Only the best and the brightest make it in. You have to adapt on the fly. You’re open to new situations, new stimuli, and like to compete. You succeed in what you set out to accomplish.”

Gray tilted his head. “You read up on us?”

“I bought six books, I’ve only had time to read three. Then there were two studies. One was fascinating, it was the Personality Profile of SEALs.”

Gray hadn’t found and read that particular study until he was a Lieutenant.

“You’re amazing.”

“No I’m not, remember me? Research is my life.”

She had a point. He needed to stay on top of his game with this woman. “So did you read anything that scared you off?”

“Everything I read made me happy for Miranda.” Her mouth twitched and her eyes sparkled.