Page 49 of Her Captivated Hero

“You look uncomfortable as all get out. I hate sleeping on this couch, and I’m half your size.”

Gray stretched his neck and winced, then he laughed. “This is a dream bed compared to a lot of places I’ve slept.”

“Come upstairs, and you can have a real bed. Or I can make you breakfast before you go to bed.”

“That sounds like heaven.”

Gray swung his legs over the side of the couch and planted his feet onto the carpet. He vaguely remembered taking his boots off.

“What sounds like heaven?” Riya asked.

Gray grinned up at her. “Either. Both.” He took a look at Riya and was disappointed to see she was now wearing jeans and a sweater.

“Well that’s as clear as mud,” she smiled.

Gray itched to pull Riya into his arms, but he ran his tongue over his teeth. He’d taken a shower, brushed his teeth and put on clean clothes at the base in Coronado before heading to Riya’s. But now that his teeth had grown hair, he’d kill to grab his toothbrush from the duffel in his car.

“First, I need to go grab some stuff out of my car and head to the bathroom.”

He looked over to his right and saw that his boots weren’t standing neatly at the end of the couch, which was odd. They were on their side, and one of them was being pulled, ever so slowly, under the couch by the shoelace. He could make out Einstein’s blue eyes glinting from under the sofa.

It all made sense now.

“I’ll have waffles ready by the time you’re done.”

“Orange juice?” he asked hopefully.

“Bacon too,” she promised.

Gray tugged his footwear from a disappointed cat and got off the couch and went to the front door. When he put his hand on the doorknob, he frowned.

“Riya,” he called out.

She poked her head around to the end of the hall. “Yes?”

“You didn’t set the alarm.”

He watched her brow furrow. “Darn it. That’s the first time since you installed it that I’ve forgotten. I had it set last night before you came over. I think your arrival just took me by surprise.”

“This is important,” he cautioned.

“Gray, I’m not being flighty about this. If you thought it was essential that it be installed, of course I’m going to use it. You showing up at three in the morning made me forget. I’m sorry.”

He looked at her and saw that she was sincere, and soon to be sincerely pissed if he continued to make a big deal out of it.

“No need to be sorry, Honey. Your safety is important to me, that’s all.”

Her expression smoothed out into a smile. “I know it is, Gray. If I didn’t realize you were coming from a place of caring, I would have booted you and your friends out on your collective asses when you came over to install the damn thing.”

She would have, too.

Gray grinned as he walked out into the cool, early morning air. He grabbed the duffel out of the backseat of his SUV. It was Friday morning and he didn’t need to be back to base until Monday. He was going to do his best to see if he could talk Riya into playing hooky with him today.

* * *

She heardthe shower turn off upstairs, which was her cue to pour the second round of batter into the waffle iron, turn on the burner underneath the bacon and start beating the eggs. The coffee was already brewing. Riya was going to be sad to see all that delicious blond scruff shaved away. It hadn’t developed into a full-blown beard, it was just that right amount of whiskers that made him look oh-so-sexy.

“Smells good in here.”