Guarding Gabi (Special Forces: Operation Alpha) by Kathy Ivan

Author:Kathy Ivan
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Aces Press, LLC
Published: 2019-07-08T16:00:00+00:00

11

Dylan smiled, watching Gabi snatch a carrot from Ms. Patti’s cutting board and pop it into her mouth. Ms. Patti made an absentminded swat in her general direction, and Gabi danced out of range, giggling. The sound was infectious, filled with a joy and exuberance Dylan envied.

“Keep your fingers off my cutting board or you might lose one, young lady.” He heard the smile behind Ms. Patti’s scolding, along with the love. He wondered what it was like, living with the love and affection of a woman around. Something he’d never had, growing up raised by a strict ex-military father who’d instilled discipline and honor, but not much affection. His mother had been out of the picture when he was still in diapers.

“But Aunt Patti, I’m starving!”

“Hogwash. You ate lunch, same as the rest of us. I swear, sometimes I wonder if you’ve got a hollow leg.” She glanced at Dylan and grinned. “To listen to her, you’d think I never feed her. Honestly, when she visits, she out-eats my boys.”

“Because you’re such a good cook, Aunt Patti.” Gabi’s hand shot forward and snitched a broccoli floret from the bowl overflowing with cut vegetables.

“Stop that!” Ms. Patti snatched up the kitchen towel on the countertop and snapped it in Gabi’s direction with a loud pop. “Outta my kitchen, girl.” She made a shooing motion. “Dinner will be ready soon enough.”

“Fine, fine, we’re going.” With a deft motion, Gabi snatched another carrot from the bowl, sprinting from the kitchen. “Thanks, Aunt Patti.”

Dylan waved over his shoulder before following her to the front porch, joining her on the white-painted swing. With the slightest push of his foot against the deck he propelled the swing, the swaying movement oddly comforting. He shifted to face Gabi, his arm stretched along the top of the swing. The afternoon heat was relieved by the stirring breeze wafting across the porch.

“You really like it here, don’t you?”

She smiled, her gaze looking off into the distance. “Uh-huh. Whenever I visit, which is never often enough, I love it. You need to understand, I love my family. My dad and my brothers are amazing, and they love me to pieces. I love them, too. But growing up without a mother, I was surrounded by unending amounts of testosterone. You have no idea what it’s like to grow up with four big brothers who are all ex-military and a dad who’s practically a living legend in New Orleans.”

“No, I was an only child.”

“They did a wonderful job raising me, and I never regret a moment of it. But doing girly things wasn’t something that happened a lot around my house. Teenage boys aren’t really big on tea parties or playing with Barbie dolls—well, they did like to take Barbie’s clothes off.”

Dylan chuckled. “I bet.”

“Yeah, they were total buttheads, but they did their best. But when I visited here, Aunt Patti was like the mother I never had. She’s the one who let me wear dresses, braided my hair, and taught me all the stuff only a woman can share with a young girl.

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