Threatened: A Sizzling Military Romance with a Former Navy SEAL Protector by Leslie North

Author:Leslie North [North, Leslie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2024-01-25T00:00:00+00:00

8

The longer the afternoon went on, the more comfortable and relaxed Gage felt. Once they’d finished lunch and taken a walk with the twins, he and Kylie were settled once more on the blanket on the overlook, just enjoying the scenery and each other’s company. If he were honest with himself, he hadn’t had such an enjoyable day in a long time. Having her open up about her condition seemed to have dissolved the barriers between them and made him feel closer to her somehow.

Instead of being alarmed by that, as he usually was whenever true intimacy was involved, it just felt… well… right. Not that he planned to do anything more than talk with her today. But if, maybe something between them developed later, Gage wouldn’t entirely object either.

After all, they were both consenting adults. They both had pasts and painful things they were dealing with. They both obviously needed someone to talk to and had found a kind and considerate ear in each other, at least for the time being. Everything could change tomorrow, of course. Gage knew that all too well, but for now things between him and Kylie were good.

Maya did an Army crawl across the blanket over to where Brennan was slobbering all over a set of plastic keys and attempted to grab them away from him. Brennan fussed and shook his little arms angrily. Gage couldn’t help but laugh. “I never had siblings, but I assume that’s normal—one always trying to take something from the other?”

Kylie smiled at the babies and shook her head. “Not always. I mean, don’t get me wrong. Me and my sister had our share of fights growing up, but most of the time we stood up for each other.” Her gaze narrowed and her sunny grin dissolved into grief. “God, I miss her so much. Stupid, right? She’s not even been gone a month, and it’s not like we saw each other or even talked every day. But just knowing she was there made me feel safer, somehow. Does that make sense?”

“It does.” Gage reached over to pick up the set of keys Brennan had dropped and hand them back to the little boy. “I felt the same about the teammates I lost during a SEAL mission.”

She sighed and reached over to smooth Maya’s windblown, downy hair back into place. “That must be so hard. Going to work every day, knowing you might die or lose someone close to you.”

This time, it was Gage’s turn to shrug. “Surprisingly, even though the threat is always there, you don’t think about it much. At least I didn’t. Not until it happened. Then it was all I could think about.” Some days, it still was. Since the kids’ arrival in his life, though, he’d been so busy that it had been easier to keep the pain at bay. He’d pushed it aside and compartmentalized it.

“Is that why you left? Because something happened?” Kylie picked Maya up and held her on her lap, clapping the baby’s hands together softly.

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