Page 29 of Defender

After that, she’d set the phone down and cried again.

By the time Summer had pulled herself together, Chloe had been waking up from her nap.Snuggling with her daughter—as Chloe was so prone to do when she was first waking up and sitting with her sippy cup—made everything a little better.

When Summer picked her phone back up, she had six missed calls from Ashton.And a text.

We need to talk about this.I’m coming over tonight at seven.

She texted him back.

Fine.

So here it was, almost seven.She had taken Chloe over to Joe and Laura’s to spend the night.One, because she didn’t want her daughter to hear all the yelling she was sure would happen when Ashton got here.Two, because damn it, Summer’s heart all but melted every time she saw Ashton and Chloe together.He was so gentle around her.Cared about her so much.

Maintenance man or SWAT, Ashton still loved her daughter.And Chloe loved her Ah-ta right back.

Summer didn’t want any distractions—any chinks in her armor—when it came to giving Ashton a piece of her mind.Seeing him with Chloe was both.

He rapped on her door right at seven.

He was wearing a dark blue T-shirt tucked into his jeans.She didn’t know if he picked it out because it framed his chest and abs so well, but if he hadn’t, he should have.

She opened the door wider to let him in and noticed his eyes darting around everywhere that could be seen from the doorway.She’d always assumed he’d done that because he’d been too nervous to look her in the eye.But now she realized he was scanning the room, looking for any potential danger.

Ingrained training.Ashton probably wasn’t aware he was even doing it.

Once his eyes rested on hers, she could see his discomfiture.His hesitancy.

He reached out with a small bouquet of lilies.

“These are for you.”

She hadn’t been expecting that.“Oh.”

“I actually bought a similar bouquet before our date on Friday got...cancelled.”

She took them.They were lovely.“Friday got canceled because of work.I’m assuming that had something to do with Omega Sector, not with having to rush over to fix someone’s toilet.”

He had the grace to look sheepish.“Did you see anything on the news about a shoot-out at The Blooming Idiot on Main?”

Summer could feel her eyes widen.“That was you?Your truck was the one I saw burning all over the news?”

Ashton shrugged.“Yeah.Calling you without giving away everything was difficult.”

“You know what could’ve solved that?”

“What?”

“You telling me the very first time you met me who you were and what you did for a living.”

* * *

SUMMERWASMAD.

Not that he’d really expected any differently, but Summer mad didn’t really fit into his mental image of her.Her personality had always matched her name.She’d always been lighthearted, kind and smiling.

Her smile was nowhere around now.

She’d at least taken the flowers, and was now in the process of putting them in a vase.

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