Free 10 Ways to Steal Your Lover by Dee Tenorio Page A

introduced him the other night, I thought you were just
being formal.”
             Delilah shrugged. “It’s what I’m used to.
No one on the base would dare refer to him by his first name. Even his friends
would ask for him that way. When I talk to him, of course, I call him Dad, but
talking to others…”
             “Most people just called my grandfather
Mr. Wilkensen or Gramps. I never thought about it beyond that.”
             She almost laughed. “The only person,
other than my mother, who calls my father by his first name is Rainbow, and
that’s just to annoy him. Trust me, stick with Colonel or Sir, like you did the
other night. You see less of the vein in his forehead that way.”
             Kane nodded. “He did hit me as a
stickler.”
             How she didn’t snort at that
understatement, she didn’t know. “He grew up in a military family, had military
siblings and he’s had an incredible career because he’s a discipline machine.
Me, not so much.” Another massive understatement. “He doesn’t understand how a
person can even consider living their lives outside the lines already drawn for
them. So I confuse him and he doesn’t know what to do with me. I mean, I know
he loves me. It’s just...when you keep disappointing someone who loves you, you
kinda want to stop doing it after a while, you know?”
             No, he probably didn’t. Kane wasn’t the
kind who disappointed anyone. Ever. He always knew what he wanted to be or do
and he went out and did it, with little fanfare or concern. That was how he’d
handled taking over his grandparents’ ranch, shifting it from its focus on
boarding to training. The risk had been huge, but he hadn’t faltered once. He
was still developing his business, growing his clientele, but he was afloat.
That was part of what attracted her to him. Stability seemed to follow him like
a shadow but it ran for the hills whenever she took a step from the set path.
             “When I was a kid, my Mom was just like
all the other moms. Fun and nutty—I mean, hello, she was raised by Rainbow—but
the more advanced his rank, the more obsessed she became with making everything
perfect all the time. I think she had it in her head that she might screw up
somehow and cost him an advancement. Or I could. We had to have the right hair,
the right clothes, the right impression. I always loved school so my grades
weren’t an issue, but any time I wanted to do something that wasn’t perfectly
inside the lines, they both freaked. Most of the time, I backed down because it
just wasn’t worth the fuss, but every now and then…”
             “Every now and then, you followed your
heart.” Kane’s thumb stroked the skin on the back of her hand, gently urging
her closer. She swayed, drawn to him despite all the logic that told her she
shouldn’t be. Logic made no sense between her and Kane. What had happened in
the shower earlier should have proved that beyond a shadow of a doubt.
             Her body warmed as she nodded,
remembering the shocking bliss of making love to him there. Not because her
body couldn’t stop, but because she’d chosen to.
             Chosen him. She glanced at him now, her
heart constricting. Because he chose her.
             She leaned her head on his shoulder as
they walked, relaxing against him for just a few moments longer.
             “Following your heart isn’t a crime. Even
if it was, imagine how unhappy, how wrong, your life would be if you didn’t do
it sometimes.”
             She could imagine very easily. Too
easily.
             “My grandparents were married for
sixty-eight years, did I ever tell you that?”
             She nodded, though it had been years
since he’d brought up the couple that had raised him in any way but a fast
reference. She’d never felt it was her place to draw him out either. The most
she knew about them was what