Page 9 of Her Tempting Protector

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Cullen put down his phone and grabbed his go-bag.

He looked around his house and whistled. Aries skidded to a stop in front of him. “I don’t know, Boy, that was almost five seconds, are you slowing down?” he asked.

His German Shepard gave him a grunt of disdain—there was no way he was going to take that kind of smack talk from him. After all, Aries knew who the superior being was in this house, and it sure as hell wasn’t Cullen Lyons.

“Gotta go, boy. Baily’s going to be coming to take you for a walk tonight.”

Aries barked. The damn dog was smiling at him.

“You traitor, I knew you liked my little sister better than you do me. Do you like Chelle better than me too?”

He barked twice this time.

“You’re an ass.”

Aries wagged his tail.

“Next time I barbeque steak, you’re not getting any,” Cullen groused. He did a quick sweep of his house and saw that everything looked in order. Aries lunged toward the sliding glass door near the kitchen.

“Nope, it’s not playtime until Baily’s here.” Hell, even when Baily was here, he wasn’t always happy that she let Aries have his freedom outside with the door open, but he knew that she did. Of course, his little sister was armed and dangerous. She was the bloodthirsty one. Chelle, on the other hand, wouldn’t pick up a gun if her life depended on it. Hence the reason he didn’t ask her to housesit on his new lot of land out in the boonies. It had been too good of a deal to pass up, and it was exactly what he’d always wanted, but it was isolated, and he didn’t feel one hundred percent comfortable with Chelle staying here alone.

He picked up his duffel and Aries came bounding over to him. “I’ll be back, Buddy.”

Aries came over and pawed at his bag. “Oh, now you give a damn,” Cullen laughed. The dog took the bag in his teeth and pulled.

“Stop it,” Cullen said without heat. When Aries kept at it, Cullen sighed and gave the command to stop and sit. Aries immediately complied.

“Good boy.” He gave his head a rub. “I’m going to miss you, Buddy.” He set the alarm and left the house. He really needed to unpack so he could park his Jeep in the garage, but it just seemed like something better to do, kept coming up. He shook his head and got into the Jeep and took off down the windy tree-lined road.

He was at the top of the hill when he saw Baily’s piece-of-shit Buick. She waved at him as she sped by him. Thank God he had checked over her car last week, especially the brakes, otherwise he’d have to follow her back to his house to make sure she was safe.

Sisters.

* * *

Cullen was surprised to see when he got to the airbase at Norfolk that he was ahead of half the team, but then he found out the others had been at a concert. Really? Who in the hell liked country music and would actually pay to attend an outdoor concert in Virginia Beach? For God’s sake, the mosquitos had to be hell.

Jazz. Now that was music.

“Not into the Ladies?” Max asked as Cullen set down his bag in front of him.

“Huh?”

“Lady Antebellum, that’s who’s playing at the amphitheater tonight. Kane took A.J. to the concert, and Leo and Asher brought dates.”

Cullen looked down at his watch. They had another twenty minutes to get their asses here. “They’re not going to be driving their dates home, so do you know how they’re coordinating things? I can’t imagine Leo letting anyone drive his truck.”

Nick Hale walked up to them. “I just spoke to Kane. A.J. and the women are staying for the rest of the concert, then she’s going to arrange to get Asher’s car back to his place as well as the girls back home.”

Cullen frowned, trying to work out the logistics in his head. He gave up. He knew that somehow A.J. had it under control. Kane’s fiancée was able to manage any type of situation that life threw her way. Hell, he’d seen her manage a literal circus in the Middle East.

“So where to, Lieutenant?” Cullen asked as he saw the Omega Sky team gathering around their leader.

“Our two teams are going to be splitting up. The shit hit the fan in both places at the same time.”

“Sounds about right,” Raiden Sato said as he walked up. “When it rains, it pours.”