“How did Mako come to have the four of you? He…uh…doesn’t sound like a typical adoptive father.”

“As it happens, he rescued us from an abusive foster care home in California and brought us to Alaska. Not exactly legally.”

The way her eyes widened was adorable.

“It took a while, but we turned into a team, then into a family.” Bull sighed. “It was about a year and a half ago when we lost the sarge. That was…”

There were no words.

Frankie’s expression turned soft. Rising onto her knees, she kissed him gently.

Her sympathy drew away the rough edges of his sorrow. He was left with a gentle sense of loss and gratitude he’d had the rugged old survivalist in his life for so long.

Bull wrapped his arms around Frankie’s waist and pulled her closer. “Thank you, sweetheart.”

When she started to draw back, he smiled slightly. Mako always said a warrior should take advantage of ground and position and weakness. Maybe he hadn’t meant the lessons to apply to sex, but…

Bull smiled, thinking of his little niece, who insisted Frankie was “into him” and he should make some moves.

Let’s see if Regan is right.

Cradling Frankie’s head with his palm, Bull fell sideways, rolling to put her beneath him, and kissed her again. Soft lips, soft body.

Soft heart.

Yeah, she appealed to him on all levels. He brushed his mouth against hers and nibbled down her cheek to her neck. All woman, with the taste of salt. “Mmm.”

“Crazy man.” Her voice had gone husky, even as she pushed at his shoulders. “We’re in a park.”

“Woman, you picked this site because it’s private.” If Regan hadn’t told him she worked out in the park, if he hadn’t been watching for her, and if Gryff hadn’t caught her scent, Bull would have jogged right past. Would have missed seeing her practice. She’d been a hell of a sight with the short staff flashing around her so effectively he could almost see her imaginary attackers and hear their bones breaking.

She was gorgeous, graceful, and sexy as hell.

As he settled his weight on top of her, her legs opened. She could undoubtedly feel his bulging shaft against her pelvis.

She swallowed, her gaze on his.

“Guard, Gryff,” Bull ordered.

The dog moved to the only trail into the small clearing and lay there, ears forward. Whoever trained the dog before the asshole got him had done a fine job.

When Bull turned his attention back to Frankie, her face was flushed a dark rose color. “Um. I thought we’d agreed we weren’t going to…”

“To fuck?” he asked gently. “No, we agreed to no entanglements and that nothing would intrude in work. On your way out, you might have mentioned something about a one-time thing, but I didn’t agree to that.”