680

Ben nodded as he caught the looks of love Tina and Lucy were sending him after her comment.
“Yes, I suppose I am, but I never expected it to happen. It’s a special experience for me.”
Shelly just nodded and flashed a happy smile at Tina, who placed a plate before her with eggs, bacon, and toast. “Thank you!”
“Thank you, Tina!” Ben said as he accepted his plate. She nodded to him and Shelly.
“Coffee?” Tina asked Shelly, who nodded, so Tina brought a mug of the dark brew to her.
“I take it black, thank you!” Shelly stated before Tina could ask.
Once they were all seated, they began eating, and Ben realized this may not be the best moment to drop a bomb on the woman’s expectations. Instead, he gave his family a heads up on the guests they’d see this afternoon.
“I spoke to the two SEAL platoon leaders this morning on my walk around the block. They want to use the tower for zip-line practice at night. I told them they could if it didn’t cause noise in the house. They’re coming over this afternoon to run some tests.”
“They’re planning from the tower into the court?” Lucy asked in surprise.
Ben shook his head. “No. The other direction, into the woods.”
The ladies raised their eyebrows as they thought about it.
“I bet Trish would love to try that,” Shelly said, grinning.
Ben snorted and nodded.
The doorbell rang, and Ben shared a glance with Tina as they knew it was the Sergeant. “We gave her a key, right?” Tina nodded. Lucy got up to answer the door.
Shelly’s eyes were wide as it looked like she might bolt. Ben put his hand on hers, and she looked into his eyes.
“Finish your breakfast. The Sergeant is aware of your presence in my home as she tracks comings and goings from my front door. She sees all–”
Shelly burst into nervous giggles as her eyes looked to the deck off the kitchen. Tina grinned at him too.
Ben wanted to retract his words, but it was too late as Lucy returned with the woman in question.
“Good morning, Evelyn,” he said to the smiling woman.
“Good morning, Ben. Tina. Ms. Spencer.” She looked back at Ben. “Am I too early?”
Ben sighed and shook his head. “No. Take a seat. We were just finishing up. Would you like anything?”
“No, I’m good. Did you enjoy your walk this morning?” she asked.
Ben figured she would be aware of his little stroll and nodded.
“You met the Lieutenants?” she asked, and he raised an eyebrow as she really had kept an eye on him. Then he realized she’d probably contacted them to let them know he was entering their protection zone. She handled the eastern end of the court.
“Yes, they came out to introduce themselves. And to ask if they could zip-line from my tower into the woods during their nighttime training.”
The Sergeant’s face clouded over as she suddenly became angry. “They had no right to ask for more than you’ve already granted us–”
“Evelyn, it’s okay. I told them I don’t have an issue if the activity doesn’t cause noise within my home,” Ben explained. “Zip-lining is something the SEAL team would need to practice, yes? If I can help them become better at it, that’s in everyone’s best interests. That said, if their tests this afternoon result in vibration noise in the tower’s frame that we can hear within my home, then it’s a no-go. I’m not going to disturb the sleep of my family for this. In that case, they’ll just have to set up their lines from tree to tree in the woods.”
She looked upset. “Still, they shouldn’t have attempted to expand the rights we’ve been granted. The Army is also aware of the tower’s suitability for these exercises, but the General directly indicated we weren’t to ask.”
Ben watched her in surprise. “I see. Well… someone didn’t pass along that message to the SEAL Teams or me. I’m sorry if I stepped beyond the agreement the General set.”
Evelyn suddenly looked dismayed at making Ben apologize. “No, no! It was our mistake, and you shouldn’t have to deal with it. I can go tell them the test is off.”
He gave her a serious look. “Won’t that just perpetuate the animosity between the Army and Navy?” The Sergeant blinked her pretty blue eyes at him as her face reddened. This answered the question for Ben. “Why don’t we go ahead with the test this afternoon, and if it looks like zip-lining is possible, we open up the option for future Army squads. As long as these activities don’t impact the lives of the people living in the court, I’m okay with it.”
The Sergeant nodded slowly then her expression became serious. “I’ll attend this test and ensure none of the east-facing windows on the McGovern and Wallace homes are visible from the zip-line. I assume you’ll leave the privacy screen up at night over your deck to hide… uh, activities.” Evelyn’s face got redder, her eyes flicking to Shelly, whose blush matched the Sergeant’s.
Ben cleared his throat and held Evelyn’s eyes with his. “We’ll set appropriate start and end times for the zip-lining to ensure privacy, but I’d appreciate you confirming the visibility of my neighbor’s windows.”
The Sergeant nodded. She stood and gestured toward the stairs down to Ben’s office. “I should get started. See you down there?”
Ben nodded.
Evelyn looked to Shelly. “Nice to see you again, Ms. Spencer!”
Shelly smiled, nodded to the Sergeant, and glanced at Ben as Evelyn left the room. “Did-did you have a chance to sign Mrs. Wilson’s sale agreement?”
“Yes. The price looks fine. I left a message with the bank to prepare a certified cheque for me today,” Ben said with a smile, relaxing now that the topic was less charged. He pointed to the documents in question on the end of the kitchen counter.
Shelly grinned. “Excellent! I’ll contact Walter to get him to complete the title search on the property, and if all is good, we can complete the transaction today!”
Ben nodded, and Shelly looked to Tina and Lucy. “Thank you for breakfast. It was delicious!” She blushed again. “A-and thank you for last night. It was… magical.”
“It was for me as well,” Lucy said.
Tina took her hand between hers. “Ben was surprised by my bringing you to him last night. I did it because I know he is a man of limitless love.” Shelly nodded as she glanced at Ben’s face. “This makes me sometimes forget he’s just one man with many demands on his time.”
Ben snorted in amusement at the sweetly apologetic look on her face. He nodded. “Speaking of time, I’ll take Christopher over to the daycare now and come back for Sam and Gretchen.”
“Yay!” the boy cheered, and Ben smiled at him.
Ben stood and gave the ladies a kiss, including Shelly. Then he scooped up Christopher and flew him to the front door, where they put on their boots. It was warming up outside, so Ben slipped Christopher’s light jacket on and held his hand as they left the house.
They crossed the court as Christopher told him about the games they would play today, and he led the boy inside.
Lori was at the entrance and grinned happily to see the wide smile on Christopher’s face. “You’re our first arrival today!” she said cheerfully, and Christopher raised his hands in victory. Ben set him on his feet, and Lori led the boy into the back. Lisa immediately rushed out to the front to see Ben.
They were alone, so she tilted her face up to get a kiss which he gladly did.
“Trish texted us that you had a visit from her cousin, Shelly, last night,” Lisa purred as Ben took in her beauty.
“What? When?” he asked in surprise.
“A few minutes ago,” Lisa said.
Lori joined them and gave Ben a hopeful look, so he kissed her. He turned back to Lisa. “I thought she was out on a run!”
Lisa grinned. “She’s not going to keep such exciting news from us until she gets back! We heard about the first time, and that was so sexy!”
Lori nodded. “We can’t wait to hear about last night!”
“Whatever happened to private intimacy?” Ben mumbled. The twins grinned excitedly, and he sighed. “I suppose if I asked Shelly to keep the details to herself–”
“No! Please!” the twins exclaimed in unison as they clung to Ben’s arms.
Dawn Liston entered the door with her daughter next to her and stared at the two women leaning against Ben as they begged him for something. Her eyes widened, and the twins immediately released Ben’s arms to smile at her and her daughter. Lori signed the child in and brought her to the back.
“Good morning, Dawn,” Ben said with a smile.
“Good morning, Ben. Did I interrupt something?” she asked curiously. Lisa just tilted her head slightly and maintained her friendly smile.
Ben sighed. “No.” He looked at Lisa. “I’ll be back with Sam and Gretchen in a moment.” Lisa nodded to him.
With a nod to Dawn, he left and walked home. Shelly was walking down his driveway. He thought about asking her to keep the details to a minimum if she felt she had to tell Trish about the previous night, but he held his tongue. He didn’t want to make her feel uncomfortable with her cousin.
“Walter is working on the title search, so I should have news for you later today,” she said as she stopped before him.
“I look forward to it,” he said.
She flashed him a happy smile and nodded as she walked back to her car. Ben headed up his drive and climbed the steps. He heard a noise like a faint squeal and turned to see Trish hugging Shelly in her driveway. He saw her trying to pull her cousin toward her home, but Shelly waved her off and climbed into her car to drive away. Ben breathed a sigh of relief. Maybe she was going to keep their evening’s activities private after all.
He went inside and saw Lucy had Gretchen in her arms.
“I’ll walk over with you,” she said to Ben as Tina approached to hand Sam to him.
“Did you say something to Shelly about last night?” he asked.
Tina nodded. “She said she understood my comment regarding the demands on your time. She said she was grateful for being included last night.” Ben began to protest, but Tina held up a hand. “I told her you would not have been with her if you didn’t consider her a special friend.” Tina smiled sweetly. “We shared some happy tears.”
Ben leaned down and kissed Tina. “Thank you for explaining this to Shelly. Let’s not expand the circle of special friends with more, okay?” He caught Tina’s and Lucy’s eyes, and they nodded with little grins.