Cage was fresh out of the shower when someone knocked on the door. He poked his head out of the bathroom and saw Frances seated on the couch, her feet up on the coffee table. “You, ah… gonna get that?”

She looked up from her Kindle and shook her head. “Wasn’t planning on it.”

“Okay.” He huffed out a breath as he wrapped this bath towel around his waist and crossed the room heading for the front door.

“Hey, how about you get dressed?” Frances didn’t sound so happy with the situation and after dragging himself down to the police station, he wasn’t either.

So, he didn’t spare a glance. “Then next time, how about you answer the door?”

Cage could feel her eyes digging into his back.

He peeked through the window into the darkness and leaned back laughing. The door opened easily, and Cage stepped in as he dropped his second towel over the back of his neck.

“Wasn’t expecting you tonight, Colonel.”

The older man gave him a hard stare. “At least call me Fordice so I don’t expect you to salute.” The words had their desired impact.

“When I said I needed your help, I was thinking you could stop by in the morning.”

The older man shrugged and lifted a hand to wave at Frances. She gave him a smile. Cage felt his teeth grind together. “Maybe I prefer to jump into things feetfirst?”

Cage bit the inside of his cheek. “That’s not how you ran our unit.”

“I’m a different man now, Cage. So are you.” Clearing his throat, he jerked a thumb at Cage’s bedroom. “Go get some clothes on. “I’ll wait for you outside.”

Cage didn’t say a word heading off toward the bedroom.

When he returned, he tried to catch Frances’ eye to let her know where he’d be, she turned away. When he stepped outside he felt a little chill from the hard wall of cold air outside but he hadn’t bothered to grab a jacket so he stuck it out, enjoying the way it sharpened his mind.

The colonel was ready for him. “I think I have a way to help you.”

“A lobotomy for me? Heavy drugs?”

The older man chuckled at him. “Oh, how I remember those feelings. But I’m serious, I just might have the perfect person to help.”

Cage’s expression spoke volumes and only served to make Joe laugh out loud.

“I thought you trusted me, Cage?”

“I trust you with my life, sir, but this is… different.”

“Different,” the older man nodded thoughtfully. “Well that was a vague enough answer.”

“If this was a matter of military tactics or weapons, there wouldn’t be a question.”

Joe sighed. “But this is your family.”

A muscle in Cage’s jaw ticked. “I guess that’s it, but really, it doesn’t make sense. I mean you’re family. Frances is just as much your family as she is mine.”

Joe held up a hand and shook his head. “But I’m not the one that Todd trusted his little girl to.”

The words weren’t a surprise, but the pang of raw emotion he felt inside his chest was.

“He’d have done the same for me.”

Joe nodded. “You’re a good man, Cage. You were a good leader, a good soldier. And now you’ll learn to be a good father.”

“If I live that long.” Cage pointed back toward his apartment door.

Joe laughed and shook his head. “If you can joke about it I’m not worried that you’ll strangle the child in her sleep.”

“First, she’s not a child, and second, you’d be surprised what I can do while I’m laughing.” His point made, Cage leaned back against the railing. “Who is this miracle worker that you’re willing to throw to the lions?”

From their vantage point they had a clear view across the street to the front entrance to the gym and the parking lot beyond it. The colonel inhaled a breath before he leaned both arms on the railing and lifted his chin to the corner of the block. Propped up on a solid concrete foundation was the converted railcar-turned-diner called Paulie’s. The faded red trim was worn off in places like lipstick rubbed off in a kiss.

Before Cage could ask the first stupid question that popped into his head, something moved across a window in the diner. Not something, someone.

Narrowing his eyes and focusing on the movement, he watched a woman cross the next bank of windows and when she stopped in front of the last pane he swore under his breath. She was gorgeous. Built like a woman in one of the pinup posters in his extensive collection, her curves would have made an hourglass envious.

“Well she is certainly a sight for sore eyes.” Cage felt his skin warm up, every inch heating as he imagined her stepping into his arm. “You brought me out here to show me a little eye-candy, Colonel? I bet she’s got a great ass. I’m all for a good lay, but that won’t solve my problems with Frances.”

His gut-laugh went silent as he turned to look at the older man. Leaning against the post, retired Colonel Jay Fordice looked like he wanted to rip Cage’s throat out with his bare hands.

“What?” Cage felt an unease deep in his middle. “What’s wrong?”

“That piece of eye-candy may just have a great ass, but I haven’t looked. It would be a little odd for me, seeing as how she’s my daughter.”

Cage stood there, silently wondering how he’d manage to apologize and keep most of his teeth. “I’m… I’m sorry.”

“You’re a sorry son-of-bitch, Cage. But I’m just going to trust that you’ll keep your damn hands to yourself when you go over there and talk to her. Even though I’m questioning whether or not you deserve her help, she’s going to be the best thing that ever happened to you… and don’t you forget it.” With a huff, the older man made a dismissive wave in Cage’s direction. “Now go, talk to Maggie. I’m going to stay here with Frances.”

Cage wasn’t sure he’d be able to look the girl in the eye now. He certainly was going to have an issue looking in the Colonel’s. “Yes, sir.”

He didn’t bother grabbing his boots before he jogged down the steps and across the street. With his sensitive hearing he didn’t have to look up and down the street to know that it was safe. The cold of the asphalt was a shock to the skin on the bottom of his feet, but it wasn’t painful. He stepped up onto the curb and stopped short.

Inside the old diner, he saw Maggie pulling her hair into some kind of a twist and fixing it in place with a big clip. The movement raised her breasts and he watched the way the cloth moved over her curves. She wasn’t just beautiful, she was… his.

Ours.

Shit. He gave his jaguar a mental shake. Down.

Maggie Fordice is not my mate.

Yes, she is.

And just like that, he went from fucked to royally fucked.

When the front door opened, Maggie was just starting to wipe down another table set up along the front wall. “Back so soon, Dad?” She laughed and leaned all the way into the booth to give the table top a strong wipe down. “Is Cage coming down to see me tomorrow?” She moved a little bit further and braced one hand on the back of the booth as she wiped big circles across the old Formica table top.

Her movements were killing him. The long-distance look he’d gotten through the window had only shown him how gorgeous she was from the front. The view from the back was enough to make him certifiably insane. Her jeans were worn and perfectly sized, nipping in at the waist, flaring over her gorgeous hips and down over her thighs.

As he stared at her curvaceous backside rocking over and over toward the table as she wiped the surface down, it was all he could do to keep his hands off of her.

His jaguar was a creature of instinct and need, and what it needed was to bury itself into her body. He could see it in his head.

Strip those jeans off her body, nudge her feet apart, and press her against the tabletop with his larger form covering her, burying itself into her, thrusting into her over and over until-

“Hey, what’s with the silent treatment?” Pushing back away from the booth, Maggie Fordice turned around with a bright smile on her face. “Come on, Dad, I was only asking- oh,” her mouth gaped open as she pressed her hand to her chest. “Cage!”

He could only stare right back at her. He had meant every word he’d said to her father outside of his door. As unfortunate as the tone and choice of words had been, not just because Fordice was his old commanding officer, but he was also Maggie’s father.

“Cage?” Maggie looked as confused as he felt. “Are you okay?”

Okay didn’t even begin to cover it, it wasn’t even close.

Maggie Fordice had been a teenager when the unit left for Libya, but the Colonel hadn’t offered up much in the way of information about his daughter and the men didn’t ask. They figured it was his choice.

But Cage knew that the Colonel had kept his daughter’s picture tucked into his gear. A picture that he had seen from time to time, but the skinny teen in the photo was nothing like the woman standing before him.

Gone was the dark and brooding make-up, the stringy box-dyed hair. Maggie had gone from a pale and moody teen to a woman with a luscious figure, a bright smile, and eyes that snapped with intelligence. The whole package gave him shivers. And as long as Cage could remember, he’d never had shivers, not like these.

But the shivers didn’t stop the aching erection pressing against the button fly of his jeans.

Maggie was a revelation, and his colonel’s daughter.

That last bit didn’t seem to affect his jaguar at all. The beast didn’t care whose cub she was, it wanted her. It wanted her pinned beneath them, her wide hips pressed up against them, her body open and willing. He normally gave his jaguar enough of a fight to keep him satisfied and quiet in the back of his head, but standing within touching distance of Maggie, his jaguar was having none of it.

And the jaguar wasn’t above playing dirty.

He let loose a tirade of pictures in Cage’s head that showed in no uncertain terms what he wanted Cage to do. Cage wasn’t averse to any of the ideas, but he wasn’t so eager to see what the Colonel would do to him if he put a hand… or any other part of himself on Maggie.

So he settled with stupid and simple.

“Your father said I should talk to you.”

She cocked her head to the side and smiled at him. “Well, thank you, Daddy.”

He heard the softly flirtatious tone in her voice and that sent another rush of blood straight south. “He thought you might be able to help me with Frances.”

Cage wasn’t sure why, but when Maggie met his curious gaze, her lower lip pulling in between her teeth, he was quickly losing his ability to put more than a few words together.

When she let it go and unfurled the plump morsel the only words that found their way passed his lips and muttered under his breath were, “Fuck me.”

And there was something in her eyes that had him nearly in flames.

“Well, Daddy told me a little about what’s been going on. I hope that’s okay with you.”

She waited for him to nod, something he appreciated. He was truly at the end of his rope and the less that he had to relive his failures the better.

“I was just wondering if we could talk about some of the things he hasn’t told me.”

The upper corner of one lip pulled back baring his teeth. “That depends on what you want to know.”

“Whoa there,” Maggie stepped forward and set her hand on his chest, “don’t get all growly on me.”

She was close enough that he could see the wet shine on her lips as he felt her fingers trace a path through his t-shirt across his chest. Her touch was gentle and soothing, but his jaguar was too close to the surface and he pushed against Cage’s skin, hard.

She looked up at him and he breathed in her scent. Freshly washed cotton mixed in with the strong cleaners that she had been using. Underneath those smells was a soft fruity fragrance that had his mouth watering. She searched his eyes and he trembled from thinly veiled need.

“Have a seat, Cage.”

His eyes narrowed and flicked toward the door before settling back on her face.

“Wow,” she laughed… she actually laughed at him, “you are kind of paranoid. I guess it served you well over-seas.” Shaking her head in a gesture that was remarkably like her father, she raised the hand she had on his chest, she touched her fingers to the side of his face. He felt her heat mingling with his own and the rough sensation of his stubble on her fingertips. She turned his face toward the back counter and the kitchen. “Breathe, Big Boy. Breathe.”

He took in a breath and stopped. And then took another breath. And another.

Cage could almost feel her smiling beside him.

“It smells good, doesn’t it?”

He could scent the cornbread in the air. He loved the sweet cakey bread more than he should, likely a by-product of the training that they’d done in the South when his unit had first formed.

Beyond the sweet honeyed cornbread, he smelled chili. The mix of spices mingling with the other ingredients made his belly growl with anticipation, but it wasn’t enough. Not with Maggie standing in the room.

“Well?” She moved her hand and he felt the soft brush of her fingertips against his jaw. “Smells good, doesn’t it?”

After another deep breath, he turned back to Maggie and nailed her with a look. “Not as good as you.”

Her smile held just a hint of shyness, even though her eyes were bright with something he couldn’t name. “Well that’s the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me, Cage.” She gestured toward the counter. “But I’m betting that once you get it in your mouth, you’ll say a lot more than that.” She moved past him toward the crockpot of chili and reached up to the shelf for two bowls. “And maybe you’ll loosen up enough to talk to me like a person who’s just trying to help, because that’s what I am, Cage. You don’t have to try and win me over with your charm and sexy swagger, you don’t need that. I’m a big girl now,” she grinned from ear to ear, “and I’m not just talking about my backside.”

Setting the bowls on the counter, she dragged over a metal stool around to the otherside and sat down opposite of Cage.

He sat there watching her like a bomb that was ticking down to zero. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust her. She was his mate and that alone made this situation even worse than before. He was already failing Frances. He couldn’t stand thinking about how he was going to mess things up for Maggie.

It wasn’t just that she was a woman who’d volunteered to help him, she was his colonel’s daughter, and an innocent in all of this. He didn’t want to drag her into his mess any more than he had to.

He watched her pick up her spoon and unconsciously copied her gesture. She took up a spoonful of the chili and lifted it toward her mouth, pursing her lips to blow over the meaty concoction. She looked like she was kissing the steam that rose from the chili and just the sight of those full lips had him aching even more.

He realized that he didn’t have a chance of resisting her if he was just going to sit there and stare at her.

Cage set the spoon down in the bowl and met her curious gaze. “What do you want to know?”

She quickly chewed and swallowed the chili in her mouth and grabbed a napkin to touch her lips before she answered him. “What kind of things has she been doing?” She paused for a moment before adding another point. “And don’t sugar coat.”

He narrowed his gaze at her. “Why would I?”

She smiled and cocked her head to the side as she looked right back at him. “Because when I asked you the question, you hesitated. I’ve seen that expression before.”

Maggie reached out and touched the back of his hand with her fingertips. If she sensed the way she made him feel, she wasn’t showing it.

“My dad would make excuses for me when he was around. He’d try to tell the police that I was just a confused young woman acting out. That I didn’t understand what I was doing… it was all bullshit. He was trying to help me, but all the excuses in the world weren’t going to help me as long as I was trying to mow under my own life.” She sighed and pushed the chili around in her bowl. “My dad was trying to help me, but all it did was allow me to dodge the consequences from my actions.” She swallowed and then blew out a breath. “I’m not blaming my dad, not at all. All of my problems were my problems. I just want to know what she’s done. If I’m going to help, I need to know what I’m looking at, not to judge, just to understand.”

Cage lifted a spoonful of chili to his mouth and tucked it into his cheek. “Well, this is going to take some time.”

She smiled and slid off her stool. “I’ve got coffee, if you want some.”

“Lots of coffee.” He growled and watched a little shiver roll through her body. “I want it all.”