Derick (Delta Forces #3) - Elizabeth Lennox Page 0,1

times over the years. In the past, though, the people he’d watched had been in hiding because they were evil and their survival depended on not being found.

In his new neighbor’s case, she was too small to be much of a threat. And she moved differently. He couldn’t quite put his finger on it, but her movements were that of a person trying not to be found – because being found might endanger their lives, not because being found would mean prison. Or worse.

With a cautious finger, the tiny woman pulled the paper bag open, peering carefully into its depths. When she discovered that it was filled with fresh, beautiful, red tomatoes that he’d picked just this morning, her tense features relaxed into a delighted smile. Immediately, her gaze shifted toward his house, but Derick knew that he was too far back from the window for her to spot him. He’d done this too many times and knew how to keep himself hidden.

He wasn’t hiding because he didn’t want her to see him. Derick hid himself because he wanted to understand what was going on with his new neighbor. For so long, he’d lived on this street alone and he’d appreciated the isolation. He preferred his privacy, preferred the silence and the freedom to do what he wanted, whenever he wanted. If he wanted to work in his garden early in the morning or late at night, he had the freedom to do that.

Having a neighbor changed the street’s dynamics. It meant that he had to be considerate. He had to be quiet at night and…hell, he didn’t want a neighbor. Especially a neighbor that tugged at his senses, even from a distance.

Damn it, he should have bought the house next door just so that he could maintain his privacy!

With a sigh, he started to turn away…and froze, transfixed by the curve of her butt through the baggy jeans and the way that ridiculously baggy tee shirt suddenly pressed against her breasts as she bent toward the bag of tomatoes.

His tiny neighbor wasn’t as tiny as he’d originally thought! Damn, his body responded to just the enticing curve of her butt as she bent down to smell the tomatoes! Who did that? Who smelled tomatoes?! And why the hell was he reacting so strongly to her doing it?

“Hell!” Derick forced himself to turn away and return to his own tasks. He grabbed the electric sander and began stripping away decades worth of dirt and grime from the hardwood floors in his living room. If his gaze occasionally strayed to the neighbor’s house, wondering what she was doing, if she was safe from…whatever it was…well, it was just his protective instincts.

Chapter 2

“What the hell?!” Derick muttered, frowning at the mason jars filled with…tomato sauce?

His gaze sliced through the morning mist to glare at the house next door. She’d brought him tomato sauce. The woman with the sexy butt and luscious breasts…she could cook! Damn, he loved pasta. It was his downfall. His friend, Zeke, baked an insane amount of bread and brought it into work, offering it to the teams. And he baked cookies and brownies and…whatever. It was his way of releasing the stress of the day. Zeke baked and cooked, especially now that his wife, an Army Captain and emergency room doctor for the base, was pregnant with their first child.

As a member of the Delta Force team stationed down here in the wilds of Alabama, each person had their own way of dealing with the stress of their jobs. Some guys drank, others got into drugs when the stress was too much. Zeke lost himself in the science of baking and Derick grew things. Whenever he started to get into his head too deeply, he sank his bare feet into the rich earth, enjoying the feeling of dew on his toes, and running his hands over the plants that produced fruits and vegetables. He’d planted fruit trees in the front yard. He also grew strawberries, tomatoes, corn, beans, green and yellow squash, pumpkins, butternut and spaghetti squash, eggplant, bell peppers, banana peppers, jalapeno peppers…he had dozens of plants growing in his backyard. Hell, he was a freaking farmer according to his friends, Mike, Zeke, and Joe, his fellow officers on the team.

But his vegetable garden helped him cope with the stress of his job.

So, what the hell was he going to do about the stress of his pretty, new neighbor? Even as he glanced over at her house,