She dropped the spoon into the pot and rushed for the front door so fast her socks slid on the worn linoleum floor.
“Granny?” She yanked open the door and jerked to a halt.
Granny Helen stood on the neighboring porch in pink slippers and a quilted robe with a shotgun leveled at Carson Malone and Vander.
Oh god. Was this her life now?
Carson had both hands slightly raised, his expression more amused than concerned. Vander stood beside him in jeans and a sexy dark thermal, one shoulder angled protectively toward the house like he would take a bullet for her.
Her breath caught, and her heart began to trip at an unsteady rhythm that made her feel dizzy.
Granny didn’t lower the shotgun.
“What’s going on?” Summer managed to get out.
“Told these boys I don’t care how pretty they are, I’ll still ventilate ‘em.”
Carson’s mouth twitched. Vander looked entirely too calm for a man staring down the barrel of a shotgun.
Summer hurried forward. “Granny, it’s okay.”
She narrowed her eyes, darts of suspicion shooting from the brown depths. “You know ‘em?”
“Yes.”
The shotgun dipped an inch. “Well. That changes things slightly.”
Ben’s face popped up in the screen door as he tried to sneak a peek.
Summer waved him away and moved closer to Granny, pitching her voice low so her son couldn’t overhear. “Vander and some of the guys are going to be around for a bit. For protection.”
Granny’s eyes sharpened. “Protection? What’s going on?”
Carson smiled faintly. “Ma’am, we’re with Black Heart Security.”
Summer’s gaze flashed to Vander. He didn’t look her way, but awareness hung between them. And god, he looked so good. She wanted to run her hands all over him and smell his cologne and—
She shut down the flow of thoughts and focused on the matter. “Someone has been gifting me things. And it’s made me a bit…nervous.” Her stare flickered to Vander again.
His stare pinned her and heated her at the same time.
The older woman swung the butt of the shotgun to rest on the floor and eyed Carson and Vander with a different kind of attention now. “Why didn’t you lead with that when you walked onto my porch?”
Carson’s mouth tipped at one corner. “You opened with artillery, ma’am.”
“Smart women do.”
Summer rubbed at her forehead, the spot between her brows already starting to ache.
“Summer? Why don’t you tell me what’s made you nervous?”
She darted a sideways look at the screen door. Ben’s face wasn’t pressed to the mesh anymore, but she kept her voice low anyway. “First I received the groceries. Then someone punctured my tire—and paid for four new ones at the garage.”
“You asked about the groceries. I thought your parents sent them.”
Summer traded a long look with the woman. She honestly hadn’t considered her parents would send a food delivery since they’d never done that before.
Granny was already shaking her head. “This won’t do. It won’t do at all.”
