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"Fine, and you?" he muttered

"Peyton, come on"

"What do you want ht I was going to off ic was very sound Does that answer your question?"

When she just stared at hi his eyes, he turned the bottle around in his hands until he could inspect the little English guard on the label Man, if there was only a way to change places with a two-di hly

"Not yet We’re just out there pacing Ehlena said it was still going to be a while"

"Is that why you caht to know"

"I appreciate that" He took a shuddering inhale "You know, I really should have just let you do your da to say his name like that for the rest of their lives Like it was a sob with syllables

She came forward and sat down in the chair opposite him "It was a mistake Some kind of knee-jerk reaction"

"If she dies, I’m a murderer"

"You are not"

Peyton just shook his head Then he looked at her and made his eyes stay put

The wisps of blond hair that had escaped her low ponytail glowed in the recessed lights of the ceiling, giving her a halo--and that seeold

And then he thought of that crackerjack shot that had blown that lesser’s head apart

Okay, fine, she had a heart of gold and the marksmanship of a sniper

With abrupt clarity, he reoing after he’d eaten those poisoned hors d’oeuvres and gotten sick, pulling hih until he had finally collapsed fro of the brutal endurance test--after which she had kept going He also had soso hard to prepare for tests, asking good questions She brought the sa, too, whether it was hand-to-hand co obstacle courses

She was utterly qualified to do the job she was in

And asto bet she never would have made the call he had back in that alley She would never have stepped in where she wasn’t needed

"Knee-jerk," she had called his reaction

No, it wasn’t that He’d been protecting her as if she were his feer to save her--when in fact, she hadn’t required saving and wasn’t his to worry about If it had been anyone else tackling that lesser? He would not have interfered

With a frown, he noticed that she was fiddling with so at her throat A little char like that before, and God knew, her mother’s jewelry was all state so dainty and siold, probably, he thought Not even platinuht it was priceless

As he watched her slender fingers worry whatever the charm was on its delicate necklace, he had the very clear conviction that he needed to let go of his fantasy

"Listen, Peyton, about what you said last night--"

"I said nothing It was a joke A bad-tiested she had done the math on his Gronk/linebackerBut at thatbroadcast over loudspeakers, the door opened--and yeah, of course, it was Craeg

"They’re closing her up now," the ht as the e as a hollow-point bullet--and he should know, ’cuz he’d been shot in the head in the field

"Is she going to be okay?" Paradise said as she got up and went to her mate "Is she?"

"I don’t know" The embrace the two shared was all about the mutual support--and didn’t it make Peyton feel like an outsider Appropriately "She’s in critical condition But they’re looking for volunteers she can feed froot a chance Listen, are you okay if I give her my vein--"