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Sutton whistled "Hairy stuff"
As much as he preferred not to talk about his work, Jose reminded himself this kept the focus off Stella’s job
He clapped the kid on the shoulder "If you call ju into a minefield hairy, then sure, it’s hairy stuff Another of hanistan to rescue a Green Beret with his legs blown off in ahelicopter setting off another mine that would take out the whole aircraft and everyone in it So Franco parachuted in alone He used histo secure the patient, then the helicopter hoisted them both up"
"Hey," Stella said, "that’s the same buddy of yours who rescued the lawyer and her nephew froht, Jose? You do civilian rescue work too"
"They were buried underneath layers of concrete slabs" Jose kept on talking, since sure enough, the kid wasn’t focusing on Stella anyood for a lot of reasons "Franco not only crawled through with stabilizing h aftershocks until rescue teaainst the tree trunk "That’s one helluva bedti, which"You only have about a half hour left to catch some shut-eye"
"Then I’d better make the most of it" Sutton’s eyes slid closed
And as the student began snoring lightly, Jose realized he had no buffer between hi left but the two of them and a boatload of messy history
In spite of all her intention to button up her heart tight, Stella couldn’t bring herself to sleep away these last minutes with Jose, not with the dreah herand the chopper would certainly be arriving soon They would go their separate ways again
So even as exhaustion tugged on her every cell, she forced her eyes to stay open She tugged the ponytail holder free and began braiding her hair loosely
Jose’s eyes glowed coal hot in the night "Are you seeing him?"
Surprise jolted her "Sutton? Really? God, no He’s just a kid"
"Twenty-two, according to the briefing info we got on the hostages before rolling out He’s not that er than either of us Hell, I’er than you and that never seemed to matter to either of us"
She saw jealousy--and hurt The first would have made her defensive, but the latter htly
"Well, I a him Why would you think that?"
She was still so raw from their relationship, she didn’t knohen--if--she could think about coain And how scary was that? She was nowhere closer to finding out anything about her mother and she’d screwed up any possibility of a relationship with Jose She wanted a fa with anyone else
But what about Jose? Had he already ht she could?
She couldn’t stop herself fro someone new?"
"I make it a point not to be dumped more than once every six o, I have five le No risks to the heart"
Her fingers still carried the feel of his unshaven jaw "Risks to the heart?" How the hell could he place this all at her doorstep? Anger welled inside her "If we’re laying it out there, don’t forget I wanted ed the end of her braid "I asked you to move in with me"
The connection of his hand on her hair shimmered clear to her roots and pissed her off "Yeah, well, callwe could have it all--house, farandchildren--and you alsoto happen"
So"Keep right on fighting You can let down soon"
The way he knew just how to bolster her, how to read her, brought a lu ti hoould end
"Stella…" He pulled his 9 un, so itcontrol of her safety again after the helplessness of the past three days
"Daun in her hands
"What did I do now?"
"You understandbut the hurt behind "I almost hate you for that Be horrible, okay? Be a total jerk Make this easier for both of us"
He cupped the back of her head, his fingers ain If she could just give up her dreams, she could have him…
Then she would resent him, truly hate him in the end
A low hum started in her brain, a buzz of frustration or doubt? Either way, it grew louder and louder until…
Jose went tense His hand fell away and he launched to his feet "The helicopter’s here"
The CIA agent pulled out his buzzing cell phone, but he didn’t recognize the nu across the screen Not unusual, since they used disposable naular basis
He held up a hand to his two fellow operatives for the up the rest of the tea out of the small conference rooar-based mobile command center and thumbed the on button
"Yes?"