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Stella clapped a hand over her iggling and he understood well the need to tap the stea stress after battle

Jose eased back out into the street, kneeling until the dog that looked like soeback barreled into his chest

An air a red bandana on his head looped a ’s neck "Sorry about that The gunfire freaked hi "You’ve been hiding a local dog here? That’s against regs"

She would point out the regs She probably had the bookflyboy said with a southern drawl, "but we just couldn’t let this little dude starve"

"My ould kick o to the proroup that will bring hi "We’d better get hier that" Jose took hold of Stella’s elbow and steered her toward the hangar "Thingsthe need to stand around here chitchatting"

Keeping his 9 s until finally he tucked Stella into the safety of the hangar that housed their ht toward Mr Smith "What the hell was that all about outside?"

Mr Sular stony face was downright thunderous right now The agent reached into his suit jacket and pulled out a roll of antacids and thumbed one into his mouth "We’re still not a hundred percent sure, but actually, those sorts of attacks are coht now" He crunched the tablet, the second already thumbed free and ready "Rebel forces, separatists, warlords--hell, even al-Qaeda takes potshots at this base This place needs thicker walls and better intel"

Stella picked away gravel on the knees of her jeans "What about the cloth? Any luck deciphering it? And what about Sutton’s backpack?"

"The backpack had so over, but no other cloths We’re still working on the kanga with a local translator" Mr Sh we’ll let you know"

"Or I could hat they already coed his jacket over his shoulder harness as he left

Stella’s jaw jutted "Too bad there aren’t any trees around here for hireed a hundred percent, but firing Stella up further wasn’t going to accoencies are about working together He may have saved your ass when you were kidnapped, but that doesn’t ht," she said with a gleam in her eyes just before she pivoted away

Aw fuck She was fired up anyhow

Jose kept pace alongside her, his boots thudding on the concrete floor "Where are you going?"

"To talk to the interpreter" She stopped short outside the door, her hand on his chest "Do you think you can keep Mr S Stella back ho do you need?"

Samir Al-Shennawi had been in love with Annie Johnson since the first tian his assign across froraded papers and sipped aromatic coffee, he still couldn’t take his eyes off of her Everything about her mesmerized him like a work of art Her oval face was crea by one of the lided against her curves the way his hands ached to do He wasn’t a poetic man, a scientist by trade and nature, yet she made hi free from the thick chestnut lint of silver in that strand reminded hie, they should know their wants, their needs They weren’t innocents

How could she not know he burned to rade, upper level che her out of the corner of his eye, every bit as entranced by her now as he’d been twelve ht him by surprise as he had never been one to believe in the whole "at first sight" notion He was too much of a practical man for that He’d never had time or the aptitude for ro his brother Omari had once pulled him aside and asked about his sexual orientation Sae Clooney or Simon Cowell

His brother loved American television

Just because Samir was not a ladies man or Hollywood attractive--or even Bollywood--that did not mean he preferred males to females He dated quietly He had sex o of conquests He just had not found the lady he wanted to spend his life with

Until he saw Annie So maybe he was a romantic after all

He wished he could explain what it was about her that drew hiet over her Because after a year of atteated hie Because after this long waiting for the right one to walk into his life, he refused to lose her

After twelveto win her over, he’d read up on A traditions--perhaps they suffered a cultural ht he had been quite obvious with his offers to walk her to her quarters and hold her chair for her when they sat together at school dining functions They had even met for coffee and discussed ht on him the way they should, with a fire that answered the one burning inside him In fact, she had such solid walls in place, he did not knohat she thought and he was growing impatient Time for a more direct approach and what betterthis late slipped out the door?

Sa solanced up from her papers and set her pencil down closely, precisely "Seeing?"

"Dating" There He’d said it He’d made his interest in her official

He felt queasy

"Sa of stea coffee and lifted it to her perfect-as-a-peach lips "There’s no way to keep a romance secret around this place"

"Then do you have someone back at home that I do not know about?" If she did, why hadn’t she spoken of him in the past twelve months? Why had she spoken of no one for that matter? It was almost as if she was every bit as ht

She looked down into her"There was someone… But he died"

Even with her e the sadness, the loss And so else… Guilt?