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As much as he ached to have Monica, some days he wasn’t sure he wanted to be with a woht every step of the way Love had been so damned easy with Tina Simply there Uncomplicated

Still, here he was, unable to walk away

The part of hie of Monica with a bullet in her belly wanted to shake her up, make her just as out of control as he felt A damned selfish hen he’d just spent the past ten et the hell out of her roo with his Johnson instead of his brain Keep strategy in place and re chased He wantedat all

He dropped the sack of cotton balls "Enough talking for one day You need sleep and so do I I’m outta here"

Jack started for the door Monica’s hand shot out, gripped his ar hi that Monica intended to kiss him

Yasmine clicked the door closed to her "closet room" No footsteps retreated Her uard shouldin the co would as long as Ammar stayed alive

She whipped the scarf fro with the others she always kept with her Her splashes of color in a dark world

All of two steps took her to her cot She unrolled the sleeping bag, wafting free a scent she was quickly co to identify as musty military If only Monica had not been deployed here She’d scoured the rosters Ammar had pilfered from his embassy mole and nowhere had she seen Monica’s na to Sydney, not that she’d heard from her in a year

Monica wouldn’t have landed herself in this lances at the scary-faced, hairy Major were anything to judge by, Monica wasn’t getting everything she wanted these days, either

Yas like her luxurious rooht better than her recent accoht be ser,the States would help A his last trip there His escape had not been easy

If only it had been fatal

Ru, however She was stuck with the here and now--and getting out of Rubistan before anyone discovered her distant relation to a known terrorist

They were right to distrust her She was not overly certain she could withstand the pressure Aht exert on her to obtain his will She had alotten what it felt like not to be afraid-- until that brief moment when she’d stared into sky-blue eyes and fear faded

Only the eyes, the e, she pulled the pins fro them in her lap until her hair slithered halfway down her back Air brushed through the strands, over her head in a sensuous glide heightened by the fact that no one had touched her with even fa

Except when the Colonel had touched her And the sensation rivaled the glorious freedoo she would have been content with the closet Now she did not want to stay here She did not want to be shuffled off to security personnel with eyes she could not trust She wanted Colonel Cullen’s protection

And he wanted her Her knowledge of h so that one brush against him told her he desired her

Yet he confused her, too Most men would have exploited the attraction He seee factor, unlucky for her when she had been given to believe all American males coveted a--as it called?--trophy wife Not that she was looking to be a wife She had her own plans for a career and life in the States, not as lofty as her doctor-soldier sister But solid plans

Once she got the hell out of Rubistan

What should have been a help--the Colonel’s attraction--would actually be a hindrance Having been reminded what it felt like to be free of fear, she couldn’t let hih to circumvent his concerns, because she did not intend to be shuffled aside Ditching a few h after a year of evading A for her, she fully intended to have Colonel Cullen at her side And to achieve that, she needed to plaster herself to his side

Monica froze What the hell was she thinking, plastering her ht Even just a simple thank-you kiss thickened her blood to syrup in her veins Their attraction had never been in question and this quick lip-lock proved it A lip-lock getting longer by the ripped her shoulders Yes More Have him take control, then she wouldn’t need to think or choose

Jackuntil the lastsecond No, her body cried at the loss

His fingers dug into her skin "Monica, you’re giving me whiplash here What the hell was that for?"

Maple syrup Definitely h her veins and into her brain until rational thought slowed and eave ave you half-truths about my family I should have told you about Yasmine, but I didn’t And I’m truly sorry I know you’re still mad at me, and you have reason Still, you came in here to check up on me"

His hands slid down her arh his eyes, rare for Jack, as if he wanted to say soers hooked on hers held

Whatever he’d been thinking about saying bleay from his expression "Ah, hell"

He jerked her forward Not that she put up any resistance Their ry and so very fa instant arousal Her hands took their ti every inch of muscled shoulders until she looped her arms around his neck and held on before her knees became as weak as her will around this ret it later, but with her eht co with the bittersweet abrasion of his sandpaper beard against her tender skin