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Uh-oh

The deternized well The vulnerable glint in her eyes, however, caught hiuard at a tiative numbers

He braced his shoulders for whatever she planned to tell hithened will

Rena’s sliarage castle "Te until the edges cut into her palht noas harder

She ht bench "I don’t have a clue e’re going to do tomorrow Or the day after that I know you want to move back in for the baby, and you have to know I’m still not sure I can live with that We haven’t really resolved anything"

His face blanked, but she’d expected that once she started discussing their probles She would have to go with her instincts, all of which told her to forge ahead To take what she could right now, find so solid to hold on to

"But I also know this is about the worst day of my life, second only to when I heard you’d been shot down"

A vein throbbed along his ten as some of the ones Bo displayed in her office, but she read the tension in her husband well Her arms ached to hold him as h tonight on my own if I have to But God, JT, I don’t want to I want somebody to hold me for just a fewto be okay I need for you to holdstealthy husband, and yet somehoas there in front of her before she could blink His arms went around her, lifted her off the last two steps and clasped her to his chest, lowering her in a glide against his solid body that coround, if not her senses, which were definitely still flying

His fingers s, his other hand working a firainst her waist that kept her anchored to hi to be okay But I can promise I’ll do my damnedest to make that happen And I canas you needhiain Not that she expected him to walk out the door with the baby on the way But she’d learned there were so many other ways to leave He’d lived in the house with her for years while still see thousands ofgo okay with Chris upstairs?"

She nodded "He actually fell asleep I think the fear exhausted him Is it totally ridiculous that I stood there at the door and watched his back to when he was five and I used to do the sa?"

"Not ridiculous at all The five-year-old was a helluva lot easier to deal with Bigger kids Bigger problehtened around her

Frustration sparked inside her, the need to do sos in a way she could with a little child "What did we do wrong that he didn’t co-ter Band-Aids on the proble e on that reasoning?"

"Guess you have a point there, babe" His chin fell to rest on the top of her head "But bottoht fro on with Miranda Casale is very likely wrong"

"He orried about us He was trying to protect us That’s not how it’s supposed to be We’re supposed to protect him"

"And we are He did come to us--even a little late--but he ca to bluff I don’t know about you, but I’ up He had to be scared as hell"

She turned her head to the side, resting her cheek on his chest "God, you h I only needed a second to find o

And she didn’t argue

His hands kept their steady pace along her springy curls and against her back, slowing, shifting fro to sensual

Still she didn’tbut stand, gripped by his arh her as surely as the proof of JT’s arousal "What are we doing here?"

"Nothing yet, babe"

The proh her She buried her face deeper into his chest, scent, heat "But we’re going to?"

"I sure as hell hope so" He tipped her chin until she looked up at hi to, "You would hold out to stay because of the kids?"

He cupped her face, in both hands "I would hold out so I could stay and have more time to fix this mess we’ve made of our lives"

Could they be "fixed," like the house or the car? She couldn’t sort through it all noith herthe reliable coh he’d avoided answering her question about staying for the kids, the fact that he wanted to try sent hope– and fear--lancing right through her

Her fingers splayed across the ridged bands ofhis chest "How about we cut a deal?"

"A deal?"

She snitude of her risk threatened to buckle her already wobbly knees "I won’t pitch your weights out on the lawn tomorrow, if you’ll promise to talk to me Really talk to me--after"

It wasn’t a promise of forever And the problethy separations brought on by his job, her te-ups about her paycheck But this coh for her to jump this man before she combusted with lust

"If that’s what you want"

She blinked, stunned by his easy acceptance "You agree?"