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"Don’t look for a fight" He lifted her hand fro havoc with her heartbeat "Let’s both take time off from work, spend it with the kids and each other like you wanted before I’d already decided during ht to take leave"

His concession surprised her, big-ti into her paycheck to finance the trip, a definite step forward for the that she could soften hi issue?

If only he weren’t nipping at the sensitive inside of her wrist in an obvious, calculated effort to distract her "And ould go somewhere We would use our money to pay for it"

"Yeah, sure" He dropped her hand andaway a few dead leaves froonia plant in the"Let’s rent that cabin like you wanted to for Christether once Nikki and Chris finish up exa itchier than one of her kids after a roll in poison ivy Why couldn’t she stop reading sohtening things in the room took him closer and closer to the hall?

The vent by the door captured his attention and he stretched up to adjust the open/shut lever "Or if the cabin thing doesn’t appeal for su’s fine by me"

His left foot landed in the hall

"Since you’re walking out the door, does that ?"

That stopped him He looked back over his shoulder Turned "Real funny, Rena I’"

"Acco to placate et the hell out of the roo about when IWe could probably use so, too, with Chris’s situation"

"Well, hell," he snapped "Didn’t we get anything right?" Old habits slid into place too easily and she refused to let thenore that co here But it’s obvious you’re only agreeing to the vacation to placate me"

"You won" He crossed his are alert And her te to fuel it to life Teeks of holding her tongue, walking on eggshells, terrified to hope and terrified not to, all sliced at her paper-thin control "I won? Good God, do you hear yourself? It’s not about winning It’s about both of us being happy"

"I’ plates"

"You deserve e counseling"

His arripped the top of the door fraree to what you ask by talking--like how I’ to the vacation you wanted so damn bad last year So you up the request until I say no Then it’s s fell apart"

Was there truth in that? Maybe But if so, then it only solidified her surety that they needed help "How could you think I would wish for this hell? Don’t you realize howso close on the heels of what happened overseas Do you have any clue what it was like thinking you’d died? I to you if you hadn’t?"

His hands fisted against the frame

"We were both abad ever happens to us again, that’s unrealistic" The fear of a repeat swamped her until she used the excuse of her sore ankle to sit on the edge of their bed "We need to be rock solid to face the future We need to be open with each other, not just winning and losing Do you realize you still haven’t even told me what happened over there yet?"

"We already covered that in the truck"

"Do you actually believe that constitutes a real conversation on the subject?"

"You already said i it hurt you Why would I want tosoftness of the quilt as if pressing the wedding ring patch pattern could somehow imprint the premise and pro in the first place "Because beingburdens And if you won’t share yours with me, then I can’t sharethe ante tofrom the door frame, he reentered their room, one step, two "You want to hear all about it? Fine We were in Rubistan on abut really is about soet the hell out and back to our families"

He paced the rooured ere almost home free once we crossed out over the water Instead, we took a ulf if anyone other than Scorch had been flying the plane"

The reality slammed into her as if she’d been hit, too, but she forced herself not to sway, an outward sign that would make him stop

God, she still couldn’t quite believe he was actually talking after all this time She wasn’t sure whether to be relieved or more scared than ever

"But we made it, landed Got picked up by some tribal warlords who beat the crap out of us, broke Bo’s hands" He glanced sideways at her "Bo’s great act of resistance? Looking up"

She blinked down the tears clogging her eyes and throat, air heavy Heart heavier for the young pilot not much older than her own children For her husband

"Lucky for us, the Rubistanians arrived within a couple of hours and shot the hell out of our caravan so we could have the ated by them instead"