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"Don’t do it," both Ahed "He’s cute But I’d rather have the job I filled out the application I’ nails is going to do it?" A it for you?" Grace countered

Aed "It leaves me a lot of free time and brain cells to do what I like"

"Which is?" Mallory asked

A people in," Mallory re is a solo sport"

Ae bite "I’" She eyed Mallory "You want to talk about today?"

"What about today?"

"Gee, I don’t kno about the fact that MCG is carrying?"

"MCG?"

"Mysterious Cute Guy Ty Garrison Hot stuff The guy you smile dopily about every time he’s mentioned"

"I do not smile dopily"

Amy looked at Grace Grace pulled a small mirror from her purse and held it up in front of Mallory

Mallory looked at her faint glow and--dammit--dopey smile, and did her best to wipe it off her face "It’s the chocolate cake"

Ahed and set down her fork

"Uh oh," Grace said

"I like hi?" Grace asked "You set out to stretch your wings, experience souy that could break her heart," Amy said softly "Is that it, Mal? You’re scared?"

"Like a little bunny rabbit," Mallory said "Soht, and then hit the beach for another run He didn’t fall this ti his body and his everywith exertion, he went to bed Too tired for nightood He dreaned to rescue a diplohter out of Istanbul Then the dream shifted to another mission, where they’d "coodforsaken, forlorn corner of Iraq, co for another shipe terrorist threat Then things transitioned again, to the tiet to a bus loaded with US and British journalists before their scheduled kidnapping…

All successfulwent straight to hell in a handbasket

He was thrown froe When he opened his eyes, his ears were ringing, and although he could see the wild fla It was a movie without sound

His one Ty found Tommy and Brad next and did what he could, then went after Trevor Trevor was on the other side of the wreckage, gasping for air, his chest crushed, and all Ty could do was hold hiodforsaken h his sweat-da but he rolled out of the bed, grabbed his jeans, and shoved his legs into the due to missed calls that were no doubt from Frances, was shoved into his pocket Sa and fired her up With no idea what possessed him, he did a drive-by of Mallory’s house She wasn’t the only one with recon skills, though he figured the only way she could have gotten his cell phone nuh the hospital records

How very industrious of her

And illegal

He found it a ued A deadly combination

Distance He needed a boatload of distance He orking on that

Mallory’s ranch-style house was in an older neighborhood Typical Suburbia, USA The place was freshly painted, the yard clearly cared for, much more than the piece-of-shit car she drove

Which hy he was here Or so he told himself

It took him all of six minutes to replace her alternator with the one he’d driven into Seattle to get for her

Probably he needed to work harder on keeping his distance

He really needed to get back to work He needed to be fking useful for soain He put his tools back in his car and had started to get behind the wheel when he heard locks tuhted by both the porch light and a single light somewhere inside, stood Mallory Her hair was a wild cloud around her face and shoulders, her bare feet sticking out the bottom of her robe "Ty?"

So ?" she asked

Funny thing about that He had no fking clue what he was doing None Not a single one He shut his car door and walked up to her, crowding her in the open doorway

"Ty?"

He didn’t answer If she backed up a step or told hin that he wasn’t welcoood at that, and they both knew it

And he definitely expected her to be unnerved He’d seen her face at the car hen he’d been holding his gun

But she surprised hi for hi thatuseful, and wasn’t that just what he’d wished for? To be useful again?

He kept telling himself that as curious and attracted as he was to her, if Mallory hadn’t started things up between them at the auction, he’d have never initiated any sort of intimacy

He was full of shit She’d assured hiht, and he’d tried like hell to believe her, but so Thekind, and he had a probles for his, which were definitely getting in his way This whole "no eht to shit Because Mallory Quinn was emotionally attached to every person she ever ious He craved contact with her in a way that he wasn’t experienced with

And he liked to be experienced