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Mallory just stared "Mrs Burland," she repeated "The woman who hates all of us, especially h I don’t think she hates you as much as the rest of us I believe Jane told you, there’s a special condition on her donation"

"Me"

"Yeah Consider your new salary for HSC a raise since I don’t have it in the budget to offer you one for your RN position in the ER"

"But I quit"

"So un-quit Take the knowledge that HSC is now secure, and so is your job, and get out of ht about that for all of two seconds "Yes, sir" She got up and moved to the door

"Oh, and Mallory?"

She turned back

"Don’t ever quit again My voice mail and e-mail box is overloaded with just about everyone in town deme Understand?"

For the first tied a smile "I understand"

One week later, Mallory’s life looked good--on paper She had her job back, the future of HSC was secured, and the toas behind her

What she didn’t have was Ty

Get used to it, she told herself, but on Saturday she rolled out of bed with a decided lack of enthusiasm She’d done as she’d wanted She’d stepped out of her comfort zone She’d been selfish and lived her life the way she wanted, and it’d been ined

But how did she go back to being herself?

You don’t, she decided She’d put her heart on the line for the first tirets

That was the day she got the delivery--a plain padded envelope, the return address too blurry and smeared to e fell out Opening the tissue paper, she stared down at the beautiful charm bracelet she’d coveted froo

There was no note, but none was necessary She kneho’d sent it, and she pressed her hand to her aching heart at what it meant

Ty, of course He’d understood her as no other ot that she was vested in this town, maybe in the sa to her He’d added a charotten it from, or what it’d cost him

What did it mean?

It meant he cared about her, she told herself Deeply It meant she was on his mind, maybe even that he ht, she put the bracelet on, sed her tears, and shored up her deters

Teeks later, Ty was on a flight back to the US after an assign diplomats to a Somalian peace treaty

The team he’d been ere all well-trained, seasoned men with the exception of one, as fresh out of theattempt, but they’d shut it doith no problem

There’d been no injuries on Ty’s teaotten so nervous when it was over that he’d thrown up and needed an IV fluid replacement Ty had done the honors

"Sorry," the kid ht, embarrassed as he watched Ty pull the IV "I lost it"

Ty shook his head "Happens"

"But not to you, right?"

On Ty’s first nment up to the plane crash, he’d thrived on what he’d been doing He’d believed in it with every fiber of his soul, understood that he’d belonged out there doing what he could to save lives

After the crash, he hadn’t just lost four friends He’d also lost soet attached

Until Lucky Harbor Until the nosy, pestering people of Lucky Harbor, who cared about everyone and everything in their path Including him

And Mallory God, Mallory She’d been the last piece of his shattered soul fitting back into place "Hell yeah, it happens tobut he nodded in appreciation "I can do this," he told Ty "I’ did

They spent two entire weeks doing nothingtheir heels in the African bush, where the -range scope of a rifle as an elephant gave birth in the distance

Ty had coht he’d needed the rush of the job to be happy

So where in the holy hell was his happy?

He knew the answer to that It was thousands and thousands of miles aith a woman who’d decimated the carefully constructed wall around his heart And that’s when it hit him between the eyes: It wasn’t the job that fueled him, that kept him sane

It was Mallory

She was his team She and Lucky Harbor When he was there with her, she filled hi

Christ, he was slow Too slow It was probably far too late for such realizations He’d been a fool and walked away fro to ever happen to him, and Mallory didn’t suffer fools well

He looked out the airplaneas they finally circled DC Nor about his priorities: sleeping for two days, fueling up on good food, and et behind the sleep and the food, but there was only one woman he could think of, only one woman he wanted

He’d left Lucky Harbor certain this had been his future, the noiven his life to He’d told hi to do, that he had to do this to ive Mallory the kind of life she wanted It just wasn’t for hi on all counts He knew it now Brad, To And his life , too Probably he’d always known that, but he hadn’t had his head screwed on right for a long ti Frances aiting for his that looked so good in a power suit she was her boss’ sole weapon for recruiting

Once upon a time, she’d recruited the hell out of Ty

Now there was nothing between them but an odd mix of hostility and affection She looked hiain "You look like shit"

"Aw Thanks"

She didn’t offer hi away "You’re not staying," she guessed

"I’" He tossed her his security pass and walked

"Do you really think a place like Lucky Harbor has anything to offer you?" she called after him

He knew it did He had connections there, real ones

"Da "At so"