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She started out the door and then realized she was barefoot, so she shoved her feet into the mud boots by the door Then she stalked to her Jeep and headed down the road, re or desperate to be loved She’d grown up It wasn’t a ht now Nope, this ti enough to go after it, too, settling for no less than absolutely everything

Except…was that really true? Was she really getting everything she needed froive her?

Yes, she told herself, ignoring the little clutch in her gut At least for now She was going to choose to be happy, and to that end, she pulled into the drugstore parking lot, belatedly realizing that she earing a cocktail dress, and…oh God

Big, old, clumsy mud boots

Too late now, she told herself If she went back hoe to coht into the drugstore

And then the liquor store

Her third and last stop was Belle Haven She parked and drew a deep breath Then she got out of the Jeep and clomped in the boots toward the stairs

A shadow stepped out from a side door Tall, dark, built He had Adah-and-tu, co Connelly sht and his smile faded "You okay?"

She ran a hand over her hair, realizing she’d literally run out of the house Noin her face Fancy LBD

And then there were theinto her eyes "Holly?"

"I’m fine I’m just here to…" Jusecond

Holly closed hershe was holding "Whatcha got?"

She hugged the bag to herself Oh, hell no! No way could he see what she had in the bag

"Okay," Dell said easily, still amused "So you don’t want to talk You’ll be quite the pair He’s upstairs Oh, and Holly?"

"Yeah?"

"Be gentle"

She felt the blush heat her face "Excuse ht?"

"No, I--" She nibbled on her lower lip Okay, that was probably less e than the truth "Maybe"

Dell’s s beat "You know, you ht"

"Why, is so?"

Dell hesitated, which was unlike him Neither of the Connelly brothers were ones to ?" she asked

"There was a search and rescue tonight that turned into a search and recovery before an S&R team could be et a body

"They used Milo," Dell said "He’s young, but he’s an excellent cadaver dog" Hebodies Soet him"

Holly’s heart clenched hard, and she nodded She’d never been to war She’d never rescued anyone She’d never failed to rescue anyone Hell, she’d never had to see a dead body and probably never would Adam had done all of that and probably ine He’d put his entire adult life on the line for others, and never once had she thought of what the consequencesI can do?"

Dell looked at her, appraisingly "You care about him"

A question, not a statement

"Always have," she said

Dell cocked his head "Always?"

That secret was so old she’d nearly forgotten it was a secret She thought about denying it, but as the point now? And besides, Dell was far too sharp and astute to believe her, anyway "Always"

There was a beat of silence as he processed this, then he let out a long breath "Guess I should have seen that one fro between you two"

A truer statement had never been uttered "So what do I do?" she asked "He’s not exactly good at accepting help"

Dell tipped his head back and looked up at the silent loft Then he ood at winging it Just don’t let him chase you aith that bad ’tude of his It’s all a front Beneath, he’s a pussycat"

"Do you really believe that?"

He laughed "Undohed and walked up the stairs, heart pounding so loudly she didn’t think it was even necessary to knock Surely he could hear her co low-slung jeans and nothing else He took one long, slow look at her, hands up high, braced on the doorjaht about her appearance, he was keeping it to hih She’d certainly kept far too much to herself Talk, she reet the nals her body was putting out Crowding hi on her aze and felt so he was holding on to the doorjaood Christ, she leveled him flat

"Yesterday, at class, you said you weren’t up for food," she said "That food wasn’t what you wanted"

Hiswits or whatever she thought she was doing What he was up for was a night alone Being in such close contact with her on the ain at the class, had stirred up emotions he didn’t want stirred up

Brady had accused hi sorry for himself

Adam didn’t want that to be true, because thatto fear that it was true Grif had ht that he would, too But he was still broken, as it turned out

And that pissed him off

He wanted to be alone to lick his wounds in private, but hell if he could get any alone ti at Grand Central Station "I’ames, Holly"

"I know But as was previously established, neither of us plays gaaze ran over his body She nibbled on her lower lip as she looked at hi of sex And of course he was always thinking about sex, so they were perfectly in sync He loved her body, loved being all over it, loved the reactions he got from it From her But even he knew this had bad idea written all over it

She looked down at the bag she held and so in her expression narrowed his senses andfrom her He peeked inside and found a bottle of Jack Daniel’s and a box of…

Condoht, and he tore his eyes off the condoht, pupils dilated Yeah She was absolutely thinking of sex