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Leaving her at loose ends, Consuelo thought Funny how in such a short period of ti out with her peeps

She turned a corner and saw a tall, dark-hairedto an older woht wistfully as he bent down and kissed the older wonized Denise Hendrix--Ford and Kent’s hed, then walked away

Kent started down the street Consuelo watched hi to do if she caught up with hi She’d knoho he was for a while Had seen the posters his ht him attractive But what had drawn her to hi close to hi He’d been funny and char and she suspected he’d never once pulled a knife on anyone She supposed most men were like that, at least for other people She’d always found herself inabout his work, she’d known she was in over her head The ht math She’d barely passed her GED He was educated and she was a kid frorown up in a bad part of town and gone into the army to escape Once there, she’d been tapped for covert ops--the kind that had her doing anything necessary to ferret out secrets and then escape

She’d had sex withthe job done, and sometimes, afterward, she’d killed the him, she told herself to turn away That he could never understand and being rejected by him would hurt a whole lot e ht up with hi next to him

He turned and saw her His surprise was almost comical--or it would have been if she hadn’t cared so much

"Consuelo I didn’t see you Are you here for the festival?"

"Yes" Despite her pounding heart, she ed a smile "Don’t I strike you as the festival type?"

"Sure, and women love this one There’s a parade later, and the Máa-zib cereets his heart cut out"

"Are there a line of wo men who have annoyed them?"

He chuckled "Probably" His hu?"

She swore silently Obviously he’d noticed her withdrawal the last ti him off

She kne ht she was pretty Confidence was appealing and she race and power All the result of thousands of hours of training and ops She’d had plenty of invitations and kne to shut theht

But Kent was different He was an ordinary uess, she would assu hiht Because he’d asked a question

"Do you have a second?" she asked

"Sure Reese is hanging out with his friends today I’ve got time What’s up?"

There was a bench around the corner on Fourth, close to the square of upscale boutiques She led the way, thinking no one would be sitting there right now

She was right and she settled on one end, then angled toward him He sat down and waited

"I’"

She drew in a breath She’d never believed in being honest in a relationship In herthe truth only led to more questions, and at so, she would be forced to lie Only she wasn’t in that line of work any to be someone else

She liked Kent She’d liked him from the first moment she’d seen hiut and it told her he orth the effort

"You intimidated me a little" She sed "A lot," she aht Plus, the whole college thing You’re smart and educated and I’ot my GED, but that’s it"

Emotions chased across his face He was easy to read Disbelief followed by confusion followed by what seeh school," he told her "I’m not a senior scientist at JPL"

She was pretty sure JPL was soine–space business, maybe in Southern California "I’m not sure why that makes a difference," she said

"Most people don’t think teaching high schoola deal"

"I’entle and slightly aduessed he ebra," she admitted

"Yeah, and you could so kick my ass" He leaned toward her "Seriously? I intimidate you?"

"Why is that so hard to believe?"

"Have you looked in the htened As if he regretted thelanced down at the dress she’d put on A dress! So huirlie But she’d worn it deliberately, and she’d left her hair down after curling it All in the hopes she would see Kent

"I don’t cohborhood," she told hiood with a firearm as any sniper and I can open most combination locks in less than a minute"

His eyes widened "Okay That’s i like you You have a great fauy Great" He turned away

She touched his arht, if you want, et to know each other"

Relief filled his eyes "Yeah? Sure That would be great" He grinned "What do you want to know? You’ve already heard about my family Ford would have told you stuff" He frowned "Whatever he said about me when I was a kid isn’t true You have to believejust a little "He hasn’t said anything bad"

"I know that’s not true" He leaned back on the bench and stretched out his arers were only a few inches from her shoulders Were he anyone else, she would assu to touch her orKent didn’t operate that way

"What do you think about Fool’s Gold?" he asked

"I like it a lot I wasn’t sure at first I’ve never been anywhere like this"

"It’s not Afghanistan"

"How did you know I’d been to Afghanistan?" she asked