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More food was passed around the table Isabel watched Ford take s She put her hand on his thigh and felt the tension in his ood ti on hi at work?" Denise asked hih "He’s so busy," she said with a sel’s building an outdoor course that is incredibly challenging" Information Consuelo had told her "I couldn’t do it, but those of you who are more athletic should try it"

"That would be fun," Montana said "Not that I’d go I’m not very coordinated Max, do you think we should have an obstacle course to train the dogs?"

And just like that, the attention was off Ford

He put his hand on top of hers and then smiled at her She sht Joking with everyone and acting as if he was just one of the guys It was easy to forget that he’d been gone so long, serving his country in difficult and dangerous places

He wasn’t the kind of hosts of his own She ate her dinner and talked to people, but stayed alert to any conversation shift thatho Or ask questions In the end, she decided to let him speak or not

When they arrived back at their place, she climbed out of his Jeep and started for the house Ford stopped her and pulled her into his arht

She rested her head on his shoulder and breathed in the quiet of the night

She wondered what had happened Was it his family? The close quarters? The questions? Just that some days he had to deal with his past and some days he didn’t?

But she didn’t ask and he didn’t offer Instead he shifted so his ar ice cream and then sex," he said as she pulled her keys out of her purse "What about you?"

She fumbled with the key and he took it from her As he opened the door, she knew that she wanted this What they had together The fun and the conversation The sex and the friendship She wanted to be his buffer and have him take care of the yard and be manly with the barbecue She liked the rhythether

It wasn’t love, she told herself fir on to for as long as she could

"Ice crearinned "You’re the best girlfriend ever"

"I bet you say that to all your women"

"Maybe," he admitted "But this time I mean it"

"YOU READY FOR THIS?" Consuelo asked

"Sure," Kent said, even though he wasn’t

Soreed to work out with her It wasn’t his idea of a date, so he wasn’t sure how it had happened, but here he was, in the CDS gym Any confidence he’d arrived with had been destroyed by the sight of Ford helping his friend Leonard to his car Leonard had been shuffling, as if his legs hurt too ularly, and he’d held an ice pack to one shoulder

Ford’s coood place for civilians" hadn’t helped

Now he faced a petite fireball as very likely going to kick his ass Toworkout clothes that left nothing to the iy sweats and a T-shirt, but even so, if he got an erection, the world was going to know

Basically, he had a three-part plan Don’t get injured, don’t make a fool of himself and keep his eyes off Consuelo’s ass

"What do you want to do?" she asked, tilting her head so her ponytail swung toward the ground

"You tell me" Which was a better answer than the real one, which went along the lines of "I want to have sex with you Anywhere, anyti she wouldn’t respond well to that line of conversation and that if he pursued it, he would end up with soive recruits to assess them," she told him "How about that?"

"You don’t have a basic ood at that one"

"You can take pi to eight digits?" she asked, her voice teasing

"And beyond"

"Irinned "Okay, let’s start with ju high in the air before landing and then repeating the procedure

"Ready?" she asked

He nodded and they did thehs By fifteen, he was breathing hard By nu like Leonard

Theythan the one before Consuelo gave instructions as she worked along with hi that he needed to up his game when it caht lifting to his regi to the ropes hanging froht Men had th than woym She reached for a rope as he did, then started to shimmy up She reached the crossbar before he’d climbed more than four feet He dropped back to the h

She joined him "What?" she asked

"You’re incredible"

"I do this for a living"

"Still, you’re in great shape I’ot theerator in the corner "You’re not If you were you wouldn’t have wanted to work out with ood"

"True, but I underesti drink of water and studied her "Men do that a lot, don’t they?"

She shrugged "Sometimes"

"All the time Because of your face and your body, they assuet to know you They don’t take the time to understand you and they don’t offer you respect"

The reality of what he’d just said struck him He stared at her, horrified "I’m sorry I shouldn’t have said that"

"It’s the truth"

"It was rude"

She drankhis face Her expression was unreadable "You didn’t call me a piece of ass You said others do"

"I’m sorry"

"Like I said, it’s the truth Very few men take the ti, but was afraid he would sound like evenelse, you now have proof that I haven’t dated much since my divorce," he offered