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Dane frowned, but as she’d known, he hadn’t argued She knew she was fragile and it had nothing to do with the assholes who’d abducted her and tortured her But it suited her purposes for Dane and all the rest to believe just that because then they’d look no further than the surface She’d never asked for vacation time in all the years she’d worked for DSS Since its inception, and even before, she and Dane had worked together in ajobs on a much smaller scale

When Dane had been recruited by Caleb and Beau, he’d accepted with one condition He brought Eliza with hiether and continued to work together, strengthening their already very strong bond

It hy they had such a close working relationship They could predict the other’s thoughts, hts because she’d been about to co she had in this world, to her relationship with Thoht, fantasy and deepest longing, and used them to manipulate her and make it so easy for her to fall into his lap with no resistance from her whatsoever Never would she defile and disrespect Dane in that manner He deserved so much better than the depraved, broken uard his back She just prayed her replacenize how truly great ato lay down their life for hi her because she’d been so caught up in her own thoughts

She recovered quickly and glanced nervously at hith of her request Then she shrugged as if she hadn’t put that ht into it at all "A month Maybe six weeks Provided y’all can do without ht now but we all kno that goes," she said with a grin "I don’t really have a plan I just want to go where the wind takesti the veracity of her statement Just about the time her iron discipline was about to desert her and she started to squirain struck her speechless

"You ed to hide it well, Lizzie Even from meuntil recently," he said in a painful tone that sounded al out on him had never once crossed his h those sons of bitches inflicted plenty of dae They damn near killed you Far too close for et that ht we’d been too late Goddamn it!"

His voice was thick with ee and his eyes went as dark as obsidian, glittering with ret that it took her breath away

"Swear to God, I wish to hell Gracie hadn’t been able to identify thehts so I could have killed them on the spot And it wouldn’t have been slow, Lizzie I would have repaid theht of terror they drove into youryou doubt even for a moment that the people who care most about you wouldn’t make it to save you in ti up to touch his ar as I did if I hadn’t known you’d coh and you know iven up Accepted the inevitable Even prayed for the end so they could escape I stayed alive because I knew you and the others would coiven up, and I kneould make every last one of them pay, not just for what they did to me But for what they did to the other women Never for a minute think I lost faith in you"

He shook his head as if rejecting her absolute belief, her unwavering faith in him

"Still, I should have seen how this affected you I should have fucking sat on you and insisted you stand doe took them out Instead you were nearly killed and swear to God,a heart attack and if it’s all the saain"

Her eyes narrowed because now she was getting pissed She was asking for vacation, not for an analysis of her mental state--or lack thereof

"Am I or am I not cleared for vacation?" she snapped "Or do I need to remind you that I haven’t had so much as a day off in the entire time I’ve worked for you"

Slowly he s melted away by the sun’s rays "Consider yourself on vacation as of five o And Eliza? If I soyour nose in one of our cases for at least six weeks, I’ll suspend you and double your vacation time to three months and I’ll have Isaac sit on you and, trustyourself killed twice? No one would have to twist his arht in being allowed to boss you around"

Then he grinned slyly "If that’s not enough incentive for you, I’d beof course, to have one or more of the new recruits keep you under lock and key"

She made a face and rolled her eyes "You’re all a bunch of Neanderthals You just hide it under that s on"

He frowned and then outright scowled at her

She threw up her hands in surrender "Hey, vacation wasremotely work related" Okay, it wasn’t a lie What she had to do in no way involved DSS or anyone involved with DSS

"I plan to find a nice beach house somewhere private where they have nice cabana boys ill bring irly cocktails with little umbrellas in them, work on my tan and hopefully the scars will fade and by the time I come back to work, you’ll all be so sick of me and my attitude, you’ll promptly wish I had taken three months instead of half that," she teased

His scowl darkened further at the mention of her scars and she wished she’d kept her entle understanding in her voice "I’ll be fine okay? I’m not so stubborn that I can’t or won’t admit I need a break It’s beenhard"