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The thought brought a sting of pain to her heart, along with a jolt of disenchantment It really did bother her that Seth still hadn’t war in their lives

"Has he spent much time with them?" Andre asked

"Not really Irenovated, but his schedule is kind of messed up, so either he wouldn’t be ho the day after being gone all night He’s a SEAL," she said hastily, when her explanation earned her two suspicious looks

Ginny’s distrust instantly transforht "A SEAL? Oh, hell yes, Miranda That’s so hot and I’m so jealous"

She rolled her eyes "Just because he’s a SEAL doesn’tif I even brought up the wordin the other direction"

"Coly

"Kid-phobe," she reminded them "Seth doesn’t want to be a dad He didn’t explicitly say it, but it’s fairly obvious he has no intention of ever having children"

"Maybe that’s because he hasn’t spent a lot of time with them," Ginny pointed out "It’s easy for people like us to shake our heads and say ‘what the hell is wrong with that guy?’ but we hang out with children of all ages every day Not everyone has the same opportunity Is he an only child?"

Miranda nodded

"Okay, so he didn’t have any younger siblings running underfoot And he’s in the e or older" Ginny shrugged "He probably has no idea how to talk to kids They make him uncomfortable because he can’t relate to the "She has a point, boss A lot of people can’t interact with children If you don’t have any of your own, or aren’t in a kid-friendly environ around therew quiet for a moment as she let it all sink in Heck, ht Maybe it wasn’t that Seth didn’t like children Maybe he simply didn’t kno to relate to the about kids--but she’d had to learn pretty damn fast once motherhood had been prematurely forced upon her

"So, what, you think I shouldn’t write him off just yet?" she asked uneasily

Ginny’s head tilted pensively "I don’t know I’ you back, et him to spend so estion If she wanted so more serious with Seth But did she? She’d sworn to herself that she wouldn’t settle for anything less than a reliable partner illing to give their relationship 100 percent She needed someone ould always be there, someone ouldn’t let her doouldn’t let her children down Because she wouldn’t be the only one getting attached to the et attached too

Butwith Seth They’d spent a lot of tiether over the past teeks, in and out of bed, and she truly did enjoy his coainst his broad chest, loved hohen she talked about people or places in Vegas, he knew exactly what she rown up there too

Would it really be so terrible to lower the shield around her heart? Just a little bit?

Battling a mix of uncertainty and trepidation, she finally put an end to her troubling inner debate bya decision Fro an open hter and lewd catcalls were the two ht, and Friday was absolutely no exception The athered at Carson Scott’s place for twentyin full force

Carson, who’d just been taunted about the hickey on his neck, remained impervious in the face of it all "What can I say? My wife can’t keep her ize for it In fact, I e with everyone else in the living rooht the way he’d been te out with the boys, and poker night was always a blast, but for the last couple of weeks he’d avoided connecting with any of his teammates outside of the base Matt, in particular, whichwith O’Connor

Unfortunately, Matt was BFFs with the one person Dylan didn’t want to see at thehiid knots the entire drive over here He’d barely said a word to Seth in the car, too busy envisioning all sorts of aard scenarios But all that worrying had been futile because when he’d walked into Carson’s living room, Aidan Rhodes was nowhere to be found

Relief had soared through him And at the same time? Disappointment A hefty dose of it Rather than focus on the latter, he’d clung to that rush of relief, finding solace in Aidan’s absence He’d only seen Aidan once since he’d moved back hoier than before