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Lifting a sarcastic eyebrow, Do to be asha her up and down in a way that made her breath catch, he added, "Nor to Mac So, if you can possibly keep fro to help each other out, that would be great"

Ava’s o His confident pose, leaning back on his bike, was the perfect complement to his over-the-top statement Then she snapped She had completely had it with thein front of her "You fuckinghow much an insult ith so better than to wrap ht now!"

Do far froet those hands of yours on rabbed handfuls of her hair in frustration, trying to control the anger coursing through her body "You pig! I don’t want my hands anywhere on you, and for your inforardless of what either one of you thinks" Stabbing her chest, she added, "I belong to me, damn it, just toover to her with a strange expression on his face It looked almost like pride Had he missed her whole rant toward hiently took her shoulders in his hands that she stood glued in place "It feels good, doesn’t it, Blondie?"

Still puzzled, she stood staring into his handsorin in return before saying, "Being alive, beingyou don’t do that often" The look on his face said that he didn’t think she ever did it "You’re alound so tight that you’re on the verge of going over the edge I just gave you a little push today to help you let off soawk at him for another moment before she realized that she did feel better Soht that usually rested on her shoulders had lessened The persistent luota breath "I guess you’re a shrink now too, huh?"

"Nope, but I’ve certainly been given enough pointers by the military to kno to deal with stress overload Life can’t always be scripted, Ava, nobattles that s rip you to pieces"

"Wow," she murmured, "that was actually pretty profound" She looked at Dominic in new admiration There were ined He had intentionally set her off to show her the bigger picture In that moment, she felt her eyes blur He was soa ently on the shoulder, before throwing a leg back over his bike "I’ll text you to rather than on the way there I think it ork better Otherwise, he’s likely to lose it and blow off the whole thing, and this is a big one for us" When she nodded, he added, "You know, you can just stand up there You don’t actually have to go through with it Mac will freak just fro there Another set of bruises really aren’t necessary"

"I’ll keep that in mind And, Dominic?" When he turned back to look at her she said, "Thanks for today I think I needed that" He waved a hand in her direction before taking off With a lighter step, she walked toward her door, feeling for the first time that just maybe she could do this She could be norh the streets of don Myrtle Beach listening to Do they had just finished Neither of them mentioned the whole scene with Ava at McDonald’s the previous day He hadn’t let it go, though He fully intended to find out just what in the hell was going on, and he doubted he could keep quiet h, was about their coether They were in talks with the Oceanix Resort Coship hotel A Sundayhad been the idea of the owner, Seth Jackson, as he was going out of town for a week beginning to There had been some recent theft issues within the hotel, and Jackson suspected it was an inside job He was extreress by his current security co East Coast Security thanks in part to a glowing reco account for the security for other Oceanix properties as well

He was co their business when Dominic said, "Hey, isn’t that Ava?" Mac didn’t have tinized her fro to the zip line ride, and as Mac squinted to look, he sahat appeared to be Ava’s BMW sitting in the parking area in front of the tourist attraction Without thinking, he did a dangerous swerve across two lanes of traffic before co to an abrupt stop next to Ava’s car

Mac ju up the countless steep steps to the top of the zip line Without a doubt, he recognized the blond hair glea in the early-afternoon sun "Ava!" he yelled as he started cli the wooden steps Was it too much to ask for a damn elevator when you needed one? By the tiood shape; otherwise, he would never have made the climb in such a short time Ava was already in a harness with her helmet on when he stepped out on the platfor to sell him a ticket as he stalked toward her Another kid who didn’t look old enough to shave was running through instructions when her eyes landed on hi to appear halfway cal?"

She didn’t seem particularly surprised to see hi forward, he said, "Yeah, not anyet this stuff off you" When he was just a few steps froue outand letting go He felt his heart plu across the wide expanse of space toward a tower in the distance "Fuck!" He stomped back down the steps and ran into Dominic at the bottom When the otherto be busy for a while" Without waiting for a reply, he jogged across the field,it to another set of steep steps When he saw Ava’s long, tanned legs start the descent fro in anger, waiting for her to reach the bottom