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You knohy, a et it over with, then she’ll be out of your system

He looked at Sienna, that surprised “Lieutenant?” still buzzing in his head

“Sienna” She turned toward him “To answer your question,” he said coolly, “yes, I held the rank of lieutenant And just to get it out of the way, yes, those were uished Service Cross And yes, I kno to fly I kno to do a lot of things, including not bothering with sht otherwise, work is the sole reason I brought you along”

Her face turned pink Her eyes flashed She turned to thebut he saw her hands knot together in her lap

You are a gold-plated bastard, Blackwolf, he told himself

And a very bad liar

He’d brought her with hihter, the look of her, the way she stood up to him every time…

He wanted to get out of his seat, go to her and take her in his arms

Instead, he dug in his pocket for a pen and a s notes That the notes were less didn’t matter

Keeping busy was everything

The flight was smooth and took less than four hours

Sienna had never been to San Francisco before, which ed much between Jesse’s day and hers But the taxi ride fro and busy, its roads croith old cars…except they weren’t old Not really And the way people were dressed, all those silly bell-bottom trousers and platform shoes…

It , but it wasn’t It was, instead, a reminder—as if she needed one—that she had soh time

Don’t think about that, she told herself, don’t! Instead, she took refuge in a cool cynicis out of the ordinary, starting with the lass-and-concrete tower on Russian Hill

It was, she knew, some of the priciest real estate in the world

She focused on keeping her face free of expression as they rode a private elevator to the penthouse floor, which turned out to be all Jesse’s Huge roolass with views of the city in all directions, including the glorious Golden Gate Bridge

His housekeeper had left a note It was polite and brief The refrigerator was fully stocked, there was a stir-fry of shri The bedrooms were all freshly made up, the bathrooh she advised against using the fourth bathroom because the tile work around the tub had not yet been completed