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Nah, couldn’t be, he told hiht he’d seen her many times before but it was never her Besides, Franci wore her hair long and straight and this woany hair was in one of those hyper-short cuts that, on anyone else, et any sexier It e The woman shed her coat and she was thinner than Franci, but not by that much But her eyebroere exactly the sa, heavily lashed eyes It got hiain

She slid out of her coat and revealed a filmy dress Maybe not filmy, but certainly silky It was dark purple and fell loosely froain to her knees The dress accentuated her perfect breasts, narroaist, slis Franci had rarely worn dresses but Sean hadn’t ht butt in a pair of fitted slacks used to blow his ood

The four women took a table near the front of the restaurant by theThey were carrying boxes, shopping bags and party bags—a birthday dinner out? The one who looked like his old girlfriend crossed her legs and revealed a slit in the skirt of that dress that exposed a scru His groin tightened

Then she laughed God, it was Franci If that wasn’t Franci, it was her twin The way she tilted her head back and let go was a laugh with passion Franci had always laughed from deep inside her That was how she cried, too

Sean was suddenly infused with hs they’d shared in bed after their typically great sex counterbalanced with how he re her cry, and he was sorry he had ever made Franci cry

Well, hell, he ht have made her cry, but hadn’t she infuriated him until he wanted to punch a hole in the wall? She could be iven a o What was she doing here in Arcata? After the breakup—which had been ugly—he’d looked for her But he had let tooso and she wasn’t where he expected her to be They’d met in Iraq when he was deployed in the F-16 and she was an air force flight nurse who regularly appeared to take the injured out of the theater Later, when he’d been transferred to Luke Air Force Base in Phoenix as an instructor in the saned as a nurse in the base hospital They had dated exclusively for two years when a big shift occurred in their individual lives—her service co to separate fro to cross-train in the U-2 high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft—the spy plane He didn’t see how either of those events should effect any change He told her he’d be relocating to Beale AFB in Northern California He thought she could probably find work there if she was interested

That had been the beginning of the end After dating for two years, she, at twenty-six, was ready for a coe and a fa new there—she’d been honest about that since the beginning of their relationship Franci had always hoped tohe neededinto that sweet little do that too hard, but she’d never backed down, either For Sean’s part, he was amous He told her he loved her because he did If he occasionally glanced at and appreciated a pretty girl, it went no further Even though they each ether unless one of thee and children, she was in, and he, at twenty-eight, was out

She had said so like, “It’s time to take this relationship to the next level or end it completely”

You don’t want to be drawing a line in the sand in front of a young fighter pilot Jet jockeys didn’t take orders froht and he made her cry with senseless, stupid comments like, “Not in this lifeti married, we’d be -rats thing, all right? Even with you” Oh, yeah, he was brilliant

She had said things, also in anger, probably things she didn’t mean Well, that wasn’t exactly correct, as he recalled now, looking across a crowded rooirlfriends “Sean, if you let ain I need a co the walk”

And Sean, being the cocky genius he was, said, “Oh, yeah? Don’t let the door hit you in the ass” He winced at the memory

They had gone their separate ways, bitterly He went to Beale because it looked as if getting a promotion and cohly co a general was in his sites if he ht moves Franci had exited the air force

Sean assumed, incorrectly, that he’d be able to find her at her mother’s, or at least near herin the new aircraft was complete and he was ready to talk about their situation, sanely and calone So was heraddress

So, flash-forward four years Arcata, California? It really didn’t make sense, but that woman across the room was definitely Franci Duncan He could tell it was her by the way his heart pounded and he felt hot all over And by the way he was fighting an erection just looking across the room at her

She and her friends had all ordered frothy after-dinner drinks, and were joking with the young waitress They leaned toward one another to whisper, sitting back to laugh—they were gossiping and having fun Oneand put it around her shoulders, adirl? There weren’t anyin the group, and it wasn’t on Franci’s hand Not that it s all the time these days

“You still okay on that drink, pal?” the bartender asked to no avail

As Sean watched the proceedings he et aas one of the great tactical errors of his adult life He should have found a way to convince her they’d be fine together without ht, puhter-pilot prowess, he’d been overconfident He had especially not been ready for so the shots Now, at thirty-two, he realized how stupid he’d been at twenty-eight In those four years there had been other women, and not one of them had come close to what he’d felt for Franci For what he’d felt with Franci And he illing to bet she hadn’t found anyone as good, either

He was hoping that He probably shouldn’t bet on it Franci was incredible; there had probably been a long line of able-bodied, good-looking,men lined up at her front door—wherever that was