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Bitterness ate away at the back of his throat and his pulse jacked up The last tilance after the wide-eyed shock of the first one

Olivia squeezed his arm, softly “I knohat it’s like—”

“To have half your face blown off and everyone else in your team blown to bits because you failed to follow standard operating procedure? Because you just

couldn’t believe that the eneer to set off a roadside bomb?” Cold and deadly, the words spilled out and he shook off her hand “You, Miss Prance-Around-In-A-Bikini-For-A-Living, knohat that’s like?”

He expected her to turn tail and run That’s what a normal person would have done But she didn’t She didn’t even flinch Figured She was a Sweet, after all

“No, I don’t”

“Then don’t bother with the touchy-feely shit Go back inside” And away fro else he shouldn’t

She locked her jaw and crossed her ar”

Did the woman want to make as left of his head pop off? “Why?”

“Because I have to” Her gaze dropped to the dog, who pro his tail so hard his whole butt swayed

Between the dog’s insistence on being underfoot and Olivia’s stubborn refusal to stop acting like a crazy Sweet, Mateo wondered if he was going to have to stop by the hospital on the way ho a heart attack

Sometimes even a Marine had to concede the battle to win the war He rubbed the back of his neck, easing the tension stiffening the IED blast’s lingering phantom effects “Then at leastout of the way”

She grinned, the action transfor her pretty face into one that stopped people cold in their tracks Sinking to her haunches, shesound and the led over with his ears tucked in ecstasy “What’s his name?”

“Doesn’t have one”

“You didn’t na?”