LITMIR.BIZ

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Besides, they didn’t have much time together, anyway, and she didn’t want to spend it on a no-win discussion.

      Bay had only six months to go before her enlistment was completed with Operation Shadow Warriors. Her time in the military would come to an end. She’d been one of the forty women volunteers for the seven-year top secret Pentagon project to see if women could handle combat. They each spent half a year with a black ops group, the reports on them being funneled back into the Pentagon and to General Stevenson. It was the general’s contention women could handle combat, and so far, the stats were proving her right. Bay was proud to take part in this top secret experiment.

      “Six months. It will be okay, Gabe.” Bay squeezed his hand to reassure him. He didn’t look reassured at all, his eyes blazing with discontent. She could feel him thinking, feel him trying to find a way to fix this. To get her out of the assignment. But it couldn’t be fixed as much as he wanted.

      The duffel bag fell out onto the carousel. Gabe released her and went over and hefted it across his broad shoulder. The thing weighed nearly ninety pounds, and he handled it as if it were nothing. He walked over, cupped her elbow and said, “The SUV is parked out front. Let’s blow this joint.”

      On the way to his condo on Coronado, Bay asked, “Did you just come out of the field?”

      He snorted. “Don’t I look like it? Hell, I must smell pretty bad, huh?” And then he chuckled. “Yeah, we were doing nav course training up in the rocks, cactus and that damn manzanita that tears holes out of your skin the size of craters up in east San Diego County.”

      “Did you win the navigation course contest?”

      Gabe turned and met her sparkling eyes. “It always pays to be a winner, baby.”

      “You did.” She reached over and slid her hand across his dusty shoulder. “Congratulations.”

      “Thanks. I was paired with Hammer for the contest. Chief Hampton told me if the two of us won the course competition, he’d grant me my seven-day leave request to be with you.” His lips drew away from his teeth. “And I sure as hell wasn’t going to lose that one. Hammer hauled ass with me, and we made it through the course in record time.”

      Pride for him, for his being a warrior, rose in her chest. Gabe was a supremely confident man. Nothing rocked his world except her, she had discovered. He was a vaunted sniper and had killed too many Taliban to count. He’d had four rotations into Iraq and Afghanistan. Out on a patrol he was steady and reliable.

      Bay had found that out several times when she was teamed with him on different missions last year. Nothing affected Gabe. Except love. Their love. And it was a miracle to Bay. She had been privileged to meet the man who was a SEAL warrior. His military demeanor took a backseat when they were alone. When she was around him, the man in all of his facets became available to her. She looked at his large, spare hands on the wheel as he drove. There were so many old and new scars all over them, she winced inwardly.

      “Is that dried blood on your fingers? Did you cut yourself on that awful manzanita?”

      He frowned and looked at his right hand. “Yeah, guess I did. No big deal.” Hell, SEALs worked hurt all the time. They were always in pain. It was just part of their profession.

      “I’ll look at them when we get home.”

      He picked up her hand she had in her lap. “It’s nothing, Bay.” He squeezed her fingers. “How did the final exam go at medical training?”

      “It was a mean mother,” she admitted, her hand tingling with his roughened fingers around it. Touching Gabe was like touching the sun. She could feel his powerful male warmth infusing her hand, sliding up through her arm and encircling her heart and then teasingly embracing her womb. The man was so damn sexy. All he had to do was give her that smoldering look, and she began to tremble in anticipation. And when he touched her, she melted and went hot, starving for him in every possible way.

      “You passed?”

      “Yes.”

      “How many didn’t?”

      “Fifty percent of the class, unfortunately. It was a tough course, Gabe. Really tough. It involved women’s issues, pregnancy, birthing, labor and health issues with newborns.”

      He smiled a little. “Right down your alley. You’re a woman. You know a woman’s body. Bet those guys in the class were sweating bullets.”

      “Some were,” she admitted. “I loved the course. Every second of it. I knew how to birth a baby, but this five-month course went into just about every aspect of prenatal, natal and postnatal care, plus health issues with the baby.”

      “Bet you aced the test?”

      It was her turn to chuckle. “I got a ninety-eight percent.”

      “And if I hadn’t asked you about your score, you’d never have said a word about it, would you?” Bay was one of the most modest people Gabe had ever met in his life. She never bragged or spoke about what she knew or how good she was as a combat medic. The only way Gabe could drag intel out of her was to ask her many questions and then piece the answers together to get the larger picture.

      Shrugging, Bay sighed. “It doesn’t matter in my world, Gabe. You know that. What matters is that I’m good out in the field. I want to stop suffering. I want to ease pain.”

      “You are such an R.N. at heart,” he teased gently.

      When Bay was finished with her military duties, she wanted to go to school and become an R.N. God knew, she’d have a huge jump on the courses with her being the consummate combat medic trained by the military—18 Delta medics were the best in the world. They were the people you wanted around if you got gut shot. They were the “golden hour” to the military in harm’s way. Their ability to save lives was legendary. He was so damned proud of her but, at the same time, scared to death. Bay would not hesitate a split second to put herself into the cross fire to save a man’s life during a firefight. And being exposed meant she could be killed. Just like that. His hand tightened around the steering wheel, his knuckles whitening.

      “Some of the guys in the course and I would go out and get pizza and a beer off base after classes. I usually ended up drilling them on techniques and quizzing them to help them pass the course.” She smiled a little. “And all of them did pass.”

      “And that’s why you have dark circles under your eyes. You burned the candle at both ends, Bay. Again.”

      A wry look crossed her face, and she squeezed his hand. “Now, now. You know I like to help others. It’s who I am, Gabe. You love me for who I am. Not what you want me to be. Right?”

      His mouth curved faintly, and he risked a glance at her in the heavy traffic heading toward the Coronado bridge. “I fell hopelessly in love with you just the way you are.”

      “That’s what I thought. So stop gigging me about the dark circles under my eyes.”

      “But that doesn’t mean I don’t worry about you.”

      “One good night’s sleep will take care of that.”

      He gave her a feral look. “Who said we’re getting any sleep tonight?

      CHAPTER TWO

      HOME. BAY STOOD inside the door of Gabe’s condo, feeling exhaustion sweep through her. He walked past her with her ruck and duffel bag, going down the hall to put them into the guest bedroom. She looked around, appreciating the quiet instrumental music in the background.

      Gabe’s condo was one of six in the building and he owned them all. His individual condo reflected him: spare, understated and peaceful. The blond bamboo floor shone. Furniture made of the same wood and jade cushions gave Bay a sense of infinite calm. This was where someone who wanted peace and quiet came to live.

      She lifted her head as Gabe wandered back down the hall toward her. He had gotten rid of his dirty, sweaty shirt

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