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Two minutes turned into two solid hours, but we obviously needed it.

Now, as I watch Lil eat grilled cheese and tomato soup, I’m happy to see she has more color back in her face, and the dark circles don’t look as prominent.

“You’re staring,” she teases without looking at me.

“And I refuse to apologize for it. I went months without seeing you at all. Now I’ll look until my eyes stop working.”

She does look up at me then, her lips parting in surprise before a soft look crosses her face. “I don’t know what to say when you say shit like that.”

“You don’t gotta say anything, trickster. You just gotta let me look my fill.”

“Still with the trickster, huh?”

“You convinced a whole-ass MC that you were not just someone else, but someone they all knew intimately. That’s not only tricky but also pretty fucking ballsy. Somehow, I didn’t think you’d like that nickname, though.”

She laughs and shakes her head. “I admire your restraint.” She takes another bite of her grilled cheese before looking at me thoughtfully.

I wait her out, seeing her thoughts play out on her face before she finally speaks. “So you were thrown into the thick of it again today. We haven’t really talked much about what you did for Uncle Sam, and I won’t push you to. Just know if today stirs up old ghosts and you ever want to talk, I’m a good listener.”

I reach over and grab her chair, dragging it closer. I lean over her and tuck a strand of her hair behind her ear. “Where have you been all my life?”

“I’ve been waiting for you to come find me.”

I slide my hand under her jaw and tip it up before I kiss her hard. I pull away before I say fuck the food and swipe it to the floor and lay her on the counter so I can eat her instead.

“I don’t like to talk about it because I feel cheated. When I got hurt, it wasn’t even by a bomb I was working on. I’d been called in at the last second to join another team that had a teammate out with appendicitis. The lead guy on the job cleared the area, declared the bomb disarmed and safe, and then ordered me to do the cleanup. If it hadn’t been for Lucy, who took me down like a linebacker the second everything went to hell in a handbasket, I’d have been dead. Instead, I shattered my knee, got a shit-ton of shrapnel embedded in my skin, and was medically discharged with a thank you for my services. I left my team behind. And even though it wasn’t my fault, I felt guilty as fuck about it. I should have been there with them.”

“I’m sorry. That’s fucking shitty. I’m glad you’re okay, though. Even if it didn’t turn out the way you hoped. Lucy really is a fucking wonder dog.”

I grin at that because my girl is awesome.

“I’m surprised they let you keep her when they discharged you.”

“She was diagnosed with PTSD. Nobody wants a hostile dog in that kind of environment. And given how shit played out, I think they hoped it would buy my silence.”

“And did it?”

“Fuck no. My team was rightly pissed. They lodged complaints, as did I, and the asshole was sanctioned. Last I heard, he was pushing paper at some desk in Washington with two divorces under his belt.”

“Good. Should have locked him in a room with Lucy for a little while. The fucker was lucky if you ask me.”

“So bloodthirsty,” I tease.

“He didn’t do his job, and you nearly died because of it. I understand accidents. I understand errors. I don’t understand people not doing their jobs because they are cocky, arrogant, or lazy. And from the way you spoke about him, I know exactly what kind of asshole this guy was.”

“My old lady is smart.”

She jolts at that, her eyes going wide. “That is going to take some getting used to.”

I bury my nose in her hair and breathe her in. “Not for me. I’ve been thinking of you as mine long before you really were.”

She turns, making me pull back so I can see her face. “You really mean that, don’t you?”

“When are you going to get it through that gorgeous head of yours? You’re mine, and I’m yours, and the second I get that patch on your back, I’m fucking you while you wear it and nothing else.”

“Don’t tease me with a good time,” she murmurs huskily, leaning over to kiss my jaw.

I laugh as she resumes eating, and I’m more than happy to sit here and watch her eat, content to have her here in my space, in my home—a place I’m hoping she’ll agree to live in permanently. I can picture it now, all her feminine touches scattered around, making this house feel more like a home. But then, it’s always been like that with Lil. Every time she came over, she brought with her a sense of rightness I hadn’t felt since I was with my team.