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And she really did. Connor had gone above and beyond for her. There was no way she could ever repay him.

She had been blessed to have met a few special people like that in her life. For a moment, she wondered what had happened to the Delta team after they’d rescued her group. Those men had been amazing, and ruthlessly kind. After ten years, she wondered if they were even in the Army anymore.

Pass on the kindness. As she looked at Connor, she wondered if he realized how important it was, what he did. “I want to thank you again for everything you’ve done for me.”

He gave her a lopsided, chagrined smile. “You are very welcome. If you’ve finished all your calls, why don’t you go take a nap, and when you get up, we’ll go find your car and maybe run over to the festival. I need to check on the men and it’s an easy place to find some grub.”

She nodded, not realizing until that moment how much the calls and arguing had taken out of her. A nap did sound good right then. And maybe some pain pills. “Okay. I’ll see you in a bit.”

Turning, she headed back to the room assigned to her. She stripped down to her bra and panties and climbed into bed. Within seconds, she was asleep.

* * *

Connor watched the woman walk away, her arms folded over her middle like she was cold or something. That can’t have been the case, though. It was like sixty degrees and fairly comfortable in the expansive bay. Maybe it was nerves. There were a lot of things not going right for her right now. Maybe tonight he could turn that around for her.

“Sir,” Cadet Lang stopped in front of him, a broad smile on his face. “Dishes are done, and the groceries put away. I rewound the lines from the storage closet and cleaned the bathroom.”

Connor looked at the eager kid and smiled a little. “Good job, Mike. Clock out and you’re done till tomorrow.”

Mike’s eyes widened. “Thank you, sir!”

“Be good,” Connor called as the young man ran toward the bedroom.

“I will, sir!”

He remembered what it was like at that age. Literally, you ate, slept and breathed fire until they finally let you pick up your own hose. Mike still had a lot of testing to do, and he was a little underweight, but they would get him where he needed to be in a few months. The kid was barely twenty-one and still growing.

He headed to the laundry, hoping he had a pair of jeans laying around so that he didn’t have to go into the bedroom he had given Olivia. That was his bedroom, not that he would ever tell her that. It would only make her more uncomfortable. It was semi-secluded, though, and he thought she could rest well there.

Yes, there were folded jeans on the table opposite the machines. And a pair of his underwear. Grabbing them and a spare blue Lockhart FD T-shirt, he headed to the shower.

Connor was in his office catching up on tedious paperwork when he heard the shower start. Since Olivia was the only other one on station, he assumed she was cleaning up.

How did she manage that with an amputation? When he’d walked in the door and seen her arguing with the nurse, he’d caught enough to know she had a prosthetic. He hadn’t seen which leg, though, or even what kind it was. She didn’t move like she wore one. Maybe he’d be able to broach the subject later.

When she came down the hallway and stopped at his doorway, he had to smile. She fingered the blue cloth of the Lockhart FD T-shirt. “Thank you for this. My other shirt was pretty disgusting.”

There had been a spare on the shelf, and he’d dropped it at the door after he’d taken his shower. It was in a bigger size, big enough for one of the men, but it was damn cute on her. She was probably average height, but she wasn’t very big. She had grippable hips, which he appreciated, but she looked like she’d lost weight recently, or maybe she just never really gained weight. The fine bones of her face suggested that she had a bit of a nervous personality. Or maybe it was the way she held her hands across her stomach.

“You know you’re safe here, right?”

She smiled slightly. “I appreciate that. It just takes me a while to settle into a place.”

“Well,” he said, standing, “maybe if we show you a little south Texas hospitality it will help. Would you like to go to the BBQ Fest?”

She grinned a little, making Connor blink. There she was. There was the spark of life he’d been looking for.

“Sure,” she said, over-enunciating. “Let’s go get some BBQ.”

Connor wasn’t going to argue with her agreement. Circling the desk, he guided her out of the bay and across the building. He locked the doors to the living area on the way out, then guided her across the parking lot to his truck.

“This is your personal truck,” she asked as he opened the door for her.

“Yes, why?”

“Fire engine red? Really?”

Connor grinned as he slid into his seat and cranked the ignition. “What can I say? I live and breathe fire.”