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When she finished, she said, "I'm sad for him. He made a terrible mistake, but he's been paying for it for thirty years. That's an awfully long penance for one sin. I'm sad for Mother, too. He was the love of her life. She's lived without him."
"What about you?"
"What about me?"
"Dodge left. Caroline let him go. Do you forgive them for those choices?"
"Yes. They were both right, and both wrong."
"Hmm."
She propped herself up on her elbow so that she was looking down into his face. "That was a very eloquent hmm. What?"
"You and Dodge are a lot alike."
"We're both flat-chested."
He grinned but didn't let her distract him from his point. "That wasn't what I was thinking."
"Were you thinking that he and I are manipulative? That I followed his method of trying to get ahead professionally unethically and at all costs?"
"What I was going to say," he said with exaggerated patience, "is that you two are willing to forgive everyone but yourselves."
She stared deeply into his eyes, her brow furrowed. "Possibly. Because I don't think I'll ever forgive myself for what Oren did to those people."
"You're not to blame for his meltdown. When someone goes postal, once his background and behavior are analyzed, the only thing that's surprising is that he didn't flip out sooner. What happened wasn't your fault."
"I appreciate your saying so."
"It's not just pillow talk, Berry. I mean it. The issue at Delray, your self-incrimination exceeds the crime. What's the company policy on retaining an employee's work when that employee leaves before a project is finished?"
"That employee's input stays with Delray," she answered quietly.
"When Sally left, did she take her work?"
"I see your point," she said with some asperity, "but still, what I did didn't feel right. My motives certainly weren't."
"Okay, maybe your ambition went into overdrive. You cheated a bit. Took some unethical shortcuts. Just as Dodge said, drop it. Let it go. If you don't it'll eat you alive."
"I don't know how to forgive myself."
"It's an acquired skill."
Her focus sharpened. "Is it?"
"Yes. You have to practice it every day."
She touched his cheek. "Is this the voice of experience speaking?"
Looking directly into her eyes, he said, "I convinced the guys in my unit that we could trust our interpreter."
Understanding the implications, she laid her head on his chest and hugged him close. He went one further and pulled her on top of him until they were belly to belly. She lay perfectly still while he strummed his fingers along her spine. He stroked her ass and as far as he could reach down the backs of her thighs. Because she lay so still, he thought she might have fallen asleep. And that was okay. He would have lain with her like that for hours, days, but eventually she stirred and moaned with pleasure, and the tenor of his caresses changed.
"That night at the lake house," he whispered as he worked his hand between their bodies and cupped her sex. "I caught a flash of this."
&n
bsp; "I thought you might have."
