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“Hey, your girl’s got four minutes, or she’s late. Girls who run late are high maintenance. Just ask Martinez.”
Blake looked over his shoulder and found that Martinez had joined the spectators, thus earning the jibe from Best about his girlfriend.
“You’re just pissed Eve is making you flash that pretty smile of yours at the ball,” Martinez said mildly.
“No, she’s high maintenance. Always got to look on point, even when we’re going hiking. Thank God Dani’s not like that.”
“The way Best talks about her, you’d think the sun rose and set out of Dani’s ass, don’t you think?” Sparks asked.
Blake closed his eyes, trying to keep a rein on his temper. Since Best and Sparks had informed him that all of his friends had been discussing his short temper, he’d tried to get it under control. Even when Sparks had stuck a for-sale listing he’d apparently gotten from General Reynolds on his desk. The house had looked nice, but Blake was getting a little tired of so many nosy Susans managing his life. It wasn’t as if he hadn’t been trying to find a place; he just wanted the right one.
And now, with them all waiting here, ready to embarrass him, it was all he could do to stay calm.
“So, what does this Hannah look like?” Martinez asked.
Blake’s eye started twitching as Best jumped in. “She’s about medium height, brown hair. She’s pretty, with a thick, curvy body, and you should see her—”
“For the love of God!” Blake spun around. “Don’t you assholes have an
ything better to do than stand around being a bunch of nosy sons of—”
“Blake?”
Damn, he hadn’t even heard the door open. His three friends were looking past him, and as he turned, he caught Larry Walton’s smirk. Larry was army and worked night security at Alpha Dog, and under normal circumstances, Blake liked the guy.
Not so much right now.
Hannah was staring at him with wide eyes behind her glasses, her hair back in a long ponytail.
“Is everything okay?” she asked.
Blake cleared his throat. “Yeah, it’s good. Come on through.”
Hannah walked past Larry and gave him a tentative smile. Larry tapped the brim of his cap and said, “Ma’am.”
Blake put his hand on the small of her back and started to lead her toward the training room, but there was no easy escape. Not when Best moved into their path with a wide grin.
“Aren’t you going to introduce us to your friend, Kline?”
Blake glared daggers at Best but managed to grind out an introduction. “Hannah, this is Sergeant Tyler Best, Sergeant Dean Sparks, and Sergeant Oliver Martinez.”
“Nice to meet you,” she said, taking each of their hands in turn.
“It’s nice to meet you.” Sparks flicked a glance at Blake with a questioning brow, which he ignored.
“You’ve all been introduced, and we have stuff to do, so . . . ” Without finishing the sentence, he pushed Hannah forward and around his friends.
“Have fun!” Martinez called.
“Jackass,” Blake muttered under his breath.
“What was that about?” Hannah whispered.
“They’re just messing with me. Don’t worry about it.”
“Okay, because we’re practically running from them.”
Blake realized she was right; he’d been propelling her forward so fast she’d had to jog to keep up.
