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“You don’t want her to hurt anymore.”
“No. I’d take his place in a heartbeat if it would take her pain away. My nephew deserves a dad.”
“And what about you? Don’t you deserve a life?”
“He was a great guy. Looked after Marlow. Made her happy. He’d have been a great father too. Jack was more of a man than I ever hope to be.” A hint of self-loathing I’d never heard before from Holt tainted his words.
“Nobody’s perfect.”
“Well, he was damn close. Died fighting for his country. That takes the kind of guts I’d never have.”
“Bravery comes in a lot of different forms,” I said quietly.
He gently moved me off him and onto the mattress. “I need some water. You want anything?”
“No.”
Holt picked up his sweatpants off the floor and pulled them up over his hips. Instead of heading toward the kitchen, he crossed the hall to my bedroom. I rolled over on my side to face the door.
In a few minutes he emerged.I expected him to return immediately with a bottle of water, but as I waited, my lids grew too heavy to keep them open. The bed was cold without him.
And so was I.
Chapter Thirteen
Holt
I’d just grabbedmy keys off the kitchen counter when Baker appeared.
Her hair was in that messy bun. She wore only my T-shirt, and my eyes betrayed me, running up the length of her body, when I was supposed to be headed for the door.
Damn it.
“Trying to sneak off?”
She flashed me a teasing grin, but there was uncertainty in her voice. Well there should be because, yes, I was most definitely sneaking off.
“I need to be on time. Knew if you ended up in the shower with me, I definitely wouldn’t be.” That was at least the truth.
She closed the distance between us and placed both hands on my chest. “I didn’t pack your lunch yet.”
My throat worked, and I felt what little control I had slipping as she stared up at me. I grasped the edge of the counter. If I touched her, it would be all over.
“Still spoiling me, Easy.”
“Hmm. Seems to me I’m falling down on the job.”
I white-knuckled the granite when all I wanted to do was rip that shirt straight down the middle.
“I gotta go.” Even I didn’t believe me. And I really did need to leave.
“Give me two minutes.” She held up her fingers in a V.
I regretted the second her hands were off of me.
She sauntered over to the fridge and bent over in search of something inside. A peek of her ass cheeks teased me. Now that I knew what they felt like in my hands, I only wanted more.
“There ain’t much in that refrigerator, Easy.”
