Gil put his hands on his hips, staring at her. βIβm the
foreman.β
Kai closed her eyes for just a moment, opened them,
feeling the air sucked out of her lungs. βY-you work
here, too?β No! That wasnβt possible! This couldnβt be
happening! Her mind worked at the speed of light. Her
heart expanded with traitorous emotions, wanting Gil.
Again. God, she could not go there! The bastard had
walked out on her after five days of the most wonderful
loving sheβd ever experienced with a man. Gil had left
suddenly without explanation, never to return. She hadnβt
seen him for four years.
Anger flowed through Kai. Gil had used her as a
convenient sex partner to bury himself in to get rid of
his grief. His brother Rob, a Delta Force operator with
another team in Afghanistan, had been killed. Gil had
seen his brotherβs body to the morgue at Bagram and then
looked her up.
Touching her brow, Kai saw his generous mouth moving into
a resistant, thin line. She remembered that mouth. Far
too well. The pleasure heβd given her. Kai had never
known such tenderness and vulnerability in a man until
Gil had walked into her life for those five days. Sheβd
been a widow for a year. When he reappeared, he said he
needed her. Silly her. Sheβd believed him and they had
ended up in a five-day sexual feast that was the best
thing that Kai had ever encountered with a man. Yet, on
the sixth morning, when she awakened, Gil was gone. No
note. No explanation. No email. Noβ¦nothing. She wished
she could have forgotten him, but she never had.
And now, he was towering over her, all six feet of him,
broad, capable shoulders beneath a white cowboy shirt, a
black leather vest stretching across his powerful chest.
His Leviβs were worn and dirty, but from Kaiβs view, his
strong, hard thighs were just as beautiful now as they
were when theyβd captured her legs and held her in place
to give her the most incredible pleasure sheβd ever had.
And then, heβd run. Kai had never felt so used by a man.
Now, the bastard was standing there, defensive,
bristling, and she could feel the energy pouring off him
toward her. She was only five feet seven inches tall. She
wasnβt short, but she wasnβt Gilβs height, either.
What would he do? Try to get her fired? Invent some lame
excuse to let her go? Would he do that to her after what
theyβd shared? She searched his eyes, which were now a
darker, stormy blue. Kai could feel how taut and upset he
was. It felt as if they were two boxers in a ring sizing
each other up, looking for weak spots, a place to get in
and punch, taking the other down.
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