Page 7 of Under Fire

“I know guys in the military, and they never had that…stuffsitting around,” she pointed out.

“It’s just a rifle.”

“I’m sorry it’s been weird, but I’ll send someone else to finish.” A snappy confidence grew in her voice that matched the woman who’d teased him so hard.

She’s back.

Then Warren realized that his kitchen wasn’t going to get cleaned, and she wasn’t going to come again…because he’d pushed her too hard. He didn’t know which was more unacceptable to him. He just knew he wasn’t going to let her get away so easy.

“Look… I don’t usually tell people this, but I’m in the special forces. A lot of us buy our own gear,” Warren said. “None of it will be here the next time you come. I’ll take it with me when I ship out.”

“Special forces?” She raised her eyebrow at him.

He flexed his jaw, studying her. “Military. Special forces. Heard of it?”

“Well, you’re pretty special, all right,” Alisa smirked.

She wrapped her long fingers around her waist, staring back up at him defiantly. That goddamn defiance drove him over the edge, his cock twitching in response. He had to double-down.

“I’m a SEAL,” he said with broadening shoulders, waiting for the usual female response.

But she didn’t do it.

An awkward pause hit.

She just stood there, eyeing him like he didn’t just tell her that he was a fucking Navy SEAL. Where was the swooning? The smiling? The oozing?

“Oh, okay—cool,” she replied, deadpan. “Good talk.”

Good talk?His jaw dropped, and he was a little speechless.What the fuck?Taken aback, he felt a wall of frost emanating from her.

“I’m going now.” She twirled toward the front door, showcasing that lithe body that he’d grown fucking hungry for.

Warren watched her step away, stunned to find his fists shaking. She’d shut him out. While studying her tight ass march down his hallway toward the front foyer, her black ponytail bobbing on her shoulders, he yet again stifled a groan, only half succeeding.Damn—he had to stop her. He had to grab her shoulders, heave her up to his mouth and show her exactly why she had to come back.

Guys like him didn’t watch women walk away.

But she was fuckingwalking.

He could have sworn she heard his grumble, because her body twitched in a certain type of way. Unable to not, he followed her to the front door as she grabbed her purse and bag of clothes. Throwing on her shoes, she grasped the handle, briefly glaring back at him. He wasn’t crazy. There was something there in her eyes, something that matched what was stirring inside him, too. She didn’t let her gaze linger, though, immediately ripping it away.

Opening the door, she said, “Maria will be in touch.”

“You don’t have to go.”

“Yeah, I do.”

Pouring his intensity into her, demanding her cooperation, he growled, “Next time—”

She cut him off. “There won’t be a next time— I won’t be coming back, Warren.”

Hearing his name roll off her lips broke the last straw, and he consciously flexed his fists to keep them still by his side. But it didn’t matter. Alisa was already out of the door, out of his life. Unfortunately so, because he just then realized that she was the type of enigma that he enjoyed solving.

A peculiar emptiness grew in his chest as he became, once again, the sole occupant of his house. The words ‘missed opportunity’ ran roughshod across his mind, taunting him, and he snarled at himself to sit the fuck down. She was just a chick. He had other shit to do. It was time to forget it and move on.

Work was heating up, and deployment was coming around again. He had made his choice, years ago promoting to Chief. He’d become the leader of the pack. He lived, breathed and would die as a SEAL. Planning and preparation were his focus. There was no time for new distractions. The next deployment was going to be a long one, he understood.

And the rule always was—no relationship would last the length of the deployment unless it had pre-existed for at least the same amount of time back home. It was a fact. People thought life was unpredictable, but Warren knew better. He predicted everything. He was never wrong about people.

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