Page 41 of Cowboy SEAL Homecoming

He chuckled again, and for the first time in all the time she’d known him, that smile stayed in place. It didn’t melt into that military stoicism, and that warmed something inside of her she was afraid to analyze too closely.

“Well, let’s go get that coffee, huh?” And he did the strangest thing. He slung his arm over her shoulders. Like they were friends or something.

Maybe if she felt nothing but friendly, it would have been easy to accept, but his body was warm and close and very clearly masculine. Just big and hard and…

She was a little afraid the squeaking noise she tried to swallow came out anyway since Alex tensed and started to draw his arm away.

“I came up with a name,” she blurted, hoping somehow that would keep his arm on her shoulders. “For the foundation.”

He paused, but his arm still left her shoulders. He stood next to her, slowly turning that dark gaze to hers. “Yeah?”

“I mean, obviously if you guys don’t like it, we don’t have to go with it, but since you didn’t want to use any words like center or rehabilitation or whatever, I thought we’d stick with ranch. Revival Ranch.”

He stared at her silently for the longest time. So long she couldn’t keep holding her breath like she wanted to. “We can… We don’t have to—”

“I like it,” he said, all traces of that smile and levity gone.

This was Alex Maguire, Navy SEAL, and while she respected this man a lot, she missed that little glimmer of what was underneath.

She tried to force a smile, but she knew she failed. What would it take to unlock this armor he’d wrapped around himself? Something probably far more than a silly girl with goats on roofs and roosters named Rasputin.

“I’ll ask the guys what they think,” he said, walking back toward the house.

“Sure,” Becca said softly, trudging after him.

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