Page 22 of Cowboy SEAL Christmas

You never let the enemy see your weakness, even if they didn’t feel like an enemy half the time.

She rubbed a hand over her face—that was new. He’d seen a flicker of it Thanksgiving night when she’d talked about her dead husband’s accident, but she’d had that layer of therapist calm over it. This was all… Well, he recognized it. Because he’d seen it on Jack’s and Alex’s faces in those first few months here.

A complete lack of understanding at how the world could spin so completely out of your control.

It was where Gabe had the leg up because he’d never had any control over his life.

“I never thought you weretryingto hurt Colin,” she finally said. “Not on purpose. I tend to think other people can be careless because they’re not as careful as me.”

“A Navy SEAL is never careless.”

He almost got a laugh out of her with that, and it eased some of this obnoxious pressure in his chest he didn’t know what to do with.

“I suppose not. But Colin isn’t a Navy SEAL. Maybe it’s warped, but he’s all I have of Dex. Sometimes it feels like he’s all I have of me.” She shook her head. “You don’t need to hear about all my hang-ups.”

“No,” he affirmed.

This time he got a real smile, even if it was rueful. “I am sorry for barging in here and letting my temper loose on you.”

“I can handle it.”

“You certainly have the broad shoulders to carry it.”

He raised an eyebrow. The throwaway comment was interesting enough, but the blush that crept over her cheeks at his response wasveryinteresting.

“You know, everyone seems to think we have…” He trailed off, stepping a little closer, watching her face intently. She met his gaze with a timidity he never would have associated with her.

“Sparks?” she supplied, and her voice was cool and calm. That smooth, in-control thing she used like a weapon.

Her eyes were a different story. Her mouth was a different story.

He smiled. He couldn’t help it. “One way of putting it.”

She blinked once, and then her gaze was darting anywhere but at him. “Silly, isn’t it? When I was in a relationship, I wasn’t quite so eager to pair my friends off as Becca and Rose are.” Her voice was a little high, a lot breathless.

It made it impossible to back off even though he knew he should. He tilted his head, just a hair, so his mouth was inexcusably close to her ear. “Is that all it is, you think?”

“W-what else could it be?” She let out an awkward, forced laugh.

“Well, you stuttered. You tell me.”

There was a beat of silence, as though he’d caught her completely and utterly off guard. Then she sidestepped him, putting some space between their bodies. Her arm gestures were wide and nervous. “You’re…nice looking and all, but…” She cleared her throat. “We don’t have much in common.”

“No, nothing at all,” he replied dryly.

“I mean, well, sure we havesomethings in common. Revival. Friends. But I meant personality wise. We’re different.”

He crossed his arms, watched her eyes drift to hisbroadshoulders, then dart away. “That doesn’t usually have much to do with… How did you put it? Sparks?”

She blinked, as if taken aback. Then she edged toward the door. “Well, anyway, I have a meeting with Becca and some horses. I am sorry for…this. I mean, notthis. That. Before. The…yelling.”

“Sure.”

She clasped her hands in front of her, and it seemed to center her, all those outward appearances of nerves and being flustered disappearing. “I want you to understand that I may, on occasion, take issue with how my son is handled here,” she said in her usual, annoyingly calm tone. “I’ll do my best not to speak in anger, but if I do, it has no bearing on… Well, you’d have to do something truly cruel for me to want to make sure Colin was never around you, and I don’t think you have that kind of cruelty in you, Gabe.”

“You’d be surprised what kind of cruelty people can have in them.”

She stepped forward then. He wanted to look away. He wanted to fidget. When she gently placed her hand on his forearm, he wanted to scurry away.

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