Page 30 of Bullets and Dandelions

“No. She does not,” Stone interjected.

The kitchen worker glared at him. “Afraid she’ll get fat?”

Holy shit! Before I could say anything, Sergeant Stone gave her a megawatt smile. “No darlin’, she’s suffering from dehydration and needs to stick to water, but you could box up more cake.”

“Oh. Okay.” Awestruck, she stared up at him and giggled like a schoolgirl. “I’ll go… I’ll do that.” She scurried off.

I snorted. “I bet all you have to do is take your shirt off and smile.”

“Jealous, Tinkerbell?” He turned his sensuous smile on me.

“I’ve seen you naked and your dangly bits aren’t all that special, darlin’.”

Stone’s jaw literally dropped. “Dangly bits?”

“She’s a keeper,” General Masters guffawed.

“I knew someone was spying on us at the lake,” Johnson hooted.

“I was looking for the Taliban and instead I found a bunch of sausage jockeys.”

Stone raised an inquiring eyebrow. “Curious about a man’s body, are you, darlin?”

“You shot every one of the militants between the eyes,” Rodriquez inserted hastily.

I nodded. “That way they don’t get back up and try to kill you.”

“Can you teach us your fast draw technique,” Tex asked as he bandaged my side.

“Sure.”

General Masters’ phone rang. He glanced down at the screen and frowned. “Get her cleaned up before General Grandville shows up.” He strode off.

The hairs on the back-of-my-neck stood on end when I met Stone’s narrowed-eyed gaze. I had roused his predator. It was almost as if he wanted to eat me. Nah, exhaustion was making me loopy. I wasn’t his type, and he probably just wanted to smack me. Pops had warned me to never ever make fun of a man’s private parts. My bad, but I wasn’t apologizing to the jackass. I stood up. “Where are the women’s barracks?”

“You’re bunking with us,” Stone said.

“What?”

Sergeant Stone smiled evilly. “You are part of the team now, where we go, you go.”

“But…”

“Move it,” Stone bellowed.

“Yes, sir.” Funny black spots danced in my vision, and everything suddenly went black. I was dimly aware of Stone cursing.

Chapter Eight

Pain and the need to pee woke me up. I sat up and looked around groggily. Where was I?

“What do you need?”

I stared up at Sergeant Stone. “Bathroom.”

Stone held out his hand. “I’ll show you the way.”

“Okay.” I took his hand and blinked in confusion. All I was wearing was a baggy green tee shirt. “Where are my pants?”

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