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Our eyes met.

There was no smile this time.

Something stronger passed between us.

Trust.

It felt strangely natural.

Whatever she decided, I would follow her lead.

That realization should have worried me.

It didn’t.

“Let him go,” Judy said.

I released Evan but stayed close.

He turned around and rubbed his shoulder. “You could’ve broken my arm.”

“No,” I said. “If I’d wanted to break it, you’d know.”

“Mace,” Judy warned.

“What? He would.”

Her lips twitched before she caught herself.

Evan saw it.

His gaze moved between us. “You two know each other?”

“We’ve met,” Judy said.

Mace Walker, Army Ranger, reduced to we’ve met.

Four dates.

One kiss behind her parents’ garage.

Months of finding reasons to walk past her house.

Then fifteen years in the Army and three years wandering the country with Max because I wasn’t sure where else I belonged.

We’ve met shouldn’t have stung.

It did.

Judy looked at me again, and something softened in her face.

“We knew each other when we were teenagers,” she added.

The sting disappeared.

Mostly.

Evan reached for his phone.