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Air Force. Recruiting is the only real job they have for me now, maybe ever. There’s no way I can go back to my old job with one eye. Being stuffed into a cube with a bunch of other paper pushers isn’t why I signed up.”
    “What did you do?” She spoke carefully. It had to have been very important to win him the accolades she’d heard on the radio.
    “Pararescue.” His reply was short, clipped.
    “No shit?” Cassidy drew in a breath. She had seen a three-hour documentary on the Discovery Channel about the indoctrination training only twenty per cent of enrollees finished. Now she knew where his innate sense of self came from, the self-confidence that belied his years. What did being medically removed from such a tight cadre do to a man’s self-worth? It was damned hard to be a medic, to look at blood and gore and still go home with a shred of sanity intact.
    “No shit. So I have to choose between sitting on my ass for the next fourteen years or doing something out of the Air Force.” His voice was desolate and it broke Cassidy’s heart.
    “What happened to your eye?” The mortifying words were out before she’d even thought about them. “Oh God, never mind. I can’t believe I asked.”
    He was silent for a long moment. “No, it’s a valid question. Most everyone looks, but no one ever asks, except the shrinks. We were pulling out a forward air controller and came under mortar fire. Shit was flying everywhere. We got the eagle eye out and I caught a piece of shrapnel as we were loading him.”
    His voice was almost disconnected as he related the mission.
    At that moment, she wanted to see him, to hold him in her arms and soothe the pain away.
    “Listen, do you want me to come over there, or do you want to head back here?” She purposefully gave him only two choices, which he deftly sidestepped.
    “As much as my little head is screaming for that, I don’t think it’s a real good idea. This is nice, though. Easier. I don’t think I could look you in the eye and say the same things.”
    Cassidy understood, sort of, but it didn’t allay her need. “If you’re sure.”
    “Yeah, I’m sure. So…” He changed the subject one hundred and eighty degrees. “Tell me about your fiancé.”
    Ouch. That hurt. But he’d been honest with her, so… “Brian was a manager at HUD. It was something he did as kind of a public service, since he’d inherited a bundle from his folks. Old oil money, you know. I was at home when it happened, watching the morning news.” Her voice cracked, as much as she tried to force it to remain steady. “They never found his body.”
    “I’m sorry, Cass. If it helps, I’ve been there too.”
    “It helps. It always has, especially after September eleventh. Terrorism is terrorism.” She got her heartbeat back under control. Talking about Brian always hurt, but, just like earlier, the pain was duller now, more of an ache than a sharp gouge.
    “So, what are you wearing?”
    Cassidy laughed at the playful note in his voice, thankful that he’d sensed it was time to move beyond the serious.
    “Hmmm.” She looked down at the same clothes she’d been wearing when he’d left. “A black teddy.”
    He groaned and the sound vibrated straight to her pussy. “You just had to put that picture in my head, didn’t you?”
    “Afraid so.” Cassidy grinned wickedly. “So where do we go from here, Scott?”
    “Phone sex?” His voice sounded hopeful and made her laugh.
    “Not tonight.” She left it open-ended, because she’d never met a man who could wrench her from one emotion to the other with such effortless ease. It opened dangerous doors to her heart, but she couldn’t seem to stop responding to him.
    “Say yes. Come out to dinner with me tomorrow night.”
    “Yes.”

Chapter Seven
     
     
     
    Cassidy waited inside her living room, unwilling to go outside and ruin the upswept hairstyle she’d spent so long on. The wind howled around the building, a replay of just