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turned as the light changed. “Trust me, honey. That isn’t a place you want to go. Even Av keeps his distance.”
    The wounded edge to his voice staked through her heart, and she had to stop herself from reaching out and touching his arm. His demeanor had changed instantly, and she couldn’t help but feel responsible.
    She lowered her gaze, thinking of a way to change the subject. “What about you, then?”
    His eyes narrowed as he slid his glance her way. “What about me?”
    “What do you do?”
    “Avery already let that slip.”
    “Not really. He merely hinted at things.”
    The muscle in his jaw flexed. “What do you think I do?”
    Her breath caught. It sounded like a challenge, but she wasn’t sure whether to take the bait. “That’s a loaded question, Dylan. One I’m not prepared to answer, not when we have to spend the foreseeable future together. I don’t need you glaring at me the entire time because you think I’m constantly ‘picking your head apart’.”
    “Whether I think it or not won’t change the fact that you will be.” He graced her with a genuine smile. “Occupational hazard, I suppose. Go on, doc. I know you’re itching to.”
    “I’m not that kind of doctor.”
    “But a doctor none the less.” He winked at her. “I insist. Give it your best shot.”
    There was no mistaking the challenge he’d issued this time, or the slightly mocking tone in his voice. He didn’t think she could read him, despite his comments to the contrary.
    Her stubborn streak pushed to the surface, and she crossed her arms on her chest again. “Fine. You want my ‘best shot’? I’m game. But there’s no crying foul when I’m done.”
    He smirked. “You’re that confident, are you?”
    “You be the judge.”
    She cleared her throat, reminding herself to tread gently when he winked at her. The cocky gesture unhinged her usual inhibitions, and she pushed her shoulders back, meeting his challenge head-on.
    “Based on the snippets of conversation between you and Avery, I’m betting you’re ex-military. Special Forces to be exact, which accounts for your incredibly fast reflexes and the easy way in which you handle close contact. I would have guessed SEAL, but what I can see of that tattoo on your biceps suggests you were part of one of the Delta teams. Hardcore to the extreme, you’re physical, in every aspect of the word. But something made you resign. The same something that keeps those walls around you firmly intact.”
    She nodded at the center console of his Jeep, knowing she should stop but unable to keep the words from tumbling free. “That’s a badge. SFPD, which accounts for the concealed weapon. I thought you might be a detective, based on your take-charge attitude, but there’s a SWAT duffle bag in your backseat, which is really more in-line with being a risk-taker. You’re not wearing a ring, probably because you haven’t stayed with the same woman long enough to let her see beyond those walls I mentioned. And you hate that the very fabric of your beliefs is being challenged, especially when it mocks everything that’s kept you alive through several missions, if those scars on your arms are any indication. I suspect you have more elsewhere, though it’s the ones you can’t see that are the most painful—and the most telling.”
    Annie drew a deep breath, silently cursing her impetuous tongue. She hadn’t meant to be so revealing, but damn the man was infuriating. Looking at her as if she was nothing more than a freak-show charlatan. It’d taken her years to overcome the predisposed ideas regarding her profession, and despite popular opinion, she dealt in pure science.
    Dylan clenched his jaw, focusing back on the road as he turned down another street. He seemed intent on staring out the window before he sighed and spared her a quick glance. “Are you always that…direct?”
    When she just glared at him, he muttered something under his breath before glancing at her