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leaned forward and kissed her cheek. The
simple brush of his mouth over her flesh sent a rush of heat
through her blood. It took all of her control not to lean in, to
move her head so that she could have his lips against
hers.
    “ Don’t work too hard,” he
said, looking as confused as she felt.
    Tess didn’t trust herself to speak, so
she nodded. Then she headed off to work, hoping that if she
concentrated on work, she’d forget about Bran.

Chapter Five

    Bran walked down the hall to the
commander’s office, thinking about his time with Tess. She’d looked
genuinely surprised and pleased when he’d taken her the food. He
forgot that little things like that were not the norm in her
family. Now that he thought about it, it was kind of amazing she
turned out to be so warm and open. He could just imagine all that
generous spirit spilling over into bed.
    He stopped in the middle of the hall
and shook his head. What the hell was he doing? Since he’d arrived,
his mind seemed to drift in that direction every time it had a
chance. It had been the first time since their graduation from
Annapolis that they had spent time together. Since that
kiss.
    It hadn’t been a particularly sexy
kiss. It had lasted all of a second, but in that one little moment,
he’d forgotten Tess was his best friend. Now, he couldn’t remember
why that was so important.
    He pushed those thoughts away and
started down the hall again. He turned a corner and ran into Tony
from the day before.
    “ Hey, there, Demon,” he
said, with a smile. So, his reputation had gotten there before him.
Every pilot had a call sign and his was because of his need to take
chances. His first instructor called him Speed Demon, then
shortened it and the name stuck.
    “ Walker.”
    “ Looking for the
commander?”
    He nodded.
    “ Not in right now, but I
can show you around.”
    He really didn’t feel like it. There
was just something that rubbed him the wrong way about Walker, and
he didn’t know what it was. He was huge, and it made Bran wonder
just how he fit into the cockpit. Dark hair, dark eyes, and
definitely Italian, and from what he saw of Tess’ date the other
night, right up her alley.
    And that irritated him even
more.
    “ So, you see me as a rival
for Tess?” he asked, as he grinned at Bran.
    “ I don’t have any interest
in Tess like that. We’ve known each other for years. She’s like a
little sister to me.”
    “ Oh, yeah, right. I saw
that look on your face the other day. Suck it up, Marine. I’ll show
you around and then you can be pissy with me later.”
    With that, Walker turned and started
walking down the hall. He definitely was an ass, but for some
reason, it made Bran like him even more. He glanced around, then
gave up and followed him. He might as well get a tour while he was
there.
     
    * * * *
     
    Later that night, Bran frowned when
his phone played Beethoven’s Fifth, alerting him that MJ was
calling. He felt oddly deflated that Tess hadn’t called, but he
knew she was busy.
    “ Hello, MJ.”
    “ Hello, yourself. How’s
the house hunt?” she asked in typical MJ fashion. His father liked
to say that MJ was born talking, and that wasn’t far from the
truth. She was always half way through a conversation before Bran
knew they were having one.
    He didn’t know how to answer the
question. Now that MJ and Tess started talking back and forth on
the phone, he wasn’t sure how to proceed. Part of him knew he
needed a place, and the house down the street would be perfect. But
there was a bigger part of him that didn’t want to leave Tess’
house.
    “ Okay, still
looking.”
    A beat of silence. And that was a bad
thing with MJ. “You know you can’t mooch off Tess forever. And
besides, she has a personal life.”
    “ I know that.” Then he
realized what she said. “Wait, has she talked to you about
that?”
    “ What, that you’re a
mooch? Not in detail.”
    “ Her personal life. Has
she complained to you?”
    “