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She chuckled. “Okay. Fair enough.”

“How about dinner tonight?”

She took a deep breath.

Meanwhile, no matter how hard I tried not to, I couldn’t stop thinking about that last night we’d shared in Afghanistan and what had almost happened between us.

Nor could I stop thinking about how beautiful she looked…

“Okay,” she finally said. “But I need to go now.” She put her hand on my arm and guided me to the door.

“How about I pick you up around six?”

“Yeah, that should work. Give me your number.”

“Here…” I dug my phone out and handed it to her. “Call yourself.”

As her fingers manipulated the screen, my eyes stole glances of her cleavage.

She handed my phone back as we exited her apartment. “If I don’t call you, meet me here at six,” she said as she locked the door.

“Here’s hoping you don’t call me.” I grinned.

She smiled. “My life’s a little chaotic right now, but it’s good to see you again, Warren.”

“I understand. We can take it slow.”

As we walked down the hall, I pushed all the questions I had aside. The elevator doors closed and my body tensed as I fought the urge to touch her.

She turned and grinned at me as we rode down.

Did she feel the sexual tension in the air too?

The doors slid open and we walked toward the front door.

“It really is good to see you again,” she repeated.

“I’ll see you later tonight. Have a good day,” I said before turning to walk away.

“Are you headed uptown? If so, we could share a cab,” she called after me.

“No, I’m the other way.”

“Oh well. We have a lot of catching up to do. I guess it’ll have to wait until tonight.”

“Yes, tonight,” I replied, smiling.

She waved and then spun around, taking off down the street and stretching her arm out for a cab. I watched for a moment or two before heading to find a place to kill some time.

After leaving the military, I had been living on the small nest-egg I’d acquired helping Melvin and the others extract a ton of minerals from Afghanistan. On rare days I missed working and having a reason to get out of bed in the morning. But most of the time, I enjoyed having nothing tying me down.

Melvin still called me occasionally, wanting to go into business together, but I’d never taken him up on the offer. We’d gotten away with our operation in Afghanistan, and I didn’t want to push my luck any further.

I just wanted to concentrate on the future.

After two years, I would finally be having uninterrupted time with Rose Bennett, the woman I’d never been able to forget.

CHAPTER 12