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Inside the house, she dropped her keys into a basket by the door. He turned her to face him, but she didn’t meet his stare. Using a knuckle beneath her chin, he drew her face upward. One look at her wan expression and the dark circles under each of her eyes revealed just how much the situation was wearing on her.

“When did you eat last?”

His question took a long time for her to answer. After a full minute, she shook herself. “I had coffee at the hospital.”

“That’s not food, love. Come on. Let me fix you something.”

She allowed him to take her by the hand and lead her to the kitchen. Though this was not his house, and he didn’t know where everything was, he felt no awkwardness at all about taking charge.

He urged her onto a stool at the counter and set about preparing her a meal.

As he ducked his head to scour the refrigerator for ideas on what to make, she said, “Are you going to eat with me?”

He threw her a glance. “I guess so.”

“I’ll only eat if you have some too.”

He spotted the deli meat and cheese in the drawer. “Sandwiches it is.”

She issued a low laugh, faint but one that warmed him by the sound. It had been only days since Meadow went silent. But he’d noticed. It worried the hell out of him. He knew too well what was happening to her—after so many tragedies, she was preparing herself for another hit.

He’d seen it among SEALs in his squadron, how they shut down, quit engaging for fear of getting close to someone who might fall in battle.

Meadow was waiting for the other shoe to drop.

With quick movements, he laid out all the sandwich fixings on the counter. Then he looked around. “Bread?”

She pointed at a basket in the corner.

After fetching it, he located two plates and began to throw together sandwiches with two kinds of meat and cheese, thinly sliced onion and tomato, and topped both with lettuce.

“Mayo or mustard?”

She lifted her gaze to his. At one look, his heart flexed with love. Dammit, he had no idea how it happened so fast. Maybe he got hooked on Meadow long before he ever came to the ranch. Hell, maybe even before Forest took that hit.

She clung to his stare, blue eyes wide and filled with ghosts but something else…something that resembled a glimmer of hope.

“Mayo please.”

She still had him under her spell, but he pulled his attention away long enough to make the addition to her sandwich and then pushed it across the counter to her.

“Thank you.”

“Of course. What would you like to drink?”

“I’ll have a soda.”

He crossed the tiled kitchen to the fridge and grabbed two sodas. As he returned to Meadow’s side, he realized just how normal this all felt.

How right.

Together, they tucked into their humble meals. After she finished, leaving only a few crumbs on the dish, he offered her a smile. “Feel better?”

With a small tilt of her lips, she nodded.

“Now let’s get you into bed.”

The pink flush climbing her cheeks was fucking adorable. It also made him hard as hell.