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“I guess I’ve connected to her on a similar level to the way you and I connected,” Gabe said. “And now that I’m out of the service, I’ve got more time for that.”

“Okay, but our friendship has never been sexual.”

Gabe grinned. “Maybe not from your side because you’re into the same kind of women as me, but I thought you were hot when we first met.”

“I’m still hot, and I know that, but that disappeared almost instantly, right?”

Gabe shrugged. “More or less.”

“And why was that?”

“Because we hit it off as friends.”

“Maybe the same thing will happen here, and you have nothing to worry about then.”

“I’m not worried about the sex stuff,” Gabe said. “I can handle that. I’m worried that she won’t even want to be friends if she finds out about what went down with Nelson and his wife.”

“So don’t tell her. As far as you know, she has no connection to anyone in the Army, does she?”

“She’s friends with Toni James.”

Lightning waved her hand. “Toni is a civilian, and she hasn’t been embedded with the British Army for over a year. She wasn’t even in the same country as you for longer than a week, was she? Nelson kept it very quiet, and when they moved him to the Dagger Complex because of what happened, they kept it hush-hush, so there’s no way she could find anything out to pass on to Lori.”

“I don’t know much about relationships, but I know that a friendship based on lies isn’t a solid one.”

Lightning shook her head. “You’re not lying. You’re simply holding back something that you think, but don’t know, would hurt her. And friends do things like that. How many times do you think I’ve withheld my opinion on your choice of women?”

“Probably not as many times as you’ve wished it was you taking them back to your barracks.” Gabe laughed, and the tension ebbed away a little.

“Fair. You certainly had a lot more opportunities than I ever did.”

“Maybe you need to start looking at younger women. They don’t seem as caught up in the whole butch/femme dynamic as us Gen-Xers.”

Lightning looked like she was about to slap Gabe with a pithy comeback when she tapped on the windshield repeatedly and bounced on her seat. “That’s an Aston Martin DBS Superleggera convertible!”

“God damn, she’s beautiful.” Gabe opened her window. “Listen to that V12 engine,” she said as it roared past them and zoomed out of sight. “You know, they only made?—”

“Less than two hundred of the convertibles and only three hundred coupes. Yeah, I know. Who do you suppose is behind the wheel? A movie star or a football player?”

“Damn sure not an average Jo like us.” Gabe whistled then returned her focus to their conversation. “You really think it’s okay not to tell Lori about the affair? I trust your judgment, you know that. I just don’t want to screw this up.”

“Look, Gabe, it’s clear this woman is important to you, and that you want to be in her life. With Max and the restoration project, you’ve pretty much got that wrapped up, so don’t rock the boat. You’ve decided not to push things beyond a friendship, so I think that your past is irrelevant. Who you are as a friend is different from who you are when sex gets involved, and since she’s not going down that road, it really shouldn’t matter.”

Gabe nodded. “Okay, that makes sense.”

“Of course it does,” Lightning said. “Besides, I do know how you are with women, and I still want to be your friend.”

She glanced at Lightning and smiled. “Yeah? Why’s that?”

“Seriously? You’re fishing for compliments right now?”

“Uh-huh. Like you said, you know my history; you know my ego needs plenty of love—friend love,” she added quickly.

Lightning rolled her eyes and tsked loudly. “Because you’re a lot of fun, and we get each other. That’s all I’m giving you; don’t be so needy.”

Gabe grinned as she took exit 17 onto East 15th and pointed to the brown sign for the Sanctuary. “See? I don’t need to memorize it.”

“Don’t need to, but you have anyway.”