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permanent fixture, and he wasn t looking for more complications. Their situation was already
complicated enough. Getting back into the cockpit required all his focus. He needed to remember that.
 I m sorry.
 Yeah, me too, but my point in bringing this up is, his coaches knew from the start I wasn t perfect-
wife material.
 He wasn t perfect-husband material.
 No, he wasn t, but they weren t talking about him. They sensed something about me. A lack of 
she rubbed her thumb over her fingertips, searching for the word  I don t know what exactly, but
you sensed it, too, the night we met. Don t deny it. When you looked at me, you didn t think,  There s
someone to take home to Mom. 
 Chloe, that s not fair. The night we met you were handcuffed to your bed, wearing two scraps of
black lace, yelling your head off for someone to rescue you. As memories go, meeting you ranks right
up there in my hall of fame, but no, I was not thinking,  Here s a girl who walks the straight and
narrow  
He shouldn t have admitted anything, because she didn t let him finish.  Don t you think your
commanding officer and his lovely wife are going to sense the same thing?
 No. He reached over and took her hand. Her free-spirited nature, her courage to embrace her
wild side, made her Chloe unique, chaotic, spontaneous, constantly surprising Chloe. Yes, he
appreciated discipline, order and control, and maybe their diametrically opposite approaches to life
meant they mixed about as well as whiskey and a piña colada, but he couldn t stand to let her
consider her personality a failing.  They re going to wonder what a beautiful, vivacious woman like
you is doing with a big, cynical marine like me.
Her fingers curled around his and hung on.  This is a bad risk, Michael. The colonel and his wife
will want to hear our Grandkid Story, and ours is hopelessly warped. There s no making it sound
smooth and pretty.
 Our Grandkid Story?
 Yes, our Grandkid Story what we tell our grandkids when they ask how grandma and grandpa
met. Here s ours in a nutshell: Grandpa had to rescue grandma when she handcuffed herself to her
bed, then grandma got fired for trying to give grandpa a happy-ending massage, then grandpa and
grandma moved in together and pretended to be engaged so grandma wouldn t be homeless and
grandpa wouldn t get drummed out of the Corps.
 Sounds a hell of a lot more interesting than,  Grandma and grandpa met on Match, don t you
think?
 What I m trying to highlight here is that our real story has some& problems. I don t want to
embarrass you or set you back. What if I slip up and say or do something to tip the Hardings off that
things aren t what we ve led them to believe?
 You won t.
 How can you be so sure?
 Because they re not looking to trip us up. They re curious, that s all. They may ask a few
questions, but those are easy to anticipate and prepare for, right?
 You think? She eyed him warily.
 Yes. Trust me, he got up, grabbed the bottle of wine from the fridge, and refilled her glass,
 you re stressing about this way too much. The questions are predictable. As for the answers, aim for
ninety-nine percent truth, one percent bullshit.
 You make this sound like a game.
 Think of it as a game. He raised his beer bottle.  In fact, for tonight, let s make it a game. For
every question one of us gets right, the other has to drink. She d be relaxed in no time.  Five right
answers in a row, and I text my CO and tell him we ll be there.
 Fine. How d we meet?
 Easy. He shot her a grin.  Applying my truth-to-bullshit formula, I d say we were neighbors, and
I got to know you when you needed help opening something. Drink.
She narrowed her eyes but took a sip of her wine.  Okay, bull-shitter, what was our first date?
 You invited me over for a beer, to say  Thanks. The rest is history. Drink again.
She swallowed and then sent him a look full of challenge.  Where was I born?
 Texas.
Her mouth dropped open.  Are you psychic?
 Drink. While she obeyed, he explained,  You mentioned it last night at the Stars & Bars& right
before you fell off the porch and threw up.
She covered her face with her hands and groaned.  Oh, Lord, I d been trying to block that out. How
can you possibly want to been seen in public with me the girl who threw up in front of the Stars &
Bars?
 If I limited my associates to people who hadn t thrown up at the Stars & Bars, I d be a pretty
lonely guy. He shrugged.  Around a military base, nights like last night kind of go with the territory. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]