Free It's Always Been You by Jessica Scott

being than out on Battalion.
    “Come on, Zittoro. Stay with me, man.”
    She knew that voice, knew it all too well. She rounded the corner on the trail. Ben walked with a skinny kid who couldn’t be more than a hundred and twenty pounds soaking wet. He looked up when she ground to a halt nearby.
    Ben met her gaze, grim determination in his eyes. He quickly looked away and focused back on Zittoro, who seemed to be having trouble breathing. “Come on, man, you got this. Let’s finish strong.”
    Zittoro’s lungs heaved. “Just leave me, sir.”
    “Not gonna happen. The way I see it, we got two options. You can walk in or you can run in, but whatever you choose I’m doing, too.”
    “You just took command. You can’t walk during PT,” Zittoro said.
    “Then do we have our option?” Ben grinned. “And I’m sure Major Hale would love to finish the run with us.” He looked at her, the dare clear in his eyes.
    “Sure would,” Olivia said. She had no idea what was going on in Ben’s head but right then, if he wanted her help to motivate the kid, then so be it. It had been a long time since she’d run PT with soldiers. She missed it sometimes.
    Zittoro looked between the two of them, then spat onto the dried out leaves. “All right, let’s do this.”
    Ben looked at her, held her gaze a moment too long. Then she fell into step with the two men and they were off.
    Zittoro was not a strong runner. Not by a long shot. Olivia probably could have walked faster, but a look at Ben was all she needed to see that there was more to this than just making sure the kid finished the run. His name was familiar, too, but at the moment she was drawing a complete blank.
    In the end, she didn’t get in her five miles. She probably got closer to three, but by the time they made it back to the headquarters parking lot, the sun was already creeping over the corps headquarters. Olivia swiped her forehead on her PT uniform sleeve as Ben gripped Zittoro’s shoulder. “Good job today.”
    Zittoro shrugged Ben’s hand off and looked sheepish. “Nah, you and I both know you’re blowing smoke up my ass,” Zittoro said.
    “Well, we all need a little something now and again to lift us up. Don’t be late for work call.”
    “Whatever, sir,” he said with a grin. He paused then looked back at Olivia and smiled. “Thanks for finishing the run with me, ma’am.”
    Olivia smiled. “No problem.” And then she was alone with Ben. “So you want to tell me what that was all about?”
    Ben stuffed his hands into the waistband of his PT shorts. Olivia didn’t miss the way his sweat-soaked shirt outlined the lean, hard muscles on his chest or the way the uniform stretched tight across his shoulders. There was a hint of a tattoo beneath the edge of his short sleeve PT shirt. It drew her gaze like a compulsion. She had the deep, driving urge to push his sleeve slowly up that smooth, muscled skin and look more closely at the intricate design.
    She gave herself a mental shake. Since when did she like tattooed men?
    She breathed out deeply, thoroughly distracted by the idea of tracing her fingers over his forearm, then lower, to thread with his.
    “Zittoro’s one of the kids we talked about yesterday,” Ben said.
    Just like that, the name connected with the memory. It was always harder to put a name with a face. “He’s the kid I recommend immediately separating.” Her voice fell with the realization.
    And there was something deeper here, something heavy beneath the way Ben had encouraged the kid, refusing to leave him.
    Any other commander wouldn’t have tried to keep the druggie kid in the formation. Another commander would have left him, treated him like shit.
    Despite Olivia knowing what the norm sadly was, to her there was something admirable in the way that Ben had stuck with Zittoro. Her mouth went dry as she studied him.
    She licked her bottom lip, seeing something in Ben Teague she hadn’t expected. There was something deeper