Free It's Always Been You by Jessica Scott Page A

beneath the sensual, dark exterior. Heat radiated off him from the run and she caught a hint of his scent, something spicy and warm that made her want to step closer than she should. “Yeah.” His voice was thick, throaty.
    He met her gaze then, watching her watching him. The world fell away until it was just her, just him, and she was tempted, far too tempted, to take a single step toward him. To feel the heat from his body wrap around her and draw her closer. To feel his heart beat beneath her cheek and feel his arms surround her. The need was strong, so strong.
    She inhaled deeply as her heart slowed, blinked to break the thrall that held her there. “I’m sorry, Ben. I know you want to help him but I just don’t think you can.” She wiped her forehead again and took a single step backward. “I highly doubt the brigade commander is going to let you retain him, even if you wanted to. There are too many soldiers testing positive these days.”
    “I know that,” he said. “Doesn’t mean I have to like it.” Ben pulled his t-shirt out of his shorts and wiped his face. Olivia tried and failed not to notice the narrow band of hair on his belly or the deep golden tone of his skin against the black of his shorts. But it was the ragged scar running down the center of his abdomen that drew her attention.
    Time stood still, moments ticking by with painful slowness. Deep pink against the tan skin of his belly, the scar traced down his stomach and curved along the top of his hip bone. She hesitated, curling her fingers into her palms to keep from reaching out to touch it with the tip of her finger. She looked up and knew in an instant that she’d been caught staring.
    His eyes darkened but he didn’t look away. His throat moved as he swallowed. His lips twitched at the edges. Just a hint.
    “You know, if you keep undressing me with your eyes, I’m going to need to file a sexual harassment complaint.” He lowered the shirt with deliberate slowness. It hung at his sides, untucked and out of regulation. “I feel violated,” he whispered.
    “Ben.” His name caught in her throat. She swallowed, badly needing space from this man that made her lose her composure. “That looks like it hurt,” she said simply, trying to catch her breath.
    He didn’t move. He stood a little too close. Her skin was a little too warm, craving that human connection that she missed. “It still itches sometimes.”
    “How did it happen?”
    There was a darkness in his eyes now, a tension tightening the muscles in his neck. One fist bunched by his side. “Shrapnel when our base was overrun.”
    “Our?”
    “Me and Escoberra,” he said softly. His eyes darkened, his mouth a flat line.
    “That explains a lot,” she whispered.
    “You have no idea,” he said. “He’s like family to me.”
    “I’m sorry you have to do this,” she said simply. Because she was. She’d never faced something like this—she’d never had to process actions on someone she cared about.
    “Thank you,” he said. He studied her quietly. “You haven’t deployed, right?”
    “I have,” she said softly.
    He frowned, folding his arms over his chest. His uniform stretched over his chest, drawing Olivia’s gaze to the raw power of the man in front of her. “I thought you didn’t have a combat patch.”
    “I was in Kuwait. I don’t feel right wearing a combat patch when I wasn’t in harm’s way.”
    He frowned then, studying her carefully. “That’s an unusual attitude,” he admitted. “You know you’ve opened yourself up to problems down here by not wearing your patch, right?”
    She lifted a single shoulder. “When I earn a combat patch for going to combat, I’ll wear one,” she said quietly. “I’m not going to wear it just for the sake of it.”
    He lifted one eyebrow. “That’s either really brave, or really stupid,” he said easily.
    Her own grin caught her off guard. “I’ll let you know how it turns out,” she said, folding her