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

arms over her chest. What was it about this man who could so easily disarm all her defenses?
    “Thanks for helping me out with Zittoro. He has too much pride to fall out around a female.”
    She swallowed, tipping her chin to study him. “Why did you do that with him?”
    Ben scrubbed his hand over his mouth. “Because he’s had a rough time of things. He’s a good kid who has problems. He’s still a soldier.”
    Her heart caught in her throat at the raw determination in his eyes. “You want to save him.”
    His mouth pressed into a flat line. “There are worse things for a commander to want,” he said roughly.
    She took a single step toward him. It was stupid for him to care this much, this deeply about a soldier he couldn’t save.
    “You have to know you can’t,” she whispered. The urge to curl her fingers over his heart, to reach out to him, was damn near overwhelming.
    He swallowed, his movement violent and filled with hurt. “Maybe I have to try,” he whispered. “Otherwise, what’s the point of all this power and responsibility?”
    There were so many things she could say to that. So many things that would make this harder, not easier.
    Instead she said nothing.
    She looked away, her gaze landing on a couple of soldiers walking by, sporting their Stetsons. Something about those things made the troopers down here walk taller.
    “Did you get yours yet?”
    “You mean the black cowboy hat everyone wears here?” She shook her head, grateful for the reprieve from a painful subject. “Sarn’t Major Cox mentioned it.”
    “Stetson,” Ben corrected. “You’re an officer. You need one before next Friday.”
    She frowned, wishing she had her phone with her calendar on it. “What happens next Friday?”
    “We wear them instead of our regular headgear to Stable Call. It’s tradition.”
    “Stable Call. I’ll assume you didn’t just speak a foreign language.” She smiled and it was warmer than it should have been toward Ben Teague.
    “Mandatory fun. We all go to Legends Sports Bar and listen to our fearless leaders pontificate on the meaning of life, the universe, and everything.”
    Olivia smiled, grateful for the easy subject for once. Funny, she never would have thought talking about a silly hat would make her feel more at ease with him. “Thanks for the warning. I’ll add it to my to-do list. Where do I get one?”
    “The Cav Museum or there’s a place off post off Stan Schlueter Loop.”
    Her throat moved as she swallowed. Ben’s gaze fell to the soft line of her neck. He cleared his throat roughly. “They’ll take care of you at either place. Just tell them you need officer cords.”
    “I have no idea what that means but I’m sure I’ll figure it out.”
    She met his gaze, unsteady in this strange truce between them. But Ben’s kindness was something out of the ordinary. And it stood in stark contrast to how he’d been that first day.
    Ben swiped his cheek against his shoulder. “Thanks for running with me and Zittoro, Olivia,” he murmured.
    “You already said that,” she said softly, undone by the quiet ease in his voice. “You did a kind thing. Kindness these days is in short supply.”
    His smile was warm. “I’ll try to remember that.”
    He stood a little too close. She could smell the heady mixture of soap and sweat, of man, primal and raw.
    This man called to her. This man, who’d been kind to a soldier who’d fallen out of a run, tempted her to step out of her comfort zone.
    This man, she needed to get far, far away from.
    * * *
    Ben walked into the company ops—into his company ops—to see a pissed-off first sergeant pacing the orderly room. It was just after eight a.m. and Ben had just come from the gym and a cold shower because the gym’s hot water had been out.
    Because the universe was screwing with him.
    “You know you can’t do that again,” Sorren said.
    “Who pissed in your corn flakes?” Ben asked.
    “You did, sir.”
    Ben stopped short.