Free 1941002110 (R) by Lynn Raye Harris Page B

name?”
    “Daniels,” he said. “Like Charlie Daniels, who most definitely plays the hell out of a fiddle.”
    “A guitar is not a fiddle.”
    “Nope, but it doesn’t matter. It’s whatever sticks. That one stuck.”
    She shook her head. “I don’t get it, but whatever. So you’re Fiddler to your team?”
    “Yep.”
    She propped her chin on her hand and stared at him. Her lips were so pink, so lush. He wanted to suck that lower lip. And then he wanted to slip his cock between her lips and watch her take him in.
    “What made you decide to join the military?”
    “Freedom.”
    She blinked. “Freedom?”
    “Yep. I fight for freedom. Yours, mine, the next-door neighbor’s. Doesn’t matter.” He hesitated, uncertain if he should go on and then suddenly not giving a shit. “And then there’s the freedom I gained when I became my own man. I don’t need Tyler for shit. Never will.”
    “I wish I could fix what was wrong between you.”
    His gut twisted at the sadness in her voice. Just as quickly, pride and anger filled the gaps. He reached across the table and grabbed her hand. It was an impulsive gesture, and one he thought he might regret as electricity sizzled through him.
    “You can’t, Sophie. Nor should you have to. Tyler made his bed. He has to lie in it.” He let her go and blew out a breath. “You know, I get that he’s been good to you and you probably love him. He wasn’t good to me, and I just don’t see him the same way you do. I don’t suppose that makes either of us wrong. Just different.”
    She blinked at him, and he wondered if she understood how huge an admission that was for him. That Tyler Nash was capable of kindness and warmth, and that Chase could understand why Sophie would care for him.
    Her mouth fell open, closed—and then she seemed to make up her mind because her gaze hardened just a little. “Tyler’s not bad, but he’s not terrific either. He’s self-centered. Everything is about Tyler. Everything.”
    She shook her hair off her shoulders, and Chase gaped at her. Both for the sensuality of the maneuver and for what she was saying.
    “He’s given me a good life, there’s no doubt about that. But you have no idea what it was like to be a child growing up with two people so self-centered as Tyler and my mother. I was an accessory. Something cute and fun and useful, but not necessary, if that makes sense.”
    She’d stunned him. “I’m sorry,” he managed, because he didn’t know what else to say.
    She sniffed. “Well, and that’s more than I’ve ever said to anyone about my home life. Wow.”
    She reached for a napkin and dabbed at her eyes. Chase felt like shit.
    “I thought you had a perfect life. Everything you wanted whenever you wanted it. Opportunity. Two parents who loved you.”
    Her head came up, her eyes glittering. “Oh, they love me—or my mom does anyway. But look at me, Chase.”
    He was looking at her and he liked what he saw. But she looked expectant, like she thought he was supposed to find something wrong with her and comment on it.
    “You’re gorgeous, Sophie,” he said, without meaning to.
    She bowed her head for a second. “That’s sweet of you—but what I was going to say is that I was a bit of a disappointment for two people as beautiful as Tyler and my mom. No matter how I tried, I was always fat. I’m the girl who can’t wear a bikini at pool parties, who has to be careful what she eats when guests are over because one bite of the wrong thing and they’ll be talking about it to their friends and embarrassing my mom when it gets back to her. I’ve spent my life wondering why I don’t look like her and trying like hell to get there. But I like grilled cheese, dammit. And wings, pizza, burgers—yet even if I ate none of those things, I’d never have a body like hers. I know because I tried.”
    He didn’t know what to say to that. It made him sick to think of her as a little girl trying so desperately to fit in. To be