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" She touched him in response, running her hands over his shoulders, down his arms, circling his waist to his back. “Your body is beautiful, Cal. A work of art.”
“It’s work. I don’t know about art.”
She laughed. “A masterpiece. I love watching you work out on base. You have this intense focus. It’s the only time you’d let me look at you, because you’re blind to everything but the task at hand.”
Her words hit him in the gut. She hadn’t intended them as a blow, but he felt it just the same. “I’m sorry. I put up barriers to you because you scare me.”
Her lips twitched. “I scare a badass Special Forces soldier?” Her mouth bloomed into a full smile. “I like the sound of that.”
He picked her up, the ache in his gut relaxing a fraction. “Oh, sweetheart, you’re the scariest woman I’ve ever met. The first moment I met you, I wanted to possess you. "
― Rachel Grant , Firestorm (Flashpoint #3)