Distinguished Service & Every Move You Make (Uniformly Hot!) Read Online Free PDF Page B

the diner had been a tremendous source of support, but only she knew how deep her pain went. How watching her mom die by millimeters had profoundly impacted her.
    Yes, she could have put her mom in a hospice. But she’d wanted to spend every moment with her that she could. And the only way she could work out how to do that was by having Hospice come to them at her apartment.
    Then, suddenly, her mother was gone.
    It still seemed…strange, somehow. The shock she’d felt at not having her mother there anymore. She’d been moving toward that end agonizing moment by agonizing moment, yet the moment she was finally released, Geneva hadn’t wanted to let her go.
    And Dustin had been there to hold on to instead.
    “We met when I first started taking graphic design years ago at University of Colorado, Colorado Springs,” she offered. “We’d always been friends and had never even considered dating,” she said quietly. “And I know he doesn’t want anything more now. Not really. He’s projecting what he thinks traditionally should happen on to our untraditional circumstances. Trying to do what’s right.”
    She looked to find Mace still nodding…and still somewhat behind her.
    Finally, he smiled awkwardly and shook his head. “I’m sorry. My response probably falls just shy of rude…or is maybe full-out rude. It’s just that I’m having a hard time wrapping my head around the fact that you’re pregnant.”
    She smiled. “Stick around. It won’t be hard in a month or so when I start showing.”
    She caught herself. Of course, he wouldn’t be around in a month or so. He’d be off somewhere on his final six-month deployment. And even if he wasn’t, there was no chance he’d stick around anyway.
    She squinted at him. Was there?
    Behind him, the jukebox clicked on B-17.
    They both laughed.
    “Okay,” he said. “Time for me to stop acting like an idiot and accept the fact that I misread the signs.”
    “Signs?”
    His gaze moved over her face and she felt herself blush. “Yes. The regular girl-guy stuff.”
    She smiled. “You didn’t misread anything. I’m pregnant, not dead, Mace.”
    He wore that “speeding truck coming toward him” look again.
    She reached over and touched his arm. “Sorry. You’re obviously having a hard time with this. So why don’t we just keep this simple.” She held out her hand. “Hi, I’m Geneva Davis and I’m pregnant. Would you like to be friends?”
    He stared at her hand, then her face, then her hand again. He slowly took it. “I’d love to be friends, Geneva Davis.”
    * * *
    F RIENDS …
    A good ten hours had passed since his late-night conversation with Geneva in the deserted diner, the jukebox playing in the background, whipped cream, pie plates and glasses of milk littering the counter in front of them, and all he could think of was, despite everything she told him, he wanted to be much more than friends.
    “Sir?”
    Mace looked at Jonathon Reece, one of Lazarus’s personnel.
    “Darius would like to speak with you.” He held out a cell.
    He took the phone. “Thanks.”
    He stepped away from the table in the downtown Denver hotel conference room. He’d been in there for an hour going over the sketchy schedule of the visiting dignitary with Lazarus reps and sheriff’s deputies, waiting for Darius to arrive.
    “Hey,” he said into the phone.
    “Hey, yourself. Look, I got called in on an urgent matter back at the office. Would you mind taking the lead?”
    Mace glanced at the ten Lazarus reps, nine men and one woman, who were looking expectantly at him.
    “I’m afraid it looks like it would be for the duration. I’ve got a kidnapping/ransom case out of L.A. that just came in….” Darius continued.
    Mace grimaced. Not because he wasn’t up for the job. But because he would only have today to build up a rapport with the personnel he would be overseeing.
    He took in Reece standing military tall a short ways away.
    “I’d rather not. Isn’t there