Can I be honest with you?" he asked."Aren't you always? And brutally so?""I never realized you were a woman."She choked on a laugh of surprise. "Excuse me?""Inside my head..." he pointed, just in case she didn't know what a head looked like. "Inside my memories? You were always a little girl, like Izzy. Just a girl, skipping around, getting into trouble, and mouthing off. I never noticed you'd turned into a woman."Though the comprehension of the way he viewed her stung like the burn on her hand, she gave his broad chest beneath that worn-out gray Marines T-shirt an understanding pat with her unburned hand. "I know. It happens to the best of us female types."His big hand came up and captured hers against his chest."Annie?""yeah?"His gaze slowly traveled over her face, down to her lips, then back to her eyes. "I'm noticing now.
