She thought working on the west coast and living on the beach would be an exciting change, the change she needed. But the job was turning out to be so boring. Of course, she’d been notorious her entire life for having the worst luck ever. Her family and friends had labeled her the female Charlie Brown. They thought it was funny. It never failed. If something could go wrong at the most inopportune time to any of them, no one had to guess which one of them it would be. It was never anything real bad, or maybe her family wouldn’t think it so funny, just frustrating, mistimed, or inconvenient things like always being the last to be served at a restaurant when in a group or the restaurant no longer serving the specific dessert she’d craved all the way there. On the airplane, she’d been stuck next to the chattiest person on the planet when all she’d wanted to do was sleep.

Taking a deep breath, Regina folded her arms in front of her as she went and stood by the window of her makeshift office. Her sister had been right. There were a ton of soldiers here, which meant major potential for meeting someone. But as usual, as her rotten luck would have it, she was stuck working on the side of the base where it was mostly basic training with brand new, way-too-young troops who seemed terrified of doing anything inappropriate that might get them in trouble like flirt or even talk to a civilian—that and a bunch of hardnosed drill instructors and their even harder superiors. So far, the only one who had caught her eye seemed to be the hardest of them all, the same one she caught staring at her at the airport in Washington D.C. He’d blown her smile off then and then again when she’d run into him a few days ago.

Because they were on the same flight to San Diego and he’d been wearing fatigues, she figured since she’d be working on the base there was a small chance she might run into him again. But she never imagined it would be this soon and certainly not that they’d be working in the same building. At the airport, she’d thought she’d imagined the look of distaste she’d picked up from him—distaste for her. She’d chalked it up to him having a bad day or something. Their flight had been delayed over two hours. Even she’d been irritated by that. And certainly there could be no reason for him to dislike her. He didn’t even know her. But the other day, the way he’d looked at her was even worse. For whatever reason, the man found her repugnant. Of course, that made him all the more intriguing than when she’d first laid eyes on him at the airport.

Sighing, she walked away from the window and sat down in front of her desk. For all she knew, the guy was married. He was certainly good-looking enough. None of that mattered anyway. Her excitement about working on a base full of soldiers had all been an act, just as this entire last year had been. She pretended she was excited about meeting men and getting on with her life. Of course, her family would never know the truth. She’d never forgive herself if she were ever the cause of anything that might send either of her parents back into the hospital. Between her dad’s bad heart, and her mom’s high blood pressure, she didn’t dare tell them.

The day dragged on as the previous days had, and she finally made her way out of her office, down the elevator, and out to her car. Hitting the ignition button with one hand, she checked her texts with the other then pulled off her name badge. The radio turned on along with the car. She was so engrossed in reading a text from her sister it took a few seconds for the song playing to register, but when it did, she froze.

Would you know my name, if I saw you in heaven?

Immediately choked up, she hit the off switch, but it was too late. She felt herself drowning fast in that overwhelming grief and despair she thought she’d made progress dealing with. Choking back the tears because she was not about to fall apart right there or go into hysterics as she knew she could very easily do, she took a deep breath, fighting the anguish that bathed her so quickly and mercilessly.

She tried to think of something, anything she could channel her thoughts into instead. Her therapist had instructed her to do just that at times like this when she thought she might lose it. So she breathed in deeply and began channeling. She thought of her work, the designs she’d presented to her subordinates today, but it wasn’t working, so she thought of her plans for that evening. She’d be going to the gym later, and then it hit her. Her Fitbit, the pedometer she used around her wrist to count her steps, the battery had died today, and she left it hooked up to her computer, charging in her office.

Glad it seemed to be working because she was already grabbing her keychain and pushing the car start button off, she opened her door. Taking more deep breaths even as the tears continued to spill from her eyes, she could feel herself calming. It’d been months since the last time she’d broken down as she almost had today. She’d consider this progress. This was the first time she’d been able to fight it.

Knowing her face must be a mess, she didn’t care. It was late, and there were few people still walking around. She reached the door of the building just as it opened, and out walked the guy from the airport, who she now knew was a sergeant up there in rank. He stopped when he saw her, and she stopped too. They faced off for a moment, and the sudden puttering of her heart surprised her. She wiped the tears from her face even more regretful now about her sudden outburst because she was certain she must look a mess. This close his deep blue eyes were even more amazing than she first thought. The long dark sheath of lashes that draped over his eyes as he blinked almost in slow motion nearly took her breath away.

For an instant so quick it was over almost as soon as she thought she saw it, there was the slightest softening of his hardened stare as she wiped her eyes again. But then it went rigid again.

She started to reach for the open door, but he didn’t move. “You’re not wearing your badge,” he said as stoned-faced as ever. “I can’t let you in.”

“But,” she tilted her head, pinching her brows, “you know I’m authorized—”

“Only if you’re wearing your photo ID.”

Regina smiled nervously. He had to be pulling her chain. “Are you serious?”

She didn’t think his expression could go any more severe, but it did, and she knew now he was absolutely serious. “Those are the rules, ma’am.”

Her mouth fell open for a moment, but she closed it quickly when she saw his eyes drop down to her open lips. “I just need to get something I forgot on my desk—”

“Without your ID, you’re not allowed.”

Chewing the inside of her cheek in frustration, she squeezed her hand around her keychain. She was tempted to ask him if he actually had something against someone he didn’t even know or if he was really just this big of an asshole. Afraid somehow that might get her in trouble, she refrained.

“Fine,” she said through her teeth. “I’ll go get it from my car.”

She spun around, stalking off to her car, and she wondered if he’d even be there when she got back, making her need to walk all the way back to her car a waste of time. To her surprise, but even more puzzling, she was pleased to see him standing right at the door, waiting for her. At least he hadn’t made a fool of her, making her go back to get a badge she’d wouldn’t have anyone to show.

Walking up the stairs, she looked him straight in those intense eyes that still gave her no clue what his damn problem with her was. Even as she got closer and he stared her down as she imagined he did to intimidate his recruits, she hated how damn good he was at it. The determination to continue to stare back at him without looking away was beginning to wane as she got closer. He held out his hand, and she shoved her badge into it, noticing that even as she pushed down his strong arm hadn’t budged.

His eyes were still on hers even as he held the badge in his hand, and it made her gulp, but she refused to look away. Finally, he looked down at her badge and studied it. She glanced at the badge he wore—Gunnery Sergeant Billings—but turned away quickly when he lifted his eyes from her badge and looked into hers. His expression was completely unimpressed, even though her title as an engineer had the words “Senior” and “Lead” in them. At her age, that was almost unheard of, but then she shouldn’t expect him to know that.

“Make sure you always have this on you, Mrs. Brady,” he said, handing it back to her, offering not so much as a tiny smile in exchange for having made her walk all the way back to her car. Then he just walked away, leaving her standing there.

Seriously? Not even a goodnight or have a good evening? Regina was beginning to wonder if the man ever smiled. She stood there, not sure if she should be mad or happy that he successfully yanked her right out of her depressed mood because now she was pissed. Who the hell did he think he was anyway? He may be a high-ranking officer, but she was not in the Marines. She had her own superiors to answer to, and he wasn’t one of them.

Feeling completely annoyed as she made her way quickly to her office, she now hoped she’d never run into him again. Unlike the past few days where the anticipation of seeing the mysterious sergeant again made her feel like a silly school girl, she now had no desire to be anywhere near his self-important ass ever again. He may have every right to talk down to his recruits, making them feel inferior to him, but he had no right to look at her or make her feel that way.

Armed with a sudden feeling of resolve, she grabbed her Fitbit from her computer and put it on. The next time she ran into Sergeant Billings, because she knew it was inevitable, she’d give him that same hard look he’d given her from the very beginning. The look that practically said just the sight of her left a bad taste in his mouth.