He was bloody. He was shattered. She looked into his eyes and did not see the man she’d come to know looking back at her. This man looked like Ben but in his bleak gaze, she did not see any trace of the man who laughed with her during sex. Or who’d struggled so much to hold on to his soul while executing the toughest of duties. She took a single step forward. He flinched and the ingrained reaction hurt, cutting her deeply. She stopped a breath away from him. His breathing was the only sound over the quiet that was falling over the now empty yard. Ragged. Rough. She touched his shoulder gently. It was the same strong man she’d come to know beneath her fingers. The same solid man beneath her touch. “Ben,” she whispered. Slowly, he turned to look at her. His eyes were filled with unshed emotion. She ached for him. “Let me take you home,”
