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�On the dock� when I kissed you� I was kissing you, Mac. Not Diane,� Harm said. �At first� maybe it was my way of saying goodbye to her. I know it was stupid and wrong and that I was using you, and for that I�m sorry. But the moment I felt your lips on mine� Diane was gone and all I could think about was the fact that I was kissing you and that there wasn�t enough time for me to make that clear to you because Bud would be back any second with the corpsman.
�When I first asked you about Dalton and you teased me about being jealous� I was. I passed it off as feeling like I was going to lose the best partner I�ve ever had, but even after you quit I still felt jealous of him. I hated that he had seduced you with wealth and prestige, but I could accept not working with you if you really did want to work in the private sector,� Harm continued. �But the thought of him kissing you, touching you, getting to hold your hand at the movies, getting to see you first thing in the morning before you�ve had your vat of coffee and put on your mask that hides you from the rest of the world� it killed me.�
Mac took a minute to process what he said before she spoke. �But� Annie?�
�Was unfinished business. Luke and I fought over her and he won. Even when I was with her� it felt wrong. I felt like the other man, like I had to make sure I was out of there before her husband got home,� Harm said. �It never would have worked, even if I hadn�t taken Josh on that Tiger Cruise and, in her words, turned Josh against her. It was only a matter of time before one of us realized that she was trying to replace Luke with his best friend and I was clinging to a decade-old crush.�
�What about that Lieutenant in San Diego?� Mac asked.
Harm had to search his memory for that one. The it hit him. The bar, playing pool with a woman who was obviously a hustler, betting his boots and her bra for a couple of pairs of pants, bragging to Mac about beating the pants off a couple of Marines, jumping from the car before Mac could kill the New Yorker with the stereotypically big mouth.
�Not even a blip on the radar,� Harm replied.
Mac sat there in stunned silence for a minute before she could even speak again.
�How� why?� Mac asked weakly.
�Why what?� Harm asked as he lovingly caressed her arms through the thin material of the long-sleeved tee shirt she was wearing.
�Why me?� Mac asked, her voice barely more than a whisper.