“Get your hand off my arm, Captain.”
Major Jessica Dalton’s voice stayed low, even as Captain Ryan Crawford tightened his fingers around her bicep in full view of hundreds of Marines.
He smiled like the warning amused him.
Then he pulled her half a step closer.
“I’m not done talking to you.”
Jessica did not yank herself free.
She did not shout.
She did not threaten him.
She simply looked into his eyes and watched what happened behind them.
Crawford had expected panic.
He found none.
That bothered him more than resistance would have.
For one brief moment, the confidence in his face slipped.
Then he forced it back.
“You think camouflage makes you military?” he said.
His voice carried across the grass.
Several Marines turned.
The Memorial Day speaker continued behind them, reading names near the polished black memorial wall.
But attention had begun drifting.
Jessica lowered her gaze toward Crawford’s hand.
