Blue by You by Rachel Gibson

and blue eyes. He stared at the photo on the license, at the startling blue of her eyes set beneath dark brows. She was an exotic mix of dark and light. Hot and cool. Except for the color of her eyes, she looked nothing like Sadie, who resembled her blond beauty queen mother.
    “She works as a . . .” He squinted and put his face closer to the paper to read Beau’s handwritten scribbles. “. . . bartender at someplace called Ricky’s. Her former careers include lead singer in a band, waitress, cashier, sales, and selling photographs to tourists.” He sat back. “Busy girl.” Especially since she didn’t have to be. She had a big trust fund she drew money out of every month. He read further. Stella Leon had a police record for minor offenses and had lost a small claims lawsuit filed against her by a former landlord.
    Vince closed the folder and reached for his beer. He’d give the file to Sadie and let her make the next move. Get in touch with her long-lost sister or just let it go. Sometimes it was best not to tear off a scab. “What’s your brother up to these days?” He took a drink, then added, “Besides ferreting out information.”
    “Usual shit.” Blake and Beau were the sons of a former Navy SEAL, William T. Junger. Beau was the older of the two by five minutes, and while Blake had followed in his father’s footsteps, Beau had chosen the Marine Corps. “Running his businesses and trying to stay out of trouble.”
    “Remember when we met up with Beau in Rome?” Whenever the twins drank too much, they always argued over who had the tougher training program, the Navy SEALs or the RECON Marines. Being a former Navy SEAL himself, Vince had his opinion, but he wouldn’t want to have to prove it to Beau Junger.
    “Barely. We were piss drunk.”
    “And got into a fistfight on the train.” The brothers’ arguments were notorious for being loud, relentless, and sometimes physical. If that happened, it was best just to get out of the way because as Vince had learned, if a guy tried to break up the fight, the Junger boys turned on the peacekeeper. They were two contentious peas from the same pod. Almost identical in every way. Two blond-haired all-American warriors. Iron-souled patriots who’d seen and done a lot and didn’t know the word “quit.” Vince took another drink. The kind of men a guy wanted at his side in a battle.
    Blake laughed and leaned forward. “But get this, he says he’s saving himself for marriage.”
    Vince choked on his beer. “What?” He wiped drops of beer from his chin. “You mean no sex?”
    Blake shrugged one of his big shoulders. “Yeah.”
    “He’s not a virgin.” There were those who said that Vince had had a thing for easy women. Before he met Sadie, those people would have been right, but no one enjoyed down-with-it girls more than the Junger boys. There was even a wild rumor that the boys had hooked up with a pair of twins they’d met in Taiwan.
    “Yeah, I pointed out to him that that particular horse had already left the barn, but he says he’s going to remain celibate until he gets married.”
    “Does he have a woman in mind?”
    “No.”
    “Had some sort of religious conversion?”
    “No. He just said the last time he woke up with a woman he didn’t know was the last time.”
    Vince understood that now. Since he’d fallen in love and all that good shit, he understood the difference between sex and sex with a woman he loved. Knew that with the one, the other was better. Knew that it became more than just an act. A need. More than just a physical release, but celibate? “He won’t last,” Vince predicted.
    Blake raised the bottle to his lips. “He seems serious, and the good Lord knows once Beau gets something in his head, he’s immovable.”
    Both the Junger boys were immovable. Loyal and stubborn to the core. Which made them good soldiers.
    “He says it’s been eight months.”
    “Eight months ? And he hasn’t gone bat-shit