“Onwhat?”
“On how seriously youtakeyoga.”
“I’ve done it before. Once. On thedeck of an aircraft carrier,infact.”
“You can’t make funofit.”
“I would never.” He leaned in and lowered his voice. “Technically this is classified information, but the one time I did yoga was with the Indian Navy. We were on a joint training exercise in the Indian Ocean, and…when in Rome. I treated it with the utmost respect then, and I willtoday,too.”
She groaned.“Damn it, that’s such a good human interest story, too. You’re a terribletease.”
He winked as their food arrived. “Iamthat.”
“Tell me more about…whatever you can tell me. How often do you do joint training exercises with othercountries?”
“All the time. If there’s something planned, SOCOM tries to attach us if we’re in the area.” He dug into his bowl. “Are you asking asajournalist?”
She shook her head. “I’d tell you if I were. I’m asking as…afriend.”
The little waver before she said that grabbed his attention, and they looked at each other for a long beat. Their little table for two in the middle of a public dining room wasn’t the place for this conversation,though.
But they weren’t friends. Not really. Last summer they’d antagonizedeach other for a week as Wyatt and Tegan danced around their growingattraction.
Then they’d had crazyhotsex.
Add in another phone call out of the blue—where Priya had to ask Grady where he’d gotten her number, too—and that brought them tothisweek.
They had a connection. Friendship? That was moretenuous.
Grady held out his hand and started ticking off experienceson his fingers. “We do Arctic training with both the Norwegians and the Canadians. They have more infrastructure and bases up there than we have access to. Then there’s a lot of Pacific Naval exercises. Don’t tell anyone, but the best perk of the job is going to AustraliaandGuam.”
“I love Australia,” she murmured. “I haven’t been there in years, but I spent one very memorable weekendin Byron Bay with a group ofsurfers.”
“If you like surfing, you need to come visit us in SanDiego.”
“Oh, I’m terrible. But I like wetsuits.” She winked at him. “Maybe I will comevisit.”
He reached across the table and rubbed her hand. “I hope you do. The invitation iswideopen.”
For now, maybe. She squeezed his fingers, then returned her attention to herlunch.
But Grady wasn’t done with that conversation, and when they finished eating, and they had their brownies in a brown paper bag to go, he took her hand and led her down a path behind the main lodge she hadn’t exploredbefore.
“So we’re not going back to our cabin to continue what we started beforelunch?”
He shook his head. “Not right now. But if you’re good, I’m happy to repeatwhat we did before lunch in the greatoutdoors.”
She blushed. “Ditto, ofcourse.”
His confident pace stuttered for a second. “Did you just offer me ahandjob?”
“Yes.”
She got a quiet groan as a response, and that feltgood. Grady didn’t need to be fully in charge of this crazy plan to turn her Back to Nature week upside down andinsideout.
Half a mile up thetrail, Grady stopped. The main trail continued ahead, but he pointed to a smaller track, now grown over with grass and flowers and new sprouts of baby trees. “This way. Probably hasn’t been used in years.” He stopped and pulled her in for a quick kiss. “We’ll have all the privacy you could ever want upthere.”
Upwhere?
