Simon glared at him. “So you’re disappearing off on a training program without a clue when you’re leaving, when you’re getting back, or even what kind of training you’ll be doing? That’s bullcrap!”
Actually, that was the kind of thing SEALs did every day. But Lennox didn’t point that out.
“I didn’t see you complaining about the lack of detail when you were volunteering,” Kirk said with a snort. “In fact, you thought it was cool and mysterious.”
“Yeah, well now I’m saying it sucks,” Simon grumbled.
“What do you want me to do, turn down the training because you didn’t get in too?” Kirk demanded.
Simon’s jaw tightened and for a moment, Lennox thought he was going to punch his buddy, but then he shook his head. “Do wherever the hell you want.”
With that, he turned and started jogging down the trail again. A few seconds later, Kirk cursed then followed.
“You’re quiet,” Lennox said to Darwin, who was standing there staring off in the direction his Teammates had disappeared. “Are you that upset you didn’t get selected for the training program too?”
“Nah,” Darwin admitted with a sigh. “But that doesn’t mean I’m not pissed that four guys from my platoon are going to disappear for who knows how long. We’re a Team. We’re not supposed to be split up like this. I don’t like it. Not that anyone cares about what I like. We’re SEALs. We go where we’re told.”
Before Lennox could say anything to that, Darwin ran after Simon and Kirk.
“Well, if the rest of their platoon reacts the same way Simon and Darwin did, the next few days are goin to be painful as hell,” Colt remarked.
“It’s a stupid idea if you ask me, splitting up a platoon like that,” Lennox muttered as he and Colt ran to catch up with the others. “Whenever Kirk and the other guys get back from that training, platoon morale is going to be in the toilet. It’s going to take forever to rebuild it.”
Colt grunted in agreement. “It sucks for sure. But better their platoon than ours.”
Lennox silently agreed.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
“This place is beautiful,” Talia said, glancing around the restaurant from where she sat across from him in the booth. “I can’t believe I’ve never been here before.”
Lennox sipped his water, taking in the terra-cotta tile floor, metal sculptures, colorful flowers, folk art, and woven tapestries. Itwasbeautiful.
“You’re quiet tonight,” Talia said softly as she picked up her menu a few moments later. “Is everything okay?”
He gave himself a mental shake and looked up from his menu—the one he’d been pretending to be reading. Across the table from him, Talia was regarding him curiously. She was wearing an alluring off-the-shoulder flower-print sundress as well as a little more make-up than she usually did. To him, she looked like a goddess come to life.
“Sorry,” he said, giving her an apologetic smile. “I had a long day, and I needed a minute to get my head right.”
He realized then that he hadn’t said much on the drive to the restaurant either. Thankfully, Talia had taken care of the conversation, filling him in on her day with Maria. Considering this might be his only chance to impress Talia, he needed to get his crap together. He was in a beautiful restaurant with a gorgeous woman. He should be focusing on that.
“Do you want to talk about it?” she asked, offering him a smile in return. “I’ve been told I’m a good listener.”
His first instinct was to tell her that he was good and change the subject. But wasn’t talking about their day over dinner what couples were supposed to do? While there wasn’t a lot he could discuss when it came to his job, this he could.
“There was some tension today between a few of the SEALs in one of our sister platoons, and it put this weird vibe over the whole day.”
She gave him a worried look. “They didn’t get into a physical fight, did they?”
“No, nothing like that.” He took a second to skim the menu. From steak and shrimp tacos to three kinds of tamales, everything sounded delicious. “Though it probably would have been better if they’d just thrown a few punches and gotten it over with.”
Talia frowned. “Seriously?”
He gave her a shrug. “It’s a guy thing.”
She didn’t look convinced.
“Anyway,” he continued, “the SEALs in one of our sister platoons were offered a chance to be part of a special training program. It’s so black ops that they didn’t even tell the guys what they were volunteering for and won’t know until they get to the training location. The cutoff list for the program came in this morning with only four guys getting picked. The rest of the platoon didn’t take it very well and from the looks of things, it’s going to ruin more than a few friendships.”
