Page 16 of Down and Dirty

“Because I wanted to,” he told her. “And I’ll probably do it again. And again. And again. And—”

She was gone, but his words echoed after her. Heaven was just a few smooth moves away, he promised himself. Just a few tastes of his well-honed seduction techniques, and she would be his. It was arrogant of him to be so self-confident, but he had years of success with women under his belt… so to speak.

Just then, his cell phone rang. He flipped the lid on the second ring, still smiling about Britta, when he noted his home phone number on caller ID. His smile disappeared.

“Pretty Boy, you will not believe what your kid did now. You know that stash of condoms you used to have in your bedside table?” It was Omar, who must have been back from the hospital, helping Madrene, bless the man.

“Uh-huh.”

“Let’s just say, a few of your neighbors are about to have heart attacks because of the water balloons pelting their windows.”

Forget heaven. It was more likely that hell was just a few steps away.

I know how to make you feel better, baby…

It was the end of the day… well, end of the afternoon, though it felt like the longest day of Zach’s life.

He’d already showered and changed, prepared to go home for the day. There would be another team of instructors taking over the evening run on the beach for the WEALS class.

But then he noticed Britta standing on the grinder. All alone.

Even though he’d advised the stubborn woman to ring out, over and over and over, he had to concede that this first day of exercise had to be even worse for Britta, who was not only in a strange place but in a different frickin’ time. Today’s evolutions hadn’t been as difficult as first day for first-phase BUD/S, but they’d been damn grueling. A lot of men broke under less.

And much of the pain had been delivered by him, a regular Marquis de SEAL.

The other women and some of the instructors had left for the chow hall across the Strand highway. He’d thought Britta went with them. Apparently not.

She was leaning against a device made of logs that SEALs had long ago aptly dubbed the Dirty Name. Perspiration covered her from her scalp, which had to feel itchy, to her toes, which probably pinched by now in her nasty boondockers. She pretended to be relaxing but probably couldn’t move. If experience proved true, every muscle, bone, and sinew in her body ached, even her eyeballs.

“Are you all right?”

Britta did not even open her eyes. “Nay, lackwit, I am not all right. Didst come to gloat?”

He thought about telling her that the correct way to address an officer was “No, Lieutenant Floyd, sir,” but only for a second. “C’mon.” He tried to take her hand.

She shoved his hand away with her fist.

Beware of women with fire in their eyes. “A fist? You going to punch me, or something?”

“If I unclench my fingers, I might collapse.”

Oh. “You can’t stay here, sweetheart.”

“Why not?” She must be tired if she didn’t argue with him about not being his sweetheart.

“Because you’ll be performance dropped in a flash if the commander or F.U. sees your condition. Unless you want to go ring out?” And be my babysitter. He added that last hopefully, to himself.

She opened her eyes and looked as if she actually would like to punch him. “I will not quit, Zack-hairy. And if anyone dares attempt to drop me, they will find just how hard I can drop them.” Then she seemed to notice something about his appearance. “Why is your hair wet? And your clothing clean? You even smell good… like mint, whilst I smell like a randy goat.” Her eyes narrowed with suspicion. “You have bathed,” she accused him as if he’d committed some heinous crime.

He laughed.

Now her fists resembled claws.

He made sure he wasn’t within clawing distance. “Okay, if you’re not going to quit, how about a shower? A nice hot shower should make you feel better.”

She sighed. “I know what a shower is. There were several in that amazing bathing room in the women’s sleeping chambers. We were shown around after the noon meal. I would love a shower.”

When she did not move, Zach raised his eyebrows at her.