Anticipation buoyed her through her appointment and all the way home, where she took a long, hot shower and then spent an inordinate amount of time on her hair and makeup.
“No, I won’t feel stupid about it,” she lectured herself in the mirror. “I have a date tonight with a great guy, and I deserve to look and feel my best.”
Besides, how many more dates was she likely to have? At thirteen weeks, she could be starting to show soon, and she couldn’t imagine that men would be lining up to get involved with her. After she had the baby, the last thing she’d have time for was a man.
“So, basically, I’m gonna enjoy it while I can,” she said, pointing her mascara wand at her reflection. “No promises, no strings, just two people enjoying each other’s company. Nothing more, nothing less.”
Still, when the quiet knock on the door sounded precisely at six, her breath caught in a way it hadn’t in years.
“Jesus, he’s a SEAL,” she lectured herself. “You’re not going to fall for a SEAL. It’s not gonna happen. So what if he cleans the kitchen without being asked? Or offers pity-free hugs and a shoulder to cry on without expecting anything in return? Lots of non-SEALs would do that, right? Tons of them. Men like that grow on trees.”
Rolling her eyes at her own absurdity, Lani paused and fluffed her hair out one last time before reaching for the security chain.
“Seriously, now. Geo’s amazing, but he’s not for you. Go out, have fun, but try not to lose sight of that, okay?”
Taking a deep breath, she swung the door open, only for her mouth to go dry as an Arizona desert. Damn. Geo wore a faded Green Day T-shirt and soft jeans that molded themselves to slim hips and muscular thighs. His broad shoulders seemed to take up the entire doorway, the hands shoved in his pockets pulling his waistband down just enough to give her a peek of taut belly.
God, she could so lick him like an ice cream cone right now.
“Hey,” he said, smiling, raising an eyebrow when she continued to stand there and gape.
Her cheeks heated. “Hey,” she croaked, hoping he hadn’t noticed how red they must be. “Ready to go?”
“Yep, if you are.” Standing to the side, he waited until she’d closed and locked her door before ushering her on ahead of him down the stairs. At the bottom, he put his hand lightly on the small of her back and steered her toward a sleek, gunmetal-gray Toyota Tundra.
The touch, impersonal as it was, still managed to turn her knees to mush. Once seated inside the truck, Lani pressed her thighs together, doing her best not to squirm as he swung up into the driver’s seat, his corded forearms making her mouth water. In fact, he looked so tasty it was a wonder she hadn’t grown fangs.
Sucking in a deep, calming breath, she asked, “So...what’s next for you and Bosch?”
He completed the left turn out of her parking lot before answering, “We leave tomorrow for a few weeks at Fort Benning, and then on to Langley for a, um, workshop.”
A pang went through her. So this was the last night he’d be in town for a while. She kept her voice light. “Oooh, a workshop. Sounds exciting.”
“Just another day at the office.” They chuckled together. “How about you?”
“Eh. Work. Therapy.” Lunch with my ex’s new love. “More work. More therapy. You get the picture. Lather, rinse, repeat. Super interesting,” she finished drily.
“When’s your support group?”
She blinked, amazed that he’d remembered. “It’s the, uh, last Saturday of the month, actually. Why?”
He shrugged. “Thought you might want an accountability call. I can imagine it’s not something you’re looking forward to.”
Her throat tightened at his perception. “That’d be amazing, Geo. And yeah, I’m pretty much dreading it.”
The understatement of the year. The thought of sitting in a room full of total strangers and sharing her deepest, most private pain with them made her stomach tie itself into knots.
“There’s strength in numbers,” Maura had said. “In finding a community of people who’ve been through exactly what you have, who understand it, and are surviving it.”
Aware of Geo’s gaze, Lani made a concerted effort to relax. She was not going to ruin their night together.
After navigating through the sentry gate, Geo turned down a side street and parked in front of what she assumed was the kennel. Like every other building on every other military base in the country, it was an unassuming dun-colored block, the only identifying feature the large number on the corner of it.
“How many dogs are here?”
“Right now? I’m not sure. Three or four, maybe.” He unlocked the front door and led her inside. “The kennel master’s room is right there.” He pointed. “And he has a couple of assistants who live here, too. There’s always someone on-site who checks the dogs, feeds them, exercises them, does some light training. I try to work with Bosch every day, too.”
When they reached Geo’s assigned kennel area, Lani couldn’t help but tense and move a tiny bit closer to him. He stopped short, then turned to look at her.
“Are you afraid of dogs?” he asked gently.
She shook her head, her voice a tiny bit tremulous as she said, “I’m not usually, but all of a sudden I’m thinking about what you told me, about him chasing the decoy up a fence and jumping out a window to pile-drive that guy. Maybe this isn’t such a good idea.”
Geo didn’t answer, just snagged a folding chair that was leaning up against the wall and set it up well away from Bosch’s cage. “Why don’t we sit for a minute?”
After she’d lowered herself onto the chair, Geo crouched at her feet, his face solemn. “I would never bring you around Bosch if I thought he was in any way a danger to you. Never.”
“I know.”
She must not have sounded all that convinced, because he rested his hand on her knee and waited until she met his eyes. “On our last deployment, right before coming home, we were out clearing this compound, looking for bad guys. We found some.”
Lani darted her gaze over his shoulder to where Bosch lay quietly.
“There was a firefight, and the drone pilot saw some people running away—just heat signatures in the dark, leaving the compound. We knew from earlier surveillance that there were a ton of irrigation ditches out in this field they were headed for, some palm groves.”
She gulped. “Lots of places to hide.”
“Yeah. Because of the threat of ambush, it was too dangerous to just blindly charge out there after them, so I sent Bosch first to try and track them down.”
As he spoke, Geo moved his body around so they were both facing Bosch’s cage. The dog was on his mat, ears up, his head cocked slightly to the side, for all the world looking like he was enthralled with the story, too.
Geo squeezed her knee. “Try to picture this if you can. It was pitch dark, the middle of the night. Our guys at the compound were fully engaged with the enemy there, our combat controller was trying to coordinate some air strikes, and we had squirters hiding somewhere in ambush territory.”
His voice grew tight with remembered excitement.
“Fuck, we were totally amped, adrenaline pumping, ready to neutralize the threat. Suddenly Bosch veered off, and I could tell by the way he was running that he was locked on a target. We followed him, weapons up...”
When he paused, Lani reached out and dug her fingers into his shoulder. “Oh, my God, don’t leave me hanging. What happened?”
“He stopped,” Geo said simply. “Planted his feet at the edge of this ditch and stopped short, wouldn’t engage. The whole point of using K9s is to give ourselves the element of surprise, a split-second advantage with someone aiming an AK-47 at us.”
“Because they don’t expect a dog to be coming at them?”
“Maybe they’re expecting it, I don’t know, but they never see or hear
him coming. All of a sudden he’s there, teeth clamped on your gun arm. When he full-on bites, those teeth slice through skin, and muscle, all the way to the bone.”
He lifted his forearm to display his own scar.
“You’re flailing, trying to get him off you, but his grip is too tight. Everything is ripping, blood is flying, you’re screaming...”
“And you’re too busy to get a shot off,” Lani said breathlessly.
“Some guys try. They try to shoot the dog, or reach for a grenade, or clack off a vest. Those guys don’t live very long.” His eyes looked straight into hers. “Not because he kills them, but because I do.”
She nodded. That was his job, after all.
“Some give up, and then I call Bosch off. Those guys are put in flex-cuffs and taken back to base. That particular night, he stopped, went into what we call a bark-and-hold. Usually that’s not something we want. We want him to go in, no hesitation, put the hurt on the bad guy.”
“So why didn’t he?”
“Because the people in the ditch weren’t bad guys. They were women and children.”
She gasped. “Oh, no!”
“In that instant, when he was in full attack mode, with four SEALs behind him ready to shoot to kill, he stopped.” Geo paused. “He saved their lives. He recognized in a split-second that they weren’t threats, and he stopped.”
“How does he know?”
“Because he’s trained. Exhaustively. He can run through a crowded bazaar and ignore everyone except the person he’s chasing. If he corners a guy and the guy surrenders, he doesn’t bite him. He’s not some loose cannon I send out there to bring the pain to whichever random person he can run to ground.”
“I know. But what if I do something wrong?” she whispered. “Something he doesn’t like?”
“Well, let me tell you the two rules I have when it comes to interacting with Bosch.” Pushing to his feet, Geo unlocked the cage and opened it. “Wait for me to introduce you, and don’t try to kiss him.”
With an incredulous laugh, Lani said, “Don’t worry about that, Jesus.” She put her hand to her mouth. “Did someone—”
“Yep, this overly enthusiastic Marine who was missing his Lab back home or something. Dropped to his knees and put his arms around Bosch, tried to kiss his nose.”
“Oh, God. Did he get bitten?”
“Nice little rip in his tear duct. Hey, the guy was stupid,” he went on when she groaned in sympathy. “You never put your face near a strange dog’s mouth, no matter if it’s a chihuahua wearing a fuzzy pink coat or a Malinois in a war zone.”
Lani sat rigidly in her chair as Geo gave Bosch a command, and almost delicately the dog got up and crossed the floor to stand in front of her. He sniffed her knees, then down to her sandaled toes, before sitting with an eager, expectant look.
“Pet him if you want to,” Geo said softly. “He loves a good ear scratch.”
After a long moment’s hesitation, she reached out tentative fingers and rubbed the top of his head. When Bosch didn’t react, she fondled his ears lightly, then more firmly, at last scratching behind them and even down his neck. “Hey, Bosch. Nice to finally meet you.”
Geo knelt next to them. “This beautiful lady is my friend,” he informed him, and Bosch thumped his tail as if in reply, which made her giggle.
“You’re so handsome. Thanks for helping to keep the guys safe,” she said with another hearty scratch to Bosch’s neck. “You’re such a good boy.”
Lani could’ve sworn she saw the dog smile.
Geo had her feed Bosch treats from the palm of her hand, and taught her a few Dutch commands, like “lie down” and “sit.” By the end of their little get-to-know-you session, she’d completely relaxed.
“I think I’d built him up in my mind to be some sort of lion,” she admitted, “and while I wouldn’t exactly call him a teddy bear, he’s not as scary as I was picturing.”
“There’re some guys in the platoon who won’t go near him if they can help it, and that’s fine. Like I tell them, he’s not there to be a mascot or a pet. He doesn’t have to be loved, but he needs to be respected for what he’s trained to do.”
She watched as Geo led Bosch to his cage and ushered him inside, the affection in his body language, his voice, making her chest ache with something she couldn’t define. Despite Bosch’s toughness, not to mention Geo’s toughness, it was obvious how much they loved each other.
The ache deepened into longing and, clearing her throat, Lani glanced down at her knees. Was she really envious of a dog? No way.
As Geo flipped the lights off and pulled the kennel door shut, he asked, “You want to go for a walk?”
“Mmm. I do if you do.”
“Yeah.” He thought for a moment. “Why don’t we head over to the beach by the Navy Lodge? It’s just about a mile from here.”
“Perfect.” She grinned up at him, her nose wrinkling. “Close to bathrooms. I’ll probably have to pee ten times while we’re there.”
He eyed her. “The joys of pregnancy, huh?”
“I wouldn’t say joy is the word for it, but...” She sighed. “I’m sure all of this is nature’s way of making sure I don’t dread what’s to come.”
The parking lot at the beach seemed surprisingly full, although the beach itself looked deserted. Luckily, Geo found a spot close to the path leading down to the water. Once they’d reached the sand, the reason for all the cars became clear.
“I think there’s a wedding over there.” He pointed to a small reception hall and gazebo about a hundred yards away from where they were standing. The amplified voice of the DJ echoed over to them, along with the throbbing beat of some dance music. “You want to go somewhere else?”
“Nah. We won’t hear them down by the water.”
It seemed like the most natural thing in the world for her to take his arm while they strolled. She hugged his muscular biceps, enjoying the warmth and closeness. When they reached the reception hall, they stood just outside the pool of light, watching while the wedding couple danced together on the gazebo. The bride was radiant in a light pink cocktail dress, her groom in khaki pants, the sleeves of his matching pink button-up shirt rolled to his elbows.
“Aww, they look so beautiful and happy together, don’t they?” Lani whispered. “Best wishes to them both.”
Loud laughter drew their attention to a knot of young men leaning against a nearby railing, bottles of beer in hand, their boisterousness and camaraderie instantly recognizable. Geo nodded at them. “Team guys.”
She grimaced, her pleasure at the sight of the happy couple draining away. The bride had not only married her husband, she’d married the whole community and the demands it brought with it. It wouldn’t be an easy or glamorous life, not by a long shot.
“Well, good luck to them both, then,” she said. “They’re gonna need it.”
Geo quirked his lips at her. “Been there, done that, got the T-shirt, huh?”
“Hell, yeah, I got the T-shirt.” Tugging on his arm, she steered them past the wedding and on down the beach. “How about you? What sort of relationship skeletons do you have in your closet?” She’d said it lightly, teasingly, and was surprised to feel his biceps tense.
He didn’t say anything for a few beats, then, “I lived with someone for about a year once. His name was Jake.”
It took a moment for his meaning to sink in. Careful to keep both her face and voice neutral, Lani said, “His name?”
“I’m bi. So yeah, ‘closet’ is a pretty good word for it.”
Risking a glance up at him, she could see how rigid his jaw was, his lips compressed into a tight line. How much trust had it taken for him to reveal that? A pang shot through her. More than she’d ever know.
Instinctively, she hugged him tighter. “Thanks for telling me that,” she said softly. “What hap
pened with you and Jake?”
He took a deep breath, the stiffness in his body slowly, incrementally, draining away. “He got tired of pretending to be my roommate. It was during DADT, so he couldn’t ever be anything else.”
Lani didn’t reply, because what was there to say? She leaned her cheek on his shoulder as he went on, “I loved him, but not enough to fight for him, you know? When he walked out, I...let him.”
“I’m sorry,” she whispered.
After a lengthy pause, he shrugged. “Me, too. It was a long time ago, though.”
“No one since?”
“No one serious. I really don’t let myself do serious anymore.”
“Yeah.” She grunted. “I’m with you on that, even if my one foray into a no-strings hookup didn’t end with, uh, no strings.”
Geo cast her a sympathetic glance. “A baby is one hell of a string, isn’t it?”
“I know! Jesus Christ, can’t I do anything right?”
She’d meant the words to sound flippant, but they came out throbbing with pain, and hot embarrassment immediately burned its way through her. Before she could babble on, he reached over and covered her fingers with his.
With an internal sob, Lani clutched on to him, grabbing hold of the silent comfort he offered. “Wow, I’m sorry,” she forced out. “You’re sitting ringside to a real shitshow, aren’t you?”
“What?” He chuckled softly. “And here I was thinking how brave you are. Silly me.”
She just shook her head.
“Look.” Geo slipped his arm around her waist and turned her to face the ocean. “See those guys?” He pointed, and under the weak moonlight glowing on the water, she could just make out some black rubber boats with shadowy figures inside, rowing away. “Those are BUD/S students. It’s mid Hell Week.”
Unbelievably, a laugh bubbled up in her chest. “Are you saying my life is like Hell Week?”
He threw her a reproving look. “I’m saying that by this point in the Week, those guys are so punchy from lack of sleep, they’re hallucinating all sorts of crazy shit. Their skin is so chafed that the saltwater feels like acid, but you know what? They keep going.”
Trusting a Warrior Page 12
