Pressing her palm against her abdomen, Lani choked back a sob. She wanted to raise her child in this place, a place she associated with love, laughter and friendship. No matter that everything was changing, San Diego would always be the city where she’d been the happiest.
It was home now, and she didn’t want to leave.
Suddenly, a delicious smell cut into her anguished thoughts. The pretzel stand. Unexpected hunger made her empty tummy give a giant rumble, and before she knew it, she was headed that way. Maybe a big, soft unsalted pretzel and a cup of Sprite would lift her spirits.
They did. The pretzel was hot, and buttery, the soda crisp and cold.
“Let me keep it down, baby, please,” she whispered, patting her stomach.
“Feeling better?”
With a start, Lani glanced to the side where a low wall ran along the edge of the boardwalk. Geo perched there, lips quirked, cup of coffee in hand. After a moment’s hesitation, she ambled in his direction.
“For now.” She tossed the greasy parchment paper into a nearby trash can. “It smelled so good, I couldn’t resist.”
“I’m glad.” Standing, he threw his coffee cup away, too, and by unspoken agreement, they started meandering down the path side by side, hands crammed in their pockets.
“Hey, thanks for listening earlier,” she said at last. “It did feel good to talk about it.”
“You’re very welcome.” Geo leapt to the side to avoid a skateboarder barreling at them, and when they came back together, he said, “We can talk some more if you want. I don’t have anywhere to be.”
“What? A SEAL with time on his hands? How’d you manage that?”
He chuckled. “I do have to check on my dog at some point, but other than that—”
“You have a dog?”
“Well, sort of. I’m a K9 handler, so he’s not my pet, he’s technically my teammate.”
“Really?” Lani knew next to nothing about the military working dog community, just that they existed, even on SEAL teams.
“Yep, his name is Bosch.”
“Bosch? As in Hieronymus Bosch, the artist?”
Geo’s glance held a tinge of surprise. “Yeah. You know Bosch?”
Unable to keep from bristling, Lani snapped, “Why is that so astonishing? Despite outward appearances, I’m not some uneducated hick—”
“Whoa, now, did I say anything like that?” Geo stopped walking and turned to her. “I can count on one hand the people who’ve gotten that reference immediately, okay? It’s always surprising to me when someone does, no matter who it is.”
Pinching the bridge of her nose, she blew out a calming breath before mumbling, “I’m sorry. I don’t know why I’m so defensive. It’s just—”
After a moment, he gestured toward the ocean. “C’mon, let’s walk on the beach.”
The water was dark, and frothy with waves. She kicked off her shoes, and the cool sand squelched between her toes, easing some of her tension. “You must think I’m an absolute mess, don’t you?”
“‘An uneducated hick.’ ‘An absolute mess.’ Hmm.” Geo shook his head. “Is that how I see you, or how you see yourself?”
Her throat tightening, Lani stopped walking. He swung around to face her. “Because what I see is a woman who stood up for herself against some dude harassing her. A woman who works hard, who’s smart, funny, easy to talk to. Definitely not a ‘hick,’” he said, complete with air quotes, “or a ‘mess.’”
Blinking rapidly, determined not to cry, she whispered, “You don’t even know me. Don’t blow sunshine up my ass—”
“I’m not. I would never do that, ever. Ask anyone.” His grin lit up the night. “I don’t like bullshit, have never had time for it, especially as a K9 handler.”
Curiosity pricked her, made her ask, “What does that have to do with anything?”
“Because reading Bosch’s body language, his cues, is how I keep him, myself and my crew alive. Is there a buried explosive under that pile of trash? A bad guy in the ditch over there? I have to make split-second decisions, instant judgments, about situations and people, almost on a daily basis.”
His solemn gaze met hers.
“So no, I’m not blowing sunshine up your ass, not for one second, when I say that I see strength, not weakness, when I look at you.” He paused. “You just have to see it in yourself, too.”
The hot tears spilled over at last, and Lani wiped them away on her sleeve. Before the roaring in her ears could get too loud, Geo said, “Let’s walk.”
They were quiet as they made their way closer to the water, and the hard-packed sand there. The ocean roared around them, the waves surging to within inches of their feet.
“Fear isn’t your enemy,” he said at last. “If there’s anything being a SEAL has taught me, it’s that success in life has very little to do with the situation you’re in and everything to do with how you react to it. It’s what you do in spite of that fear.”
When he touched her shoulder, Lani glanced up at him. “Fear isn’t the polar opposite of courage. Just because you’re scared doesn’t mean you’re not also strong, okay?”
All she could do was nod.
“Assess, prioritize, eliminate what you can’t control and fix what you can. That’s your SEAL life lesson for today,” he said, smiling. “You’re practically one of us now.”
“But I don’t want to be a SEAL. I hate exercise.”
A pause, and then Geo threw his head back and laughed, the low, husky sound stroking along her nipples like a rough, warm tongue, hardening them painfully.
“God, you didn’t miss a single beat. I haven’t laughed like that in forever.” His incredible eyes were admiring as he gazed down at her. “You don’t have to be a SEAL if you don’t want to. We do exercise a lot.”
They continued on down the beach, and as they strolled, she thought about her friends—well, her former friends, the wives of the guys on Rhys’s team. From the beginning she’d felt out of step with them, with their Barry’s Bootcamps and CrossFit classes. Of course men who lived and breathed physical fitness would gravitate toward women who did the same, but for Lani, a night in with a cheese plate and a good book was infinitely more appealing than hours of lifting weights, yoga or Pilates.
Luckily, she’d found a kindred spirit in Sarah, the wife of one of her and Rhys’s oldest friends. While the guys were gone, the two of them delighted in spending their days searching out local eateries, gourmet grocery stores and funky little tea shops. They’d cook together, glasses of wine in hand, while they tried out different recipes and experimented with foods from all over the world.