He shrugged. “Being able to defend yourself is smart.”

“You know I was just kidding about the pen thing, right?”

He cocked his head and studied her. “Were you?”

About the killing Jenna thing, yeah. But not about knowing how to do it with a pen. And yet no one had ever, not once, called her out on that threat as being real.

“Your dad military?” he asked.

“Was. He’s gone now.”

He gave a single nod, his eyes saying he got it at a core level. “I’m sorry.”

She supposed it was his genuine and clearly understanding reaction that had her doing something she rarely did—saying more, unprompted. “We lived overseas in some seriously sketchy places. He made sure I knew how to defend myself and my siblings.”

He gave another nod, this one in approval, and it had her taking a second look at him, at the calm, steady gaze that withheld any personal thoughts, at the way he sat at rest, but with a sense of tightly harnessed power. And then there was his build, which suggested he could handle whatever situation arose. “You were military too.”

He studied her right back for a long beat, assessing. “Still am.”

When he didn’t say anything else, she arched a brow, waiting for more, but it didn’t come. “Let me guess,” she said. “It’s a secret. If you told me, you’d have to kill me.”

The very corners of his eyes crinkled. She was either annoying him or amusing him. “I’m actually a DEA agent,” he said. “But also Coast Guard.”

“How do you do both?”

“I was active duty for twelve years. Been in the Reserve for two. My DEA job schedule allows for the times I’m in training, activated, or deployed.”

Man. She thought her parents had lived dangerous lives. This guy had them beat. And considering what had happened to her mom and dad, she decided then and there that she had less than zero interest in him, no matter how curious she might be. Because seriously, where was a hot easygoing surfer when you needed one? “How often does any of that happen? The training, activation, or deployment?”

“My unit trains three days a month in Virginia. We get activated at will. Deployed less often, but it happens.” He shrugged, like it was no big deal that he put his life on hold at what she assumed was short notice to go off to save the world.

“The DEA doesn’t mind you leaving at the drop of a hat?”

“They knew that when they signed me on. I had the skill sets they needed.”

“And what skill sets are those?”

He gave her another of those looks, and she smiled. “Right. Now we’re at the ‘you’d tell me, but then you’d have to kill me’ part.”