But man, that was a long way away. She still had months of BUD/S training to get through, and then a year or more of training with her permanent SEAL team before she would go active. The idea of waiting that long to claim her as his made him want to put his fist through a wall.

The door opened and Sherri entered, screeching to a halt just inside the door and dropping into a defensive stance.

“Good instincts,” he commented without moving from her bed. He knew as well as anyone that any move toward her would have earned him a kick in the groin or a well-placed punch in the face. Both of which he would have deserved for sneaking up on a SEAL—even if she was still a baby SEAL.

She straightened and reached for the light switch.

“Leave the lights off,” he said quickly. “The blinds are open.”

“Oops. Sorry.”

“Situational awareness, Tate,” he half teased, half admonished.

“Yeah, yeah, I know. But I lose my mind when you’re around. You distract the heck out of me.”

“I can live with that,” he replied, gathering her into his arms.

“I’m all sweaty and covered in sand,” she protested.

He chuckled. “As if either of those things would bother me.”

“Good point. Still. Let me go catch a quick shower, and I’ll be right out. Unless you’d like to join me and make it a long, leisurely shower.”

She did not have to ask him twice. They emerged from the shower with her considerably cleaner and him considerably more relaxed. He dressed before slipping into bed with her to do his second favorite thing in the whole world—hold her in his arms until she fell asleep.

“How’d your talk with Ray go last night?” she asked in the soft darkness.

“Good and bad. The good news: Cal judged him correctly. He’s not opposed to women operators if they can pull their weight on a team and not be a liability. Ray’s first impression is that you’re plenty smart enough and seem physical enough. But he’s waiting to see if you’re mentally tough enough. He wants to see how you deal with Hell Week.”

“And the bad news?”

“He didn’t see anything between you and Grundy on the boat. He did say your boatmates were mad enough at Grundy for him to believe the guy tried to drown you. He’s gonna keep an eye on Grundy, though. Bastard won’t get another chance to hurt you on Ray’s watch. Ray was offended at the mere idea of one SEAL trying to screw over another.”

“Good. So am I,” she mumbled, sounding sleepy.