Stepping out on the Easy Day’s aft deck, Griffin plunked down the case of beer he planned to go through this afternoon. It wouldn’t erase the pain in his chest, and it wouldn’t bring back Sherri, but he was prepared to let it try. He fell into a lounge chair, staring out at the ocean, which glittered back at him damningly.

He was a jackass. And an idiot. He didn’t deserve Sherri after chickening out last night and not telling her he loved her, too. But all the guys had been almost within earshot, and habit had taken over. Their relationship was a secret, and revealing it would have destroyed both of their careers.

Although after spending the past twelve hours experiencing what life would be like without Sherri in it, he wasn’t sure he cared a hell of a lot about throwing away his career.

Thing was, he couldn’t—he wouldn’t—throw away her career for her. Not after all she’d been through to get here. She’d earned a shot at the teams, dammit.

Nice try at making excuses, asshole. You chickened out, plain and simple. You choked when the moment was right to tell her how you felt.

If he had it to do all over again, he’d have found a way. Whispered it back to her—

“Permission to come aboard?”

Sherri? What the hell was she doing here? Had Duquesne thrown her out of the SEALs after all? Righteous anger on her behalf bubbled up in his gut—

“I know you’re here, Griffin. Your truck’s in the parking lot.”

“Oh, umm, yeah. Come aboard. I wasn’t avoiding you. I was just surprised you’re here. Everything okay?” he asked cautiously, coming forward to lower the short gangplank and help her aboard.

She startled him by saying, “No. Everything’s not okay. That’s why I’m here.”

“Duquesne didn’t seriously kick you out, did he? Have you talked to Kettering? I’m sure he’d still take you in Operation Valkyrie back at Camp Jarvis—”

“Duquesne approved me to continue on to Phase Two of BUD/S.”

“Oh.” He stared at Sherri, who looked like Malibu Navy Barbie today—no, better than that. She looked like a million bucks. “Congratulations,” he mumbled belatedly. “That’s fantastic. You did it. You must be so proud of yourself.”

“I guess so.”

“Why aren’t you happy? You should be shouting to the heavens with joy! You’ve just made it through Phase One of BUD/S, and no woman has ever done that before.”

“I am happy about that.”

Aww, hell. She was here to have it out with him about what a giant jerk he was. He had never for a second doubted that she would catch his failure to reciprocate her declaration of love. He said quickly, “Will you give me a second to explain before you blow your stack at me?”