That one got a reaction out of Griffin. He threw a silent, quelling stare at the trio, and they subsided instantly. Sherri would accuse them all of being psychic, but it probably just boiled down to the men knowing each other that well. Griffin could throw them a look, and the others knew exactly what he meant by it.

As for her, Griffin Caldwell was a mystery. He seemed by turns attracted to her and furious that she lived and breathed. He looked as if he couldn’t make up his mind whether to be intrigued or appalled by her attempting to become a SEAL. She knew the feeling. She couldn’t figure out whether to be attracted to or infuriated by him, or both.

When she caught him staring as she finished knocking out a set of pull-ups, she asked, “What? You didn’t think women could have upper-body strength?”

He shrugged. “I’m not impressed, yet.”

Liar. All three women were world-class athletes. Lily might be tiny, but she’d been a champion gymnast and had a ridiculous strength-to-weight ratio. Anna had been in the top ten female finishers at various international CrossFit games. As for herself, she held one of the top five scores in the world this year for women’s heptathlon—seven track and field events run over two days—which made her a hella good all-around athlete.

She followed Griffin over to the weights, and he started loading metal disks onto a bar. He glanced up at her. “How much do you want to lift?”

“Are we going high rep-low weight, or high weight-low rep?”

He considered, then said, “Show me the max you can dead-lift.”

“Load up three hundred, then.”

“Three hundred pounds?” Griffin blurted out.

“Yes,” she replied a little impatiently. “I didn’t mean three hundred bags of marshmallows.”

“Okay, then.”

She helped him slide the last weights onto the bar and secure them.

Tugging her lifting gloves into place, she addressed the bar, spine straight and shoulder blades squeezed back for optimal leverage. Gathering herself, she gripped the bar and pulled for everything she was worth. Groaning with effort, she stood up straight, bringing the bar to her hips.

She dropped the bar with a clank of steel and a grunt of satisfaction. Choke on that, Caldwell.

She looked up to see all the men staring at her. She huffed. “Seriously? What did you guys expect when you heard women were training to be SEALs? A bunch of Girl Scouts singing ‘Kumbaya’ and doing camping crafts while applying their lipstick?”

“I don’t know what I expected, but it wasn’t that,” Axel answered for all the men, lifting his bushy beard toward the bar at her feet. Lily swatted him on his upper arm, and he squawked in protest. The other pairs went back to working out.

“You wanna lift?” Sherri asked Griffin. “I’ll spot for you.”

“Let’s take a walk.”