She responded, “Women have worked in various professions with men upwards of forever, and everyone has managed to get their work done. More to the point, women do all sorts of military jobs side by side with men, and have for decades. But for the most part, everyone manages to keep their libido in check. Give me a better reason than that.”

He was silent a long time and then blurted out all at once, “I don’t think a woman can have the guts of a SEAL.”

“What does that mean?” she challenged.

“I don’t know how to describe it. SEALs have…courage beyond the ordinary. They’ll sacrifice themselves for the right cause. It sounds lame to call it heroism, but that’s basically what it is.”

“And you don’t think women have that?”

“Not the same way a SEAL does.”

How the heck was she supposed to prove that she could be a hero? Nobody could really know how they would react in one of those split-second life-or-death moments until one presented itself.

Taking advantage of Griffin’s rare talkative mood, she changed subjects and asked him something else that had been bugging her.

“So how is this training going to work?” she asked. “Are you guys going to yell at us every day and then be civil with us every night?”

He stopped rolling and sat up, stretching one arm across his body and pulling on it with the other. She was a little surprised at how flexible he was. She’d heard rumors that SEALs practiced yoga and even took the occasional ballet lesson. Maybe those rumors were true.

Griffin finished stretching the first shoulder and went to work on the second one before he answered, “We’re in a weird position of having to simulate BUD/S for you three and also teach you how to get through it.”

“I get that,” she replied. “It just gives me mental whiplash sometimes.”

“The BUD/S instructors will do that, too. Particularly in Phases Two and Three. If you survive the first phase, they’ll want to get to know you. See if you’re the kind of guy—or gal—they’d want to work with. How you react to ribbing or to friction inside a team. Every now and then someone washes out in Phase Two or Three just because they’re assholes nobody wants to work with.”

“So even if I pass the physical requirements, the boys’ club can toss me out simply because they don’t like me?”

He met her stare reluctantly. “It’ll be different in your case.”

“Why?” she demanded.

“Because you’re a woman. And we’re under orders to graduate one.”

“What if I want to get through all three phases on my own merits?”

Griffin started to snort but cut the noise off quickly.

Not quickly enough. She still heard his skepticism.