Eventually, he managed to lift his gaze to the rest of her. Words failed him as he stared at the perfection of her body, swathed in baby-blue spandex. The one-piece racing swimsuit shouldn’t be particularly sexy, but on her, it was eye-poppingly hot. How she managed to be both strong and feminine at the same time, he couldn’t fathom. But she did it. With cleavage to spare.

Mind effing blown.

She dived into the pool, knifing cleanly through the water and surfacing a few yards away from him, laughing. Droplets of water sparkled like tiny diamonds on her skin, and with her hair slicked back, the raw beauty of her face was revealed. No mermaid princess had ever been more gorgeous or had better cheekbones.

He scowled in her general direction. “SEALs generally jump feet first into water in case it turns out to be shallower than it looks. That way you won’t break your neck on a shallow bottom.”

She sighed. “It’s always a lesson with you. Can’t you ever let down your hair for one second and savor the moment? You’re such a killjoy.”

“I’ll have you know I’ve worked long and hard to become this curmudgeonly,” he declared.

She laughed again, a musical tinkling across the water, as he’d secretly hoped she would.

Anna did a cannonball into the water, landing only a few feet from Trevor, splashing him hard. The Brit responded by ducking under the water, grabbing her ankle and yanking her down to the bottom of the pool. Lily, watching that exchange, slipped into the water more sedately, sitting on the edge of the pool and then merely pushing off the side into the shallow end and waiting quietly for the training evolution to begin.

Griffin swam over to where the three women had gathered, standing in chest-deep water, and announced, “SEALs wouldn’t be SEALs if we weren’t outstanding swimmers. The first thing you women have to learn is the combat swim stroke. It’s a combination of the freestyle and a sidestroke. It’s highly efficient and maximizes distance, speed, and endurance.”

Here goes nothing.

“Sherri, I’ll need you to help demonstrate the stroke.”

She swam over to him, and he put his hands on her narrow waist, marveling at the inward curve of her sides and at how deceptively muscular her stomach actually was. Supporting her body horizontal on the surface of the water, he talked her and the others through the mechanics of the stroke.

Trevor helped Anna practice the stroke, and Axel got to Lily first to help her.

Sherri was awkward at first, but quickly got the hang of the movements. He turned her loose to swim to the far end of the pool while he swam beside her, watching and making corrections. Her outstretched hand bumped into his chest, and her head jerked up.

“Oh! Sorry.”