“I got that memo. Thanks,” she replied dryly.

“Again, then.”

He reached out to squeeze her shoulder reassuringly. Pleasure exploded through his brain at merely touching her like this. Her gaze snapped up to his in surprise, and a surge of possessiveness coursed through him—which did a whole lot more than merely surprise him. It shocked him to his core. What was wrong with him? Women didn’t affect him like this. But then, he’d never been around a woman training to be a SEAL, either.

He jumped up and helped her as she climbed awkwardly to her feet, her hands and feet still zip-tied.

Appalled at his reaction to touching her, he unceremoniously tossed her in the pool. It probably wasn’t the most chivalrous thing he’d ever done. Stop being a shithead, and do your job. He followed her back into the water.

No matter how many times he pushed her up to the surface to catch her breath, she just didn’t get the hang of relaxing and working with the water instead of against it. Kettering called time on the evolution without her succeeding at swimming while tied up.

One last time, Griffin grabbed her under her arms and hauled her over to the edge. But instead of lifting her onto the deck this time, he pulled a knife out of his calf sheath and quickly slashed her zip ties. Sherri instantly flung her arms wide and kicked her legs hard, propelling herself out of the pool.

Speculatively, he watched her practically run away. Huh. Was it the water that had freaked her out, or had being tied up done her in? He boosted himself out of the water and followed her more slowly toward the locker room.

* * *

Sherri stood under the hot water, scrubbing her hair furiously. Damn, damn, damn. She hated failing, and she hated looking weak, especially in front of Griffin. She didn’t know what had happened out there, but when she went under the water and couldn’t move her limbs, she’d panicked every freaking time.

She didn’t have much time to fret about it though, because, like every day, the training continued at a frenetic pace. Kettering hustled them out of the shower and into another session at the shooting range. At least she was reasonably good at this.

Today, five-foot-long, bull-barrel sniper rifles mounted on tripods were waiting for them when they arrived. Griffin gestured for her to lie down on the ground beside the weapon. Again, he stretched out beside her to demonstrate using the weapon.

Thing was, she liked being close to him like this.

What did that say about her?

Cut yourself a break. All it said about her was that she happened to be attracted to an extremely attractive man. It didn’t make her a weirdo or a villain—just a girl who liked a boy.