Crap. He hated having to talk about touchy-feely stuff in general, and having to talk about it with the source of the problem was worse. But it had to be done. One of the cardinal rules on the teams was never to let tension between yourself and a teammate fester until it rotted team morale.

He took a deep breath and said bluntly, “Am I wrong in sensing that there’s something between the two of us? As in attraction?”

Sherri went perfectly still. “Is this a trap?”

“No. It’s an honest question.”

“Is this part of my training?”

“No, dammit!” he burst out. “You’re messing with my head like nobody’s business, and I’m trying to confront the problem and deal with it before it gets both of us in trouble.”

“For real?”

“Yes. For real!” He exhaled in frustration. “What does it take for you to believe a guy?”

Her shoulders slumped. “It’s not you. It’s me. I get defensive when men compliment me or try to talk earnestly with me. I always assume they’re putting a move on me.”

“Why?” He sensed she might just have revealed more about herself than she’d intended to.

“Because they usually are?” she retorted.

She rustled in the darkness. He was tempted to pull his NODs back over his eyes to get a better look at her. She mumbled, “Let’s just say that spending a lifetime having men hit on me has made me a bit cynical.”

“Yeah, I get that.”

“Really? Do men hit on you all the time, too, Griffin?”

A burst of laughter escaped him. “You never fail to surprise me.”

“Is that a good thing or a bad thing?”

He considered her question. “Mostly good. You women are performing better physically than I would have ever guessed women could.”

“But…” she prompted.

He shrugged. “I’ll admit I was surprised when you freaked out in the pool.”

“I don’t know what happened. I swim all the time.”

“You don’t like loss of control,” he observed. “The drowning evolution forces you to deal with not being in full control of your body.”

Sherri was silent. Thoughtful. Then, “You may have a point.”

“Ya think? I’ve only been doing this for most of my adult life. Perhaps I might know what I’m talking about.”

“I wasn’t trying to insult you,” she said mildly. “I was just thinking out loud.”

He subsided. “Fair enough.”

Silence fell between them. How the hell was he supposed to circle the conversation back around to his original question…which she had yet to answer?

Sherri leaned back against the trunk of a huge pine tree. He did the opposite, stepping toward the tree until he was well inside her personal space. He didn’t touch her, though. If she wanted to pivot to either side to escape him, she was free to do so.