Chapter 3
“You need to relax, Doll.”
Even with Tatiana’s lips flattened and her brows drawn, she was a pretty woman.
I wished I could smooth the worry lines on her forehead.
I could’ve told her this was an easy day, floating out there in the warm water of the Gulf, but I didn’t think she’d appreciate my comment.
She didn’t seem to like anything I had to say.
Yesterday it’d been fun pushing her buttons, even more when she stopped to drop anchor, but now it seemed cruel.
I may’ve been a lot of things, but malicious wasn’t one of them.
There was something working behind her intelligent eyes, and it looked a lot like pain.
Not the physical kind, the emotional aftermath of heartache.
It was the only thing that explained why she had the need to hide behind piss and vinegar.
I wouldn’t go as far as calling her a bitch, but damn she had snark.
It was unfortunate for her, I liked sassy and spirited women.
Her demeanor in no way was a deterrent. She was waving the proverbial red flag in front of the bull.
“And you need to stop calling me ‘Doll’.”
Yeah, I liked her spunk. I wanted to call her baby cakes just to see what she’d do but I was too afraid she’d drown.
“Okay, Tatiana . While we’re waiting, why don’t we talk about your job? What does a political affairs officer do?”
If it were possible for her to become stiffer in the water, she did. “What do you want to know?”
“I want to know the real reason you’re in Bahrain, but I doubt you’ll tell me that. So tell me about working for the UN.”
“I analyze security reports and verify information.”
“How do you verify the intel you receive?”
“It depends on the region. Sometimes, I’m strapped to a platoon, normally Army. Other times I’m on my own.” She turned her face from the sky and looked at me. “Aren’t you getting tired?”
“No. I can do this all day.”
“Of course you can. Drownproofing, phase one.”
Her reference to my BUD/s training gave me pause. She’d read my file, knew I was a former SEAL, and Basic Underwater Demolition SEAL school wasn’t top secret, however most people don’t know the different phases. Or that there were different phases.
“That and I’ve spent a lot of time in the water. What do you know about the phases, anyway?”
She looked back to the sky and was quiet for so long, I didn’t think she was going to answer. And when she did, she shocked the shit out of me.
“I was married to a SEAL. He was an instructor.”
“No shit. Who?”
“James Monroe.”
“Monroe? Chief Monroe from ST-1?”
“Yep. That’s him.”
Holy shit, that guy was a dick. And it explained so much about her attitude.
He was an egomaniac and was dangerous. Monroe was infamous among team guys.
During an extraction he’d refused to listen to the four-man SWCC crew, took over the special operation craft and crashed it.
His stupidity had almost killed everyone on board.
He was sent to BUD/s to be an instructor. The SEAL equivalent of being benched.
“So yesterday when you said you were familiar with men like me, you were comparing me to shit-for-brains Monroe?”
At least she had the decency to wince. “Not exactly him. I was generalizing. I’ve worked with SPECOPS guys before. You’re all pretty much the same. Arrogant alpha males with big egos.”
“I think you’re mixing up arrogance and confidence.”
“All the same.”
“No, Doll. Not even close. An arrogant man will tell you how good he is. A confident one will remain silent. He doesn’t need to tell you what he’s capable of and most of the time, he doesn’t want you to know.
” I’d spent years working with the best of best. Not only with the men on my team but men and women from other agencies who would prefer no one knew what their job really was.
“You said was married. How long have you been divorced?”
“A few years.”
I heard a faint whine of an engine and scanned the area. We were sitting ducks out here in the water. There was nowhere to hide. Tatiana was finally relaxed on her back floating but I didn’t think she was ready for another sixty-second trip underwater.
“If I tell you to go, you go. Swim deep and as far as you can go in one breath. When you come up, you do so slowly. Turn on your side, only take your mouth out of the water and dip back down. Do not wait for me. Do not try to help me. You leave. Understood?”
“But—”
“No buts, Doll. Understood?”
The boat was drawing near, she’d seen it, too. I had no time to explain why I needed her away from me and on her way to safety.
“Understood,” she clipped, obviously not happy with my demand.
Tough shit. I couldn’t do much to protect her while we were in the water.
I was impressed with Tatiana. When she’d finally caught her breath, she hadn’t freaked out about the boat exploding.
Hadn’t said a word about me tossing her overboard.
It made me wonder how many times she’d been in a similar situation.
She didn’t even appear to be scared. Most people would be freaking out, but not Tatiana, she was a cool customer.
I was going to tell her to start swimming when I finally heard the three sharp whistles I’d been waiting for.
“We’re good. It’s the guys.”
“Don’t you have to do something? Should we wave or something?”
“Nope. Just float. They’ll find us.”
“So. Um. Thanks for…saving me.”
“That sounded painful to say. But there’s no need to thank me.”
“Not painful. I’m just not used to being helpless.”
“There’s nothing helpless about you. And you’ve done great.”
“Sure I have. All I’ve done is float and you’ve distracted me from the fact we almost died a fiery death, then I almost drowned.”
“You saved us to begin with. You’re the one that saw the RPG.”
Thank God, Tatiana had been looking back at the dock, or we’d have been fish food.
The boat was close enough I could make out my team on board, and weirdly I was bummed our time alone in the water had come to an end. There was something about the woman that made me want to get to know her better. Which was an impossibility since we were leaving in a few days. Shit timing.