Page 38 of Hot SEAL, Under Pressure

What was done, was done. And if they did get caught, Joanne would eat it up. Navy SEALs could do no wrong in her eyes. She’d love him showing initiative by sneaking off and robbing the chow hall.

Stefan had tossed a few more sticks and some dry leaves into her fire pit and after one more visual sweep of the area, dropped a lit match into the pile. The fire sprang to life, which it never would have if she’d still been rubbing two sticks together.

As he opened his bag again, she spotted packages of instant coffee and also instant oatmeal.

“The show is providing food, you know,” she told him, not that she didn’t appreciate his efforts. Especially the roll of toilet paper she’d also seen inside the bag.

“Before I left for my ‘run’,I saw one of the team guys gutting a fish while his assigned Model Barbie turned green like she was about to puke. Fish—head, scales, tail and all.That’swhat they’re providing for us to cook for breakfast. They’re taking theSurvivoraspect a little too far, if you ask me.”

Fish for breakfast? She had been thinking more like eggs, bacon and coffee when she made this plan.

She cringed. “I guess I should have specified the menu items in my proposal.”

“I’d agree except that I’m not sure those in charge would have taken your suggestions. It seems they’re determined to torture us.”

She had to agree with him. “I’m sorry.”

He shook his head. “Not your fault. Don’t worry. I’ve been tortured by better than these people. And on this very island, as a matter of fact. I’ve got a few tricks of my own up my sleeves.”

A strange feeling of camaraderie mixed with gratitude gave her a full, warm feeling inside. She was finding it hard to be annoyed with him today.

“Thank—” she began, but stopped when he lifted his head, like a dog on a hunt. “What? Did you hear something? Was it a snake?”

Her gaze flew to the ground as she tried to look everywhere at once.

She’d slept horribly last night wondering what animals were creeping around outside her tent.

San Clemente was used for Navy trainings, but this part where the production team had chosen to set up their camp was particularly desolate. It felt as if they were on a completely uninhabited island.

A raven cawed loudly overhead, startling her. She ducked lower and covered her head with both hands.

He frowned at her reaction. “No. I heard a…” He looked around them, his head on a swivel like a bobblehead on a dashboard. “Zodiac.”

Now it was her turn to frown at his final hissed word.

“What’s a zodiac?” she replied in an exaggerated stage-whisper.

He rolled his eyes. “Come with me andbe quiet.”

Stefan grabbed her with one big rough hand and tugged—practically dragged—her through the bushes toward the beach.

“And for your information, if you ever doheara snake when you’re back on the mainland, it’s probably a rattler. So freeze, locate where it is, then back awayslowlyor you’re dead.”

“Ha-ha,” she said flatly as he obviously tried to frighten her.

He glanced at her, brows high. “I’m not kidding.”

Holy shit.

She glanced back behind them, half in hopes someone was following them so she had an excuse to go back to the fire and not further into the brush, which looked like a pretty good place to her for a snake to live.

No wonder Dani had quit her job at NMM afterCold Feetwrapped. This on-location shit was insane.

She tripped, but Stefan kept her from going down when her foot caught on a rock—which had only happened because he was dragging her along much too fast for this rough terrain. She was out of breath and patience when she saw it. An inflatable boat with the five SEALs she’d met on the obstacle course inside.

“Did they take that all the way here from San Diego?” she asked.

He frowned at her. “No. That would take too long. There’s a ferry. Although knowing these guys, they probably talked their way onto one of the flights headed here. Then grabbed the Zodiac from the training facility to get to us. SEALs can be very inventive when they need to be.”

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