Page 101 of SEAL Summer Escape

“Cheese tortellini, I guess,” she said.

“Excellent choice,” he quipped, passing it over to her.She opened the package, wrinkling her nose.“Ever had an MRE before?”

“Nope.Why would I?”she asked in surprise.

He chuckled.“Don’t suppose you would.”He pulled a KA-BAR knife from his backpack, neatly slicing open the top of her plastic pouch.

“Wow, that thing looks deadly,” she said.

“It is.We carry them on missions,” he said.“Plus I bring it with me on hiking trips.”

“Or fishing weekends.”

“Hey, it’s coming in handy already.”He watched as she pulled out small packets from the MRE bag, opening a small pack of crackers.“You can start with that, but you need to eat more later.”

“I will,” she said, nibbling delicately on one cracker.

Noah dug into his spaghetti, not even bothering to heat the meal.He was starving.And Bailey might be feeling slightly seasick from being out in the ocean all that time, but he was used to the choppy waters.

“Remember the swim in Coronado I told you about?”

“The five miles?”she asked, taking another small bite of cracker.Her face looked slightly red, either sunburn or irritation from the wind and storm earlier.

“Five and half miles.And yeah, that’s the one.We were so hungry after swimming for hours, they had MREs waiting for us on the beach when we were through.Never tasted anything so damn delicious in my life.”

“I can’t imagine swimming for that long,” she said, shuddering.

“It’s what we’re training to do.I couldn’t ever sit at a desk job from nine to five every day.Something like that would just about kill me.”

“Me too,” she agreed, stifling another yawn.“That’s why I bartend.The tips are good, the people I meet are interesting, and I can set my own hours to some extent.I’m a night owl, so getting to work early every morning just wouldn’t do it for me.”

“You’d never make it in the Navy then,” he said, smirking.

She glanced over at him, her green eyes looking amused.“I admire the hell out of what you guys do, but no, that definitely wouldn’t be the career for me.”

“Why don’t you rest, sunshine.I’ll look around and try to make a fire.Even if the driftwood is too wet, I should be able to find something.You can use my backpack as a pillow.Are you still cold?”he asked.

“No, I’m okay.”

“Lie down and close your eyes, sunshine.I’ll be right here on the beach.”

“Maybe just for a few minutes.”

He rooted around in his backpack, pulling out an emergency blanket.It was made of mylar foil and would reflect Bailey’s heat back to her, keeping her warm.The fact that it was metallic would help them on the beach.The sun would gleam off the foil, helping them to be spotted from the air.

He scrubbed a hand over his jaw, wondering briefly why there’d been no signs of the Coast Guard yet.He hadn’t seen any helicopters even off in the distance.

“What’s that?”Bailey asked, looking at the blanket in his hand.

“Lie down,” he said, unfolding it and covering her with the blanket.

“Oh man, now I feel plenty warm.”

“You just got chilled out in the water for that long,” he said, brushing her hair back from her face.Her eyebrow ring gleamed in the sunlight, and he trailed his fingers over the tiny studs in her ear.“Rest.I’ll be right here.”

“Thanks for rescuing me, Noah,” she said softly.

He opened his mouth to answer, but she’d already fallen fast asleep.

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