Page 16 of A Soldier's Temptation
“You don’t have to say anything. I wanted to lay my cards on the table. I haven’t been around another woman I wanted to see more than once in years. I am hoping we can see where this leads.”
“A poker analogy?”
“Yeah, well I did just get back from three months with a bunch of men.”
Ari took a sip of wine. He was so easy to be around. It was kind of scary. Her judge of character hadn’t been the best, what if he turned out to be worse than Paul? John must have seen her indecision because he didn’t wait for her to answer.
“I have an idea. How about we play twenty questions? You can ask me anything and unless it’s classified I’ll answer. What do you say?”
Did she want to go down that road? There were too many things she’d rather not share. But then he didn’t know about the asshat and his accomplices. Her secrets should be safe. “Sure, but I reserve the right to not answer.”
“That’s not fair.”
“I don’t have classified stuff, and I won’t know if you’re lying or not to avoid answering.”
“Lie? No way. I’m a SEAL, remember?” Again, she’d swear a shadow passed across his face.
“Fine, but I reserve the right to say no to one question. Okay?”
“Yup, that works. You go first,” he said before picking up a piece of salami and taking a bite.
Before she could ask her first question, the server brought their meals. As Ari cut into her lasagna and the aroma of fresh basil and oregano teased her senses, she decided the questions could wait. “I need to try this first.”
John nodded, already digging in. Obviously, he wasn’t all about savoring the experience.
“It’s really good. I’m glad you dragged me here.”
John chuckled. “Me too. I thought for sure you were going to turn me down. I’m so glad you didn’t.”
“Eating alone gets old after a while.”
“Exactly. Although MREs in the jungle with a bunch of dudes isn’t my idea of a nice meal.”
Ari could picture it. His team in camo, grabbing food where they could while dealing with bad guys.
Not even through half the slice of lasagna, and Ari was already stuffed. While they were eating, Mr. Darcy remained under the table. He was extremely well behaved, just as John promised. There hadn’t been any gaseous outbursts at all. She couldn’t wait to share that piece of news with Shira. To reward his good behavior, she slipped him a few breadsticks. He gobbled them right up and didn’t demand butter.
Taking another sip of wine, she contemplated what she wanted to ask. “Are you ready for your first question?”
“Sure am,” John answered as he refilled their wine glasses.
A warm, satisfying feeling washed over her while they were eating. She was more relaxed than she’d been in ages. It was John, all John. It didn’t hurt that it was like living a dream—dinner with the leading man of more than one late-night fantasy.
“I can ask anything, right?”
“Yup. Go for it.”
“Why did you decide to become a SEAL?”
He took a swallow of wine before answering, and she had to control the desire to squirm in her chair. Maybe it was too personal to start with. But then it was better than the one she wanted to ask, ‘how did you get your scar?’
“It was a no-brainer really. My father was a SEAL. I grew up idolizing him. I told everyone who asked that I was going to be a SEAL when I grew up, just like my father.”
“Wow, I can’t even imagine knowing what you wanted to be when you were so young. I must have changed my mind fifty million times.” Just the thought of all of her ‘plans’ made her smile.
“I won’t say it was easy, but my dad made it seem that way. Since I had my plan all ready, I enlisted through the SEAL Challenge Contract. Basically, it’s a Seaman to SEAL program. By doing that I was guaranteed a chance to become a SEAL candidate. After that, the fun happened. There were a lot of steps to go through. But it was all worth it.”
“I didn’t realize you couldn’t just join as a SEAL.”
