Ethan absorbed her praise. He wanted to know what she thought of the poem he’d slipped beneath the flap of her tent that morning. The expression on her face kept him from asking. “No one said an introvert can’t be a mean mother when they need to be,” he said in defense, liking her hesitant smile. That mouth of hers was sending his body a damned heated message.
“That’s true.” Sarah rolled her eyes. “Every time we get a new copilot in our squadron, the major sends him to be trained by me. I think he does it just to screw around with the newbie. They take one look at my face and I guess I don’t look like a warrior. Then they get hyper because I don’t fit their idea of a medevac pilot. I’m a woman and—” she sighed “—I have to prove my abilities every day in the right seat. It takes a new copilot a couple of weeks to settle down in the left-hand seat with me at the helm. Like a woman can’t fly a damned helo? Give me a break.”
“I like your feistiness.”
“More than one pilot has seen me under fire coming in for a rescue, and I’m as cool as ice when I need to be.”
Ethan believed it. He held up his hands. “Hey, I’m on the receiving end of you medevac pilots. I couldn’t care less what your gender is. If I’m bleeding out, all I want to know is you’re going to get to me as fast as you can and save my sorry ass.”
Sarah laughed for the first time. “That’s what it’s all about, isn’t it?” She wanted to like him. That shocked her. And instantly another kind of cold fear settled in her stomach.
Ethan saw the happiness shining in her eyes for just a moment. Her laughter was husky, and his flesh rifled beneath it. His body had a mind of its own, reacting to her sweet smile and shy demeanor. That’s great, all he needed was an erection in a pair of gym shorts. Not good. He remained where he was, controlling his body. Above all, he didn’t want to scare Sarah off. Providence had given him an opening with her, and he damn well wasn’t going to squander it away like a teenager run by his hormones. “Listen, can I buy you a beer over at the canteen without you going into your black belt routine?”
Her lips curved. “Ah, I see my karate abilities have gotten around the base?” Thanks to the pilots in her squadron, who were gossip queens that put women to shame.
“I think you could have saved yourself yesterday with that bastard because you knew how to fight back,” Ethan said solemnly. He saw her eyes narrow a bit, her soft mouth become pursed.
“I busted his nose and blackened his eye. I was hoping to kick him in the crotch, but he took me down and started dragging me around the corner of the building.” Sarah pushed some strands of hair off her damp brow. Giving him an earnest look, her voice low with emotion, she said, “If you hadn’t come along, Ethan, he’d probably have been able to rape me. He tried to knock me out. No one would have seen him do it behind that building and he would have gotten away with it. I wondered this morning if he had, would he have killed me afterward? You didn’t give him a second shot at me.”
The fear banked in her eyes grew. Sarah’s emotions were right there on the surface, and damned if he didn’t want to straighten up, walk over and haul her into his arms. Ethan found himself wanting to protect her. But this woman was clearly able to fight a two-hundred-and-forty-pound hulk. “You sell yourself short, Sarah. I think, all things being equal, if I hadn’t come along, you’d have found a way to knock the hell out of him and escape.”
The look in the SEAL’s eyes went along with the deadly sound in his hard voice. Sarah shrugged. “We’ll never know.” She set the dumbbell down on the bench. After picking up the towel and wiping her brow, she said, “Actually, I was trying to figure out a way to find you and then ask if I could buy you a beer to thank you. It’s the least I could do for you coming to my aid.” She owed him that, scared or not.
Ethan slowly rose, making sure his towel was strategically in place over his gym shorts. This woman turned him on in a heartbeat. “Name the place and time.”
“Noon? I’ll buy you lunch, too.” Ethan gave her a very male look, and this time, Sarah felt her heart flutter. This SEAL was incredibly confident, easygoing as if he didn’t have a care in the world. And she liked his mouth because it was expressive and he wasn’t acting like he was going to slobber all over her.
He grinned. “Yes, sounds good. I’ll see you over at the canteen.”
Chapter 4
Sarah was nervous as she sat at her favorite table in the noisy canteen. Lunchtime brought everyone out, and those who wanted American food like pizza and hamburgers came here instead of eating over at the chow hall. She’d decided to wear civilian clothes instead of her flight uniform because she wasn’t on duty. After changing into a pair of loose jeans, sneakers and a pink tee with a long-sleeved white blouse to hide her curves, she nervously waited for Ethan. Sarah wanted to get up and leave. He was an unknown. And the unknown scared the living hell out of her.
She glanced at her watch; she was five minutes early. The men at the bar were looking her up and down. Sarah wished she could stop being so sensitive about male stares. Maybe it had to do with her childhood. Who knew? She was drinking beer from a sweaty glass, a pitcher in the center of the table, when she felt Ethan’s presence.
She found him smiling down at her.
“I never heard you coming.”
“You won’t,” Ethan said by way of greeting, pulling a chair out next to her and sitting down.
“Thanks for coming. I’ve already ordered us hamburgers and French fries.” Sarah tried not to be affected by Ethan, but that was impossible. He was wearing a red T-shirt that showed off his incredibly fit body. The jeans he wore made her lower body stir, and that shocked her. She’d now seen two sides of him, the poet and the SEAL. She noticed a number of scars, white and more recent pink ones on his lower and upper arms as well as on his large hands. When he moved to pick up the pitcher of beer, she watched his biceps flex. Every move he made was graceful, and Sarah knew only someone in very good shape could have that boneless kind of grace.
“There’s that risk-taker attitude of yours,” Ethan teased, grinning as he poured himself some cold beer.
She rolled her eyes. “Don’t tell me you don’t like hamburgers and French fries.” Sarah wanted to ask him if he’d really written that poem. She didn’t have the courage.
Ethan pushed the chair back on two legs. “I’m a red-blooded American male. Relax, it’s fine. I can never get enough hamburgers.” He grinned, seeing relief come to her eyes. Damn but he wanted to know everything about Sarah. He was afraid that if he fired off too many questions it would scare her away. All morning after coming back from the gym, Ethan had tried to figure out the best way to gain Sarah’s trust. Given that a man had just beat the hell out of her, she probably wasn’t too trusting toward any guy. Not even him.
“The workout go okay?” she asked, trying to get herself to relax. Sarah liked looking into his amused gray eyes, the way his chiseled mouth drew up into a hint of a smile. Heat flashed through her, stronger this time than at the gym. There was no question Ethan was sexy. Sensuality oozed out of his pores and it sure had a giddy effect on her. Actually, he could have been a cover model for a fitness magazine with his athletic body and rugged good looks. Why would she suddenly be interested in this man? Sarah quietly tucked her question away.
This guy had saved her from being raped. She should focus on him, not her own scarred past. “You aren’t like a lot of these other guys.”
Ethan shrugged, sipping the beer, holding her blue gaze. “If you haven’t had much experience around SEALs, I’d say that’s why.”
Tilting her head, Sarah said, “Educate me.”
It was easy to talk about his