“Please. But where’s he staying?”
Emory put a big plate of bacon, eggs, and pancakes in front of me. I could feel my stomach rumble, and I started eating while trying to keep Mason from stealing all my eggs.
“In his car,” Emory said. “He’s going to stay out in the field, act as our screen.”
“Screen?”
“Sure. Outward defenses. Make sure nothing slips through.”
“I feel bad. Can’t he come in and eat?”
“Maybe,” Emory said, “but why risk it? He’s fine out there.”
“He’s sleeping in a car.”
Emory sat down with a big plate heaping with food and smirked at me. “We’re SEALs, Tara. We’re trained for this shit.”
“Training or not, we could make his life easier.”
“Trust me, he’s fine. Sleeping in his car is easy compared to living out in Pakistan for months at a time.”
“Do you do that often?” I asked him.
“Sure. It’s the job. I’ve spent more time abroad than I have in America since becoming a SEAL captain.”
I cocked my head. “Where have you been?”
“Afghanistan, Pakistan, a few other places I can’t tell you about. Most of my shit is top secret.”
“Of course,” I said. “You’re so mysterious.”
“Not me, princess,” he said. “The government. I just follow orders.”
“You don’t seem like the type that’s good at following orders.”
He grinned. “Maybe when they’re coming from lesser men, but I trust my superiors.”
“Like I’m supposed to trust you?”
“Exactly,” he said. “Except I don’t want to suck my superior’s cock.”
“Who said I did?”
“The way you look at me is more than enough. You don’t need to say it. We both know you keep thinking about my cock deep between your legs.”
“Can you at least try to pretend like you’re not a crude jerk for one morning?” I asked him, annoyed.
“I could, but what’s the fun in that?” He dug into his food, eating with a voracious appetite.
I watched him for a second, curious. If he went out last night to get this food, and he was awake already, that meant he couldn’t have gotten more than a few hours of sleep, and yet he seemed completely alert and awake.
Maybe that was part of being a SEAL. You were more than just a regular person. You had all the training and all that, but just to start out that training, you had to be special, better than other people.
Emory never seemed to get tired, never seemed to question himself. He could do things I’d never seen anyone else do. Not to mention he could make me feel things I’d never imagined. He was a crude asshole, but he was also more than that, so much more than just that.
“Got something to say?” he asked, smirking at me.
I realized I’d been staring. “No,” I said, getting back to eating.
“Just enjoying the view. I get it.”
“What are we doing here, Emory?”
“Eating breakfast right now, I thought.”
I made a face. “You know what I mean. What’s the plan?”
“The plan is, the rest of my squad shows up eventually and they capture Omar. Meanwhile, we lay low and keep you safe.”
“So we just sit here?”
“That’s it, princess. What did you expect? We go running after the bad guys, guns blazing, baby tucked under your arm?”
“No,” I said, getting annoyed, “but I thought we’d be doing something. There are terrorists here.”
“Yeah, there are. And like I said, they’ll be caught and taken care of.”
“You can help with that.”
His eyes narrowed. “My orders are to take care of you.”
“I’m worried, Emory.”
“I know, but be careful what you say, princess.”
I realized that I had crossed a line when I’d suggested that he wasn’t doing enough. He’d already done more than enough. I was just tired and upset. But I wasn’t about to apologize to him and listen to him brag about it for the next few days or however long we’d be staying in this crappy place.
“Here,” he said after a minute. “Let me take Mason. You can go nap or shower or whatever. Or maybe finish eating.”
“You have to eat,” I said.
He stood up. “I’m done.”
I looked at his plate and it was empty. “Wow. You inhaled that. How is that even possible?”
“Another little trick I learned. You eat when you can and you do it fast.”
I couldn’t help but smile and shake my head. “Are you sure?”