Page 53 of What I Should Have Known

My cheeks flamed pink as he leaned back and his hand wrapped around the back of my head. Slowly, he brought me forward and cradled me against his chest. I remained silent and slid my palms down, tucking them around his waist.

“Seven years ago, I met Duncan. He was this scrappy guy, wiry but strong. Fucking smart. Made me feel like an idiot,” he began, and I glanced up at him. He gave me a small smile. “Yeah, yeah, I know. I come across like an actual idiot.”

I tucked back against his chest, feeling my heart rate slow as he draped his arms around me, cocooning me into him. “Anyway, the guy was precise. His math, his statistics, every little thing about our missions had to be calculated to the exact decimal point. He often got pissed at my shit in the beginning because I didn’t see the need to be so particular. We didn’t get along at first either. He thought I was too loud, which I can be, and I thought he was too uptight, too quiet. Then, one day, after one of our missions, I came out of the showers and found him eating my mom’s cookies she’d sent.”

I gripped his shirt tighter, cuddling into him and falling into the steady thump of his heart but remained silent. I had so many questions, but they could be asked later. Right now, he needed to talk.

His chin plopped against the top of my head. “Anyway, I didn’t bother putting my shit away and stopped directly in front of him. Staring down at him, I knew he knew exactly what I was accusing him of and without breaking eye contact with me, he shoved an entire cookie in his mouth.”

A gentle rumble bounced through his chest, the memory clearly swirling in his head. “I was shocked and said ‘Damn. I didn’t think that would fit.’ He didn’t fucking miss a beat, didn’t blink, and said, ‘That’s exactly what your mom said last night.’ I nearly died from both shock and laughter. After that, everything was different.Hell, he was the one who always went along with my Halloween pranks even when Ford wouldn’t.”

“Bernie?” I quietly said, piping up for the first time during his story.

“Hmmm?” he asked, the sound vibrating against my head.

“What happened to him?”

I felt his chest deflate. “He was killed, Kit Kat. Shot standing right behind me as I laughed at his damn joke. The last fucking thing he heard was me, being the usual idiot that I am.”

“Shot? Killed?” I questioned and pried myself away from his chest. Glancing up at him, I furrowed my brows. “I’m so sorry if I sound ignorant, but I have to ask. Do you not sit on some ship? We’re not, like, actively battling anyone right now, are we?”

He smiled, finally actually smiled. “Sweetheart, no, we’re not in an active major war right now, but we’re always fighting someone. And no, I also don’t just sit on some ship somewhere.”

“But your ID said Navy?”

“Yes.”

“Okay, so then you’re in some office on a base?”

He grinned even wider and slid me away, cupping my cheeks and tilting my head up. My hands rested against his waist as his eyes began sparkling again. “Kit Kat, I’m a Special Forces Operator in the Navy. I’m a SEAL.”

My mouth fell open. Disbelief coursing through me as cold as ice. “You’re a Navy fucking SEAL?”

“Yes, Kat.”

“Damn.”

He chuckled and slid his hands down my arms, wrapping them around my back again.

“Just…damn,” I stated again, staring at his mossy green eyes.

“Thought that was my line,” he whispered.

Slithering through the pain swirling in the air, came a modicum of ease as he recognized my quip.

And then the disbelief had me widening my eyes in embarrassed horror. “Oh my gosh. And I have totally said some very insensitive things to you. Why wouldn’t you tell me this? Why would you let me say things like I did?”

Bernie smiled gently and looked over my head. “I don’t really go around saying anything because most of the shit I do, I can’t actually talk about. Plus, seeing you squirm right now makes it all worth it.”

“Oh you ass,” I grumbled, rolling my eyes. His grin widened as I continued. “So, your team is one where they black out your faces in pictures.”

He nodded again. “Yep.”

“And what is it you do…exactly? If you can tell me.”

“I’m an explosives officer. I deal with all kinds of bombs.”

“Ah. And I’m assuming that Duncan was killed in a mission gone sideways or something?”

---