Page 48 of Not Faking it with the Colonel

“We’ve only been dating a few weeks. Let’s not scare her off by referring to her as my wife yet.”

“She’ll be lucky to have you, but I see your point. You’ve still got a few months. And I still think you can be the right man to continue to lead 3rdGroup.”

On the condition he got married. That meant a fake engagement could be their only play—andifthat bought them a reprieve, how long could he draw that out?

* * *

Graham madeit to a little past fifteen hundred hours before he texted Erin.

Should I arrive around 15:30 to pick you up?

That works. Find us in the field by the village used for urban insertion training.

She responded nearly five minutes later.

When he arrived at the designated spot, no one was in sight. Were they still somewhere in the mock village? It made sense to incorporate some urban insertion exercises rather than do land navigation all day. He listened for Erin’s telltale chatter to carry from inside the seemingly abandoned village and heard nothing.

He reread the text.Find us.Yup. Between Bryson with his sense of humor and what Erin had told him about her story, it fit. It also said the field, not the village. This felt like a challenge. The team would be in camouflage, but he should be able to spot Erin, even wearing muted tones of black and gray.

He surveyed the rolling hills surrounding the village. Tall grass provided cover for anyone on the ground. If he had a military working dog, drone, or thermal imaging goggles, he’d have no trouble finding them in seconds. However, his teams didn’t always have access to those tools. He would have to go old school and hope they weren’t stationed in the village laughing at him as he strode to high ground. Grass rustled in the slight breeze as he looked for movement amongst the swells. If this were a real situation, the team could take him out with one long-distance shot, but they wouldn’t want to alert a village to their presence prematurely, either.

He expected Erin to give herself away with her clothing, movement, or inability to remain silent. However, he hadn’t spotted her, even after he picked out three of the team because he knew what to look for. Walking the route, he tapped out those he’d spotted. He came across another who popped up quickly.

“I’m relieved you found me.” Cruz urgently brushed his left sleeve with his right hand, then pointed to a fire ant mound a foot from where he’d lain.

“Where’s Erin?” Graham asked under his breath.

“You’ll never get that information from me, sir.” Cruz grinned.

Graham chuckled. “All right. I give up. You win. You can come out.” No one else popped up. “Guess I won’t have to worry about setting up the ride in a Black Hawk then.”

“What?”

He turned in the direction from where the muffled word had emanated to see Erin struggle to her feet, still covered by the ghillie blanket she shared with Bryson. Though camo paint covered her face and hands, she managed to look adorable and fierce at the same time. “I see you’re going for the full-on experience.”

“It helps me get in the mindset. And you were right about the fear of discovery,” she said to Bryson. “My mouth was dry, and my heart was pounding even though this wasn’t a life-or-death situation. You did well figuring out the clue.” She smiled at Graham, her teeth gleaming against the camouflage paint.

“It took me a minute.” Thankfully, he had figured it out. “Do you have some mineral oil and wipes for her to get that paint off?”

“You don’t want me to wear it to dinner?” she teased.

“I guess it depends on where we’re going.”

Her throaty chuckle made him think delivery two nights in a row wouldn’t be a bad thing.

“We’ll help you get cleaned up back at the command center.” Bryson’s sly grin indicated he picked up on the innuendo between them.

It took scrubbing for a good five minutes to remove the visible traces of camouflage paint from Erin’s skin.

“We’ll see you tomorrow,” Bryson said.

“I’m looking forward to it,” she confirmed.

“It sounds like you had another fun day,” Graham commented as he escorted Erin to his car.

“I’m not sure I would use the term ‘fun.’ Bryson used the phrase ‘embrace the suck.’ That’s a pretty good descriptor. It was informative and helped me figure out scenes I’ve struggled to write. I need to jot down some notes on the drive so I don’t forget. I didn’t get to make notes last night.” Her pitch dropped.

“Did you want to go out for dinner now or later?”

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