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By the time she returned with her kit that served both as a plate, and also contained the necessary metal utensils within it, she saw that none of them had started eating yet. They’d been waiting for her. Touched, she scraped out the last of the eggs from the pan, seeing that they had fairly divided them among the four of them. The soldiers were sitting on all three logs and she hesitated, not wanting to sit next to Kilmer on his.
“Sit here,” Mace said, to her dismay, patting his log.
Her stomach knotted.Great.She couldn’t very well say no, so she sat at the end of the log, a good three feet between her and him. “Chow down,” she urged them.
“Cale told me you brought the good stuff,” Kilmer said, pointing his fork down at the eggs.
Sierra felt heat flying up her throat and into her face. She rarely blushed. “I knew you guys had been out here for three months. I thought it might be nice to bring in some perishables to give to you. I know how much it means to me to get real food while out on an op.”
Nate spoke up. “Sierra? How long were you in the Corps?”
“I went in when I was eighteen and left when I was twenty-six.” She grew uncomfortable, hoping they wouldn’t ask her too many personal questions. But she also knew these soldiers saw her as an unknown quantity. Someone they didn’t know and hadn’t trained with. And they were going to feel her out. It was natural in a situation like this where every person on the team was essential. To be someone who could be trusted in a firefight.
“What made you go in?” Cale asked, savoring his eggs.
“No one made me go in,” Sierra told him. “My father, Hank, was in the Marine Corps. He was a sniper. I wanted to follow in his footsteps.” She saw Kilmer was slowly eating his food, seeming to savor every last bite of it, satisfaction showing in his face. It made her feel good to bring these gifts to them. They worked hard and their lives were on the line every day.
“I imagine,” Kilmer said, “that your father taught you to shoot, hunt and track at an early age?”
Sierra met his interested gaze. The man could melt rocks with that smoldering look in his gray eyes. “Yes, starting at six.”
“Are you Native American?” Nate asked. “You sure look like it.”
“I’m half Eastern Cherokee through my mother,” Sierra told them. “My father is white. He owns a garage on the reservation in North Carolina.”
“Did you pick up mechanical skills from him, too?” Cale wanted to know.
“I did. He taught me a lot of car mechanics. It was easy to transfer those skills to pistols and rifles.”
“I would imagine,” Kilmer said, “that Marine bootcamp was pretty easy for you?”
“My father had warned me about it,” Sierra said, smiling a little. “He worked with me for a year, preparing me physically for all the PT.” Shrugging, she said, “It was easy in some ways. In others, it wasn’t. But I graduated and that’s all I cared about.”
“How many brothers and sisters do you have, Sierra?”
Her stomach tightened and she stopped eating over Nate’s friendly, curious question. “I have a younger sister, Dawn.”
“Pretty name,” Nate said, finishing off his vittles. He set the kit aside and picked up a cup of coffee. “Is she gung-ho like you?”
Shaking her head, she said, “No. Dawn is nothing like me. She stays at home. She likes it there.” Because of the brain damage done by her rapist, Dawn now had the personality of a five-year-old and would never get better. It broke her heart. She lifted her eyes and met Kilmer’s hooded gaze. It was as if he sensed her being upset. This time though, his gray gaze didn’t feel like it was ripping into her. This time… it felt as if he cared. How could that be? Quickly finishing off her breakfast, she got up and excused herself. She was going to take Kilmer’s advice and hit the sack. She desperately needed some sleep.
“What do you think?” Cale asked Nate and Kilmer after Sierra had left them.
Nate shrugged and sipped his coffee, keeping his voice low so it didn’t carry. “I think she’s the real deal. What about you, Mace?”
Two sets of eyes settled on him. “I think she’s a team player. It was damn nice of her to bring this stuff for our eggs.”
“She brought a dozen Baby Wipes to divide between us, too,” Cale said.
Mace’s eyebrows rose momentarily. “She did?” He knew the ruck she’d had on her shoulders was a big one. And heavy.
“Yeah. Pretty damn thoughtful if you ask me.”
Nate nodded. “The woman has a head on her shoulders. I like her style.”
“Well,” Mace grumbled, “let’s hold off on giving her sainthood status, shall we? Right now, she’s tired. She just came in off a three-month op in Somalia with a SEAL team. She’s whipped. I think if we take the next three days and rest up, it will be good for all of us. Then, we’ll start testing her out on the trails and see how she fits in or not.”
“I think she will,” Cale confidently told them. And then he grinned. “Not only is she one hot babe, she’s intelligent and she’s kind. Nice combination if you ask me.”
