Page 30 of Grunt: A Marine Romance

Wow, Bret understood Dima better than she did. Maybe it was just because he was a guy.

Bret glared at her. “You aren’t regretting leaving him, are you? I don’t want you to resent me. This was your choice.”

She placed her hand on Bret’s face. “No, Bret. I don’t. This was the best decision I ever made. I love you. I just need to find my way again. All I’ve ever done is dance and compete.”

“Well it’s time to find you a new hobby. You love teaching. Military kids would love to learn dancing. I promise I’ll do everything to make you happy. But you have to trust me.”

She gave him a half-hearted smile. While she loved all her charity work, she still needed to stimulate herself creatively. But she did trust him. Completely. As she looked out across the bay, her heart raced. Bret scooped her up and started kissing her. He carried her to the bed and they made love. And Selena was happier than if she had won the world’s most prestigious competition.

AN HOUR LATER, Bret hit the shower and Selena headed back to the kitchen to finish making the coffee she started earlier. She texted Jenny, “Call Me.”

Bret emerged from the bathroom dressed. He wrapped his arms around her and the smell of cedar made her giddy.

Bret gazed into her eyes. “I can’t tell you how many times I thought of you while I was deployed. You were always on my mind. Of course, it didn’t help me that you were on the cover of every magazine.”

Over the years, Selena had received fan mail from many men in the military. She was gracious and would send them an autographed picture and a note back. But she always wondered if any of them served with Bret and somehow they’d be able to connect again. “Well, I hoped you would see my pictures time to time and think of me. I did a few USO shows and always scanned the audience for your face. And when I dressed up in that Marine Corps Pin Up costume, I was thinking of you. Did you see it?”

A lustful smile broke across Bret’s face. “Yeah, I saw it. Every one of my men had it plastered on their rack. Honestly, I got sick of looking at it.”

It had never occurred to Selena how hard it must’ve been for Bret to see her dressed like that. He’d always been so protective of her. She changed the subject. “What do you want to do today? I’m so excited we have the next full week off since Xavier and Robyn are out of town.” She had planned to spend the week with Dima in San Francisco but was thrilled to spend some quality time alone with Bret.

“Well, I’d wanted to go camping in China Camp with Banjo. But you probably want something more high end. You want to go to Sonoma?”

Selena loved the wine country! Wine, cheese, good olives, antiques. Maybe they could go to a spa. She knew it wasn’t exactly Bret’s idea of a vacation so it meant even more to her that he would suggest it.

“Oh yes! I’d love, love to. Are you sure you don’t want to go camping?” She poured two cups of coffee.

“It’s fine. I just want to make you happy. We need to make a lot of decisions, Sel. Let’s just go there and relax and try to think through everything. Our future. How we can make this work.” He turned her to him and placed his hands on her shoulders. “But I already told you—I’m not leaving the Marine Corps.”

Selena shuddered. She knew Bret loved her and prayed they could find a way to build a life together. A life that allowed her to still dance and have him.

“We’ll figure something out. I can make reservations.”

“Fine, just make sure they take dogs. We’re taking Banjo.”

Selena took one sip of the coffee, and spat it out. “This coffee is horrible, Bret. Can you go to Bayside Café really quick and get some while I get ready.”

“Sure. Banjo needs a walk anyway.” He kissed her, leashed up Banjo, and left the houseboat.

Selena figured Bayside Café would be packed with the weekend breakfast crowd so she’d have time to take a relaxing bath. She took a wine bottle and a glass, went into the bathroom and drew herself a bubble bath. Just as she was about to jump in, the phone rang. “Pardon me, bubbles,” she said giddily, “I’m being summoned.” Having a day off was rough—normally she’d already be by Dima’s side teaching students for the competition.

She went out to the kitchen and grabbed her phone on the third ring. “Hola?”

“Hey, Sel.”

She jerked the receiver away from her ear. Jenny talked loud even on the phone. “Hey girl.” She moved the phone a tad closer. “I’m so glad you called. You won’t believe what happened yesterday. Dima wanted to get back together and get married. But I told him it was over forever!”

“Shut up. You did not.”

“Yes, I did. He said he never wanted kids. And he’s been hooking up with every celebrity partner on the show for the past few years. How could he expect me to wait around?” She leaned into the bathroom to see if her bubbles were going down. Nope. The queen’s bath was still royal.

“Are you serious?” Jenny’s voice changed from her girlfriend friendly into her professional nagging tone. “What about the studios? Your endorsements? Selena—are you thinking at all?”

“Yes, I’m thinking.” She stopped ogling the bubbles. “But I called Dima this morning and he doesn’t want to dance with me anymore.”

“I can’t believe this. Are you sure this has nothing to do with Bret? Don’t lie to me Selena.”

“Oh, c’mon. This had nothing to do with Bret at all.” She poured herself a glass of Chardonnay. “But we did hook up last night.”