Page 33 of Grunt: A Marine Romance

“Bret, babe, we can make it through this. I can talk to my publicist. But we just have to plan it.”

“I love you. But I refuse to be made the laughing stock of the Marine Corps.”

“You don’t have to be. I think the best route is to keep our relationship private, until the season is over. Who knows? By then, Dima may have a new partner and we’ll be off the hook.”

“I’m not going to lie. We didn’t do anything wrong and I’m not embarrassed by you.”

She squeezed his hand. “Perfect. I’ll contact my publicist and see if Dima will agree to a joint statement, saying that we’ve ended our professional relationship. It’ll be fine. Trust me.”

Bret tossed a calamari into his mouth. She was in the public eye, he knew this. He loved her and never liked to talk about his personal life anyway. Why should this situation be any different?

“Fine, Sel. I’m in. Just tell me what to do.”

Selena’s eyes scanned the room. Her voice lowered, “Bret, I have to tell you one more thing. About why I broke up with you.”

“It’s the past, Selena. I know we were really young. Let’s just try to move on.”

Selena bit her lip. “But I just really need to tell you . . . Bret, when you were in boot camp, something major happened to me.”

The waitress delivered their burgers. Selena gave a small smile.

Bret didn’t want to hear about how Dima seduced her. He had been so lonely in boot camp—the thought of Dima touching Selena had tortured him. “Look, I know what happened. And I really don’t want to think about it again. I’m not going to lie and downplay how much you hurt me, but I just really don’t want to discuss it.”

Selena’s shoulders dropped. He knew she just wanted to try to make herself feel better about the way she had treated him and relieve some of her guilt. But Bret had been so destroyed when she left him that he was still unable to listen to the details of her betrayal.

“Okay. I’m sorry. But we do need to talk about it one day.”

They enjoyed the rest of their dinner, and Selena even indulged with him in a hazelnut truffle tart. Bret was happier than he had been in years, but all he wanted was to finish up this season as fast as possible and return to his normal life. Except this time, he wanted Selena by his side.