Page 27 of False Flag

Dillard met Staci’s gaze. He was angry, but she guessed he was more embarrassed than anything. It could be a dangerous combination, but she didn’t think it would spiral out of hand. Dillard needed to fix this now so it wouldn’t follow him to training with his team next week. She was doing him a favor by dining with him.

She saw the moment it clicked for him. He nodded. “You’re right. I was out of line. I’m sorry.” He picked up his beer and held it up to her in a toast. “Thank you. For giving me the opportunity to say it.”

She figured he meant it, which was the part that mattered most. She raised her glass, then nodded and took a sip. She set down her mug and faced the other SEAL at the table. “Teague Collins?”

He nodded.

“You were on Chris’s team when you were both based at Coronado, right?” If she was correct, then he was the one who had been badly wounded in a training exercise in the Pacific Northwest that had become horrifically real.

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Teague is trying to seduce me,” Vicki said, “so I’ll spill secrets about what I’ve found in the files we managed to swipe from the oligarch’s computers in Malta.”

“Is it working?” Staci asked.

“Nah. He’s cute, but not cute enough to risk Freya’s wrath.”

“Is anyone that cute?”

“No,” Freya said from two tables over.

“I’m not just cute,” Teague said. “I’ve also got a great body.”

Vicki waved around the room. “A dime a dozen with this crowd.”

“Also, I might have other reasons for wanting to seduce you.”

“That might doesn’t instill confidence.”

“A guy’s got to have some pride. I lay all my desires on the table, and you reject me, I’ll look more pathetic than Jake taking his shot—repeatedly—and failing with Staci.”

“Hey now—” Jake said.

Vicki laughed. “He’s not wrong. She’s clearly avoiding you. I mean, she chose to sit with Dillard over you.”

Staci’s shoulders shook with silent laughter. Vicki had a brutal wit, and she wasn’t holding back.

“She’s just playing it cool,” Jake said. “She doesn’t want to feed my ego.”

“It’s already massive.” Staci fixed Teague with a look. “So, what’s your deal?” Her gaze flicked to Vicki.

Teague’s eyes narrowed. “Me? I agree. His ego doesn’t need any help.”

“You know what I mean.”

Teague ignored Staci, looking straight at Vicki as he answered. “In vain I have struggled. My feelings will not be repressed.” He pressed a hand to his heart. “You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and…want you. In declaring myself, I’m fully aware that I’ll be going against my own better judgment. An alliance between us⁠—”

He paused, and Staci wondered if he was trying to remember the line.

A moment later, he smiled and resumed. “Is a…no, would be regarded as a highly reprehensible connection. Indeed, as a rational man I cannot but regard it as such myself. Still, it cannot be helped. From the earliest moments of our acquaintance, I have come to feel for you a passionate admiration, which…despite my struggles, has overcome every rational objection. And I beg you, most fervently, to relieve my suffering…”

Vicki let out a sharp laugh. “Well done. Okay, Mr. Darcy. I’d be flattered, but I suspect you keep that little speech in your back pocket as a pickup line. Still, in such cases as these, I believe the established mode is to express a sense of obligation.” She shook her head sadly and pressed her own hand to her heart. “Alas, I cannot. I have never desired your good opinion, and you have certainly bestowed it most unwillingly. I’m sorry to cause pain to anyone, but it was most unconsciously done, and, I hope, will be of short duration.”

Staci let out a whistle and started clapping, which the others picked up until the room was filled with cheers. She suspected more than a few of the SEALs had no clue what they were applauding—probably Jake included—but the women present were all on board.

“Keep going,” Leah said.

Morgan clapped as she said, “Encore!”