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“Leila, I get all the adrenaline I need from my job. I’ll admit that a lot of guys that I work with, at least the younger ones, are adrenaline junkies. They need their fixes even during their leaves. They’ll go mountain climbing in the Andes, or scuba dive uncharted waters, or they’ll go ATV off-roading in Alaska. I’m not them.”

“You’re not?”

“Nope. I love my job. I’m good at my job. I love serving my country. But when I have downtime, I’m down. My idea of a good time might be sailing, reading a good book, going back home and spending time with my family. Hell, I haven’t mentioned this to the team, but I’ve taken time off to go babysit my sister’s kids. So, average and normal sounds good to me.”

He watched as her shoulders seemed to relax.

“That’s good to know.”

There was a knock on the door.

“I’ll get it. I don’t know about you, but I’m pretty hungry,” Linc said.

“Me too.”

* * *

Leila wished that she’d slept better so that she would be in a little better shape for this hike. Unfortunately, all she could think about was the make-out session with Linc on the couch, and how bummed she was that it didn’t turn into anything more.

“There’s nothing that says we have to do the whole hike to the ridge,” Linc said as they took another break. “I’m just enjoying hiking in this part of the country at a leisurely pace. Normally any hiking I’m doing, I have a seventy-pound backpack on my back, and I have to move my ass to keep up with the others. This is wonderful.”

“You’re so full of shit. I’m holding you back.” Leila took another sip from her water bottle.

Linc took a step closer to her. “You sure are skilful when it comes to saying what I would expect from you. Is there a reason?”

Leila put her water bottle back in her pack and thought.

“I’m not really sure, but you’re right. I do keep doing that, don’t I?”

“You sure do. I only know English, Spanish, and a smattering of Arabic. Would you expect me to keep up with you in a foreign country where you knew the language? Would you get frustrated with me?”

“Of course not.”

They fell into a gentler pace, and Leila was happy about that.

“Your dad doesn’t seem like the type of guy who would put unreasonable expectations on you, but I could have read him wrong. I only spent twenty minutes with the guy.”

“No, it’s not Dad. It’s not Mom either.”

As they picked their way through the winter woods, Leila thought about her time spent in Turkey with her grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins, and she laughed.

“What?” Linc asked gently.

“I figured it out. I spent every other summer in Turkey with my grandparents. It was great. I got to find out about different cultures, and it expanded my horizons. I love my nene and dede but a lot of times my cousins would come over. They were older than me, and when I think about it, they rode me hard. Not that they expected it of me, it was to put me down. Put me in my place and prove that they were better than their rich American cousin.”

“Doesn’t sound like a lot of fun,” Linc said as he helped her over a log.

“Don’t get me wrong. I love my family in Turkey, and they sure as hell don’t do that kind of thing anymore. That was just kid stuff. But you’re right, it sticks with me today. Especially about physical things. We were always playing soccer, and I couldn’t seem to stop the ball or to hold on to it to save my life. We also played basketball, and they thought because I was tall, I’d be good at that, but I washed out. Just couldn’t do it.”

“So, your need to meet or exceed really comes out in physical activities,” Linc said thoughtfully.

“Yeah, and with you being a frickin’ SEAL, I kind of will never measure up.”

“I gotta say, Leila, I have never been attracted to one of my teammates. Even though they can all keep up.”

She laughed as Linc pulled back another branch. Suddenly, Leila saw they were standing on the ridge that had been described in the brochure.

“This is breathtaking.”