Page 20 of Duty Preserved

“It was all the wine and the tequila and whatever else you made me drink. All of it. Down the front of his shirt.” I pressed my face into my knees. “And then I ran. I ran to my room and slammed the door and didn’t come out until we left for the airport.”

Alyson was quiet for a long moment. When I looked up, her hand was over her mouth and I couldn’t tell if she was about to cry or laugh.

“Don’t,” I said.

A sound escaped from behind her hand. Laughter. She was trying to hold it in and failing.

“This is not funny.”

“It’s a little funny.”

“It is not even slightly funny. I have to work with this man, Aly. Every day. He’s here to train the rangers, which means he’s in this camp, in that dining tent, in a cabin a short distance from mine. Every single day.”

The laughter faded, and something else moved into her expression. She dropped her hand and looked at me with a focus that had nothing playful left in it.

“You like him.”

“I don’t know him.”

“But you like what you know about him so far.”

I didn’t answer. She didn’t need me to.

“He rescued you from a creep, walked you to your hotel room, and didn’t try anything. Then you threw up on him, and he still just let you go?”

“He didn’t have much choice. I ran to my room and slammed the door.”

“And now he’s here.”

“Yes.”

“In one of these cabins.” She said gesturing around us.

“I already said that.”

“I’m saying it again because I need you to hear it.” She leaned forward. “Sarah, the universe just put the man you threw up on in the cabin next to yours for however long this training thing lasts.”

“That’s not the universe, Aly. That’s a logistics coordinator.”

She was grinning again. “Call it what you want.”

“I call it a nightmare. I dumped a full plate of food on him tonight. That’s two shirts in one month. He’s going to think I’m—” I stopped because I didn’t know how to finish that sentence. Dangerous around clothing? Fundamentally unable to be in his vicinity without destroying something?

“He’s going to think you’re memorable.”

“He’s going to think I’m a disaster.”

Alyson stood up and came over to where I was sitting. She put her hands on my shoulders and looked down at me.

“Okay. Here’s what we’re going to do. We’re going to acknowledge that this is objectively insane. We’re going to acknowledge that you are mortified. And then tomorrow morning, we are going to go to breakfast, and you are going to act like a normal human being who eats food instead of throwing it at attractive men.”

“I didn’t throw it. I collided.”

“Twice.”

“The first time was vomit.”

“Sarah, you are not helping your case.” She squeezed my shoulders. “Breathe. It’s embarrassing. But it’s not the end of the world. You are a professional. You are excellent at your job. And he’s here to train rangers, not to think about you.”