Erik walked me on base and proudly introduced me to his friends. I couldn’t believe this place. There were gorgeous men everywhere I looked, but I was in the arms of the hottest one of them all.

I had always imagined these badass Navy SEALs to be complete assholes. So tough, so hard. But ever since I’d met Erik, I kept being shocked at how sweet he was. Masculine no doubt, but he seemed to care about everyone around him. His mother, his sister, and me. And now he wanted to date me.

I had to tell him the truth.

“Lieutenant Commander Lawson, this is Aria Clements. You two have a lot in common. She’s an Olympic athlete. Lawson over here used to be a professional football player.”

“Nice to meet you, Aria. You can call me Kyle.”

I shook Kyle’s hand and began to gush. “I read about you! You gave up your multi-million dollar contract to become a SEAL. Didn’t you save your wife from terrorists?”

His brow cocked. “I did. It wasn’t a big deal. Just another day on the job. The damn media outed me when we had our wedding. But it’s cool. We’ve worked with some of the Olympians who train down here in Chula Vista. Would you like to run our obstacle course? Erik can show you how it’s done.”

Oh my God! Yes. I’d dreamed of having a crack at the world-famous obstacle course. I needed to remain cool. “I’d love to.”

Erik grabbed my hand. “I’ll make you a deal. I’ll show you how to do the “O” course if we go on a bike ride later today.”

Worry coiled through my body. Getting a shot at the “O” course was the opportunity of the lifetime. It would give me an advantage that no one else had going into BUD/S next year. And I rationally knew that I had a bigger chance of getting injured on the course than I did getting injured on the bike. Still, it was a mental barrier.

One I needed to break.

“Ok, deal.”

He grinned. “Let’s go, champ.”

Champ. A flush rose to my cheeks. He had called me that when he was going down on me. I couldn’t wait to be intimate with him again.

We walked over to the daunting tower and saw a few SEALs climbing the ropes.

Erik pulled me into his arms and kissed me. “You finish the “O” course now; I’ll give you an “O” later.”

“But I’m just a girl!” I teased. “I couldn’t possibly complete it. It’s made for you big, muscular men. I don’t have the strength or the endurance.”

He tickled me. “Smartass. I’ll test your endurance later. Let me show you how it’s done.”

He ran in front of me, leaving me in the dust. First, he climbed on the parallel bars and pushed himself to the other end. Then he ran through the tires before climbing over a low wall. God, he was so ridiculously hot. When he had run over the tires, he had clasped his hands behind his neck, and I was mesmerized by his muscular forearms, his abs, and his massive thighs. Erik made everything look so effortless, but I knew how hard it all was. He ran over to an even taller wall, climbed the rope, and jumped off that one as well. I continued to watch, transfixed, as he low-crawled under some barbed wire before scaling the cargo net and running over some logs. Then he effortlessly jumped on the infamous Dirty Name obstacle.

I knew from studying that it had two hurdles—one at five feet and one at ten with four feet in between. He jumped up, belly flopped on the first hurdle, rose to his feet, and belly flopped on the second before jumping off. He ran over a few more logs, weaved in and out of this wood contraption before climbing another rope and walking on a horizontal rope that made a bridge, looking like a tightrope walker. Erik ran over a few more logs, then up a huge series of wooden platforms before he slid down the rope head first—the slide for life. Another rope swing led him to some monkey bars, up to a flat wall, over some vaults, and then finally he returned to me.

My entire body tingled and heat pooled between my legs. I was so turned on by his strength.

Before I could speak, he handed me a helmet.

“Your turn, champ.”

I strapped the helmet on my head, and my heart palpitated. “Let’s do it.”

I ran through the first few obstacles without a hitch. Crawling under the sharp barbed wire caused my insides to shake, but I kept my body low and made it out. I spat the grainy sand out of my mouth and ran toward the next obstacle. My forearms burned as I climbed yet another rope.

“That’s it, champ. You’re doing amazing.” His praise invigorated me. I wanted to make him proud of me.

The cargo net was also a challenge, making sure to get a firm footing on the ropes. I’d read about one man who had become a paraplegic when his foot got caught in the netting. I pushed my fear aside, and I climbed to the top and backed down the other side.

But then I came face to face with Dirty Name.

Erik was right by my side. “Babe. This one is called Dirty Name. You got this. Just jump up on the first log and then throw yourself over the first hurdle. Aim for your waist.”

Okay. That didn’t sound too hard.

Taking a deep breath, I gathered all my strength and jumped up and flew onto the hurdle. But instead of landing on my stomach, I crashed down right on my breasts and fell to the ground.

Dammit.

Erik ran over to me. “You okay?”

“Yup. Never better.”

“Most people can’t get through that obstacle. It counts for most of our drops during hell week.”

“Let me try again,” I insisted.

“Have at it.”

I ran back a few feet and had a running start. Again, I jumped on the first log and trying to hoist my body over the first hurdle. But this time, I jumped, and the hurdle hit above my chest, knocking my wind out of me. Dammit.

“Don’t worry about it. Just go to the next obstacle.”

“No. I want to try again.”

He narrowed his eyes at me. “Aria, come on. It took me weeks to master this. Let’s just move on.”

But I couldn’t move on. The bitter taste of failure hung heavy on my tongue. “Please, just one more time.”

He nodded, and I ran again. This time I landed smack on my ribs. I swear I heard a crack, but it could also have been my audible shame.

“Babe. You’re incredible. Come on. Let me gather my stuff, and we can get out of here.”

“Can I finish the rest of the course?”

“Sure.”

Luckily, the rest of the course seemed easier. I had no problem with the logs. I gasped when I looked down at the ground so far away from me as I tiptoed across the rope. The slide of life was intimidating as it seemed like I was gliding head first into the Pacific Ocean, but I just focused on my balance. I had no problem on the monkey bars or up to the flat wall or vaults. When I ran to the finish line, Erik lifted me into his arms and kissed me.

“Aria, you take my breath away. I can’t believe you just did that. You should be so proud of yourself.”

But I didn’t feel proud. I felt shame, humiliation, defeat. I had to master Dirty Name. I could hear the voice of my mom ring in my head. “You’ll never be good enough.”

I looked at Erik, his face beaming with pride. I hated myself. Here I had this amazing supportive man, and I was deceiving him. I was really starting to care about him, but I couldn’t imagine how hurt he would be when he found out I was training to be a SEAL. He would think that I was dishonest and deceptive when that wasn’t true. Had he told me that he supported female SEALs, then I would’ve been honest with him.

I needed to come clean to him and tell him the truth. I just prayed that he would still look at me the way he was looking at me now.