Chapter 15
Triton
I SAW THE MOMENT HER eyes widened, then crinkled, sparkling with amusement, her hand going to her mouth at the same time a giggle escaped. “That can’t possibly be your real name.”
I felt myself bristle. I’d dealt with this my entire life, from the time kids were old enough to understand my name was unusual. I’d learned early to let the words slide off my back, but for some reason, this time felt different.
“You don’t have to laugh. It’s not like I named myself,” I groused, glaring at the pile of torn grass beside my feet.
The woman—Ashley—swallowed her giggles and visibly struggled to keep her face straight. However, she didn’t entirely succeed. “You’re right. I shouldn’t make fun of your name.”
“We can’t all have normal, boring names, can we?”
Ashley’s eyes widened for a moment, then she swatted at me with a laugh. “Are you calling my name boring?”
She seemed to take it for the poor joke that it was.
“My mom is an artist,” I said by way of answer.
“I work in the Bay Area. I know the type.” Another of Ashley’s small smiles tugged at her lips, her eyes still bright with delight in a way that made something in my chest brighten in response.
Clearing my throat, I ignored the feeling. “I was born on a boat. My dad was home between tours in the desert, and they ignored the doctor who said it was too late to take a vacation and took the cruise anyway. They couldn’t just say near home, either—they had to go on a Mediterranean cruise.”
“No way,” Ashley’s eyes widened again, and she didn’t even try to hide her smile this time. “Seriously?”
“Yes, seriously. My mom’s a bit out there, and my dad is way too practical. She had me on the boat, in the medical quarters there, and then the two of them continued their cruise like nothing happened. According to the story, Mom refused to get off to go to the hospital, and my dad backed her up. And no one messes with my dad.”
I could feel her eyes traveling over me, head to toe. “Do you look like him?”
“Sort of,” I shrugged, feeling oddly self-conscious. Why did I care what Ashley thought? “He’s bigger than I am, though, ruff and gruff. He retired a major general.”
Ashley’s eyebrows were inching up her forehead again. She had an incredibly expressive face, and I could name every expression that crossed it. My mother was the only other one I knew who wore her emotions on her sleeve like that, completely unaware that we could read her so easily. My brothers and I had taken after our father, every feeling hidden and buried so deeply, we revealed nothing.
“So, what does the boat have to do with your name?” Ashley asked, and I pulled my eyes away when I realized I’d been staring at her face.
“It was a Mediterranean cruise, and my mother came up with the idea to name her children after Greek gods. It’s why I usually go by Tri.”
I couldn’t quite get the rest of the story out, hating the way I felt my cheeks begin to heat. What about this woman that had me flustered for one of the first times in my memory? I hadn’t felt this way about someone since my first middle school crush.
“And so, she named you after the Greek god of the sea?”
Though the amusement was back in Ashley’s eyes and tone, she didn’t laugh again, and I nodded.
“What about your siblings? You said your mom wanted to name her children. Did she end up having more?”
I leaned back and rested on my hands, one leg still up and the other still bent underneath. The Navy SEAL part of myself said I should stay quiet, that this was still a mission. The other half of me knew the mission had gone completely off the rails and, apart from trying to get back to Japan, anything went.
But it was about more than that. I wasn’t used to sharing anything about myself—I was intensely private, and chatting was not a strength of mine. And it was strange and unsettling that I wanted to open up to this woman, because the feeling was so uncommon.
Then again, we’d been through more in the past twelve hours than most couples went through in their lifetimes.
Not that we were a couple.
But there was something to be said for the brotherhood formed during combat. I’d experienced it myself on multiple occasions.
That had to be it.
“I have three brothers. Hermes, Benjamin, and Samuel.”