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“I don’t know” I shrug a shoulder “I wasn’t really thinking about it, until you reeled in that poor, helpless fish”

Ryan laughs, and his strong shoulders shake “Okay So, no fishing…”

“No fishing It’s not nice” I glance around, eyeing all the people who are fishing on the pier Those poles aren’t just poles, they’re weapons, threatening to hurt and kill all of the sea life

“You can’t stop all these people fro, so don’t even think about it,” he says as if reading o for a walk and sit on the beach”

I shoot the people fishing a stink eye “Fine, okay”

Ryan takes the chairs and poles, and I grab the cooler We find a secluded spot, but instead of sitting in the chairs, we opt for sitting in the sand

After a fewthe waves coy”

“Was?”

“I had a seet my AS… my associate’s in science,” I explain

“I knohat that is I have an engineering degree”

I whipat him with new eyes “Really?”

“What? I can’t have a degree because I’m in the military?”

“No, I just didn’t know you went to college Ian…” At the mention of his name, I stop for a second, but then forceto college to enlist directly into the Navy SEALs

“I did too But I took online classes I wanted a degree I could use one day, as well as in the field I’ineer” He takes two bottles of water out of the cooler and hands y?”

“Yeah, the plan was for o and to Scripps for an internship I want to study ”

“What made you want to do that?” He twists the top of the bottle and brings it to his lips As he ss the water, his Adaether Why does everything he does have to be so damn masculine and sexy?

“Micaela,” he pro at him

“U my brain “We went on a cruise when I was thirteen We went snorkeling and I was drawn to the ot our scuba license and went scuba diving I beca I would love to be able to research the ered” I shrug “I haven’t really given a lot of thought to the logistics The first two years are just the prerequisites I figured I have plenty of ti I’ve learned the hard e never really have enough of