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“There’s no cream. Sorry.”

“That’s fine. It’s coffee. Real coffee.” She leaned into the steaming mug that he handed her, took a deep sniff and sighed. “Smells delicious. So, where are you from?”

“South Dakota.”

“Except for Texas,” Alessandra said, “I’ve never been in any state except New York and California. What’s South Dakota like?”

He sat down, raised his mug to his lips and blew lightly on the steaming coffee.

“Big. Wild. Beautiful. The Badlands. The Black Hills. Endless stretches of prairie. And ranches.”

“Ah.” She smiled over the rim of her mug. “Cowboys.”

“And Indians.” He grinned at her. “Them’s my people, Ms. Bellini.”

“Sioux.”

He shrugged and sat back in his chair, his big hands wrapped around the mug.

“What’s left of us. What’s pretty much the last of the Sioux nation lives in the Dakotas.”

“Did you grow up on a ranch?”

“More or less.”

She could almost see him shutting down. She knew she should back off, but she was hungry to know more about him, so she decided to ignore the warning signs and press on.

“Which was it? More? Or less?”

Tanner sighed, got up, grabbed the coffee pot and refilled both their mugs before sitting down again.

“My father had a small spread. Just enough land to keep a few horses. I guess you could be generous and call it a ranch.”

“And your mother?”

“She left us.”

Alessandra stared at him. “She left?”

“Yeah. It was a hard life. She liked pretty things…” His words trailed away. He raised his mug and drank more coffee. “My old man didn’t do too well after that. He took to drinking. Well, he’d always been into whiskey, but once she was gone he drank more and then, you know, the predictable happened.”

“He died,” she said softly.

“Yeah.” Tanner blinked, cleared his throat. “I keep this up, we’ll start to hear violins playing in the background.”

“How does a boy left to get through life on his own end up in an elite service? Because that’s what STUD is, isn’t it? An elite service?”

He sighed. “Anybody ever tell you that you’re as persistent as a mosquito at a nudist colony?”

She grinned. “Nice analogy, Akecheta, but it’s not going to get you off the hook.” Her grin vanished. She reached across the table for his hand. “I just want to know you.” Her face colored. “Not only in bed, you understand?”

His heart did that tightening thing he was starting to get used to.

“I did something I’d never believed in,” he said, clasping her hand in his. “I went on a vision quest. It’s a kind of spiritual journey to help you see inside yourself. And I took part in a ceremonial dance. The Sun Dance. It takes you even deeper into yourself. When it was over, I was somebody else. School took on meaning. A college degree became a goal. And after that, becoming a SEAL and then a STUD…” He paused, shook his head, and gave a bewildered laugh. “Amazing. We met, what, three days ago? And you know more about me than any human being on this earth.”

“I want to know everything about you,” she said softly.

He looked into her eyes. Then he got to his feet, went around the table and bent to her. She looped her arms around his neck and he kissed her and took her back to bed.