BB Dalton by Cat Johnson Page B

the times and market itself just like any other business. The SEALs have already started. But I can do it so much more effectively…with your help.”
    “Why me?” he asked.
    “Well, as I was explaining before, when I was shown pictures of potential candidates, I recognized you.”
    She pulled a photo out of her briefcase and handed it to him. He didn’t even need to look at it. He did anyway, inwardly cringed, and then handed it back to her.
    The commander was smiling now, practically laughing at him. “I knew you’d modeled before joining up, Dalton. But I guess I just assumed you’d been modeling actual clothes.”
    “It sure threw Madison Avenue for a loop when you left,” Katie said to him. Then she turned to the commander. “ No one quits being the Andre Milano underwear man. That is, until BB.”
    The commander was just outright laughing now. He wiped a hand across his face and tried to sober up. “I’m sorry, son. I can see you’re not any happier about this than I am.”

    Katie shook her head at them both. Stubborn, short sighted men. Stuck in their ways, just like her ex-husband. God forbid they take a step into the twenty-first century or—gasp—try something new.
    BB was the perfect choice for this campaign. He was hot in a boy-next-door didn’t-even-realize-it kind of way.
    He came with modeling experience and was a real-live special operative. He’d changed little since his modeling days, and actually the past few years in the service had given him an edge that made him even sexier. Just beneath the surface of that pretty face lurked something deep, maybe even dark.
    She could see the print ads now. A larger-than-life sized picture of BB on the side of a midtown bus, shirtless, camouflage pants opened wide to expose the white briefs. His green eyes smoldering. His brown hair cropped close in a military cut. The tag line reading something like,
    "Women love a man in uniform, and out of one."
    Her heart beat faster remembering the excitement when she’d first recognized BB and come up with the idea. She’d contacted the Andre Milano executives herself and they’d been willing to pay enough for BB’s image to foot the bill for this entire recruiting campaign plus some. The timing had been perfect, just as they were about to launch their new active men’s undergarment line. Andre Milano, proud sponsor of the US Military.
    Central Command had loved saving the money. The exposure the military was going to get out of the connection with Milano was bigger than anything she could have arranged on her own.
    It was a win-win for both entities.
    But first she had to convince BB to go through with it. She’d never considered he wouldn’t be willing. She looked from one man to the other. “I really cannot even imagine why the both of you are being so resistant to this idea.” She was being rude. She didn’t care.
    The commander smiled at her. “Oh, Ms. Jorgenson. I believe you’ll convince Joe Public that being in the military is glamorous. And then we’ll get an influx of recruits who yesterday couldn’t be bothered to get off the couch to tie their shoelaces, but who today think they’re going to sail through Hell Week and come out the other side a SEAL. But you know what? They won’t.
    All they’ll succeed in doing is bog down the boot camps and cost the taxpayers money.”
    She shook her head at them. “You’re wrong. We’re going to make it the in thing to be Special Forces. And that will attract the best of the best. Star high school and college athletes will give up a chance at pro-contracts to join up. Former Olympians will run to sign on. The Paris Hiltons of the world aren’t going to lust after rappers and rock stars anymore. Instead, military guys will be the new It Men .”
    BB had to laugh at that. Women already lusted after military guys, without this crap marketing campaign. He could go to the bar off base on any given night and get laid. The ironic thing was, it was when