A SEAL's Pleasure (11 page)

“Hey.” With one hand trying to keep her hair from whipping her in the face, she patted Livi on the back with the other, a little worried that she'd either fly away or be squeezed to bits. “Are you okay?”

“Sure. Fine. Great.”

Uh-huh. Sure she was.

Despite the very strong, very fit arms wrapped around her, Tessa managed a deep breath and ushered the pair of them a little farther away from the helicopter and its wind-whipping blades.

“Why don't we get a drink and you can fill me in on all the greatness,” Tessa said. Livi nodded, but she didn't let go. “Or, you know, we can just stay here for a while.”

Livi gave a sniffling sort of laugh, but finally unwrapped herself.

“Sorry. I think I'm a just a little overwhelmed.”

“With all the greatness?” Tessa said, keeping the sarcasm to a minimum when she saw the stress etching lines on Livi's face. She didn't know a lot about happy-ever-after, but she was pretty sure a bride wasn't supposed to be sporting worry-induced wrinkles the week before the wedding.

“Do you remember when the
Fit To Be Naked
workout series hit so big?” When Tessa nodded, Livi pushed her hair off her face and sighed. “It was a huge success, right? Everything I'd worked so hard for and really wanted, boom. Done.”

“But you were miserable,” Tessa responded quietly.

“Crazy, right?”

Before Tessa could say no, the driver gestured that he'd loaded her luggage in the car and was ready to go. Livi ushered her into the vehicle, telling the driver where to take them, then settled back in the seat.

“It's nothing,” Livi said, her smile bright again. “I'm just nervous. It's been like this all week. Ups, downs. If my mood could go sideways I'm sure it would. It's probably hormones.”

Hormones, her ass. Tessa knew that Livi was always up when she was doing things the way she wanted and down when others shoved their opinions and agendas down her throat—usually saying they were for her own good.

But reminding her of that wasn't going to help the situation.

“That or the idea of going without sex for the past couple of weeks before the wedding,” Tessa said with a wicked arch of her brow, as always falling back on naughty when she didn't know what to do. “A hottie on hand and no sex would drive me sideways, for sure.”

Livi gave a relieved laugh, her smile a little too bright again as she gripped Tessa's hand.

“I'm so glad you're here,” she said fervently. “Everything is changing so fast, so much is going on. I always feel braver dealing with that sort of thing with you at my side.”

Tessa blinked away tears, her fingers entwining with Livi's. Even as her friend's engagement ring cut into her skin, she could actually feel the protective layer of ice she'd built around her heart melting a little.

“I wish you could have the perfect wedding,” Tessa said quietly. “Your dream wedding.”

“Well, I have my dream man, which is what really counts,” Livi said, her gaze shifting to the window to watch the pretty scenery flash by. “And I'm really glad we're getting married here on Catalina, even if it's a little fancier than I'd hoped. But maybe we'll come back and renew our vows in five or ten years with that cliff-side ceremony I'd originally wanted. Just me and Mitch, with you and Gabriel as our witnesses.”

Gabriel.

Delightful little tingles of pleasure swirled through her system just hearing his name. She took a second to revel in the familiarity of lust, sliding easily into the one thing she still understood, still felt comfortable with.

She held tight to that lust, letting the passion she felt for Gabriel become her anchor in the craziness that was every single other thing in her life.

“What do you think?” Livi asked, clearly oblivious to her little interlude. “Won't it be fun?”

“Cozy,” Tessa agreed. This time she was the one who had to put the extra wattage in her smile.

Five years from now she was pretty sure the only place she'd have in Gabriel's life was a notation in the little black book he kept in his head.

And in Livi's? She bit her lip. Well, she was working on that, wasn't she? All she had to do was get through this wedding with her agreeable facade in place, and odds were that she'd be around for a while.

“So is everything set for the wedding week?” she asked.

As Livi launched into her description of the weeklong entertainment plans, then on to changes in the ceremony, all Tessa could think was thank God Pauline wasn't a fan of YouTube or trendy wedding crazes. Because there was no way in hell she was body popping her way down the aisle in a strapless dress.

“My dress is still the strapless chiffon in purple, isn't it?” she asked with a slight frown. “The one I had the final fitting for last week?”

Her jaw clenched. The only one she'd loved out of the thirty-seven she'd had to try on for Pauline's approval.

“Oh, yeah, your dress is the same,” Livi said, a stubborn look coming into her eyes. “Pauline thought the color might be too strong and wanted to get a pale peach shade instead but I said no.”

Imagining the damage pale peach would do to her skin tone, Tessa gave a slight shudder. She gripped Livi's hand in gratitude, knowing it couldn't have been easy for her to stand up to Pauline.

It only took a few minutes to get from the helipad to the luxury beachside hotel, but it was enough time to get an eyeful of Catalina. Mostly because it wasn't a very big island. It was gorgeous, though. Small and picturesque, surrounded by the dramatic power of the ocean, it practically screamed romance.

She said as much when Livi finally paused to take a breath.

“It is gorgeous, isn't it?” Livi agreed, staring out the window. “I fell in love with it when Mitch brought me here for the weekend. The cliffs are amazing. Dramatic and powerful, with this feeling of endurance.”

“What changed your mind about having the ceremony there?”

“It really wasn't practical to ask guests to climb cliffs in formalwear, and the wind would probably make a mess of my hair.” Livi shrugged, the dreamy look on her face falling away. Tessa wanted to scream at her to put it back, dammit.

Instead, she took a deep breath and bit her lip, then, unable to keep her mouth shut, leaned forward.

“You know, you've filmed exercise workouts on a cliff without your hair being an issue, and I can't imagine any guest bitching about the locale considering everything you're doing to entertain them this week.” And if they did, Tessa was more than ready to take them aside for a little chat. “This is supposed to be your day, your dream. Why aren't you doing it your way?”

“I did it my way at my first wedding, remember? And it was a disaster, right down to the wrong flowers, the rain and that horrible whole-grain cake. My mother didn't talk to me for months afterward. And after all of that, it still ended in divorce a few years later.” Livi's face fell, the pain of everything she'd gone through clear in her eyes. “I know it's silly and superstitious, but this time I'm not taking any chances. This time, instead of pretending I can handle it, I'm letting the experts take over.”

There had to be a middle ground that would still let Livi have her dream wedding, but Tessa figured that since her particular expertise was actually pretending she could handle things, she'd just keep her mouth shut. Besides, the unfortunate memory of that cake was still clear in her mind. If nothing else, she could be grateful that there would be no soy buttercream or oatmeal cakes this week.

“But hey, if we can't have the drama and excitement of the cliffs, this is a great venue,” Livi said with a smile, her expression hopeful as they pulled up to the hotel. “Pauline was worried the ballroom wouldn't be elegant enough, but once she changed a few things she decided it would work.”

Elegant enough?
Tessa sighed. She appreciated pomp and drama. Hell, she lived for it. But Livi was more suited to fairy-tale romance than chic sophistication. Deciding to give it one last try, she waited until they were out of the car.

“As long as you and Mitch are happy,” Tessa said.

Livi's face softened at the mention of her fiancé. Maybe that was the key, Tessa realized with a frown. Livi was so hung up on the guy that he was her dream. The actual wedding, with its elaborate plans and carefully staged pomp, was just one day. Her brow twitching, Tessa amended that to one very stressful, extremely expensive day.

“Mitch is amazing,” Livi said, gesturing for Tessa to precede her into the hotel lobby. It was like walking into an underwater grotto with its rich shades of blue and purple, twisted glass in the corner and glistening lights dangling overhead.

This, at least, suited Livi.

Tessa checked in while Livi extoled the many and varied virtues of one Mitch Donovan. Since all of those virtues seemed to have a PG rating, Tessa only listened with half an ear. Even half an ear was enough to make her nervous, though.

She could understand the temptation to lose yourself in a certain kind of man. A sexy man with a clever mouth and an intriguing mind. One who laughed easily, who understood the little games between the sexes and didn't get all weird about them. One with dark eyes and black hair, razor-sharp cheekbones and lips that could melt a girl in two seconds flat. What else could a man like that do? she wondered. Once he got going, he could probably do absolutely anything. And do it very, very well.

She wet her lips, her breath a little tight at the idea of just what Gabriel could do. She'd had more orgasms with the man by telephone than she'd had in most of her so-called relationships. Needing to cool off a little, she slipped her sweater off to let the air waft over her bare shoulders.

He was quickly becoming the only stable thing in her life. It was as if he were her touchstone to something she understood.

Sex.

The kind of sex she could become addicted to.

And that was the problem with losing yourself in someone, she realized. How did you find yourself again when it was over? So tired of struggling with her own identity crisis, Tessa shuddered. What if there was simply nothing left?

“I'm hoping Mitch will be here in the next day or so.”

Livi's words cut through Tessa's frantic head trip. Taking her old-fashioned key from the concierge, she turned to Livi with a frown.

“Mitch isn't here yet?”

“He's on duty,” Livi said simply.

On duty? This was their wedding week. Wasn't he supposed to be here, participating or something? Tessa couldn't imagine herself ever getting married, but if she did, she'd damned well expect her husband-to-be right there, suffering beside her.

Wasn't Livi pissed? She narrowed her eyes, inspecting her friend's face. All she saw was a calm glow. It was freaky.

“How do you do that?” Tessa asked, marveling. “I mean, I've seen you take on a lot of pretty intense challenges, but I'm blown away at how you've adapted to this military thing. I can't imagine being so at peace with it all.”

“It's who Mitch is. Asking him to change that would be like his asking me to give up exercise. Since fitness is my career, my lifestyle and my passion, giving it up would change who I am.”

Tessa bit her lip but couldn't stop herself, and asked, “But don't you worry?”

“Would it help if I did?” Livi mused, staring out the wall of windows at the ocean. “Maybe it's the years I spent letting other people run my business and direct my life. But I just don't see how worrying is productive. It'd stress me out, it'd upset Mitch and it wouldn't make any difference at all to whatever outcome I was worrying about.”

Having seen some of the disasters other people had created in Livi's life, Tessa was truly baffled at the idea of simply letting things happen.

“But isn't worrying about something the first step to changing it for the better?” she asked.

“Has worrying about
Flirtatious
helped you fix the issues there?” Livi asked with a gentle smile.

Tessa wanted to growl. This peaceful Zen pregnancy thing Livi had going on was going to drive her crazy. Especially since she had a point.

“You know Jared is up to something. You're doing everything in your power to figure it out. And since you're a strong, smart woman, you also know that whatever happens, you'll be okay.” Livi arched her brows. “Right?”

“Ri-i-ight,” Tessa said, her reluctance drawing the word out into three syllables. She debated filling Livi in on the details of what was actually going on. But as she had every time she considered it over the past few days, she immediately tucked the thought away. Livi didn't need to hear her problems right now. Not with everything else she had going on.

Besides, if she told her, Livi would ask how Tessa felt about it, what she wanted. And she simply didn't know. It was bad enough feeling confused and lost without admitting it.

“Then, what good is it to worry? How's that going to help?” Livi asked in a tone so reasonable that all Tessa could do was offer a stiff smile.

“So, no Mitch,” she said instead. “Knowing Pauline, his list of assignments was at least as long as mine. Is there anything I can do to help cover until he gets here?”

Livi smiled, tucking her arm into Tessa's as a young man approached them with a tray.

“Like any good groom, Mitch sent his second-in-command. Gabriel got in yesterday. He's such a sweetie. He's been helping with everything, including keeping Pauline off my back.” Livi pressed her tongue to her upper lip before grinning. “Well, everything except that satisfaction part.”

“Oh, but he'd be so good at it,” she teased. “Isn't that how he built his reputation? On charm, that wicked smile and a slew of satisfied smiles?”

“More than a slew, if this week is anything to go by.” Livi laughed. “Poor Gabriel. Everywhere we go there are women throwing themselves at him.”