Navy SEAL’s Virgin Lover (8 page)

Ram’s eyes shone with a holy fire. “There won’t be a next time, buddy. This is it. And trust me, we
will
succeed. You wanna know why?”

“Do I have a choice?” Burke said wearily.

“Because this time… I’m in love!”

Burke’s eyebrows rose. This
was
a surprise. “In love? You mean in love with the land, the sea and the people of this fine country?”

“I’m in love with Erin Walters.”

Burke closed his eyes. “Oh, God.”

“We made love tonight, Burke, and it was the most enchanting experience of my entire life.”

“Enchanting, huh? Is that what you kids call it nowadays?”

“We made love under the stars and it was magical.”

“It was sex, buddy. Nothing more, nothing less.”

Ram shook his head decidedly. “Uh-uh. It was more than sex. I felt a connection I’ve never felt before with any woman. It was love.”

Burke yawned cavernously. “Well, good for you, Bradley. I hope you’ll be very happy together.” When his friend didn’t respond, he looked up in alarm. Ram was staring out the window into the night. “Raminar? Are you all right, buddy?”

Ram shook his head. “I don’t know,” he said softly. He looked over at Burke, and the latter was surprised when he saw the pain in his friend’s eyes. “It’s just that… I’ve never been in love before, man. I-I’m scared I’ll screw up.”

Burke placed a beefy hand on his shoulder. “Don’t worry,” he said in a low voice. “You will.”

“I don’t think you should ask.”

Erin slipped on her bikini top and picked out a shirt. “Why not? It’s not as if he won’t tell me. We were intimate last night, remember?”

“Intimate?” Sophie snorted. “Girl, what century do you think this is?”

Erin shrugged. She was feeling light as a feather and whatever Sophie said, nothing could bring her down today. Not after the wonderful night she had with Ram. She wasn’t a virgin anymore, and it felt great! As if some great weight she hadn’t even known rested on her shoulders had finally been lifted. “I just think he wouldn’t mind telling me, that’s all. We’re lovers now, and lovers don’t keep secrets from each other.”

Another muffled snort sounded from the bathroom, which Sophie had occupied for over half an hour now, but Erin decided to ignore it. If Sophie didn’t have a romantic bone in her body, that couldn’t be helped, but she’d be damned if she let her friend drag her down to her own sordid level.

“It’s probably something really silly,” she went on. “Maybe he’s working on some secret project for the Indian government.”

Sophie walked into the room, adjusting her shorts. “Didn’t you tell me it had something to do with treasure?”

Erin blushed. She shouldn’t have confided her silly ideas to Sophie. “That was just a thought. It looked like a treasure map.”

“You really are a hopeless romantic, aren’t you? Love at first sight, nookie under the moonlight, and now treasure maps? Next thing you’re going to tell me Burke is actually Captain Burke and runs a pirate ship off the coast of Goa!”

“Well, he sure looks like a pirate.”

“And he fucks like one, too.”

Erin had to giggle at the crude language. “Sophie!”

“What? Call a spade a spade, honey, it’ll save you a lot of heartache.” She held out a hand. “I dare say there’s no love lost between me and Burke, but he’s one hell of a sex machine and that’s good enough for me. True love?” She shrugged dismissively. “I’m too old for fairy tales.”

“Well, I’m not,” riposted Erin stubbornly. She believed in all the things Sophie dismissed so easily: love at first sight, soulmates, everlasting devotion between a man and a woman…

She believed in love and she believed she’d finally found it with Raminar, and if Sophie was too jaded to see it, so be it. She wasn’t going to let her friend’s cynicism destroy what was the high point of her life—the fulfillment of a life-long dream.

She slipped her dolphin earrings in, and walked into the bathroom to check her look in the mirror. Her pixie face seemed to glow, and she wondered if it was the glow of love that was now shining from within.

She was wearing her favorite aquamarine shirt, her fluorescent top underneath, and stylishly torn jeans shorts, and if she said so herself, she looked pretty hot this morning. Then, looking closer, she thought she detected a fresh dusting of freckles around her tilt-tipped nose. Dang…

But then she shrugged and grinned. Judging from Ram’s behavior last night, he definitely liked her, freckles and all. Hands on her hips, she stared at herself defiantly. Erin Walters, she thought, you are the full package, girl, and you better believe it.

To her own surprise, she actually believed it, too. The power of love, surely.

Sophie stuck her head in the door and rapped the jamb impatiently. “Let’s go out and find some food. I’m starving!”

They walked out and locked the door behind them. After what had happened at the hotel, they’d learned their lesson and had stored all their valuables in the small safe inside the bedroom closet.

Walking along the sandy path that lead to the beach, they passed Ram’s cabin, and Erin noticed the door was open. While Sophie was waiting impatiently, she hesitated for only a brief moment before applying her knuckles to the doorframe.

When no sound came, she peered inside. And as she did, Burke’s huge frame rose into view, only clad in a towel casually slung around his waist, his hair still dripping wet from the shower. For a moment, he froze, then a wide smile creased his lips. “Erin. You’re early, honey.”

He came ambling over with outstretched hand, and dwarfed hers with his large mitt. “We were never properly introduced. I’m Jake Burke.”

“I know. We met yesterday, remember?” said Erin uncertainly. He was so huge, and his chest glimmered in the morning sunlight.

His smile widened still. “I know. But I was a little, um, busy to formally introduce myself.”

Her mind rolled back to the necking competition between Burke and Sophie and a hot flush mantled her cheeks at the recollection. She quickly cast down her eyes. “I-I remember.”

“So now that we’re all friends, what did you have in mind for breakfast? Bradley tells me there’s some great chow in this place?”

Her eyes scanned the room behind Burke. “Is he here? Raminar?”

Burke followed her gaze, then said, “Didn’t he tell you? He had to go out early this morning. He won’t be back until this afternoon I’m afraid. Business.”

A pang of disappointment held her momentarily in its grip. “No, he didn’t tell me,” she said slowly. Nor did he have to, she chided herself. They might be lovers now, but that didn’t mean he had to share his every step with her. Besides, they’d been too busy to talk about such trivial matters as where he would spend his day today. Still, he might have told her…

“Sophie!” suddenly boomed Burke, and caught her friend in a tight embrace, instantly locking lips with her.

As she discreetly stepped away from the cabin to give the couple some space, she thought ruefully that even though Sophie said she and Burke were ‘only fucking’, she seemed to be seeing more of him than she of Ram. And she was definitely getting a lot more ‘action’ as well.

She just hoped he wouldn’t be long, and when he returned, he’d finally let her in on all this mysterious business stuff he was involved in.

As it turned out, she didn’t have long to wait before the mystery was revealed. Over breakfast Burke, who was probably the most garrulous man Erin had ever met, talked a mile a minute about his friend’s ‘cockamamie’ plans as he called them.

Erin felt compelled to come to the absent Ram’s defense, but she had to admit that saving the beaches from developers sounded like a difficult proposition even for a man of Ram’s obvious passion and talent.

“He told me his father was an architect. And that he dreamed to be one too when he was little,” she marveled. She’d never realized how deep that dream went, if now, after a life in the military, he was revisiting it with a vengeance.

“Well, the world did lose a great architect when Bradley signed up,” agreed Burke. “Though I have to tell you, the man was a fine soldier too. So all in all, I guess things worked out for the best. And if he wants to dabble in architecture now, he can do it to his heart’s content.”

“What do you mean?”

“Didn’t he tell you? The man is loaded!” Burke waved his arms furiously to drive home his point. “His dad died last year and left him the family fortune, and trust me, a fortune it is.”

They were sitting in a small beachside restaurant, wicker chairs around low tables, their feet in the sand and several waiters weaving between the dozen or so guests enjoying breakfast on the beach.

A gentle breeze was wafting in from the sea, and the air was still cool and fresh, before the day’s heat would raise the temperature into the eighties or even nineties.

Erin thought she’d never enjoyed breakfast more as she curled her toes in the sand and sipped from her mocha.

“Have you ever heard of Bradley chocolate?” Burke asked, his eyes alight with the promise of a pleasant surprise.

“Sure. It’s probably about the best chocolate around,” said Sophie, who was a connoisseur.

Bradley spread his arms. “I rest my case.”

Erin’s eyes went wide, and so did Sophie’s. “Raminar Bradley? Like in Bradley’s Chocolate? That’s him?”

Burke nodded happily, leaning back in his chair, which creaked under the weight of his bulk. “Yup. That’s my buddy. We used to call him Raminar Chocolate back on the base, also for his tendency to enjoy backdoor sex.” He suddenly slung a hand before his mouth as he eyed Erin in horror.

She frowned. Backdoor sex? “What do you mean?”

Burke exchanged a startled frown with Sophie, who merely shrugged.

“Ram likes to… um, slip in through the backdoor,” explained Burke quickly.

It still wasn’t entirely clear to her why that would be such a big thing, but she decided to let it pass. She’d ask Ram about it later. She simply couldn’t wait to know every little detail about his life before they met. Though there was little to reveal about her own life that would fascinate and entertain, she was sure she’d find much in his that would keep her hanging on his every word.

A momentary spasm of doubt assaulted her equanimity. Raminar Bradley, heir to the Bradley fortune, soldier, entrepreneur, budding architect and environmentalist… And then there was her. Erin Walters. Practically no life experience, and only a single degree to her name. Perhaps he’d find her too young and inexperienced and, generally speaking, too boring?

A man as accomplished and worldly-wise as Ram might be utterly bored with a girl like her, who had—if she had to be totally honest about it—very little to offer…

She decided to thrash this thing out a little further, now that she had one of Ram’s best friends here with her.

“Did… Ram say anything about me last night, Burke?”

Burke’s eyebrows rose. “Oh, he said plenty, honey.” He looked a little doubtful. “Though I don’t know if it’s my place to tell you.”

“Did… he say if he… liked me?” She was feeling increasingly silly about this, but she simply had to know all of a sudden.

“Oh, he likes you all right. I can tell you right now he likes you a lot.” He leaned in, and dropped his voice to a whisper. “You didn’t hear it from me, but my man even used the L-word in connection with you.”

He winked and she blinked. The L-word?

Sophie grinned. “The L-word? Really?”

Burke gave an exaggerated nod. “Oh, yes. Freaked me out a little. Don’t think I’ve ever heard Bradley even mention a girl before, let alone telling me he loved her.”

Sophie looked pained all of a sudden, and Erin wondered if she was… jealous? She didn’t care. Her mood had magically lifted once again. So she’d been right after all. Ram did love her!

“Don’t tell him I told you,” Burke repeated. “Bradley is a very private man, and he wouldn’t want me repeating his words.”

“I won’t,” she exclaimed happily.

“Sophie?”

“My lips are sealed,” said Sophie morosely. She gave her a sideways glance Erin had a hard time to read, then stared off into space.

She decided to change the subject, as it was clear all this talk of love was upsetting her friend. “So. What are the plans for today?”

Burke folded his arms behind his head. “I’m spoken for I’m afraid. Have to go into town and meet with a couple of friends later on. But you girls have fun on the beach. I’ll see you when I get back.”

“When will you be back?” suddenly said Sophie softly.

Burke seemed surprised by this sudden interest in his comings and goings. “I, erm… Well, hard to say, really. There’re some things I need to take care of, and, erm…” Suddenly he reached over and took Sophie’s hand in his, then placed a cell phone in her palm and folded her fingers around it. “I’ll call you,” he said simply, and placed a tender kiss on her lips. The act seemed to surprise them both, for they remained uncharacteristically silent for the rest of the meal.

When Burke had taken his leave, after paying for their breakfast, Sophie gave a soft cough, then said, “I’m sorry about what I said last night, Erin.”

“Sorry? About what?”

“You were telling me about true love and shit? And I told you those were just a bunch of fairy tales?’

“Oh. That.”

She looked over with an expression of contrition. “You were right. Raminar does love you.”

“You think so?”

“Trust me, honey, if he told his best friend he does, it must be true. Guys never talk about the mushy stuff unless they’re practically bursting with it. He must really care a great deal for you, or else he’d never have confided in Burke.”

She smiled at the idea that Ram really was in love with her, then her smile faded. “He’s rich, Burke said.”

Sophie’s lips quirked into a smile. “Yeah. You really hit the jackpot, honey. Gorgeous, rich and in love with you. I guess your dream really came true, huh?”

“My dream?” she said absently.

“About a soulmate? Didn’t you tell me you came to India to meet your soulmate? I thought you were delirious but you were right. You did find him.” She stared before her. “Now I have to find mine.”