Pushed to the Edge (SEAL Team 14) (7 page)

Very impressive
.  Will had no idea that
Olivia could play the piano.  Like
really
play.  When she walked over to
the piano and sat down, he was half-expecting her to play a simple little bar
ditty.  But her skills were actually legitimate. 

“Oh yeah,” Josh interrupted Will’s ogling, “I forgot
to mention, Olivia is also a trained pianist.  She’s been playing since she was
a little girl.  Oh, and you might want to pick your jaw up off the floor before
she finishes and comes back, man.”

“Is there nothing this woman cannot do?”  Will
asked dryly.  “Except say yes to a date with me, that is.  She seriously won’t
give me the time of day.  Every time I speak a word around her, she acts as if
it’s the stupidest thing she’s ever heard.  She needs someone to pull out that
large stick that she has lodged up her ass, man.”

“She shot you down like a dog, huh?” Josh
smirked.  “She has got some major walls up.  It took me a while to get in her
good graces when I first started dating Victoria.  I wouldn’t give up though if
I were you.  Olivia’s probably a keeper.  But she is definitely a handful,
that’s for damn sure.”

Will raised his eyebrow, shooting Joshua a dark
look.  “You sure do sound like a man who’s in love.”

Joshua laughed.  “No man, not with Olivia.  She is
a nice girl, just not my type.  I have a thing for hot-tempered, poison-tongued
Latinas, you know.”

Forcing his gaze away from Olivia, and trying to
not to gnash his pearly whites together as some of the young airmen stationed
at Ramstein openly drooled at her, Will sized up his best friend.  “You know,
Victoria was a real bitch to you man.  A crazy, controlling bitch.  You can do
better without her.  The woman was with you for two years, and then all of a
sudden she wants you to up and leave the teams?  Then she cuts up and burns
some of your clothes?  Talk about two levels of crazy man.  That’s not cool.”

Will watched the smile vanish from his friend’s
face as deep wrinkles appeared across Joshua’s forehead.  Joshua looked down
bitterly at his Jack Daniel’s and Coke.  The fingers of his right hand tightly
flexed around the glass.  “Yeah, I know.  She definitely got a little unhinged
there for a while.  But I swear she was seriously the best sex I’ve ever had in
my life.  It is what it is man.  That chapter is closed, and I need to forget
about her.”

Will didn’t call him out on it, but he knew that
the relationship that Joshua had had with Victoria Sanchez had been about way
more than sex for his best friend.  He knew that Joshua had lived and breathed
Vicki Sanchez for two years. 

Hell, at one point, Will had been almost certain
that he was going to get a call from his best friend one day, asking him to be
the best man in his wedding.  A man didn’t get as devastated as Joshua had been
after his breakup with Victoria, if the relationship had solely been about
sex.  The whole blowout had been hard for Joshua to talk about, and his friend
had never been a man of too many words to begin with.

Instead Will replied, “That’s the spirit man, and
old girl over there in the corner booth—you know the double D redhead that
doesn’t understand a lick of English, and has been smiling at you all night—is
right up your alley.  She should be a good way for you to get your head on
right, if you know what I mean.”

Joshua laughed at Will’s last statement.  “Yeah
true, she is definitely more than a little tempting man.  But I promised Olivia
that if she came out for drinks I’d make sure she’d get back to the base okay. 
She doesn’t drink that often.”

“Oh yeah?  I can take her back to her apartment. 
Well that is, if she doesn’t slit my throat in the car.  The good doctor hates
my guts.”

Joshua laughed at his remark. “Yeah, I don’t think
that Olivia is much the murdering type.  She is kind of in the business of
saving people’s lives.”

“
Sure
.  Well, if she doesn’t mind me driving
her back, I’m cool with it.”

Just as Joshua was about to respond, Olivia
finished the song and walked back to her seat at the bar—with several
lust-stricken marines applauding and even some of the SEALs ogling her. 

“Jooosssh . . .  I’m having such a good time,”
Olivia drawled in her honey soaked voice.  Will caught her tipping back her
glass when he turned his head to cast a sidelong glance at her.  She cocked her
head up at Joshua and gave him a big hug.  She sported a full, white-toothed
grin on her face.  Will rolled his eyes at the display.

Joshua grinned, hugging her back.  “Hey, I’m
glad.  You need to go out and have fun more, you know.  You never would go out
that much during your medical school days.  You were such a bookworm.  This is
a nice change.  So listen, I’m going over to a . . .  friend’s . . .  later on,
do you mind if Will here takes you home?” 

Will watched as Olivia’s smile rapidly disappeared
from her face.  “I don’t care for him.  He’s a stereotypical male jerk,” Olivia
said icily, apparently not caring that Will was sitting on Josh’s opposite side
and could hear her insulting comment.

“Oh gee, thanks sweet cheeks.  You’re a real prize
yourself tonight,” Will said in an equally disgusted tone.  Will couldn’t
believe that she had said that.  She didn’t even know him that well to make
that kind of statement about him.

Before Olivia could send back a scathing reply,
Joshua interrupted and tried his hand at being the peacemaker between the two. 
“Hey, hey now children.  Olivia, be nice.  Will is a good guy.  You will be as
safe as houses with him.  I swear.”

“Whatever,” Olivia said, scrunching up her nose. 
“You know I’m not a child that needs babysitting, Josh.  I am perfectly capable
of walking myself home.”

Joshua smiled, shaking his head.  “Not this late
at night you won’t.  I’m sure your sister would cut off my balls with a dull
blade if anything happened to you.  Seriously you two . . .  try to be nice to
one another tonight,” Joshua implored.  Will watched Joshua get up from his bar
stool and throw some money on the bar to pay for his, Will’s, and Olivia’s
drinks. 

“Have a good night, Olivia.  See you later, Will,”
Joshua said before he sauntered over to the busty redhead that Will had pointed
out earlier.  Joshua left with her
and
her raven-haired friend about ten
minutes later. 
Lucky bastard
.

Will stared at Olivia. 
Great, just great
. 
Now what was he going to say to Queen Olivia who clearly had a problem with
him?  Before he could formulate a coherent, non-antagonistic comment or
question to ask her he was interrupted.

“Hey sexy, want to get back to dancing,” a soft,
velvety voice whispered into Will’s right ear as slender arms wrapped
possessively around his chest.  Will didn’t even have to turn around to know
who it was. 

“Oh hey, Melissa.”  Will looked down at the
brunette he had been dancing with earlier.  Even though he was sitting down at
the bar, she still barely reached the level of his shoulders.  She was a little
spinner.

“It’s Michelle.”

“Oh yeah, right.  Michelle.  Sorry.  Look, I’m
talking to a . . . friend right now.  Maybe some other time.  Have a good
evening,” Will replied.  The brunette shot both Will and Olivia dirty looks
before she stomped off.

Will glanced at Olivia and saw that she was
looking around the room, at anywhere but at him.  “So you have a sister?”  Will
asked, shattering the awkward silence between the two of them.  He leaned
forward in his seat, his arms resting on the bar, turning his head toward her. 

Damn
.  Her skin looked so soft, and those
full, pillowy lips of hers were completely made for sin. 

“Yeah, one twin sister,” Olivia replied, finally
glancing over at him.  He took a long sip of his drink, shifting his head in
the process so he could get a better look at her.   

“Wow, twins.  I bet y’all had a lot of fun growing
up together.  Playing tricks on people and whatnot,” Will said with a smile on
his face.  He turned his head a few degrees to look behind them and he could
see that “Michelle” had returned to her group of friends, and was brooding in
the corner. 

“Yeah, I guess.  I don’t know.  I’m very different
from my sister.  Well, I mean our interests, personality, and such.  We’ve
never really had very much in common.”  Olivia’s tongue darted out to dampen
her lips, and Will’s chest tightened in response.

 “How about you?  Do you have any brothers or
sisters?” Olivia asked, turning the question back around on him. 

“Yeah, I have one older brother, Jack.”

“Nice.  Are the two of you very close?”

Will smiled and locked eyes with her.  “Yeah, we
get along well.  He’s actually one of my best friends.  We’re both in the
military.  So my mom still worries a lot over that.”  He reached out his left
hand to pick up his drink, and took another swallow of the chilled whiskey.  Looking
again in Olivia’s direction, he saw that she was staring at him. 

“Yeah, I can imagine that having both of her sons
in the military would cause her to worry at times.”

Will nodded in response.  Another awkward silence
ensued before Olivia spoke up again.  “So why do they call you Prince?”

“What?”  Will replied loudly.  The techno dance
music had returned to a loud, eardrum destroying level.

“Why do they call you Prince?”  Olivia practically
yelled as Will scooted over to his left and claimed the seat nearest to Olivia
that Joshua had vacated.  To the casual observer, it would appear that he had
moved closer to Olivia so that he could hear her better.  That was part of the
reason, for sure.  But truth be told, Will just wanted to be next to her. 

“Oh, it’s just a nickname.”

“Yeah, sure I know that.  But I meant where did it
come from?”

“It started when I first tried out for the SEAL
teams.  During “Hell Week” one of the SEAL instructors started calling me that
when he found out that my last name is Castle.  You know, who lives in
castles?  Also, my first name is Will . . . so Prince William.  Get it?”

Will’s breath caught as Olivia suddenly gave him
one of her genuine, thousand-megawatt smiles that lit up the whole room. 

He had only known her for a few weeks now, but he
was used to being on the receiving end of her frowns or strained smiles. 
However, this smile was definitely genuine—and it was
magnificent
. 

“So picture this, I’m rounding out the middle of
the pack during the running phase right before we were to start the boat
push-ups—”

“Wait . . . boat pushups?” she asked, scrunching
up her nose, a frown forming creases across her perfect forehead.  She had a thoroughly
confused expression to her face.   

“So boat pushups were just one of the exercises
that we had to do during BUD/s SEAL training.”

“You had to lift up boats?”

“Yeah.  It was a real treat,” he said, winking at
her.  “So anyway, I’m in the middle of a group of SEAL candidates, running at
what I thought was balls out, along the shoreline, and in the cold surf of the
Pacific.  But as fast as I think I’m going, there’s another candidate that soon
races ahead of me.  In no time, I lose my spot, and I’m near the very back of
the pack.  And you know, I had always considered myself a good runner.  I ran
track in high school.  But at that point, I’m exhausted.  My heart is racing, I
can barely think straight.  And what thoughts I
do
have are just about
how wonderful it would be to just give up.  To just sink down and melt into the
sand.”  He was staring right in Olivia’s eyes now, and she was staring back at
him.  For once, she was completely focused on everything he had to say.  

“So just when I’m about to give in, one of the
SEAL instructors barks out to me.  Really he was yelling to all of the
candidates around me.  ‘Looks like Prince Charming’ here is about ring that
bell!  Do it Prince, we don’t need any pansy ass motherfucker like you on this
team.  Hell, my baby sister could outrun your slow, weak ass.’”

“What did you say?”

“I said, ‘Yes, Lieutenant Commander, sir.  But I
doubt she’d look this good in these short shorts.’”

Olivia let out a musical peal of laughter.  She
leaned too far back in her backless bar stool and almost fell.  If it weren’t
for Will's lightning fast reflexes, she would have caught a face full of dirty
bar floor.

“Whoa, there doc.  Careful, I don’t want to have
to rush you to the ER tonight, hun.”  When he grabbed her around her waist, he
couldn’t help but breathe in the floral scent that was emanating from her
hair.  Whatever shampoo or perfume Olivia used, she smelled good.  Real good. 
Too
good

“You’re pulling my leg,” she said, between laughs.

“No, total truth.  Scout’s honor,” he said,
winking at her.  Olivia was still laughing uncontrollably, and Will couldn’t
help but to laugh right along with her.  She had a carefree, musical sounding
laugh.  The mirthful sounds were incessantly bubbling up from her throat.  She
put her right hand up against her mouth as if she was trying to hold some of
the laughter in, but she wasn’t succeeding. 

“So what did you do afterwards?” she asked once
she pulled herself together.

“I finished.  It was just one of those things, you
know.  He told me to quit, said I couldn’t do it.  It just lit a fire under me
to prove him wrong.  And I am one stubborn SOB after all.” 

Will glanced past Olivia and saw a young airman
quickly approaching her.  The guy wasn’t anywhere close to being Will’s height
or build.  Will sat up straight in his seat and ruthlessly stared the young
pilot down, clearly sending him a “back off” signal.  Will couldn’t much blame
the guy—Olivia was after all a mouth wateringly gorgeous woman.  But he wasn’t
just going to let this guy come in and try to get with her.  Anyway, he was
supposed to take care of her tonight for Joshua.