by KaLyn Cooper
Jillian rolled to her side and leaned up on an elbow, glowing at the topic. “May tenth. I have graduation back in the States on the fifth—the whole Girard clan is coming in for that—then we’re all flying down here in the corporate jet.”
“Corporate jet?” Sarah noted with interest.
“Yeah, the Girard Corporation is huge—international. They have a couple of them.” Jillian then added, “Jack doesn’t have anything to do with the family’s company. He loves living here in Mexico and running BACats.”
“Love the name, Bad Ass Catamarans.” Chloe’s gaze scanned the forty-two-foot party boat.
“So, tell us about the wedding plans,” Sarah suggested.
Bursting with enthusiasm, Jillian began to describe her dress, her face glowing with happiness.
A pang radiated in Caroline’s heart. She doubted she’d ever marry, given her track record with men. Shaking off those negative thoughts, she listened as Jillian told them about the decorations for the Girard compound where they’d be married, but it picked at her fresh emotional scar. Caroline blocked out the discussion and rolled onto her stomach to tan her back. She turned her face away from the chatting women, unwilling to hear any more about her new friend’s wedding. A part of her still reeled from her breakup with Robert. Images of white dresses and a tropical wedding were the last things she wanted bouncing around her brain.
Internally, she shook her head at how she’d been such a fool to believe the former Top Gun instructor had wanted her for anything except sex at sea. The day before they were to officially fly in—bringing the planes to Naval Base San Diego—she’d overheard the other pilots ribbing him about his upcoming wedding.
For a split second, she’d thought maybe…just maybe…Robert planned on asking her to marry him.
But they went on, discussing Hawaii and their post-deployment leave. That’s when she’d realized Robert was getting married in two weeks. To someone else.
Betrayal had slashed through her, not just Robert’s but her fellow pilots as well. Most of those same men had known about the four-month affair she and Robert had, but not one of them had said a single word to her about his engagement, once again proving that she wasn’t part of the boys’ club, and never would be.
Tired of always being the outsider, at work and at play—never fitting into the tight-knit flight community that partied hardy together whenever they had a chance—she forced her thoughts to the life-changing decision that lay before her.
Boiling it down to basics, she had to decide whether to stay in the Navy and make it a career or leave the secure world of the military that she’d known all her life and start over again. But where? Doing what?
Luke has made a nice life for himself here in Cancun, and he still flies a helicopter. Maybe I could find something at least as satisfying, if not more fun, than flying fast jets and bombing targets. Maybe.
The airlines were always a possibility, but it wouldn’t be the fast, responsive, fighter jet she currently flew. Flying a corporate jet for a huge conglomerate was also a consideration. That could be more interesting. She’d have to look into that idea.
Caroline’s phone buzzed with a text. Fearing it might be bad news from her mother concerning her sick grandfather, she checked the caller ID.
Robert.
What the hell can he want?
His text read, Miss you, baby. So much.
She stared at her phone. Was this for real? After the fight they’d had when she had confronted him with the news of his impending wedding, how dare he try to reconnect with her? The bastard!
Before she could stop herself, she typed back. WTF?
Within seconds, her phone vibrated in her hand, signaling another text.
Think I made a mistake. A big one.
No, she’d been the one to make the mistake. She’d trusted him.
Tossing the phone to the edge of her towel, she rolled over to sun her front side. She’d ignore the asshole. Forever.
But ten minutes later, her phone rang. She hesitated after seeing Robert’s name pop up on the caller ID.
Oh shit. Should I answer?
She sat up on her towel and looked at her best friends on either side of her. Expectant looks crossed their faces.
The ringtone started its melody over again.
She bolted to her feet and quick-stepped to the far end of the boat. Running her thumb over the icon, she accepted the call. In a low tone, she snapped, “What?”
Robert’s familiar voice came over the phone as clear as the waters below the catamaran. “Fuck, it’s good to hear your voice.” He actually sounded relieved.
She held the phone away from her ear and looked at it as if it had just bitten her ear, and not in a good way. Yep, it was Robert’s phone.
“You there, baby?”
“Robert, you know you called me—Caroline, not your fiancée.” The last three words couldn’t have contained any more acid.
He chuckled. “I know.”
“Then, what the hell?”
What was he doing? He’d made it perfectly clear that last day aboard the ship that, as far as he was concerned, they had just been having fun. He was getting the need for other women out of his system before he took the plunge into monogamy. That was not at all what she had thought. She’d been slowly giving him her heart, night by night, afternoon by afternoon, hotel room by hotel room.
“I’ve missed you, Caroline. I miss your warm body under mine, on top of mine—”
“Shut up, Robert.” She spat the words out.
The memories of their nights in bed, against the wall, and on the desk were now tainted with his final words: You know you’re not the kind of woman men like me marry. You’re the kind we enjoy.
“What’s the matter? Not enjoying your new wife?”
“The wedding isn’t until Saturday.” He sounded flat, matter-of-fact. “And, no. I’m not enjoying my fiancée. She’s…she’s not the person I thought she was.”
Caroline couldn’t stop herself. “Exactly what does that mean?”
“I think she wants to marry a Navy pilot to get the officer’s wife prestige shit. She wants that, not me. I’m not sure she’d marry me if the marriage license didn’t come with an ID card for her and an invitation to the Officers’ Wives’ Club.”
“So. Doesn’t that make her exactly the kind of woman men like you marry?” She loved throwing his words back at him. “What’s the matter, Robert? Is she bad in bed?”
There was a long pause. Caroline wondered if she’d lost the connection, or connected with the truth.
“She’s the worst lay I’ve ever had.” His harsh words were said through clenched teeth.
Caroline burst out laughing. Robert had been a demanding lover who liked sex and often. He also liked to experiment and pushed her limits with his dominance.
“You didn’t know that before?”
“No,” he admitted sheepishly. “Yes. Kind of. But—”
“Why are you telling me this?” Caroline didn’t want to hear about his wife-to-be. She glanced up at her friends to be sure they couldn’t hear then she turned to face the perfect Caribbean day. Sunshine warmed her body that had been chilled by his call.
“Because I could always talk to you about anything.”
But he hadn’t. He’d omitted some very important details in their after-glow pillow talk. “Except the fact that you were engaged.” Bam. Direct hit. Take that Hellfire missile, you cheating bastard.
“Caroline, I’m sorry. I really am.” Robert sounded contrite. “I…I wanted to tell you, but I knew you’d break it off, and I loved being with you.”
“Yeah, you son of a bitch, you used that word love a lot.” She deepened her voice, mimicking him. “‘Caroline, I love you so much. Fuck me harder.’” Her voice slipped back to normal. “And then there’s my all-time favorite: ‘Baby, I love you so much when you go down on me and take me deep. I fuckin’ love you.’”
“I do love you, Caroline. And that’s
what I want.” He hurried as though he had to get it all out at once. “I want to see you, be with you, when we both get back to base.”
Oh. My. God. He wants me, not her. He really does love me. Or does he?
She couldn’t trust him. And was that what she really wanted anyway?
“You’re calling off the wedding?” She tested him.
“No, I can’t do that. Everyone is here—my parents, her father and his wife, her mother and that whole side of the family—I have to go through with this marriage thing. But just as soon as I get back, we can be together, again.”
What the hell? Did I just hear what I thought I heard? She pulled the phone back from her ear and stared at it. He wants me to be his fuck buddy because his wife is a cold bitch? After everything he’s put me through?
The serious look on the Wing Commander’s face as she stood at attention in front of his desk while he listed her punishable offenses flashed through her brain. Oh, no. She would never trust Robert, or any man, again.
Pressing the phone back against her ear, she asked, “So…what? You’re going to get the marriage annulled when you get back, and in the meantime, you’re going to sleep with me?”
It was even more incredulous when she said it out loud. She hoped she hadn’t said it so loud that the others had heard. Not that it mattered much. She’d tell them about it anyway.
“Yeah! Exactly. That’s it.” He sounded excited about this whole idea.
No way in hell would she ever take up with a married man. Adultery was a serious charge, and she already had been threatened with several listed close to that one in the Uniform Code of Military Justice.
Had she known he was engaged, Caroline wouldn’t have given Robert the slightest inclination of interest. There were too many available, strings-free men aboard an aircraft carrier that she could’ve used to scratch the itch any time she felt the need. No. Robert had lured her in like a fish, and she’d been caught with his promises of more.
It had all been a lie. Lies that made her look like a fool.
“Not happening.” She could do so much better than Robert. “I deserve more than you can give me.”
As she said the words, they penetrated to her soul. She could do so much better than that cheater. She deserved better than him. The right man for her was out there, somewhere. And by God, she’d find the right one for her. A man who would love her and put her first in his life.
Bubbles bursting on the calm surface of the turquoise water caught her attention and made her think of Luke, who was diving thirty feet below. Yes. There were good men out there.
“Baby, we are so good together, and I prom—”
“Robert, I believe you and your new wife deserve each other.” Yes, Caroline deserved so much better than him. “Don’t ever call me again. You are not the kind of man women like me marry.”
Caroline touched the red End button on her screen.
She felt free. Enlightened. Warmed.
The egotistical jerk’s call had shifted her perspective. She had made a lucky escape before her relationship with him had cost her hard-earned career. Not that she was sure she wanted that anymore than she wanted Robert. If he hadn’t been such a lying, cheating bastard, she’d probably have ended up believing his lies and continuing their affair. Once a cheater, always a cheater. In a small way, she actually felt sorry for his fiancée because he’d find another willing woman to satisfy his dominant sexual needs. Robert was such a piece of shit.
No, she never wanted to see him again, but she wouldn’t let him ruin her career. If she was going to leave the Navy, she’d do it on her terms.
She sauntered back to the upper deck, where her friends had fallen asleep in the radiance of the Caribbean paradise.
As she stretched out on her big striped towel, she smiled. It had felt good telling him off. Empowering.
Chapter Five
Luke gave one last powerful kick to reach the catamaran ladder. Holding the bottom rung with one hand, he slipped off his fins with the other and handed them up to Caroline. She passed them to Chloe before reaching to help him up on the dive platform.
“Camera,” Luke said around the mouthpiece. He unclipped the camera and flash unit from his buoyancy compensator device, and then handed it to Caroline before he started up the ladder.
Through the tunnel vision created by the mask, he looked down at each step as Jack’s voice threatened in his head. You never, ever, take off your mask or spit out your regulator until your ass is on the seat. More divers have drowned at the back of the boat than thirty feet underwater.
Each rung increased the burden of his gear as he left the weightlessness of the ocean. Fifty pounds was less than any military pack he’d carried, but with the toll diving took on his body, the equipment felt as if it weighed over a hundred pounds. He couldn’t complain, though. There was no better way to explore the ocean bottom, which Luke had come to love.
Caroline and Chloe guided him to the nearest section of bench seats that ran the circumference of the main deck. He plopped down, the muscles in his whole body jellied from forty minutes below. In a few minutes his equilibrium would readjust and he’d regain strength. He spit out his regulator and tugged off his mask.
Although he loved his time underwater—it was so beautiful and exciting, always something new to see and explore—there was nothing quite as revitalizing as that first deep breath of fresh, clean air.
Luke turned at the splash down at the ladder.
“If you’ve got this, I’ll go help Lisa.” Chloe nodded toward the ladder.
“He’s all mine.” Caroline smiled. “I’ll be there in a second.”
The sight of her took his breath away. The sun had given her naturally brown skin a warm, red glow. And that yellow bikini… She looked delicious. He knew what was underneath. He wanted to lick and suck everything the small triangles barely covered. Salt from the sea saturated his tongue. She would taste like that. Everywhere. Except the juices between her legs would be creamy.
Damn. His cock had come to attention, ready to play in the fantasy his mind had created.
Refusing to wait another second, he cupped the back of her neck and pulled her to him. Her lips were warm and giving. When she opened for him, he dove in. His taste buds exploded. Caroline. The flavor of her filled his soul. His hand automatically went to her hip and traveled up the curve of her small waist. Her skin felt warm, a precursor for him to find her real heat. His fingers rippled over her ribs as he made his way to her breasts. He wanted to strip her out of the skimpy top and lick their pointed tips to confirm the salty taste.
“Hey.” Lisa dropped onto the seat next to him. “None of that here. We have children on board.” She nodded to where Jillian and Addison played with toys on the upper deck.
Reality doused Luke’s desire. He snatched his hand from Caroline’s body, breaking the kiss at the same time.
She blushed, but her smile was an unrepentant promise for more. Later.
“Get some good pictures?” She sounded excited as she glanced toward the bin of fresh water where his photography equipment soaked. There was a longing in her face—one he’d only seen as they had watched the Blue Angels practice back in Pensacola.
“Yeah. I took a really nice one of Lisa as she floated at the fifteen-foot safety stop. The sun rays in the water were stunning, and I caught a pretty piece of red coral in the corner to frame it.” Luke knew he sounded proud, but if it came out, it would be awesome.
“Can’t wait to see it.” Lisa wriggled out of her BCD. “Thanks for being my dive buddy. I could never keep up with those other guys. Damn, they can swim fast.” She scrubbed her scalp after handing her mask to Chloe who took his too. “SEALs are different animals under the water. They’re almost like schooling fish, reading each other’s mind.”
Luke chuckled. “Not just under water. They’re like…telepathically connected. Ever seen them in combat?”
Lisa’s bawdy laugh caught him off guard. “Never. You for
get. We fly F/A-18E Super Hornets. We’re so high in the sky they look like ants.”
“Yeah, well, I got to watch them up close and personal.” Luke’s hand went to the scar on his leg as if he had no control over his actions. When he saw Caroline watching him closely, he redirected it to removing his tank. She deftly picked up the heavy tank, and he saw just how toned she kept her body. She was one hell of a woman. And his. For a week.
“Did you get some shots of the lionfish?” Lisa dipped her mask in the tub of fresh water and soap.
“Lionfish? I didn’t think the Caribbean had them.” Caroline dug out their mask cases from under the bench seat.
“We do now.” Luke shook out his mask then carefully wiped it dry. “Marine biologists believe that when the 1992 hurricane destroyed the big aquarium in Florida, it released the six they had on display into the ocean. Since those little fu”—he glanced up at Addi and Jillian, then corrected himself, “suckers reproduce every month, they’re now invading everywhere. Cancun actually has a Lionfish Rodeo every year to kill off as many as possible.”
“That’s dangerous.” Lisa used her towel to wipe the last drops of water from her mask. “They have venomous spines.”
“I’d hate to get poked by one. It can make you really sick, I hear.” Luke had been warned about the beautiful red-and-white-striped fish with nearly transparent fins everywhere and a tail so full it reminded him of a blooming rose.
“My friend got stung while we were diving in the Indian Ocean,” Lisa told him as they headed to the shaded bar area. “He had to be medevac’d back to the ship.”
“Was he okay?” Caroline asked.
“Yeah. Sick as a dog for a day or so. Last time he’ll get near one of those.” Lisa planted her toned butt onto one of the stools.
Luke couldn’t resist the temptation. He had to touch Caroline and threw an arm around her shoulders.
“Stop,” she jumped away from him. “You’re all wet.” She snatched a towel and tossed it to him. Luke swiped the towel over his face and briefly ran it over his body. Throwing it back onto the seat, he ran his fingers through his hair, shoving it out of his eyes.