“C’mon, man. You’ve seen Bri. She’s hot.”
“So are a lot of women. Find one who’s not your buddy’s ex-fiancée.”
“It’s not like that. I already got the okay from Ty.”
“Then why are you calling me?”
“Hell if I know.” Then, after a long pause, “I guess I wanted to make sure. You know…that Easy’s really okay with this. I don’t want to move in on his girl if he’s still hung up on her and trying to save face.”
Hardy had gotten it exactly right, but no way could Sean tell him that. You didn’t rat on your best friend, even if it would help him get his fiancée back. “Maybe you should worry less about Ty and more about Bri. You know how obsessed with Ty that chick is.”
“Was. I saw her at Vapor last night, and I can one-hundred-percent guarantee that she wasn’t thinking about Easy while she was working it in that tiny skirt they call a uniform.”
“Yeah. She was thinking about her tips.”
“Talk to her yourself. You’ll see.”
Damn right Sean was going to talk to her. As soon as he figured out how to do that without walking into the club where he was persona non grata. “You, uh, have her phone number?”
“Didn’t want to get her digits until I was sure Easy would be okay with it. But I know where she’s gonna be. The girl recited her entire schedule. Must’ve wanted me to know when she’d be free to—”
“Yeah. I get it.”
“You really want to talk to her?”
“Is that a problem?”
“Naw, man.”
“So where is she?”
*
If sleep-rumpled Sean had been hot, fresh-from-the-shower Sean was on fire. Keri took her time brushing out her damp hair, enjoying the view of him in nothing but a towel.
It didn’t last long. The second he noticed her noticing him, he sprinted out of the bathroom. He must’ve practiced speed-dressing as part of SEAL training because, by the time she finished her hair a minute later, he was fully covered.
“You ready?” he wanted to know.
“Have you seen my purse? I swear, it was right over—”
“Don’t worry about it. We’re only going downstairs.”
“I thought you wanted to go to Tahoe for a cruise.”
“I did. Do. It’s…you know.” He stared at the stylized photo of the Vegas skyline on the wall like he was hopelessly lost and it was the only map around. “A sunset cruise.”
“Oh,” she said, even though he wasn’t making any sense.
“I thought we’d grab a quick bite. Maybe stop by the spa.”
“The spa?” Sean suggesting a cruise had been strange enough, and now this?
“What? Guys like massages, too. And, it turns out we get a $100 spa credit with the suite. I didn’t want it to go to waste.” He looked distinctly uncomfortable. But the vibe she was getting was more I’m-afraid-I-lost-my-man-card than I’m-counting-the-seconds-until-I-can-jump-off-a-cliff.
Maybe Sean really did like massages. That was possible.
“Give me a minute.” She wrinkled her forehead like she was deep in thought. “I’m trying to picture you on a massage table, being rubbed with scented oil, but the picture isn’t coming into focus.”
Total lie. She could see Sean’s bare chest in all its 3-D, high-definition glory.
She shoved the imaginary massage therapist out of the way because she had to touch—
“Smart ass. Come on, or we’ll miss our appointment.”
“Yeah. Okay.” She stumbled as she started forward, so focused on imaginary Sean’s perfect muscles that she hadn’t noticed the place where the heart-shaped area rug met the tile.
Sean steadied her with one hand on her arm, and heat zinged through her from the single point of contact.
She wanted to touch him—not just his skin, but his heart. She wanted to make him smile again. She needed to.
*
“Welcome to the Palais Hotel Spa! Marco and Mauricio will be your masseurs today. If you’ll follow me, we’ll get you ready.”
Sean followed the perky receptionist, tuning out her babble about sugar scrubs and aromatherapy baths so that he could focus on the layout. Where are you, Bri?
According to Hardy, she was having some kind of mud facial. Sean needed to pinpoint her location, and then—
Something the receptionist was saying caught his attention. “Wait. Could you repeat that?”
“I said we’re almost there. Our couple’s treatment room is right down this hallway.”
Couple’s treatment room?
The receptionist motioned for him and Keri to precede her around the corner, but Sean’s legs decided to stop working. He stopped short, in front of some kind of indoor fountain.
Water streamed over the fake rocks—a massive shrine to relaxation—but all the water features and aromatherapy in the world weren’t enough to block the realization that this sadistic woman in glitter shimmer eyeshadow was about to lock him in a tiny room next to his wife. Wife! Who was going to be completely naked. “I didn’t book a couple’s massage.”
“Oh, don’t worry sir. As a courtesy to our just-married couples, we waive the extra fee.”
“Oh. Well, that’s…”
“Unless you want to be separated. We do have another private room open. I can put your wife and Marco there.”
“No!” No way was Marco putting his hands on Keri without Sean’s supervision. “The couple’s room is fine.”
“Great!” The receptionist started forward again. This time he followed, catching sight of a door marked facials in the opposite direction.
At least he knew where Bri was. That was the important thing. He’d concentrate on his impending meeting with Bri, and he’d barely even know Keri was in the room with him.
“Here we are!” The receptionist opened a door, and Sean walked straight into his own personal hell.
The side-by-side tables were close enough for he and Keri to reach out and touch each other during their massages. The light was provided by a floor-to-ceiling window that looked out over a small Japanese-style garden. And there was a Jacuzzi tub perfectly sized for two.
Jesus.
If he was coherent enough to talk to Bri after an hour of this torture, it would be a miracle.
“This looks nice,” Keri said.
“I’ll give you some privacy to get undressed,” the receptionist chirped. “Marco and Mauricio will be in momentarily.”
The door shut with a soft click.
Sean focused on the Japanese maple outside the window because he knew exactly what that soft rustling meant. Keri was taking off her clothes.
“Are you going to undress? They’ll be here soon.”
The rustling stopped. Was she finished?
He risked a glance, and—thank God—she was under the sheet. “Just soaking in the atmosphere.”
He pulled his shirt over his head, and Keri’s eyes went dark. Hot.
Her gaze swept across his skin, leaving goose bumps in its wake.
Turning away, he pulled the rest of his clothes off as fast as he could and dived under the sheet. A soft knock sounded on the door.
“Come in.” He was practically yelling, but he didn’t care. He needed a chaperone ASAP.
The masseurs came in and introduced themselves. Then Mauricio went to work on Sean’s shoulders.
Sean hissed in a breath. The guy might be half his size, but those hands had some serious muscle tone.
“You are holding a lot of tension here. Let it go. Let yourself relax.” He said it so matter-of-factly, like that was a thing Sean could do, like flipping a switch. Press the relax button, and forget all about Ty, Bri, and Keri. Not likely.
Sean snuck a glance at Keri—just to make sure Marco was keeping his hands in the approved areas.
She was staring at Sean. Her gaze wasn’t hot anymore, but concerned, like she was cataloguing all the ways he was broken and what she would have to do to fix him.
So he closed his eyes. Focused on Keri’s slow, deep inhalations until his breathing synced with hers. He had all kinds of shit to deal with, but for now—while he was inside this room—he wasn’t going to do anything but breathe.
Slowly but surely, the tension drained from his muscles. He was only vaguely aware of Mauricio’s hands because it wasn’t the massage that was helping him. It was Keri’s breathing. Her mere presence.
By the time the two masseurs filled the Jacuzzi with aromatherapy bubble bath and left, he felt more rested than after a full night’s sleep. He hadn’t realized how much tension he’d been carrying around until this moment when it was gone.
So this was what calm felt like. It had been so long he’d forgotten.
Keri sat up and stretched, the sheet slipping precariously. “That was amazing.”
An hour ago, that hint of cleavage would’ve done him in. Now he was able to shove the memory deep into his subconscious and slam the door. To focus on his immediate goal—finding Bri. Which meant ditching Keri for a little while. “If you think that was amazing, you’re going to love the aromatherapy soak.”
“I know. But give me a minute to remember how my muscles work.”
With the sheet wrapped around his waist, Sean hopped off the table. He pulled on his shirt, then his boxers and jeans.
“Wait. Aren’t you coming in with me?”
“I don’t think I should get in the water. With my leg still healing…” Guilt hijacked the rest of the sentence, which was ridiculous, because it was only a little white lie.
“I’m so sorry. I wasn’t thinking.” Keri turned toward him, the sheet slipping further. “Well, who needs aromatherapy? We can—”
“No.” He turned away. “You enjoy it. I have to make a call anyway. And then we’ll be ready to drive to the lake.”
“Are you sure? Because I really don’t need to—”
“Positive.” He waited, facing the wall, until he heard a soft splash that had to be Keri getting into the tub.
“See you in a few minutes.” His voice was raspy. He couldn’t look at her. If he caught so much as a glimpse of smooth, bare shoulders, glistening with water, he’d lose all the hard-won calm the past hour had given him.
He closed the door, grateful for the solid barrier between them, because it made it so much easier to clear his head. As he strode down the deserted hallway, he focused on finding Bri, nothing else.
This time, he was ready. This time, he was going to make her understand.
He found good cover behind a clay pot holding tall shoots of bamboo, right outside the treatment room. And waited.
C’mon, Bri. Step on it.
Finally, the door opened, and Bri meandered out, looking nice and relaxed in her spa robe and slippers. Perfect.
He stepped out in front of her. “Hey, Bri.”
That relaxation disappeared faster than a cold beer on a hot day. “What the hell are you doing here?”
He took a deep breath. He wasn’t going to get angry. He couldn’t afford to. “I came to apologize.”
“You came into my place of business, Sean. You blindsided me in the middle of work.”
“I’m sorry. That wasn’t my intention. But you changed your cell number. I didn’t know how else to get in touch with you. And I had to see you. Ty is my best friend, and I can’t stand to see him so miserable. He needs you, Bri. I know he’s not good at saying it, but it’s true. And you need him, too.”
“Look.” Her tone wasn’t exactly conciliatory, but at least it was no longer actively hostile. “I loved him. But it wasn’t enough. Because he stopped loving me, and I couldn’t love him enough for both of us.”
“But he does lo—” The word stuck in his throat, refusing to come out. Once Ty and Bri were back together, he was never talking about this messy emotional shit ever again. “He does feel that way about you.”
“Then why isn’t he here?” She spoke softly—calmly—but Sean started to sweat.
He reached for that state of perfect calm he’d been in not ten minutes ago, but it was so completely gone he might have imagined it. “You know how he is. He thinks that if he has to work too hard for something, it’s a sign from the universe that it’s not meant to be.”
Bri folded her arms over her chest, suddenly ferocious, even in her fuzzy robe. “If Ty wants me, he’s going to have to work for it. And I don’t mean sending you in his place. If he can’t make the effort to talk to me himself, he doesn’t want me enough.”
Sean started to object, but he’d already said it all. There was, literally, nothing more he could do. The only one who could fix things with Bri was Ty.
Sean needed to get back to San Diego and kick Ty’s ass into gear.
CHAPTER 3
SEAN MADE HIS way back to the couple’s treatment room on autopilot, his head filled with timetables. If they left right now and drove straight through to San Diego, it would take about nine hours to—
“There you are. All finished with your phone call?”
“What? Oh—yeah. All done.”
“Great!” Keri fit herself against his side like she belonged there, and his heart beat out a warning salvo.
He needed all his wits about him if he was going to accomplish both his mission objectives—convince Keri he didn’t need her anymore and pull Ty’s head out of his ass before Bri hooked up with Hardy.
“Ready for the cruise?” she asked.
Shit. He’d forgotten about that.
Okay—not the end of the world. Even if they left right now, he wouldn’t get back to San Diego in time to talk to Ty tonight. He’d simply get on the road right after the cruise, drive straight through, and knock on his buddy’s door as soon as the sun came up. “Let’s grab our stuff first. Then we can get on the road when we’re done.”
“You want to drive back tonight? We have another night in the suite.”
He couldn’t explain his urgency to Keri. She’d bought into Ty’s everything-happens-for-a-reason bullshit, and Sean wasn’t going to be the one to burst her bubble. “I have a follow-up appointment with the doc about my leg tomorrow.” Not a lie, although not exactly the whole truth because his leg was pretty much healed and he’d been planning to cancel the appointment.
“Of course.” She picked up her pace. “Maybe we should leave now.”
“It’s okay. We don’t have to—”
“Cruises are overrated anyway.”
Guilt hit him hard. It was so like Keri to pretend the cruise was no big deal because she wanted to make sure he was home in time for a doctor’s appointment. How many more things would she sacrifice if he didn’t get her out of this sorry excuse for a marriage?
“Don’t worry, honey. We’ve got time. It’ll be better to leave at night anyway. Less traffic.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah.” But, with her touching him, he wasn’t sure about anything. Not if he had a chance of getting through to Ty. And certainly not his motives for going on this cruise.
Because he was starting to worry that it had less to do with convincing Keri he was A-OK and more to do with spending as much time with her as he could before the inevitable divorce.
*
Sean took one step onto the Bella Luna and knew he’d fucked up, big time. He’d wanted to take Keri for a cruise on one of those big ferry boats—the ones that carried hundreds of other passengers, AKA, chaperones.
The Bella Luna was not a big ferry boat. It was a sailing yacht. The kind of boat that probably couldn’t handle more than twenty people, though it was hard to know because he and Keri were the only ones on it, aside from the crew.
“Champagne, Sir? Ma’am?”
That was a spectacularly bad idea. But before Sean could refuse, Keri had taken both glasses from some kid waiter.
“Thank you.” She gave the k
id a brilliant smile.
He blushed bright red. “You’re welcome. If there’s anything else you need…”
His gaze slipped toward Keri’s cleavage, and Sean burst into motion, on a pattern to intercept. Only, except for his wandering eyes, the kid hadn’t moved.
Sean came to an abrupt halt next to Keri. Yet another strategic error because she handed him one of the glasses.
His hand closed around the delicate stem automatically. “She doesn’t. Need anything else.”
“Yeah. Okay.” The kid’s face was even redder now, which made Sean feel bad. Only not bad enough to move away from Keri.
“We’re, uh, pushing back from the dock now, so I’ll—”
“Now?” Shit. “What about everyone else?”
“You’re our only passengers today. Looks like you folks lucked into a private cruise.” The kid practically ran back into the cabin, like he knew that wasn’t welcome news.
And then Sean was alone with Keri on the deck. Though the sun was heading toward the horizon, it was still full daylight. But that was a small comfort. With Keri around, he didn’t need any extra atmosphere to set the mood. All he’d ever needed was her.
She took a sip of champagne. Sunlight glinted off the metal band on her ring finger, and irrational, destructive possessiveness surged through him. His wife.
His glass squeaked in protest, and he commanded his fingers to unclench. Then he ditched the glass on a teak bench storing lifejackets before he broke it in half.
“What are you thinking about?”
Think fast, Patterson. What would a well-adjusted guy talk to his new wife about during a sunset cruise?
He looked out over the vast blue expanse of the lake, and the perfect, safe conversational topic came to him. “Remember the last cruise we took together?”
“What…?” He knew the second the memory clicked in her head because she burst out laughing—that full-on belly laugh that made the whole world brighter. “You mean that time you rescued me from imaginary pirates?”
He shrugged. “What can I say? I’ve always been a hero.”
“In my defense, the first officer looked exactly like the pirate captain in Ty’s favorite movie.”
Marriage: Impossible (Voretti Family Book 1) Page 3