Their mother’s desertion had been an unbelievable blow to both her and Sienna—not to mention to the father that they both adored. Olivia’s father had expectantly waited for the return of Olivia’s mother for years, as if she was just a lost lamb who would eventually find her way back to flock.
After the passing of too many years, however, he had mourned for her as if she had died. And in a way, she had. It had been painful to watch. It still was painful to watch.
Flipping over the sheet music, Olivia’s slender fingers paused over the keys … and then she began to play. She let herself get lost in the moment, completely and truly lost in the moment. All she cared about was the music. The beauty of the notes sounding out in perfect harmony. She loved all of Beethoven’s compositions, but his Sonata Pathetique was one of her favorites. This time it was effortless; playing the piano always used to be so delightfully easy for her. And she missed it.
****
Will looked up from the stacked brunette he was cozying up with just in time to see Olivia Lewis walking over to the young, purple-haired deejay.
Damn, Olivia was a gorgeous woman. Her caramel colored skin was flawless, and her incredible blue eyes were entrancing. Her long, light brown hair fell in waves down to her waist. She had a small mole right above her top lip that was a lot sexier than it should have been. He couldn’t help but notice her ass, which was so tight he could probably eat a meal off of it—and would if he ever got the chance.
Tonight, she was wearing a black spaghetti-strapped tank top and blue Levis and stilettos. On any other woman, the outfit wouldn’t have stood out in any remarkable way. On Olivia, however, she looked like she was about to walk down the runway.
He watched her as the music changed over with an abrupt scratching sound, and Olivia sat down at an old piano that was in the corner of the room. Now this was an interesting turn of events. Will watched Olivia turn the sheet music over until she found the piece that she was looking for. Her long, slender fingers poised for a pregnant moment over the keys.
Will excused himself from the brunette that he’d been dancing with (which may or may not have been his attempt to make Olivia jealous) and walked over to the bar where his friends were ordering up some more shots. His eyes never left Olivia as she played what had to have been a perfect rendition of a classical piece.
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 on
e 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 pushups—”
“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.
Yeah right. Will just couldn’t stand the thought of another man with his hands on her.
The young pilot got the warning message loud and clear. He turned around almost as quickly as he came, heading back to the table with his friends. “Hey, you about ready to go home, sweetheart?”
“Why? Do you need to leave with your date?”
/> “What?” Will asked, his eyebrows furrowing together in a frown as he tried to understand what she was talking about.
“Your date, the girl you were dancing with—Michelle.”
Well, whaddya know … she had been paying attention earlier. “Oh, no, I’m your bonafide chauffeur tonight. Totally at your service, babe. Your wish is my command Doctor Lewis,” Will grinned and then winked at her.
He helped her down from the barstool, took her hand, and then navigated her around the other bar patrons and toward the exit. “Come on, hun, it’s almost four in the morning. Being a workaholic and all I’m sure you probably have to go to work later on today.”
“Yeah, I do actually. I have to go in for a late shift this evening,” Olivia answered, her hand clinging on to Will’s. He led her out to a black jeep that was parked at a space in the back parking lot of the bar.
The parking lot was dimly lit, with only one parking lot light present in the far right corner. The anemic glow from the lamp did serve, however, to illuminate a few broken beer bottles that Will steered Olivia around. Will’s panoramic gaze checked to make sure that there wasn’t anyone lurking around who would pose a threat to them. When he opened the passenger side door for her, her slender fingers were still entwined with his strong ones.
Will hated to break the intimate contact with her. But he did just that as he assisted her inside the vehicle. He then fastened her seat belt for her before securely shutting the passenger door.
“So where exactly is this carriage taking you, sweetheart?” Will said, closing the driver’s side door and glancing over at Olivia before starting up the vehicle.
“Huh?”
Will laughed at her confusion. He really couldn’t help himself. She looked at him with those big round eyes of hers, and he had to admit it was adorable. Not that he’d actually call Olivia “adorable” to her face of course. He’d probably encounter her mighty wrath for that type of comment, and get some sort of spiel about the feminist movement and this not being the 1940s. “Where do you live Ms. Lewis?”
“Ramstein Air Base,” she replied huskily.
Pushed to the Edge (SEAL Team 14) Page 6
