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“But Alex is doing okay?”
Lauren’s mouth tightened. “I have to teach him Krav Maga starting next week.”
“But you’ve always taught classes on it to other team members.”
Lauren halted and threw open her hands in frustration. “I just don’t want—I don’t LIKE to be near this guy, Sky. He makes me twitchy as hell. I’m NEVER nervous, but being around him, I feel like a Mexican jumping bean. It’s spooky.”
Sky decided to swallow her smile. “I see. And has he been respectful of you?”
“To a fault,” Lauren said, shaking her head and going to the refrigerator and bringing back the bottle of white wine. She filled her glass. Sitting down, she griped, “You’ll never believe what he did the other day.”
“What?”
“The guy brought me a bouquet of red roses out to the shooting range! In front of six other team members. I about died of shame.”
Sky compressed her lips, knowing what was happening between the two of them. But Lauren was absolutely oblivious. She was crawling out of her skin when Alex was too close to her, a sure sign that he was getting to her sexually. She knew Lauren had very little relationship experience to read the signs or the signals between them. “That was sweet of him.”
“Sweet?” Lauren took a gulp of wine. “I call it damned embarrassing. I told him to take the flowers and get rid of them. They had no business out on a shooting range. Hell, he had to qualify. He shouldn’t be thinking of flowers.”
Sky remained silent, happy for Lauren. Alex was like Cal: once he saw something he wanted, he went after it. Alex was trying to be nice, to behave how he thought an American gentleman should toward the lady he wanted to court. But it was sailing over Lauren’s head like a helium balloon. She didn’t have a clue. “He meant well,” Sky murmured.
“I can’t hardly stand the fact he’s coming out here for your wedding. I have to play nice because I don’t want to ruin your wedding by getting into a snit with him.”
“Thank you,” Sky said, sincerely meaning it. Lauren, despite her outer toughness, was very sensitive. And she loved the idea of being Sky’s maid of honor. Lauren hated the idea of wearing that gooey dress, as she referred to it, and she refused to wear heels or nail polish, but she had conceded to let a hairdresser style her red hair. Those were things Sky could live with. She liked her friend just the way she was independent, headstrong, and blunt. She was a perfect picture of a female version of Cal Sinclair.
CHAPTER 5
June 6
“Cal… this isso beautiful!” Sky looked around, absorbing the beach. The pounding of the ocean waves, the seagulls sailing lazily overhead on the warm June afternoon, crying and floating above them as they walked along the beach, it all filled her with an overwhelming joy. Cal was carrying a ruck on his back that contained a blanket, picnic food, and water. He was wearing his black baseball cap with the SEAL insignia on it, a black t-shirt, and black shorts that showed off his powerful legs to perfection. Last night, she’d been exhausted by the day’s ceaseless activities. This morning, Cal had slowly awakened her with kisses from her mouth to her feet, simply caring for her, not making love with her. Sky was sure he’d sensed the depth of her tiredness from all the excitement leading up to their wedding. Caring was part of loving, and his tenderness filled her heart and soul.
Cal turned, feeling the warmth of the sun. From behind his wraparound sunglasses, he looked over and grinned at Sky, who was struggling through the fine, sugary white sand. There was a rosy flush to her cheeks, and she looked winded from their mile-long trek across the public beach at La Jolla, a small, but very rich town north of San Diego. “We need to make our way around that,” he said, pointing to the five-hundred-foot dark brown rocky cliff coming up. “That’s the surprise I have waiting for you,” he teased.
Huffing, Sky gave him a game smile. “I’ll do it…” Cal must have seen her struggles and slowed his stride. He reached out, grabbing her hand. “Sorry,” she said, breathing unevenly. “It’s my stupid asthma acting up. No big deal. I’ll be okay.”
Cal halted and tucked Sky beneath his arm, pointing her in the direction of the marine-colored ocean, the waves at least six or seven feet high at low tide. “Let’s rest a minute,” he murmured, dropping a kiss on her mussed hair. In the sunlight, her blond strands gleamed like molten gold. Cal would never get tired of looking at Sky. She was utterly flushed from the mile-long walk along the beach. Sky, he knew, would never ask him to slow down. When they lived in Cusco, Peru, which sat nearly twelve thousand feet above sea level, she often labored to catch her breath when her asthma decided to intrude. Sky never complained, though he wished she would. What he had to do instead was monitor her and constantly keep his senses oriented to her.
“This is incredible,” Sky whispered, looking around.
“Is this your first time to the San Diego area?”
“Yes.” She flashed him a smile. “I hope it isn’t our last?”
“I’m a SEAL and I took my training here,” Cal told her wryly. “We’ll always make time to come back here.” He pointed out to the waves breaking against the golden sand. “That’s Mother Ocean. We were taught she would always keep us safe. If shit happened on land, you go into the ocean and swim out as far as you could, and then get picked up by a sub, helicopter, or by a boat.”
“The water’s cold,” Sky noted because she’d been walking barefoot, allowing the foamy bubbles to slosh around her feet and ankles.
“It is.” Cal grinned. “Brings back a lot of memories of when I was in BUD/S at Coronado, hoping like hell to make it through that six-month school in order to become a SEAL.”
“I was listening to Dylan, Ben, and you talking late last night about BUD/S.” Sky shook her head. “That sounded like six months of continuous torture. Being forced to stand up to your chest in this cold water? Freezing to the point where your teeth were chattering? No thanks.” She shook her head, giving Cal a look of admiration. “You guys are REALLY tough.”
“And you aren’t?” Cal gave her a serious look, noticing her breathing was calming down and evening out once more. Her face wasn’t as flushed, indicating she wasn’t struggling any longer to inhale a deep breath.
“I could never make it through BUD/S!”
“There’s all kinds of challenges in life, Sweetheart,” he told her, becoming solemn as he held her close to him. “And you have strength. A kind that can’t be made by going through something like BUD/S. Your childhood was a make-or-break kind of strength for you. You handled it for sixteen years, I only had to handle training for six months. And you have the heart.” Cal placed a kiss on her brow, “There’s a core of resilience in your soul, enough to overcome anything thrown at you.” He smiled down at her. “You’re a survivor, Sky. Not all people are, but you are.”
Sky pushed her toe into the damp sand. “Well,” she muttered, “I’ll agree with you that I’m strong. But Cal, you guys have an incredible physical and mental strength I just don’t see much of anywhere else in this world of ours.”
