Olivia glanced up at Spencer, but he was busy focusing all his energy on eating. “Um…we haven’t discussed anything yet.”
“Oh, well, you’re invited to come along with us?” she offered, her words posed as a question as she looked to Jami for confirmation.
Beside her, Olivia noticed he’d grown stock still, eying Ally with a touch of annoyance. The level of discomfort at their table grew markedly, and Olivia dropped her eyes to her food, not wanting to get into the middle of their silent argument.
Jami cleared his throat. “Sure, yeah. Of course, you’re welcome to come.”
“We wouldn’t want to intrude,” Olivia rushed out.
“It’s no intrusion. We’re happy to have you along,” Ally chimed in.
“We already have plans,” Spencer interjected, capturing all their attention.
“We do?”
His blue eyes lifted and held hers. In them, she could see the strain he felt from being caught in the middle. “I thought we’d spend a quiet day on the beach. Have a picnic, swim. Just the two of us.”
She loved the sound of that. A smile inched up on her face, and Spencer’s lips curved in response.
“Well that sounds great. I know I’m looking forward to soaking up a lot of time with Jami and the sun this weekend, too, while I can still fit in my bikini.”
“I don’t think you need to worry about outgrowing your bikini. Not enough material. But it’s definitely a good opportunity to work on that tan,” Olivia agreed.
“Good? You mean great! Bikini or not, I can’t wait to get some tan lines on this pasty skin.”
“I like your pasty skin,” Jami offered.
“You’re also a fan of winter. Your judgment here is questionable.”
“What? I like snowmen,” Jami said defensively. “Not to mention, it’s easier to get warmed up than it is to cool down.” His brows waggled suggestively and Olivia stifled a laugh. She’d almost forgotten how these two were together. It was fun to watch.
“Well, I’m done here. Ready to head out, Liv?” Spencer’s brisk tone of voice cut through the easy chitchat and Olivia felt her cheeks redden.
She wasn’t nearly finished with her…buffet? But Spencer was already standing, looking down at her with impatience.
Shooting their friends an apologetic look, Olivia pasted on another false smile. “I couldn’t eat another bite.”
“But you hardly touched your breakfast,” Ally pointed out.
True. Her tray was still heavy with food. But Olivia had received the message: Spencer wanted to leave. Now. In fact, he had already dumped his garbage and was on his way back to collect her.
“I guess my eyes were bigger than my stomach,” Olivia laughed as she stood from the table.
Ally didn’t appear convinced, but she opened her arms as Olivia bent to embrace her. “Are you sure you can’t stick around a little longer?”
Her tone made Olivia wonder if Ally’s whole point in sitting with them had been to help urge the boys back together. If that’s what she was trying to do, then Olivia was thankful…and regretful. Ally may not be Spencer’s biggest fan, but she was trying. Civility and her ability to anticipate Jami’s needs and attempt to fill them proved what a great person she was.
“Sorry, I would stick around longer, but I’m excited to get started on Spencer’s plans.”
“I can’t blame you there. It sounds like you have a lovely day ahead of you. So, you’ll be at my room by four to get ready?”
“Five at the latest,” Olivia promised. “I won’t need much time to prepare.” The great thing about this wedding: it wasn’t overkill. Ally had planned a very simple and elegant affair. The women in the bridal party would be doing their own makeup and hair. The only thing that tied them together was the cut and color of their dresses. Everything else was designed with their comfort in mind.
“Promise me you won’t fall asleep on the beach? And don’t get burned!” Ally said, panic making her eyes grow wide.
“I promise! No sleeping and plenty of sunblock.” Olivia squeezed her shoulder. “You worry too much. Everything is going to be perfect. Just focus on having an amazing day before you tie yourself to the old ball and chain,” she said, hitching her thumb at Jami.
“Hey! I think you got that twisted around.”
Olivia glanced at Jami’s two-hundred plus frame and lifted a brow. “Like I said, ball and chain.”
He pouted, and she and Ally laughed at his expense. “I’ll catch up with you later.”
Standing off to the side, Spencer tipped his head politely at Jami and Ally, and then held out his hand for Olivia. Lacing their fingers together, he guided them back to their room.
“Strip down and suit up, babe,” he instructed as he let them inside. “I’m going to grab the lube.”
Olivia rolled her eyes as she unzipped her luggage. “It’s called suntan lotion, Spence.”
Turning, his cerulean eyes caught hers. “Not when I apply it.”
TWENTY-FOUR
“I love your body. I love touching your body,” Spencer amended as his hands, slick with coconut scented lotion, glided over Liv’s smooth, unblemished skin. He put a lot of time into making sure the application was even, especially around the curve of her ass and around her ribcage.
She was a fantasy come to life. The tropical sun beat down from overhead, glistening off her skin like a million tiny diamonds. He was mesmerized by the vision of his rubbing his hands over all that creamy flesh.
Shifting onto her back, Liv sat up and grabbed the bottle of lotion. “Your turn. Lie down so I can do you.”
He smirked as they switched places. “Oh, yeah. That’s what I’m talking about.” Dropping down onto the towel they’d spread out over the sand, Spencer settled onto his stomach with a pleasured sigh.
Kneeling beside him, Liv clucked. “There goes your brain again. Straight into the gutter.”
Spencer gasped as a cold dollop of lotion fell between his shoulder blades. “Easy, baby. At least warm it up first.”
“Is that another innuendo?” Flattening her palms on his back, she began rubbing in slow circles, spreading the lotion across his shoulders and the back of his neck. Her fingers dug in as she went, gifting him with a massage that was anything but innocent.
Moaning, Spencer hid his face in his folded arms. “Lower, baby. Yeah, right there. Harder.”
Chuckling, Liv slapped his shoulder. “Stop it! There are children around.”
Spencer’s shoulders shook as he joined her laughter. His humor fled in the next instant as her hands left him. “Don’t stop.”
“Relax,” Liv replied, her voice dropping to a low, sensual octave. Replacing her hands, she worked on his lower back, her fingers teasing the edge of his board shorts, just above his buttocks. Moving lower, she made sure to cover every inch of skin she could reach, her hands smoothing up the backs of his thighs, the tips of her fingers grazing his balls.
When she instructed him to roll over, it took several minutes before he could comply. After Liv finished applying sunscreen to every inch of his body—even between his toes—they lay together, side by side, heads turned toward one another, soaking up the warm rays.
“Thank you for bringing me here.” Releasing one arm from beneath his head, he reached out to brush a blonde lock from her face. “Spending this time with you, away from everything…It’s perfect.”
“I think so, too. I wish every day could be like this.”
“What? Laying in the sand, working on our tan? Making love all hours of the day and night?”
“Exactly. Here, life is just…easier.”
“That’s because it’s paid for,” Spencer said, growing serious. “When we get home, I’m going to find a job. I’m going to take care of you, Liv.” His words were a promise to both of them. He was tired of being a disappointment, and Liv deserved to have someone look out for her for a change.
Inching closer, until they were nose to nose, Liv tasted his lips with a s
weetness that made his chest ache. “You already do.” Meeting his eyes, she told him, “I don’t care how much cash is in your wallet, Spence. It’s you I want. I’m in this for you.”
His throat constricted, and Spencer found himself unable to speak. His thoughts strayed to that day in the treatment center’s courtyard. To what he’d written in that journal. He didn’t have it anymore, but he remembered the words in it clearly. They’d shaken him then, but not anymore. There were a lot of words on that paper, but the four that stood out to him were simple: Liv is my world.
He hadn’t been able to face them then, but now that he was sitting here, in the sand with a woman who accepted him for him, he couldn’t deny the truth anymore.
Liv was his world. She was everything, the most important part of his day. He wasn’t sure why he’d felt the need to run from it before. It was silly now that he thought about it because as scary as love could be, now that he had it, he was more afraid of losing it.
Never again.
Clasping the back of her neck, he pulled her in to kiss her. It was short, but no less memorable, because sometimes, actions spoke louder than words. It was a thank you. It was an act of gratitude that encompassed everything he was feeling—thank you for loving me, thank you for believing in me, thank you for saving me. Without her, he was nothing.
Pulling back, Liv grinned widely and kissed him quick one more time, flicking her tongue over his hoop in a way that drove him crazy, before jumping to her feet. “Come on, let’s get wet.”
Oh, man. It was as if she chose her words on purpose. It took every ounce of his self-control not to twist them into something R-rated. Pushing up, Spencer dusted loose sand from his chest. “You have three seconds, and then I’m coming after you.”
She spent one processing his warning, and then, with a yelp, Liv took off across the beach toward the crystal clear waters. But the head start wasn’t enough. Spencer was on her before she reached the shoreline.
Whisking her off her feet, Spencer ran toward the water. The ocean rushed up to meet them as he carried her in until they were submerged up to their shoulders before letting her down. All the while, Liv’s laughter-coated screams of fright tickled his ears.
The water was icy cold against their heated skin. As Spencer watched Liv squirming in his arms, the sun highlighting a dusting of tiny freckles across her slender nose and catching on the brilliant light in her eyes, he realized that this was exactly where he was meant to be. Here with Liv in his arms, he’d never felt lighter. In the middle of the ocean, on a beach miles from home, he felt buoyancy he’d never thought to achieve.
They were two flawed creatures. Like him, Liv was haunted and damaged by demons from her past. But she had also proved resilient. Her intelligence and determination, her ability to see the good in everything and everyone, was what made her the strongest person he knew. It made her the most stunningly beautiful woman he’d ever laid eyes on, and she was his.
Spencer had learned so much from her. He’d learned patience and understanding. What it meant to love and be loved. More than anything, he learned forgiveness—for others, but especially for himself. He couldn’t lie and say that their lives together would be perfect. They would undoubtedly have their share of problems, but with her by his side, he knew…he could overcome anything. He could defeat anything.
Together, they would hold each other up and for the rest of their lives, no matter what obstacles lay in their paths, they would always be…
Undefeated.
EPILOGUE
“Spencer’s really not coming?”
Olivia fastened the last of the bobby pins into Ally’s hair, and then reached for the hairspray. Liberally spraying it on, her hand followed behind the mist to smooth down the flyaways. “That’s what he said. He just doesn’t feel like it’s his place anymore.”
Ally harrumphed. “They’re both blockheads; you know that, right?”
“Yep,” Olivia smirked.
“Jami talks about him all the time. He thinks he’s fooling everyone, but I know deep down he wants Spencer there. Those two have a history. You can’t erase that overnight.”
No, you couldn’t. Olivia understood how hard it was for the men to come to terms with the last few months. The changes had affected everyone. They might have thought it would be easy to just walk away, but the opposite couldn’t be truer. You couldn’t just walk away from the kind of connection those two had without consequences. In this case, it seemed obvious that both men were miserable without each other. So why couldn’t they see that?
“I agree. Maybe we should arrange a kidnapping. We could lock them in a room together and make them fight out their differences until they realize they love each other.”
“Now there’s a thought! How do I look?” Ally asked, turning around and smoothing her hands down her dress.
Stunning wasn’t an accurate enough word. Olivia stared in awe at her friend. With her golden hair pinned in a delicate twist on top of her head and laced through with pale lavender ribbons, she looked like a modern day princess.
Following the wedding’s theme, the dress was a simple swath of creamy white satin that hung from her recently tanned and slightly pink shoulders. The material rouched at her chest, then fell like water down to her ankles, highlighting every curve, including her rounded tummy.
She’d forgone shoes, choosing instead to have everyone in attendance go barefoot. It was paradise, after all.
“Perfect. You look perfect,” Olivia said around the growing lump in her throat.
“Don’t you dare cry!” Snapping up a handful of tissues from a conveniently placed box of Kleenex, Ally shoved them at her. Fanning her misty eyes, she said, “I’m nervous as all get out. Can you tell I’m sweating?”
Olivia chuckled. “What could you possibly have to be nervous about? You’re marrying a man you’re totally in love with. You’re already living together. You’re having his baby! This,” she said, waving her hand around, “is just a formality. You’ve already started your forever.”
“Do you think we’ll be happy? Half of all marriages fail, you know.”
Taking her hand, Olivia guided her over to an elegant emerald green settee. “Marriage is hard. It’s probably the hardest thing you’ll ever do, and it’s going to take a lot of work. So what if others fail? Yours isn’t going to be one of them. You and Jami are going to be the ones that make it.”
“You’re a good friend, Liv. I don’t think I tell you that enough.” Wrapping her up in a hug, the women held onto each other. Everything was changing. At that moment, Olivia could sense their lives heading in different directions sparking a strange mix of sadness and happiness.
“Jami’s a lucky guy,” Olivia said, wiping her eyes as she pulled away. “He’s going to have a heart attack when he sees you in this dress.”
“You think so?” Ally preened. Happy was a good look on her.
“I know so.”
Glancing at the clock, Ally heaved a nervous breath. “Guess it’s time to go get hitched.”
“Guess it is.”
Gathering their skirts, the women left Ally and Jami’s suite and boarded the elevator.
“I think I might be the one who has a heart attack,” Ally murmured as they watched the numbers on the panel light up.
“Just breathe sweetie. This is going to be a night to remember.”
The doors slid open to a vision of white. Hundreds of candles lit the rooftop, lending a soft glow to the three arches laced in perfect white roses standing before them. Lavender rose petals created a path that ran from their feet straight to the altar, where Jami stood ready. Beside him, Don, his three bodyguards, Mike his sparring partner, and the man from the elevator stood as his groomsmen. The space where the best man should be remained open between Jami and Don, and Olivia knew, without a doubt, who that spot belonged to.
Jami’s side was a complete imbalance to Ally’s, which consisted of a woman who Ally worked alongside at their gym and Olivia, who
was pulling double duty tonight.
A soft melody began to play, and Olivia crooked out her elbow. Slipping her hand into the space, Ally smiled wide. “Thanks for giving me away.”
“About that,” Olivia said as they took their first measured steps in time with the music. “I’ve decided that I’m not ready to give you away yet. I’m just going to loan you out for a while.”
Laughing through her teeth, Ally replied, “I don’t think it works that way, but I’m flattered.”
“You’re still going to visit me, right?” Olivia asked as a note of worry began to creep in.
“All the time. I’m not that easy to get rid of. Besides, the baby is going to need its godmother to teach him all the things I can’t.”
Warmth filled Olivia’s chest, making her eyes sting. As they reached the end of the line and passed her friend over to Jami’s capable hands, she took her place behind her. The symbolism of the moment wasn’t lost on her. This was her new place in Ally’s life, wasn’t it? Not to be at her side, where Jami now stood, but behind her where she’d always have her back.
As the officiant began to read from the Bible, Olivia soaked in her surroundings. There they stood, beneath a vast sky filled to capacity with blinking stars. Each one a potential wish come true.
Olivia wished for this: her very own moment of absolute perfection—a snippet of time when everything in the universe seemed to fall into place.
Maybe there was no such thing for a girl like her. Someone who’d made so many mistakes in her life, salvation seemed just a little too far out of reach.
As soon as the thought passed, the elevator chimed. It was such a small sound that no one else seemed to hear it. But Olivia did, and when Spencer stepped out, she knew why. Her senses were attuned to him in such a way that whenever he entered a room, her eyes were immediately drawn to him.