Page 29 of The Playboy SEAL
I sigh. “Don’t spit that nasty shit near me,” I snap back. A lot of the guys dip or chew. I find it repulsive. I tried it a time or two when I had to. You’d be surprised at the things SEALs have to do to blend in. The long-ass beards and mustaches while deployed are just the tip of the iceberg, what we want you to associate with us. I can be another person entirely. That’s true for me more than other guys. Because I do care about clothing and my hair and vain things most don’t think twice about. I can also go without showering for weeks while rotating two outfits that stay filled with sand, dirt, and sweat.
Tahoe laughs, spits again, farther away this time, and shakes his head. He knows. I’m failing at keeping Teala and our arrangement hidden, and it pisses me off. My skin prickles with heat as my hands work. I won’t look at my phone again today. Maybe not even tomorrow either.
I decide I’m done for the day and check the fuck out. I head back to my hotel, a five-star resort that carries Pappy at the penthouse bar. I dial my mom as I drive the shitty rental car down the long road. When she answers, I put her on Bluetooth. I tell her I’ll be home for a visit the following weekend. She’s so joyful and her voice is so soothing that I go a step further. “I’m going to bring someone home I want you to meet,” I say. I don’t think I’ve heard her that happy in a long time.
She squeals, screams the news to my father, and then tells me she has to go so she can prepare. What she reallymeans is she needs to go so she can call all her friends and spread the good news faster than burning chlamydia. Teala will agree. She has to.
What’s that saying? It’s easier to ask for forgiveness than it is to ask permission?
I hang up the phone and concentrate on the road. It’s not until I get back to the hotel parking garage that I realize I haven’t stopped smiling.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Teala
I’m dripping sweat,pacing the lobby of the studio, a watering can in the shape of a flamingo in one hand and a spray bottle in the other. I love my plants. I keep them alive. I’m not an animal person yet. Give me a complicated houseplant, and I’ll crush that shit every single time. I spray one large flowering plant and water the soil of the one next to it.
Charlotte rushes in and halts when she sees my appearance. “I knew where I was picking you up from, but I didn’t think you’d be fresh from a class, Teala,” she scolds.
I look down and shrug. It’ll dry fast.
I stow my watering items once I splash the orchid on a low shelf. “I’ll throw on my sweater and I’ll be good. It’s lunch. Not tea with the queen,” I reply.
She blows me off and makes a beeline to my computer behind the counter. My friends have been my friends for so long that a lot of the normal lines are blurred when it comes to boundaries. Most of the time I don’t care, butsince my new relationship sham, I’m finding that I notice things I never did before.
“I have to see if the package is delivered yet. I’m trying to intercept before Tim comes over,” she explains. She knows the password to unlock the computer.
“Your cell phone not working?”
She doesn’t respond right away. “It’s in the car, and I just thought about it. Why?” She leans to the left to peek at me from behind the large Mac screen. “You don’t want me on the computer?”
I lick my lips. “I don’t care what you do. It was just a question.”
My mom rounds the corner. She’s fresh from the shower and has on a cute maxi dress. She hands me my sweater with a megawatt smile. Charlotte beams at my mother and hops off the stool to give her a hug.
“Oh, sweetie, you look amazing! Teala told me about your promotion. Congratulations!” My mother coos at my friend. “You couldn’t make the class? It was so good. Teala really did a fantastic job!”
Ah, my mother. She compliments my friend, but then feels guilty, so she works in a compliment for me, too. It stems from my self-conscious teenage days. I like hearing nice things about myself too much to tell her she doesn’t have to do it anymore.
Charlotte brushes down the sides of her sundress. “Thank you, Viola,” she says, looking down at the floor. My mother’s beauty makes most people uncomfortable. “You look just as beautiful as ever. Teala always runs great practices. I’m hoping to catch one next week.”
My mother and Charlotte dive into a full-on conversation, soI disappear to straighten myself using the makeup bag I leave under the counter for times like these.
A little powder, some mascara, a brush pulled through my hair a few times, and I’m ready. I wonder if people view me like they view my mother. I know I don’t affect people in the same manner she does. The truth of the matter is I would have attracted a different man, a good man by now, if I did. It reminds me how absurdly stupid my father is, and a rush of rage enters my system. He’s a man who doesn’t place value on things that matter, one who doesn’t appreciate what he has until it’s gone.
Macs hasn’t called or texted in a couple of days. Not since he’d sent the skydiving photo. It’s taken everything in me not to send him a random photo. My stomach turns when I think what he must be doing while on his work trip. I wonder how many women he’s been with, how many lips he’s kissed like he kissed mine. Not that a kiss can change anything. That type of fairy tale doesn’t exist in my world, but kissing Macs was a devastating blow to my ego. His lips on mine cause a palpable weakness. I would have bought anything he was selling. I get angry thinking about it.
He’s a forbidden fruit. As soon as I have sex with him, I’ll be able to leave him and never look back. That’s what I tell myself anyway. I know he’s getting back from his trip sometime today, but I didn’t tell my mom in case him showing up to meet her didn’t work out. I’m glad I didn’t count my damn chickens before they hatched. The blush and lip gloss is applied, and I look halfway decent. Prettier than most women, I’d fathom a guess. It’s not conceit if you know it as a truth.
From the locker room in the back of the studio, I hear the rumble of a male voice in the lobby. My heart skips a beat and then another. Charlotte laughs. My mother isn’t as obvious as my friend, so I can’t hear her voice. She’s too ladylike.
Laying a hand over my chest, I gather my wits. It has to be him. If it’s not, I will not be upset.I will not be upset.If it is him, why wouldn’t he text me? What type of man shows up at a woman’s work without a complimentary call or message? It’s plain rude.
I grab my bag and swing the door open in an exaggerated huff. I play at nonchalance as I round the corner. It’s twenty degrees cooler up here where the heaters aren’t pumping. My skin prickles at the cool blast, and I stop short when I see Macs Newstead.
He’s talking animatedly to my mother while Charlotte stands off to the side biting her lip, ravaging his body with her gaze. I stay still, undetected for the moment. The man takes my breath away. In jeans and a T-shirt, he does casual better than any man I’ve ever met. I smell his cologne—a mellow musk with a hint of sweetness…like brown sugar. His gaze finds mine over the top of my mother’s head. I swallow down the lump of hesitance and smile.
“What are you doing here?” I try for annoyance, but it comes out more Elle Woods than anything else.
