He lifts his hand, bringing it toward my chest. With an extended index finger, he brushes the tip across my collar bone. “You’re not only embarrassed. You’re something else, too. Aren’t you?”

The knowing look on his face takes the bones from my legs and suddenly I’m standing on wobbly muscle. I shake my head as he moves his fingers higher to trace my throat and I swallow hard as his suddenly scalding fingertips brush over my windpipe.

“Is that what you want?” he asks gingerly. My breath hitches in my throat as he leans in and traces my jaw with his lips. They’re warm and moist, sending scores of tingles from my head right down to my toes.

I shake my head. “No.”

He quirks an eyebrow and opens his palm. He runs the palm of his hand and the tips of his fingers down the side of my throat. “That didn’t sound very convincing.”

I slap his hand away and grab the collar of his shirt. I draw him in and crush my mouth to his. He parts his lips and the strong flavor of mint tickles my tongue as I slide mine against his. I moan into his mouth before catching his bottom lip between my teeth. I pull back a little until Seth winces, and then I let it go.

“No,” I say again, this time with a hell of a lot more confidence in my voice.

He rubs his bottom lip with his index finger and checks for blood. I didn’t bite him that hard.

“Got it,” he replies with a twitch of his lips. “No choking.”

What I felt when watching Selena and Jackson wasn’t the allure of ‘hard sex’. I was drawn to the passion that those two have—that Seth and I have. It’s a beautiful thing to see… and yes, it also happened to be arousing—not that I can help that. It works like this; the human body absorbs smells, sounds, and colors (obviously). As you process things, your body makes you feel and react to the things you’re witnessing and that’s exactly what happened. I saw something that I find beautiful and arousing so my body reacted to it. It doesn’t mean I want what they have. In fact, I shudder at the thought.

The cool breeze blows harder, taking my heated blood with it.

“Right,” I mutter, hugging myself. “Now we have to find a way to get the jacket without disturbing them.”

“I’ll get it.” He turns away and trudges through the sand before disappearing behind the car. I wait in the silence. I lift my hand to my mouth to chew on my thumb nail, waiting for their reaction. How Seth can interrupt them without feeling uncomfortable is beyond me. I’d hate to be caught in a situation with my pants down.

“Don’t mind me,” I hear Seth tell them. Selena squeals and I slap a hand over my mouth to stifle a laugh. “Olivia is cold, and by the looks of it, so are you. Try not to scratch my car with those things.”

Selena lets out a frustrated growl and the car door opens and shuts. Not a second later Seth saunters back around to me.

I push off of the car unable to hide my smile. “Really, Seth?”

“Hey, you know I never miss an opportunity for a nipple joke.”

He holds the jacket out and I slip my arms in one by one and pull it on over my shoulders. I stand on tippy toes and kiss him on the cheek. “Thank you.”

He scoops me up into his arms and carries me back toward the blanket. As we round the front of the car, Selena storms off in one direction and Jackson in the other, raking his fingers through his short hair.

“Remind me not to invite these two to dinner next time,” Seth murmurs in my ear.

“I’m just happy they’re finally talking to each other again.”

On the blanket, Darryl’s still snoring away, completely oblivious to what was occurring over by the car. I don’t know how he’s so at peace out here in the wilderness. I’m too scared to even blink for a second too long. Selena drops onto the blanket, pulling her cell phone from her pocket.

“No reception,” she states, stuffing it back in. “I hate Vegas.”

Seth lowers me onto the blanket and I shuffle towards Selena while Seth lies down flat on his back and closes his eyes. I guess that’s his subtle way of giving Selena and I some girl time. I turn my back to him and tuck my knees into my chest. I grip the ends of the jacket and force the fabric over my knees and down my legs. Ah. That’s better. Now I’m a little ball of warmth. Selena leans back on the palms of her hands and stretches her legs out before crossing them at the ankles. I glance down at her—at her legs—and my gaze flits to uneven fabric by her crotch. Whoops. Open zipper. Nothing is more awkward than an open zipper. How do you tell someone their pants are open without feeling like a creep? Screw it. I just witnessed her and Jackson in the middle of something, the least I can do is tell her that her fly is open.

“Uh, Selena?”

“Yeah?”

I clear my throat and lean in close to her ear. “Your zipper…”

She looks down and chuckles, her cheeks turning a violent pink. “Sorry. It’s these jeans. The zipper is always falling down.”

I nod my head, pursing my lips against a smile. I decide against taunting her about Jackson. If she wants to tell me, she will… if only she would, then maybe I could help or offer some sound advice. Then it hits me, Jackson and the random girls he brings over. She has to know… and now is as good a time as ever to tell her.

“Sel, there’s something I have to tell you. I don’t want to, but as your best friend I feel I probably should.”

“Is it my nipple?” Selena peers down at her zipper again and then at her chest—clearly inspecting her clothing.

I giggle. “No, it’s not that.” I clear my throat. “As you know, Jackson has been staying with us… and he—” I catch my lips between my teeth. Jesus Christ, this is harder than I thought it would be. “He brings home girls—girls who aren’t you.”

Suddenly, she avoids my face. “I know.”

“You know?” I spit out. If I’m not careful, my eyes are going to bulge right out of my skull.

“Yes, I know.”

And that was the end of that. For the first time since meeting Selena, we fall into an awkward silence with nothing to say and it hurts. Is she changing? Am I changing? Selena and I always have something to talk about. Always.

“So,” I drawl, pushing our previous, strange convo behind me. “Any plans coming up?”

She shakes her head. “I don’t have the stomach for Vegas anymore. I’m over it.” She pauses, sucking her lips into her mouth and letting them go with a pop. It’s her go to move when she’s nervous… and Selena is never nervous, so the movement puts me on edge. “I’m thinking about going home early, O,” she mutters, tilting her head back to the sky.

I shift in my jacket. “But we still have months here.”

“You still have months here. I’m here because of Jackson, and now…” She drags in an inhale through her nose and expels it quickly. “Now I’m done.”

She can’t go. Without her, what am I going to do? Hang out with Maddi? Not that I have anything against Maddi, it’s just, Selena is my best friend—my sister.

“Don’t go,” I beg her, pushing my legs out of the jacket and sliding closer. “Please, Sel, I need you. I can’t do this without you. Who’s going to sit next to me at the fight? Who’s going to hold my hand and cheer when I can’t?”

“Olivia—”

“Stay with me. In my room,” I blurt out. The words fall without thought and I pause momentarily. No objection comes from Seth and I don’t dare look over my shoulder in fear of the death stare he’s probably sending straight into my back. “Give Jackson his place back and stay with me for the remainder of the trip.” My voice is pleading, desperate to get her to stay with me.

“And Seth wouldn’t mind?” she asks, lowering her voice.

I gulp and finally peer over my shoulder. Like I expected, his dark eyes are on me. I watch him, trying to communicate with my eyes, and after an intense staring contest he closes his eyes for three seconds and then opens them.

“No,” he says and my shoulders slump. “I don’t mind.”

A weird, excited squeaking noise forces its way up my throat and out my mouth. I twist around and pounce at Seth. I wrap my legs around his perfect hips and grab his perfect face. I kiss him over and over and over as he squeezes me against him.

“I guess I’ve got that to look forward to,” Selena deadpans as I smother my amazing husband in kisses.

Seth pulls away and angles his head toward Selena. “After what I witnessed a couple of minutes ago against my car, you owe me.”

I giggle as Selena rolls her eyes. “I get the feeling I’m never going to live that one down.”

“Not in a million years, pokey.”

Chapter Eight

Olivia

Seven weeks later.

T-minus seventeen days until Seth VS. Don

I squeeze the ceramic toilet bowl in my arms. This is the third time in my life that I’ve fallen victim to Selena’s chicken stir-fry. Food poisoning. It gets me every time she cooks it and as luck would have it, I’m the only one in the house who doesn’t have an iron stomach. Selena, Seth, Jackson, Darryl and his wife ate it, but it seems I was the only one who got the dodgy pieces. The only reason I ate it was because Seth and I are on lock down and have been for weeks. I was growing tired of his macho, get lean and mean meals. My stomach rolls and I quickly tuck a stray lock of hair behind my ear. I gag. I gag again. I gag until I can’t breathe and my throat burns. Then, my stomach stills and the urge to vomit leaves me. I release the bowl and slump against the bathroom wall, completely exhausted. Strange, considering I woke up less than an hour ago. I drop my head onto my knees and close my eyes. I hate being sick. I hate being sick more than anything in the world. You don’t realize how healthy you are until you’re feeling unwell.

“O?” Selena calls from my bedroom. “You all right?”

I don’t call back. I’m scared that if I make one small movement, my stomach is going to escape through my mouth. There’s a small knock on the bathroom door and I groan my ‘come in’. Even I’ll admit that it sounded more like a seal dying than a human giving permission for another to open the door.

“How are you holding up?” she asks, her voice filling an otherwise silent bathroom.

“I hate you,” I grumble, not lifting my face.

She laughs. “I don’t know what to say, O. Stay away from my stir fry if you can’t handle it.”

The words ‘stir fry’ make me cringe. I never, ever want to eat any variation of it again.

“Do you mind if I chill in here for a little while? Jackson is here and I don’t really want to see him today.”

I nod. This has to be the worst room in the house to hide in, especially when someone is throwing up last night’s dinner and stomach acid, but hey, it’s her choice. There’s a routine Selena and Jackson follow every few days. He comes over. They talk. They have sex. He comes (literally). They argue. He leaves. He’s here so that means it’s ‘fuck’ day. My stomach churns at the thought. I’m really starting to regret the arrangement we have with Selena… and the amount of arguments Seth and Jackson have had between the two of them is ridiculous.

I think Seth is also going mad being locked up in here all the time. He never leaves and because of the whole ‘Don’ issue, he even trains at home. The living room is a mess, filled with weights, treadmills, jump ropes, barbells, boxing gloves and other weird shaped gloves—our house has become a gym and Seth has established his own routine. Sex. Train. Eat. Sex. Train. Eat. More Sex. Don’t rinse, just repeat. He’s so caught up in his routine he doesn’t seduce me into sex anymore. He gives me this look… this sexy, dark look from under his brow that says ‘clothes off’ and away we go. He’s aggressive and moody, and he has been for the last four weeks. He does tend to change a little in the lead up to a big fight so I won’t hold it against him. I only hope that when it’s all over, I get my Seth back, the Seth I married—the one who’s charming, sweet, passionate and caring.

“Olivia,” Seth calls through the wooden door, pulling me from my own thoughts.

Exhaling, I lift my head and let it fall back against the wall. Selena sits against the cupboards under the bathroom sink. Her blonde curls are tied up in a cute, messy bun on the top of her head and she pulls her fluffy dressing gown around her shoulders more.

“What’s the time?” I ask Selena and she retrieves her phone from the inside pocket.

“Eight.”

I sigh. “Seth has finished training and he’ll want a shower.”

Wow. His routine has gotten so extensive I actually know the times of his showers.

Selena raises her palms to me and rises to her feet. “Say no more. I’ll go hide out in another room until Jackson leaves.”

“I’ll be down in a minute. Maybe I can scare Jackson off with my deathly pale face,” I tell her, and with an uneasy smile she exits the bathroom, letting Seth in.

I stay seated against the wall, watching while Seth pulls his sweatshirt over his head. It’s three shades darker than it was when he put it on and all the sweat it holds makes it fall quickly to the floor as he lets it go. My sight rakes over his back as he turns his body in my direction. I wait patiently, trying to decipher which Seth I’m going to be dealing with this morning.

“Feeling any better?”

I think about his question. My stomach no longer hurts, my throat no longer burns, but I still feel lethargic.