Epilogue
Halloween
“MY, OH, MY, talk about temptation. A room filled with sexy sailors, an abundance of alcohol and deliciously fattening food.”
Olivia Kane cast an appreciative look around Olive Oyl’s, the posh yet funky bar that catered to the local naval base and locals alike. She loved the view of the various temptations, even though she knew she wouldn’t be indulging in any.
Not that she didn’t want to.
She’d love nothing more than to dive into a forty-ounce margarita and chow down on a plate of fully loaded nachos. But her career hinged on her body being in prime condition, so she’d long ago learned to resist empty calories.
And the sexy sailors?
One of those, she wouldn’t mind indulging in. Livi barely kept from pouting. She was pretty sure a wild bout with a yummy military hunk would do amazing things for her body, too.
It wasn’t willpower that kept her from indulging in that particular temptation, though. It was shyness, pure and simple.
But it was Halloween—time for make-believe. And tonight, she was going to pretend she was the kind of woman who had the nerve to hit on a sailor, to throw caution to the wind and do wildly sexy things without caring about tomorrow.
As if hearing her thoughts, Livi’s companion nudged her arm.
“Look, it’s like a roomful of kids trick-or-treating,” Tessa drawled. Livi glanced at her best friend as the brunette looked around the bar, humming warmly. The sound was at odds with her halo and fluffy white wings.
Livi laughed. “Sure, if you replace candy with tasty men, and swap kids with horny women out for fun, of course.”
“Mmm, no. Not my flavor,” Tessa said dismissively, despite her sexy wink at the guy staring at her. Tessa flirted like some women breathed, but she had no interest in military men. “I don’t mind indulging your sweet tooth for a while. I’m sure I’ll find something to my liking later.”
Later, meaning after she’d humored Livi’s foray into window-shopping through fantasyland. And Livi knew Tessa wouldn’t pressure or berate her for dragging her to a sailor bar where Livi would only sit around mooning over hotties like a high school wallflower before going home alone. Or worse, feeling guilty enough to go with Tessa to her club of choice to watch her flick men off like flies until she found one that interested her.
The petite powerhouse always managed to boil everything down to her favorite common denominator...sex. She did it with a wickedly confident smile and an air of assurance that was probably just as enticing as her curvy body and sultry looks.
Tessa was exactly the kind of woman Livi wished she could be. Oh, they were alike in some ways. Both were fit, smart and savvy. They had tons in common—like Tessa, Livi spoke her mind. She didn’t hesitate to talk about the sexy side of life with its myriad pleasures and delights. But unlike her friend, none of that came naturally to her. Hey, neither did one-armed planks, and she’d trained herself to do those.
Livi always thought she’d done a decent job training herself to ignore her shyness, too. She didn’t let her discomfort keep her from doing her job—and given the job she had, that was saying a lot.
Dubbed The Body Babe at twenty, she’d built her initial reputation as a fitness instructor and personal trainer. Certified by ACE, ACSM and AFAA, Livi had a degree in exercise science with a minor in nutrition and had started with dreams of training athletes. That she’d ended up as one of the biggest names in the world of personal training, the founder of Stripped Down Fitness and the star of the Fit To Be Naked videos and training programs wasn’t because of her body, and had nothing to do with ambition. She owed all that to her ex-manager absconding with investor funds, leaving her financially screwed. That he was also her ex-husband had been the icing on the cake.
Instead of breaking, as she’d known he’d figured she would, Livi had pulled up her spandex, tightened the laces on her sneakers and rebuilt her career. She’d had a lot of help—yes, including that of strippers. She’d ended up with the Fit To Be Naked program and a reputation as the woman with an ass that bounced quarters and a wicked way with a stripper pole, and she’d made it work.
So it wasn’t that she had an issue with sex. Livi loved sex. Once she got to know someone, she was totally comfortable with the subject. And if she hadn’t been, the last year spent training, taping and touring with burlesque strippers would have cured that.
More than curing it, Livi had come to realize how much she wanted what they had. Exotic, erotic, pleasure-filled experiences. Relationships, one-nighters, hot times. She no longer had any illusions about love or happy-ever-after. But dammit, she wanted hot sex.
She wanted to find a gorgeous guy, haul him into a quiet corner and see just how hard the Navy made those bodies.
Which was why she was here, she reminded herself. Since trying to pretend her shyness wasn’t an issue hadn’t been getting her anywhere, she’d decided to try a different tactic. To simply get the hell over it.
Because she wasn’t going to have a great sex life until she did.
So she’d approached her shyness the same way she’d have handled the weight loss of a recalcitrant client. She researched her options, made a list, worked out a schedule and incrementally pushed herself a little more day by day.
Which brought her to tonight.
A fun evening of socializing and maybe a little flirting, with the built-in reward of meeting hot guys who could inspire her fantasies until she was ready for actual sex again. And nobody, but nobody, inspired fantasies like sailors did.
And where better to indulge than in the safety of her aunt’s bar?
Anticipation zinging through her system, eyes eager for their treats, she scanned the bar, which was filled shoulder-to-shoulder with costumed partiers. After a few seconds and another scan, Livi frowned.
“Where are the Navy hunks?” she wondered, shifting to her tiptoes to see if they were on the other side of the room. At an inch under six feet, she usually didn’t have to even stretch her neck to see over most people. But apparently vertical was the theme of this year’s Halloween costumes. And while there were a few guys who were obviously sailors, they weren’t the yummy kind.
“This bites,” she said. “I was so excited for tonight, and now I feel like I got an apple in my trick-or-treat bag.”
“And you were looking for a banana?”
Livi laughed then nudged her friend. “C’mon. Maybe we’ll find something better on the other side of the bar.”
“After pushing through the mob to get this far? No way. Why don’t you wave or something to get your aunt’s attention. She’ll know where the treats are. Maybe she can ring that ship’s bell of hers and call them in.”
The bell? But everyone would stare at them.
The very thought made her skin crawl. But that’s why she was here, Livi reminded herself. Just another opportunity to overcome the debilitating chokehold shyness had on her.
She closed her eyes, took a deep breath and reminded herself she made her living by being stared at. This was no different. It only took her a couple of deep breaths to believe it.
Then with a few murmured apologies, Livi angled herself from her left side to her right through the crowd, pushing her way to the front of the bar. Not an easy task for a woman dressed like a Twinkie. But after a second she caught sight of her aunt’s distinctive blue Mohawk.
The