A Major Seduction

A
Major Seduction

A
Good to Go Novella

By
Marie Harte

A Major Seduction

A Good to Go Novella

By: Marie Harte

Published by Fated Desires Publishing, LLC.

© 2014 Marie Harte

ISBN: 978-1-62322-127-0

Cover Art by Valerie Tibbs

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only.
This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like
to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for
each person or use proper retail channels to lend a copy. If you’re reading
this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only,
then please return it and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the
hard work of this author. To obtain permission to excerpt portions of the text,
please contact the publisher at [email protected].

All characters in this book are fiction and figments of the
author’s imagination.

A
Major Seduction

Major Mike Cava has done his best not to see Maria Thompson
as anything but his baby sister’s best friend. Not an easy feat when Maria’s
done her best to throw herself at him for years. But now that’s he’s returned
to the East Coast and with his family again, he feels easier about handling
little Maria.

Except in the two years since he’s seen her last, Maria has
grown way up. Good God, she’s stunning. But now that he’s really seeing her,
she isn’t seeing him. No more jumping into his arms or smiling and flirting. A
bland hello and she’s leaving to go hang out with some other guy. Oh hell no.

Maria spent the past fourteen years mooning over a man who
never saw her as anything but a little girl, and she’s done. Or so she tries
fooling herself. She’s twenty-four years old, and it’s past time she grew up
and over him. But now Mike’s giving “those” looks. He’s acting jealous. And she
realizes that she’s not over him yet, and maybe one of her old plans to stir
his interest might work this time around.

With the help of her best friend—Mike’s sister—and his
younger brother, she’ll prove she’s more than woman enough to handle him. His
dominance, his kink in the bedroom, his huge, hot body. But just when she
thinks they can make a go of it, he pulls back. She can’t do it anymore.
Loving, being hurt, loving, being ignored. This time if Mike wants her, he’ll
have to prove it. She’s done.

And he’s just realized he might have made the biggest
mistake of his life in pushing her away…

Dedication

To
all the Marines serving or have served our country, thank you and Semper Fi.

Oh God. He was here.

“Quick. Undo me,” Maria ordered, frantic she get this just
right.

Her best friend, Olivia, sighed. “Seriously? This has to be
the dumbest idea you’ve had yet.” Still, Olivia helped unknot the back of
Maria’s bikini top.

Overhead, the moon lit up the ocean, not a cloud in the sky.
Sparkles danced over the dark water, and the private alcove on the beach
provided the perfect atmosphere to finally snag a certain someone. Too bad the
breeze had died. Maria wiped sweat from her brow and wondered if she should put
her hair in a ponytail. Long hair wasn’t sexy plastered to one’s face.

“Really dumb idea,” Olivia repeated as she looked around and
eased off the dock into the backyard. The wooden dock had served to host more
parties and summer shindigs than Maria could remember. Heck, she’d spent her
seventh birthday in this very yard at this very beach. She might not be a Cava
by name—yet—but she was where it mattered. In the heart.

This has to work.
“I’m sixteen, officially a woman.”

“Really? I didn’t know we had a certified date for turning
all womanly.”

“Shh. Now scram.” Maria heard footsteps getting closer. Her
heart raced at remembrances of the tall, dark, and handsome Marine she’d fallen
in love with at first sight. An older man. So forbidden. She felt all Lolita-like
and cool, not cute or darling. Finally.

“Good luck.” Olivia left without making a sound,
disappearing into the shadows.

Maria shifted on her towel and winced when a splinter dug in
her butt.

“Olivia?” Even his deep voice gave the shivers. Lieutenant
Mike Cava was a
dream
. Every girl who
saw him knew it. But he had so much more than his looks going for him. Kind,
caring, sexy as all get-out. She sighed.

She rose up on her elbows and saw her tiny bikini top waver
over her small breasts—the only problem with her plan. She didn’t have curves
like her best friend. Unfortunately, Maria took after her mom. Petite, blond,
and stick-thin, though she’d been called pretty over the years. Cursed with the
cute
gene, but, hey, most guys liked
boobs of any size, didn’t they? This would work.

She could feel it.

She cleared her throat. “Over here, Mike.”

More footsteps. She thrust out her chest and shifted on the
deck. The water lapped right next to her, and she wondered if Mike would want
to make love in the ocean. How romantic would that be? Her first love, her
first time.

“Oliv—Maria?” He blinked. “What are you doing out here?”

She smiled and batted her eyelashes. He looked confused, not
attracted, so she tried again, adjusting herself on her towel. Perhaps if she
moved back, her top could “accidentally” fall off. She scooted back on her
hands and butt and winced as the splinter in her tush dug deeper.
Keep it together, girl.

Mike stared at her. Any minute now, he’d see her breasts and
be overcome with lust, finally seeing her as more than his—“
Ack!
”

“Shit.”

She splashed into the water, and boy, the temperature of the
ocean sure did drop in the evening. She shivered as she treaded water.

Mike knelt over the side, all concern. “Hey, Maria, you
okay?” He glanced over her shoulder and blinked. “Ah, is that your top?”

Crap.
“Oh boy. I
think it is.” Perhaps a way to salvage the situation… “Could you help me out?”

His smile seemed sincere, but it was growing a little too
wide for her taste. As if he bordered on laughter. He stood and gripped the
bottom of his T-shirt then yanked it off.

The mother lode.

She couldn’t speak. Good Lord, those Cavas made fine-looking
people. Mike had muscles all over the place. His abs rippled as he chuckled,
but seeing that bare skin made his laughter easy enough to bear.

As she waited for him to undo his pants, she mentally
chanted,
I told you so
to Olivia and
continued to tread water. Oh God, this was going to be magical. She knew it.

Unfortunately, Mike didn’t unsnap his jeans. He tossed his
shirt at her. “Put it on, and I’ll help you out.”

“What?”

“Come on, Maria.” He sounded a bit rushed. “I have a date in
half an hour. Let’s get a move on.”

A date. With someone else.

Sighing, she put his shirt on then took the hand he reached
out to help her from the water. Instead of letting him help her out, she tugged
him in.

He swore and landed with a loud splash.

She climbed onto the deck, dripping wet. A glance over her
shoulder showed he looked even better drenched, his dark brown eyes almost
black in the moonlight, his amazing shoulders and chest more like the body of a
sea god than a mere human.

“What the hell?” he growled. “Maria—”

“
And
…back to the
drawing board.” She wrung water from his shirt and swore as she walked back to
the house, entering in the side so the colonel and Olivia’s mom wouldn’t see
her.

“How did it go?” her BFF asked when Maria entered her
bedroom.

“Not good.”

Olivia shrugged. “Told you so. Now can we
please
get back to our Chem final? If we
don’t study, there’s no way I’ll be getting an A in the class.”

“My love life is
doomed
.”
Maria dried off and put on clean clothes, moping. “He’s going on a date.”

“With a woman his age, I’ll bet. Maria, he’s twenty-four, a
lieutenant, has his own car, and doesn’t have to study for finals. Of course
he’s got a date.”

“While we have to serve out our junior year,” Maria
muttered.

“I like school.”

“You would.” It still surprised her that she and Olivia
could be so different yet be best friends. “So about Mike… Guys like younger
women, don’t they?”

“There’s younger, and there’s statutory rape younger.”

“I’m almost seventeen,” she snapped.

“Next year maybe.”

“Hey. I’d never tell.”

“You’re jail bait, plain and simple.”

“I fit all the qualifications. I’m blonde. I’m young.” She
squeezed her boobs. “I’m perky.”

Olivia cringed. “Okay, first, ew. Second, you’re his little
sister’s best friend—invisible.”

“
Nooo.
” Maria
wanted to cry.

“How many times do we have to have this discussion? He’s out
of your league for now. Wait until you’re twenty then try again. Now come on
over and study.”

Maria sighed. “Fine. But I’m not giving up. He’s mine.”

“Whatever. Now what’s the definition for entropy?”

Down but not out, Maria planned to bide her time. Mike Cava
was hers, damn it. And no matter how long it took, she’d keep after him until
she nabbed the sly Marine. Age was nothing but a number. She just had to make
him see that.

“I’m so excited he’s back. Gosh, Mike’s been gone forever.”
Olivia chattered happily while Maria helped another customer in her mother’s
craft shop.

“What’s that?” She’d decided to be low-key. The years of
pursuing Olivia’s slick brother hadn’t proved successful yet. She’d pretended
to be demure, sexy, aggressive, shy, but none of her personas ever made her less
invisible. Mike had gone so far as to rub her on the head two years ago at
Christmas, like she was a stray dog he’d decided to kill with kindness.

Bah. She wondered if she’d been fighting a losing battle for
too long. Sometimes her tenacity could be a drawback.

“Mike. My brother, the one you’ve had your heart set on
forever? That Mike? He’s back and won’t be leaving again for the next three
years at least.”

“That’s nice.” Bobby Thorn had asked her out last week.
Since he’d mostly wanted a booty call and she hadn’t been in the mood, she’d
waffled. But after nearly six months with no sex and no Mike on the horizon to
even fantasize about, perhaps she’d do best to take Bobby up on his offer. Like
Mike, he was a Marine, had a nice build, and had his own place on the beach.
Unlike Mike, Bobby actually saw her as a desirable woman. According to Olivia,
he would have made a major play for her if she hadn’t given him—and every other
guy she dated—the “we’re just casual friends and lovers” speech, her heart already
belonging to someone else.

“Hello? Earth to Maria. Mike’s back.”

“Good for him. For all of you. I know you missed him.” Maria
shrugged. “But I think I might be over him.”

Olivia blinked. “Are you serious? You told me you wanted to
marry him in second grade. You have your dress picked out. I’m a bridesmaid. We
already have the church planned.”

“But not reserved. I can change my mind.”

“Um, okay.” Olivia stared at her with those big brown Cava
eyes. Her dark hair and olive complexion, so like the rest of her family, made
her stand out as a true beauty. Next to her, Maria always felt pale and tiny
and—
let’s face it
—flat as an ironing
board. Her chest had not grown as she’d thought it might. A B-cup was totally
pushing it.

She glanced subtly from her chest to her friend’s, buoyed by
the thought Bobby had asked her and not Olivia. “So after work today, want to
hit a movie?” she asked, consigning Mike to the back of her thoughts, pleased
when he stayed there. Maybe she really was over him.

“I can’t.” Olivia shook her head. “We’re having a welcome
home dinner for Mike. Why don’t you come over?”

“I know about the dinner, moron. I practically live at your
parents’.” When she wasn’t at the apartment she shared with Olivia or visiting
her own mother in Swansboro, a hop, skip, and a jump from the beach.

“Then when are you coming?”

“I don’t think I should. This is a family thing.”

Olivia frowned. “Since when are you not family?”

“You go. I think I’ll call Bobby.”

“Bobby Thorn? Really? I thought you guys were done.”

“We’re on again, off again. It works for us. I thought you’d
be happy I’m done mooning over your brother. Haven’t you always told me to let
it go and move on? Well, I’m moving on. You’re right. He’s too old.”

“Seven years older than you isn’t too old.”

“And he’s never here.”

“He just got orders for Camp Lejeune. Which is here.”

“Duh. I passed geography years ago.”

“Yeah, but barely. He’ll be here for
at least
the next three years. That’s time to work your wiles on
him.”

“I’ve come to the conclusion I don’t have any wiles. I mean,
what’s the point? I’ll always be his little sister’s best friend. It’s
demoralizing.” Tears pricked at the back of her eyes. She blinked to hold them
back, embarrassed at feeling so unattractive and stupid whenever Mike’s name
came into play. “Bobby likes me.”

“Bobby wants to
do
you.” Olivia, blunt as always.

“So maybe I want to do him back.”

“You can do whatever—and whomever—you want.”

“Only you use ‘whom’ in regular talk. Seriously, Olivia. I
know I’m lame, but you’re worse. When’s the last time you got laid?”

Olivia blushed and looked around.

“Easy. No one’s here but you and me.”

“My point was that you can have sex with anyone you want.
Just do it because you want to, not to somehow be getting back at Mike. And
before you say that’s stupid, I know you.”

Crap, she did. “It’s like you’re the left side of my brain.
But I’m in your head too. So answer the question—when’s the last time
you
got laid?”

“I’m too busy to date. You know I have my five-year plan.”

“For Cava’s Java, I know. I’m there with you, girlfriend.”
As a means of emotional support and manual labor when her friend opened her
dream of a coffee shop in town. “I wish I had your drive. Is it bad I just want
to find someone to love and settle down with? I want a family.” She was twenty-four,
old enough to know what she didn’t want. No professional career to take up her
free time. No backbreaking job that would force her to miss the sunset over the
ocean, keep her from sharing high tea with her mom, or stop her from daily runs
on the beach.

“No, it’s not bad. It’s good to know what you want. I’m so
close, Maria. Just two more grand and I’m ready to hit the bank for a loan.
Cava’s Java.
I can almost see the sign
out front.”

“I’m with you.” And planning to invest, though Olivia didn’t
know that yet. The woman worked her tail off with two jobs and overtime to
achieve her goals. Maria envied her that passion. Unfortunately, Maria had
never had that kind of fervent desire for anything but Michael Cava. And now
even
that
seemed to be waning.

“Come on. It’s just dinner. My mom and dad miss you.”

“Really? Because I had breakfast with them last weekend.”

“Yeah, but that was four days ago.” Olivia grinned. “Look,
come to dinner. You’re over Mike, right? Dinner should be a no-brainer. We’ll
have great food we don’t have to cook, a good time, and you can still go out
with Bobby afterward.” Olivia’s sly smile gave Maria goose bumps. “Wouldn’t it
be satisfying to let everyone know you have a date and you can’t stay? No
waiting around for Mike or slobbering over his every move—”

“
Hey.
”

“—while you’re out with sexy Sergeant Bobby Thorn.”

She thought about it. “Hmm. You have a point.”

Olivia continued, “Besides, Brad will be at dinner, and he
could use some friendly faces. He’s still getting over his bitchy
ex-girlfriend.”

Maria had always had a soft spot for Olivia’s other older
brother. “Well, for Brad, I guess. But I’m going out with Bobby after.” And if
Bobby couldn’t make it, she’d call someone else. “Fine. What time?”

After a long run after work, followed by a well-deserved
shower, Maria knocked once before walking into a house that might as well have
been her own, for all the time she had spent in it growing up. Thick as
thieves, she and Olivia did everything together. Everything except college. While
Olivia finished attending classes to learn the world of finance, Maria worked
longer hours at her mother’s store. She liked interacting with people. Most of
the customers interested in crafting and quilting were women, many of them
older ladies who loved nothing more than smiling and talking about quilting
fabrics, yarn, and patterns.