Don't Look Like a Seal Pt. 01

This is the story that spawned my first story, The Rescue. Everyone from that one is introduced in this tale. It's going to be a little long so bear with me.

Thanks again to Devir Ginator for help in editing. I stuck with first person to adhere to how I wrote The Rescue.

Thanks for reading, commenting and voting!

Myrtle Beach International Airport

Private Hanger Area

Heat waves rose off the tarmac at Myrtle Beach International Airport as a private plane taxied to a stop near the private hangers. An attractive blonde woman exited the comfort of her air-conditioned car where she had been waiting to greet the passenger from the plane. Lissa Joiner shaded her eyes from the mid morning glare of the sun as it shone off the white hull of the private jet as she waited for her friend to deplane. The pilot opened the door and lowered the steps to allow a captivating brunette to step out into the South Carolina heat. A smile exploded on her face the moment she spotted her old friend waiting for her. She tossed her an excited wave then hurried down the steps heedless of the tropical feeling humidity beating down.

"Look who finally decided to end her winter tour of Europe in the middle of July," Lissa said as she pulled her friend into a loving embrace despite the sweltering heat.

"I meant to be back so much sooner but then dad had some business things he wanted me to do while I was there so I got kind of sidetracked," Addison Voss, heiress to the vast Voss Shipping empire, explained.

"I'll just bet you did," Lissa smiled as she tucked a piece of her long blonde hair behind her ear. "I thought that you were supposed to be back from your overseas vacation like two months ago. What happened?"

"After spending Christmas in England with Mom's family, we took a skiing trip to the Alps, kicked around Germany for a while, saw a little bit of Spain then Dad wanted me to check into a couple of irregularities at a couple of overseas offices. After that I went back to England to check out the design school that Karly is planning to attend."

"Funny you should mention Spain, because I'd say this looks a lot more like Spain than it does dreary old England. That is unless the English have just been lying to us all these years." Lissa remarked as she pulled a rolled up tabloid magazine from the back pocket of her shorts.

The cover showed a well known movie actor with his arms arms wrapped around a bikini clad Addison by a sun drenched pool. They looked to be on very friendly terms.

"Give me that!" Addison shrieked as she snatched it from her hands.

She quickly flipped through the pages to find the pics, flushing red as each pic seemed to get more intimate with each shot.

"God, I can't believe someone got pictures of us at this place. It was supposed to be the most secure villa in Barcelona!" Addison sighed.

"They must have had a long lens," Lissa teased her.

"Oh he did," Addison let slip. "Uh... I mean..."

"Uh huh, I think I know exactly what you meant by that," Lissa laughed. "At least you looked good and apparently had quite a bit of fun from the way you're blushing right now."

"I don't blush. It must be the heat," Addison reminded her as she handed the magazine back.

"Well you look pretty flushed in this picture, it must have been pretty steamy in Barcelona too, sweetie," Lissa giggled.

"Oh it was definitely that," Addison shared. "At least it was for a few days."

"Uh huh, let's go grab a bite to eat and give you a chance to cool off," Lissa stated. "Is there anything that you need from the plane or can we get this show on the road?"

Addison patted her Louis Vuitton purse that hung at her side and shook her head. Her long auburn hair gently blowing in the summer breeze.

"Dad's sending a car to get my bags and everything so we are good," Addison answered.

"That's good because I've got to hear the real story about what happened with you and Mr. Movie Star," Lissa laughed.

"It was just a brief summer fling, Lissa. I'm more interested in what's going on with you. I heard through the grapevine that you were getting pretty serious with this Scott guy you started dating while I was gone," Addison remarked.

"Oh I don't know if I'd call it serious," Lissa said while she waved her hand so the sunlight would catch the new diamond ring on her finger.

Addison quickly grabbed her friend's hand to hold it still so she could examine the ring.

"Lis, that is one serious rock for a not so serious relationship," Addison stated as she looked it over.

"I was just joking, Addison," Lissa proclaimed happily. "Scott and I are very serious as you can tell and I love him so much!"

"So who is this guy that tamed the infamous Lissa Joiner in just over, what, six months time?" She asked.

"I would never have been thought of as infamous if you hadn't spread all those rumors about me back in school," Lissa pointed out.

"That wasn't me, had to be Michelle cause I would never do such things," Addison stated.

"You are trying to pull that innocent on the wrong person, Addison," Lissa laughed. "Shame on you for trying to lay blame on Michelle when she's not even here to defend herself."

"She should be here and not in Oregon playing with some fish," Addison stated.

"She's in Orlando, not Oregon Addison and you know she wanted to be here but this trip was..." Lissa started to say but was cut off by Addison.

"Required by the higher ups at the Carolina Aquarium to make sure she knows every facet of how a successful park operates even though she already knows it all from poking her nose in everywhere she had access to since she's been interning there," Addison mimicked from memory. "We chatted about it before she left so I know all about it."

"I talked to her last night and she told me that she's bored to tears with this classroom nonsense they're showing them right now, but if she has to go through this to get her doctorate then she'll grin and bear it," Lissa informed her.

"Our sweet little geek girl who already knows everything because she's already read every book about whatever subject cover to cover twice," Addison giggled.

"Be nice, Addison. You never would have graduated without our sweet geek girl," Lissa stated.

"You know I'm just teasing; I love Michelle. She's family, well practically family. You know that Karly still calls Michelle her big sister even now?" Addison told her. "I'm her actual big sister but does she call me that? No! She reserves that title for Michelle."

"She does it because she knows that it gets under your skin, Addison," Lissa laughed.

"That was totally her reason at the beginning but now I think they've done it for so long that they believe it. It's too cute when they do it so I let it pass. "Speaking of cute, how's your new guy? He is cute right?" Addison asked.

"Well he's not some Hollywood hunk but then not all of us can be as lucky as you in that regard. He's a great guy and I guess you'd would call him ruggedly handsome. His name is Scott Brannock and he's a part time dive instructor at the scuba center down at the marina," Lissa informed her.

"He's not some muscle bound jerk is he?" Addison asked remembering the types of guys that Lissa used to fall for. "Lissa, you of all people, know how those guys are."

Lissa shook her head as they get into her Lexus.

"Give me some credit, Addison. I've learned from my mistakes while you were away playing house with your actor," she told her as she cranked up the air conditioning.

The cool air flowed in to the cab refreshing the both of them after standing out in the humid South Carolina air.

"He does charity work with underprivileged kids. He runs a program that teaches them diving then takes them out for a couple of weeks. He's also well read. He's got a degree in business just like I do. What more do you want to know?" Lissa asked confidently.

"Very impressive," Addison admitted. "All I want to know now is when do I get to meet this awesome guy?"

"Soon," She answered. "He's meeting us for lunch. Remember Hamburger Heaven?"

"The best cheeseburgers on this side of the Atlantic, how could I forget?" Addison asked.

"Arguably the best," Lissa said. "Michelle insists that Chef Smitty's is better but the jury is still out. She and I went there about two weeks ago just before her trip to Florida and I will concede that they are very good."

"I miss that girl something terrible you know?" Addison remarked.

"I know how you feel. She barely says a word half the time she's with you but if I look over and she's not there, I miss her," Lissa agreed.

"I take it she's met Scott?" Addison asked.

"Of course she has," Lissa told her. "She's been out with us a few times and I'm sure she told you all about it but then I'm sure you were preoccupied."

"I listen," Addison argued then added, "sometimes. So, what was Michelle's verdict?"

"She likes him," Lissa said. "They have the diving thing in common so they chatted about that a lot. He was in the Navy for a time so she loves to hear his stories about his time as a SEAL."

"A military man? Really Lissa, you never seemed the type to date a man in uniform," Addison stated.

"He's out of the service now. He was wounded over in Afghanistan along with several other members of his unit several years ago but he's fully recovered now with only some scars and bad memories."

"Scars huh?" Addison asked.

"One of those RPG things exploded a wall that he was hiding behind. It nearly killed him," Lissa shared with a haunting tone as if she were there when it happened. "They had to put a steel plate in to hold parts of his skull together but once his hair grew back you can't even tell it's there unless you run your fingers over it."

"That sounds awful, Lis," Addison said. "I'm glad that he survived it. Does... does the scar thing feel weird?"

"I'm used to it I guess," Lissa commented. "His dad joked that if I wanted, I could put a fridge magnet on his forehead to hold up any notes I wanted to make sure Scott read."

"That is so mean!" Addison giggled. "So you've met his family?"

"I have," Lissa nodded. "We went up to New York for Christmas and stayed with them. It was so nice."

"Wow Lis, you really are serious about this guy!" She commented.

Lissa nodded her head in agreement.

"He's the one for me. Even Michelle's acknowledged it, despite her recent dealings with the opposite sex," Lissa stated. "God, I still wish I could have gotten a hold of that Ryan douche bag after what he pulled with her. I don't get it, Addison, she's so sweet and yet she has the worst luck when it comes to love. Did you know that she caught him fucking some other girl? She walked right in and saw them together, how horrible is that?"

"Yeah, that was pretty bad all right," Addison quickly agreed as she scanned Lissa's features to see if she knew the truth.

Addison had been the one that was fucking Michelle's boyfriend when she walked in and caught them. She had felt so dirty and Michelle had this look of betrayal on her face before she turned away and slammed the door. Addison had spent the better part of an hour apologizing, explaining how she didn't even know who Ryan was when he started flirting with her. She added that she was drunk at the time as well in the hopes that would somehow make it all right. Michelle had forgiven her, at least she said that she had but Addison still felt there was a coolness between them. The friendship that used to be so evident even over the phone had gotten nearly strained to the breaking point over her actions. When given the choice of extending her overseas trip came up Addison took it hoping it would give Michelle more time to really forgive her.

"I want her to be as happy as I am but she just keeps finding assholes. Why are most men assholes?" Lissa complained.

"I dunno know Lis, you're the one that's dating, excuse me, engaged right now not me," Addison stated.

"Well my Scottie is amazing and not an asshole. I keep trying to get him to help me set up one of his friends with Michelle but he keeps telling me that he can't think of anyone that he thinks is good enough for her," Lissa told her.

"He knows the kind of guys she dated in the past, right?" Addison asked.

"He's well aware. He and Michelle have had several long chats since we started dating. There was one guy that he thought could be a good fit for our girl but it's been awhile since he's seen him," She shared.

"Now that I'm back, I'll start helping you two find guys for her to try out," Addison stated. "There's got to be another Scott out there somewhere for her."

"She can't have my Scottie, he's all mine," Lissa told her as she pulled out on to the highway.

After a few minutes, she felt Addison's eyes on her.

"What?" she asked after looking over and catching a grin on her friends face.

"I just worry about you, Lissa. I know we joke about Michelle getting all the assholes but your track record isn't that much different from hers. You fall for the wrong guy too occasionally. I just... I just want you to be happy for once," Addison shared.

"I am happy, Addison. Very happy actually," Lissa assured her. "Scott is a great guy, you'll see. The two of you will have a chance to get to know each other and you'll love him as much as I do. Well it had better not be as much as I do, maybe as much as Michelle does."

"Well I hope so because if this one does you wrong he'll have to answer to me," Addison stated as she balled her fists and shook them for emphasis.

"Somehow I doubt that would worry him much. He was a Seal after all," Lissa giggled.

"Does that mean that you think he can take me?" She asked but in her mind she thought that Lissa has fallen for another muscle head.

She was willing to hear this guy out before passing judgment however, especially with Michelle's glowing approval of him.

"As tough as I know you to be, I'm going to have to go with a whopping yes on that one," Lissa told her.

"We may have to see about that but after I eat," Addison said. "I missed lunch and I think I might need to carb up to take on a former Navy Seal."

Lissa laughed at that then said with a smile, "I am so glad that you're back, Addison."

* * *

Hamburger Heaven was located in North Myrtle just two blocks up from the ocean. You could still just manage to smell the sea breeze over the mouth watering smell of burgers being grilled if you sat at the outdoor tables. Scott Brannock had procured one of those tables and waved when he saw Lissa get out of her car. A big smile blossomed on Lissa's face as she waved back at him.

"You told me he was cute you never said he was so yummy looking," Addison whispered to Lissa as the pair made their way over to the tall, dark haired man.

"There's a reason for that, Addison, now shush," Lissa whispered back just as they reached the table.

"Hey, Pumpkin," Scott said as he pulled Lissa into a hug then briefly pressed his lips to hers.

Addison watched and felt a pang of envy as she watched Scott's hands as they gave Lissa's trim waist a squeeze.

"Hey yourself, Sailor man," Lissa said back once their lips parted.

"It's nice to finally meet you, Ms. Voss," Scott said as he extended a hand toward Addison. "Lissa and Michelle talk about you all the time so it's nice to put a face with the name finally."

"Please call me Addison, Scott," She practically purred as his strong hand engulfed her tiny one.

"Don't get too acquainted Addison, I'd hate to accidentally dump a soda on you," Lissa warned her as she pulled Scott's hand to hers as they all took a seat at the table.

"Lis, be nice to your friend," Scott told her as he gave her hand a reassuring squeeze.

"That was nice. Last time she flirted with a guy I liked I punched her in the nose," Lissa told him.

"That was fourth grade and it was Heather Grant that you punched not me," Addison corrected her.

"Are you sure?" Lissa asked. "I distinctly remember punching someone in high school and I could have sworn that it was you."

"You did punch me in high school but not over a guy. You tried to punch Celeste Bohannon at a football game for calling Michelle a stuck up virgin but you missed her and popped me," Addison reminded her.

"That's right!" Lissa nodded. "She thought she could get away with messing with our girl but I showed her that was not the case. I mean I tried to show her but you put your face where my fist was going instead."

"That's not how I remember it," Addison laughed.

"I didn't know I was engaged to such a tough lady," Scott interjected with a chuckle.

"You just remember that if you think of stepping out of line with me, buster," Lissa playfully threatened him.

"Oh I will," Scott nodded then turned to Addison. "I've heard a lot about you. Lissa and Michelle told me how pretty you were but I guess I had no idea just how truthful they were being with me."

"You're really looking to see if I'll punch you aren't you?" Lissa teased as she balled up her fist and waved it at him.

"Lissa, that is no way to treat an admirer of mine especially one as handsome as Scott here," Addison admonished with a smile and laid her hand over Scott's hand.

"You should have heard him when I showed him that tabloid picture of you. All he talked about for a week afterwards was that he hoped you brought that bikini with you," Lissa elbowed him playfully in the ribs.

Addison blushed nearly as much as Scott did at that revelation.

"Well, Scott, I just happened to bring that particular bikini home with me but I doubt Lissa will let me anywhere near you once I put it on," She flirted with him.

"You're right about that," Lissa stated as she tossed an angry but playful glance at her friend. "Can you believe he tried to get me to buy one and wear it for him?"

"Honey, I've told you before that you've certainly got the figure for it," Scott smiled at her as he extracted his hand from Addison's and stroked Lissa's cheek.

"That may be true..." Lissa started to say as the waitress walked over and with a smile asked if they were ready to order.

They all nodded and after ordering Lissa continued.

"As I was saying, even if that was true you know I don't think we could go to the beaches around here in a suit like that. They'd arrest me for indecent exposure; besides I don't like showing a lot of skin," She said as she took a sip of her tea.

"It's true," Addison chimed in. "When we'd go down to the beach back when we were in school I'd be the one in the bikini and Lis would be wrapped up in a jacket!"

"I did that one time and that was because Robbie Cruz followed us! He was this weird guy that had some sort of crush on me and I didn't want him seeing my body," Lissa explained to Scott. "Thank God Michelle had that jacket with her otherwise I'd have spent the whole day hiding in the bathrooms!"

"Well you just happen to be the sexiest woman in Myrtle Beach so you can't really blame the guy for wanting to see you," Scott told her then leaned in and kissed her cheek.

"Okay, Lis, this guy is good," Addison smiled at them. "I like him."

"Good. Just don't like him too much all right?" Lissa joked.

"Don't worry Lis, if he makes you happy I'll be strictly hands off," Addison promised.

"He is very good at making me happy. I feel like I've had this goofy grin on my face since he put this ring on my finger," Lissa beamed.

"It's not goofy, it's sexy," Scott commented then kissed her lips.

After a few moments of them being lip locked Addison cleared her throat. They broke apart then looked sheepishly at her.

"Do you two need to get a room," She teased them.

"The house is close by," Scott grinned wickedly as he ran his hand up Lissa's bare thigh under the table.

"Scott, behave yourself!" Lissa whispered as she grabbed his hand to stop it's advance.