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CHAPTER TEN
BASTIENFROWNEDAT the cheap hotel Mikelina had him drop her off in front of. Kirk Diamonte had said she was local. Did she live here? No wonder she kept a stash of clothes in the rental home. He wondered if she stayed there when it wasn’t booked. The thought bothered him. She deserved to stay at a nicer place than this. Although maybe she didn’t have a permanent place because her job had her hopping around.
Still, Diamonte should be paying her enough to stay in a decent hotel. Or if he was comping her lodging, he needed to step up the accommodations.
Making a mental note to find out from Diamonte what the deal was, Bastien slid open the privacy window of the limo. “Back to Calle Ocho.”
“Yes, sir.”
He had Mikelina two more times on the drive and Bastien’s entire body felt wrung out. He could barely keep his eyes open. He was surprised Mikelina had the strength to get out of the car. But she had turned and blown him a kiss before entering the hotel. If he had anything left in him, he would have gone after her and followed her to her room.
His eyes drooped closed and he settled back against the wide bench seats and dozed off. When his phone rang, he almost didn’t answer it. But habit had him checking the number and when he saw it was Jace, it was like a jolt of caffeine went through him.
“Where are you?” he snarled.
“Where are you?” Jace came back with. “Me and the guys are standing outside of the house.” He whistled into the phone appreciatively—and right into Bastien’s ear. “This place is off the hook.”
Bastien looked out the window. They were almost back to where he’d parked his rental car. “I’m in Little Havana looking for you.”
“Yeah, sorry about that. My phone was dead and I wanted a tour of Miami.”
“Why didn’t you take your friends with you?”
Jace laughed. “They wanted to see naked women dancing. I didn’t want to tell them no. But I also didn’t want to go with them. Kitty would kill me.”
Bastien snorted. They could have been honest with him instead of letting him think that they were going into the clubs for altruistic reasons.
“So we parted ways for a few hours. But we’re here now. How soon can you get back?”
“Depends on traffic.”
“Well, no hurry. I just called the concierge to let us in. We’re going to grill up some steaks and hang out by the pool.”
For some reason Bastien felt a twinge of unease about Mikelina being there without him. Max, Shane and Zack were young, rich and loved to spend money—especially on beautiful women.
“I’ve already claimed the bedroom off the kitchen,” he said, not wanting any of them to sleep there. What was wrong with him? He usually wasn’t so possessive over a pleasurable fling. Except he wasn’t sure that was all Mikelina was. He was almost disappointed that the bachelor party was back on schedule. He wanted more time with her. He didn’t want this to be a one-night stand. He wanted to spend the entire two weeks with her. But this wasn’t about him. It was about Kitty and her future happiness. “Do you want me to pick up anything while I’m out?” Bastien said, holding in his sigh of resignation.
“Yeah, can you pick up a box of Cohiba Behikes for us? I got two, but that’s not going to last.”
“Cigars?” Bastien hazarded a guess.
“Yeah, you should be able to get them anywhere down there.”
“All right. Behave. Don’t give Mikelina a hard time.”
“Yes, Dad,” Jace said and hung up.
Bastien grimaced. He didn’t want to sound like his father. After tipping the chauffeur, he got out of the limo in front of a cigar store and found the thousand-dollar box of cigars. He got two. He wasn’t going to smoke them, but if it brought him a little street cred with Jace and his friends, it was money well spent.
When he finally got back to the house, he was both relieved and disappointed that Mikelina wasn’t there.
“Kitty says hi,” Jace said from a pool lounger. He was on his cell.
“We didn’t cook up your steak yet, but there’s a lobster for you in the pot,” Shane said.
Bastien tossed the boxes of cigars on the table. “Thanks.” He helped himself to a lobster and a set of crackers and sat at the outside table while the others swam in the pool or rested on the chairs.
“Micky said she got us tickets to a blues concert tonight,” Max said.
