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CHAPTER THIRTEEN
BASTIENDROPPEDMIKELINA back at that awful hotel. “Is this where you stay when you’re in South Beach?” he asked, trying to keep the disdain out of his voice.
Mikelina nodded. “Depends on which property, I’m representing. This one is the closest to the beach house.”
“Where do you live when you’re not working?”
“I’m always working,” she said, getting out of the car.
“Don’t you have a home base?”
“No, I pretty much live out of my suitcase.”
“That must get old.”
She came around to the driver’s side and leaned down to give him a kiss goodbye. “Yeah, it does. But it’s not forever. Give me a call if you need me. Or...” she looked away and blushed “...if you get stood up for snorkeling tomorrow. I know how important keeping to the schedule is to you. You’re on your own for parasailing, though.”
Mikelina kissed him again, seeming as reluctant to leave him as he was to leave her. After one last soft kiss, she pulled away and touched his cheek. “Enjoy the kingfish,” she said, before turning around and going into the hotel.
He watched her walk across the lobby and disappear from his sight. Plugging in his phone to charge, he drove back to the beach house. He had a few missed messages, but he didn’t bother checking them. He was still riding high from the day and he wanted to keep the feeling of peace and happiness he had with Mikelina a little while longer.
Unfortunately, he heard the music a block from the house. Jace and his friends were having a party with a bunch of strangers. Bastien tried to sneak in with the cooler of fish, but Jace caught sight of him.
“Where you been, bro?”
“Fishing.” He held up the cooler. “Where were you guys?”
“That was today?” Jace slapped his forehead. “I totally forgot. Jet lag and late nights. Come on and meet everyone.”
“Let me put this in the fridge.” He was considering putting the schedule on the fridge, too, but he thought that might be too subtle. They should all have the itinerary in their phones by now. He’d texted it to them last night.
“What?” Jace said.
Bastien didn’t try to shout over the music. He put the cooler in the refrigerator and joined Jace and twenty of his new best friends around the house. The groomsmen were making out with women in bikinis. Bastien’s jaw clenched, but it didn’t look like there was a beach babe hovering around Jace.
“We met these guys last night at Flow.” Jace then proceeded to introduce him to everyone who wasn’t kissing and groping each other. Bastien didn’t hear or remember a single name, and to be honest, he didn’t care to.
He was getting a pounding headache. He wanted to go back to Mikelina’s hotel. Actually, he wanted to bring her back here and kick the bachelor party out. But that wasn’t why they were in South Beach, so he grabbed a beer and forced himself to mingle with the guests.
After about an hour, he had a splitting headache and his patience was fraying. It was impossible to hold a conversation because of the music and he was damned sure not going to be labeled as the old fart who told the party to lower it. Gritting his teeth, he forced his way through the crowd to Jace who was smoking cigars with a few guys in suits. They didn’t look like the rest of the beach bum crowd so Bastien wanted to make sure Jace wasn’t in trouble.
Jace looked over his shoulder and caught sight of him approaching and a flash of something went over his face.
Uh-oh.
He said something to the men and then intercepted Bastien before he could get closer.
“Rad party, right? I love this house. I wish I could live here forever. Do you think Kitty would like this place?”
Distracted by his sister’s name, Bastien frowned. “Sure, but her job is in New York.”
“Maybe as a vacation home then. I’ll have to check with the hottie concierge and see if the owner is interested in selling. It would make a good wedding gift for Kitty, don’t you think?”
Bastien nodded. “Who are those guys?”
“Just some guys we met at Flow. Hey, sorry about missing the boat. We wouldn’t have been good company anyway, we just got up a few hours ago. But we’re ready to dance and drink all night, right?”
He whooped the last few words, bringing a loud cheer among the guests. Then he proceeded to drag Bastien over to a group of giggling drunk girls, who surrounded him. Not one of them held a candle to Mikelina, but he didn’t want to leave the group in case they turned their flirting onto Jace.
