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He could have groaned in frustration.
“But neither are you,” she said.
“What’s wrong with what I’m wearing?” He was in shorts and a T-shirt.
“Too casual,” she said.
“Who cares? We need to hurry.”
“The bouncers will care. If Jace and his friends are in the exclusive sections, we need to dress the part if we want to get in there, too.”
Figured. He didn’t want to waste the time to drive her back to her hotel. “Do you have anything that will work in your crates upstairs?” he asked.
She froze. “Did you go up there?”
Busted. He nodded.
“Why? That part of the house is off-limits.”
“Is it off-limits to you?”
“Obviously not,” she huffed.
“Does the owner know you use it for storage?”
“Not that it’s any of your business, but yes. I told you I don’t have a home base, so I keep the stuff that doesn’t travel well here. Satisfied?” She raised an eyebrow at him.
“Yeah, I was just asking.” Bastien had hoped that if she needed help, she would have used this opportunity to ask him, but maybe it was as she said and she and the owner had a deal going on. If Jace did buy the house, Mikelina would have to move her stuff. He wanted to ask her who Tanner and Tawny were, but maybe they were the owners.
“Well, now you know.” Mikelina flounced off into his bedroom, presumably to get dressed.
Bastien drank his coffee and tried not to freak out. He looked up the casino on his phone. The Seminole Hard Rock was more Jace’s speed, but he might have stayed local. The Gulfstream, on the other hand, was just across town. It was way tiny compared to the Native American casinos in Connecticut, but the lure of flashing slots and horse racing could have tempted Jace if he was truly addicted.
When Mikelina returned a few minutes later, she was in a short, black, sequined dress with sparkly, strappy shoes that he’d like her to leave on when she wrapped her legs around him.
“Wow,” he said again.
But when he approached her, she crossed her arms over her chest and said, “You should wear a suit.”
Mikelina wanted to stay mad at him for snooping around the attic, but it was difficult when he looked that good in a custom-tailored suit. Most men looked like Men in Black, but Bastien looked like a cross between a hot mobster and a fashion model. Besides, he hadn’t made a big deal out of the attic and had dropped the subject, so it was a win. She’d rather be skinny-dipping in the pool and making love in her bed, but if he couldn’t concentrate until he tracked down Jace, she’d be happy to help.
“What’s so important about finding Jace?”
Bastien gripped the wheel. “My ex-wife Gina was an addict. She was addicted to gambling. She hid it from me until just a few days after we got married—in Vegas, which probably should have been my first clue. I’m just a little paranoid that Jace is hiding a similar addiction.”
“Has he shown any similar behavior before this?” she asked. “Because it could just be a case of they wanted to play some slots or watch the horse racing.”
“Or it could be that he’s losing big and is hiding a gambling debt that my private eye didn’t find.”
Mikelina made a face. “You had him investigated?”
“Damn right.”
“And the PI didn’t find anything.”
“Well, no.”
“And you still don’t trust Jace?”
