Total pages in book: 77
Estimated words: 74554 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 373(@200wpm)___ 298(@250wpm)___ 249(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 74554 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 373(@200wpm)___ 298(@250wpm)___ 249(@300wpm)
Should my red flags have been flying high right then? Yeah, probably.
Did bad guys pretend to be nice ones to lure unsuspecting women to their watery graves? Yeah, probably.
But Traeg took his location-watching seriously. I had strict instructions to be in touch with him before getting on the boat, then after I was back on solid land again. Then every forty minutes after that, assuming it went any longer. If I went more than an hour and a half, I suspected cops would be showing up at my last known location. Or, barring that, he and his friends (a surprisingly large group) would be there raising hell until someone got in touch with me.
I aspired to be the kind of friend Traeger was to everyone he cared about.
“So… are we getting back on the bike?” I asked, reaching for my phone to shoot off a rapid-fire text to Trager to explain the change of plans. If Kylo thought it was weird, he said nothing.
“No. We’re going to get picked up by the driver. I’m a little worried someone might call the cops on me if I showed up at Teddy’s estate on my old bike.”
“Gotcha,” I agreed.
Granted, I didn’t know much about Florida real estate, but I knew Miami in general was expensive. So a private beach area? That had to cater to the top point-five percent of the upper class.
“And here he is,” Kylo said, his hand going toward my lower back but not touching it as he waved with the other hand outward.
I followed his arm to see a sleek black town car pulling up. The back windows were blacked out, but I watched as a man in a full black suit (in the Miami heat) climbed out.
“Kylo,” he greeted. “Miss…”
“Rue. Just Rue,” I said.
“Rue,” he said, giving me a respectful nod as he opened the back door, his free hand tucked behind his back as if to assure me he had no intentions of touching me.
I slid in and over so Kylo could move in beside me.
I found myself way too thrilled at the tight space when his whole body pressed against mine as the driver slammed the door and then moved to the front. He automatically slid the privacy glass up before pulling away again.
It was a short drive.
I spent the last little chunk of it wide-mouthed, nearly pressed to the glass as we turned into the Golden Beach area.
“No way!” I said, looking over at Kylo when the car came to a stop in front of the largest house I’d ever seen in my life.
It was all white stucco with perfectly manicured lawns and tons of towering palm trees.
“I know, right?” Kylo agreed, shaking his head. “I looked it up after I was invited here the first time. Take a guess at how much it costs. Whatever you come up with, double it.”
“Ten million.”
“Ten? Darlin’, this is Golden Beach. This manse cost thirty-nine million dollars. I’d be disgusted by that if I didn’t know that Teddy was a really philanthropic guy. He runs a community clinic, a food pantry, and is working on some project to get the unhoused off the streets and into houses that provide some dignity. That’s not including all the smaller shit he does. Actually, I should bring him to the shop sometime.”
“Why’s that?” I asked, sliding out of the car as the door opened for me.
“Because he owns a string of hotels, apartment buildings, and rental properties. I’m assuming they might all benefit from live plants.”
That would be pretty life-changing for the shop.
But my stomach automatically tightened at the idea of needing to have more shipments come in.
“Maybe. Live plants are a lot more work for staff, though, so maybe not.”
“Well, I’ll ask,” Kylo said, shrugging. “Want a tour?”
“We can go inside?”
“Of course. I’ve got a key and everything,” he said, flashing it at me.
“Um, not to be rude, but would it be possible to do the parasailing first? Because, like, if I have time to get myself all worked up about it—”
“You’ll talk yourself out of it.”
“Exactly.”
Kylo nodded to the driver, who walked off to, I assume, get things ready.
“Let’s go around the back then and use the outside bathroom to get changed and put our shit down.”
The backyard featured an outdoor kitchen with attached cabanas that each had a small sitting room and bathroom, a lovely built-in pool (that I scratched my head about because how did you have a built-in pool on an island?), and some small patches of grass before there was a two-foot wall you could step over to get to the sandy beach.
“Take pictures,” Traeg said in my ear as I tried to strip out of my clothes with one hand so I could give him a quick whispered update.
“I can’t take a picture of a stranger’s home!”