Total pages in book: 108
Estimated words: 101840 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 509(@200wpm)___ 407(@250wpm)___ 339(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 101840 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 509(@200wpm)___ 407(@250wpm)___ 339(@300wpm)
The knowledge of just how much I didn’t know about him enraged me. I wanted to wring the man’s neck.
As soon as I could get my hands on him.
“I need to find him, Hunter,” I finally said.
We’d already turned to head back, the dog running ahead to the house.
Before he could respond, I stopped and stared down at something that caught my eye.
There, in the semi-packed sand, was a tiny, perfect shell. A miniature conch.
A triton.
34
JETT
I’d almost begged off my great-aunt’s ridiculous matchmaking dinner party. In fact, after leaving Rabbit Island, I’d flown back to New York in a moment of weakness and found myself at Locke Maris’s front door.
His housekeeper had answered and looked at me with reserve. “Mr. Maris is out of town.”
“For how long?” I’d asked, feeling stupid that I didn’t know. “He’s not still in Italy, right?”
She’d shaken her head. “No. But I don’t know how long he’ll be gone. He didn’t say.” She eyed me. “And if he did, I wouldn’t tell a stranger his business.”
“I’m sorry. I’m… not a stranger. I promise. My name is Jett.” I’d swallowed and then made a decision. It wouldn’t make a difference to her, but it made a difference to me. “Jett Marian.”
Her smile had softened. “Well, Jett Marian. I can tell him you stopped by the next time he checks in, alright?”
I’d smiled and thanked her before walking away.
And I’d spent the entire flight to San Francisco vowing to take it as a sign. Locke Maris wasn’t meant for me. There were too many reasons to count. The sheer number of lies between us. The fact that he didn’t know the real me. Both of our histories with being workaholics and avoiding emotional entanglements.
And that didn’t even take into account the fact that he might still identify as straight.
So I’d arrived at Aunt Tilly’s “bachelor” party—to which she’d invited nothing but bachelors, for the most part—fully intending to put Locke Maris behind me—at least for the moment—and be the usual fun-time guy my family knew.
Fake it till you make it.
I was the king of faking it, and I certainly wasn’t going to fail now. The hotel ballroom was filled with eligible bachelors of all kinds, and I wasn’t going to be the one to bring the mood down.
“He’s cute,” I said, tipping my champagne glass discreetly at a tall man with smooth, medium-brown skin and a killer fade.
My cousin Caspian eyed the man up and down and turned beet red. “He’s also a famous influencer who does videos about sexual health,” he whispered. “I could never.”
My brother glanced at the tall man and turned back to Cas. “Why not? He’s hot.”
Cas shook his head quickly. “No, yeah. But like… he probably knows things. Things I don’t know.” He lowered his voice even more. “Skill-level things.”
“Think of all he could teach you,” our cousin JJ said, bouncing his eyebrows. His wife rolled her eyes and walked away to get another drink.
I reached my glass over to clink with his. “Smart man.”
Gabe clapped Cas’s shoulder and suggested they move to the table where their place cards were. The two of them were at a different table from me.
“We’re meeting up after for shots, right?” Gabe asked. “All the cousins?”
I looked at the place card two over from mine. “I haven’t seen Wolfe yet. Is he here?”
Gabe looked around the large room. “I haven’t seen him yet. He was supposed to be here, though. Did something happen to him?”
Cas appeared worried. “Aunt Tilly will be pissed if he doesn’t show. He’s her favorite.”
It was true. She had a soft spot for the guy, but then again, she was a sucker for old souls and interesting characters. Men with bleeding hearts.
She was less impressed with those of us who kept it casual.
She was the quintessential matriarch who seemed to want everyone to fall in love and settle down.
Needless to say, I’d been avoiding her like the plague all evening.
As Cas and Gabe moved off toward their table, I turned to take my own seat. I snickered at my coupled-up cousins who’d been stashed together at an old-people’s table in the corner of the room. They seemed perfectly happy, especially my cousin Alex and his boyfriend, Judd—the man I’d almost hooked up with in Amsterdam a few years ago.
What would have happened if I’d kissed the other man in Amsterdam? If Judd hadn’t gone to the men’s room and we’d headed up to his room before Locke arrived?
I shuddered to think of it. But that’s what was going through my head when I continued the sweep of the party, looking for Wolfe… and saw Locke Maris come striding into the room looking like he was there to lay waste to an entire village and take revenge upon his enemies.
It was a hallucination. Or a dream. Or a stroke.