Total pages in book: 77
Estimated words: 75770 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 379(@200wpm)___ 303(@250wpm)___ 253(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75770 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 379(@200wpm)___ 303(@250wpm)___ 253(@300wpm)
EPISODE 102
GONE A LITTLE LONGER
Sebastian
Ariel’s cheeks are flushed as she takes a sip of the water I handed her.
Man, if I didn’t know better, I’d think I interrupted something hot and heavy. Ariel’s lips are glistening and parted, as if she’s thinking about getting kissed.
Or maybe she did get kissed by Marc.
Something like jealousy hits me like a brick to the gut. Nah…it can’t be. I don’t know Ariel well enough to feel jealous over her. Even so, I can have Marc on the next ferry to the mainland with one phone call.
Then again, I don’t know Heather well enough to get jealous over her, either, but I sure was feeling the green-eyed monster nipping at the back of my neck when Heather was flirting with Alex in the kitchen. I don’t have the option of shipping Alex off on a ferry.
Fuck.
“What else can I do for you?” I ask Ariel.
She’s cute as hell sitting on the porcelain toilet, a first aid kit open at her feet. Bandages spill out, and I gather them and move the plastic kit onto the marble counter.
She touches my forearm. “You all can stop fussing over me. I’m absolutely fine. Marc was an expert boo-boo fixer.”
I raise my eyebrows. “Boo-boo fixer?”
She giggles. “That’s what Mama used to call herself when I skinned a knee when I was little. She’d say, ‘Here comes the boo-boo fixer.’ Then she’d douse the thing with that awful red stuff that felt like it was going to rip another hole in my flesh.”
“Mercurochrome?” I ask. The only reason I know the name is because my grandmother used it on me. She took care of me when I was little whenever my mother was on a bender…until she passed away when I was nine.
“Is that what it’s called? She swore by it, said it’s what her mama used, but I finally got her to get Bactine after I scraped my arm over at my friend Jazz’s house once, and her mother used it. It didn’t hurt at all.” She gives a sweet smile.
I return Ariel’s smile. She’s adorable, no doubt, and I’m wondering how serious she is about being here. So far, she’s managed to spend time with Brett, Alex and me, not to mention her alone time with Marc, which left her blushing. I suppose Riv is next.
Damn. The thought of River fills me with dread. I have to tell him about the break-in. Why hasn’t his mother called to tell him? Or maybe she called Evie and Evie hasn’t bothered telling River he needs to return the call. Another freaking mystery.
Ariel chatters on while I rack my brain, trying to recall everything contained in Evie’s file about the southern belle. I suppose I should have read everything about all the women and committed it to memory. I’m sure that Brett did. The man’s brilliant and has a photographic memory. Me? I looked at the photos, and sure wasn’t disappointed. I’m not sure Ariel is as sweet and innocent as she’d like us to think she is. She’s a great lay—so great that I’m pretty sure she’s got more experience than she lets on.
“So what do you think?” Ariel asks.
Her voice jerks me out of my thoughts. “Sorry. About what?”
“We’re probably not going to win the competition,” she says. “Marc ended up doing most of the work.”
“I don’t know if you can say that,” I tell her. “You did some champion deveining, sugar.”
She laughs. “And now I know what raw shrimp looks like.”
“And there’s that.” I slide my finger up her firm leg and examine the dressing on her cut. Marc used butterfly bandages, and the injury is no longer oozing. “Any pain?”
“Only a little.”
“Let me see what we’ve got in here.” I grab the plastic box with the red cross on it and look inside. “There’s acetaminophen and ibuprofen in here. Which do you prefer?”
“Ibuprofen is Advil, right?”
“That’s right.”
“I like that best.”
I grab two ibuprofen tablets out of the small bottle. “You have any water left?”
She nods, and I hand her the medication. She swallows the pills, draining her water.
“You want more?” I ask.
“In a minute. I just need to sit still, I think. Everyone’s been hovering over me.”
“You want me to leave?”
“Oh, no!” She shakes her head. “That’s not what I meant at all. I’m glad you’re here. You’re different from everyone else.”
Hmm… Wasn’t expecting that. “I am?”
“Yeah. Not in a bad way. It’s just that everyone else thinks I need to be coddled. I’m the youngest woman here, and the least experienced. I go back and forth wondering why the heck I’m even here. I’m nothing compared to the rest of these worldly and beautiful women.”
I open my mouth to refute her words, but she holds up a hand.
“I know what you’re going to say. And I agree…for the most part.”