Enticing You (How to Marry a Billionaire #1)

Episode 21

EPISODE 21

CALLING IT A NIGHT

Emily

“Don’t keep us in suspense.” I splash warm water toward Misty after she claimed one of the men had already chosen his potential mate.

I don’t for a minute believe any of the men have made a choice, but I’ll let the heiress have her say.

“Yes, please,” Ginger gushes. “Who has picked who?”

“Whom,” Sienna says. Then, “Sorry. I’m a grammar geek. This is another reason why people hate me.”

“No one hates you, Sienna,” Rachel says. “None of us really know each other.”

“True enough.” I grab my water and sip the last bit, draining it. I set the empty bottle back down on the edge of the tub. “Where do you suppose the others are?”

I know very well where Ariel is, and I’ve no doubt she’s getting it on with handsome blond Brett. But where are the other men? Sebastian in particular?

Alex and Sienna disappeared, and Misty went off with Sebastian and River, last I saw.

But Sienna and Misty are both here now. And Sienna’s not talking.

“Good question.” Rachel stretches her arms above her head, making her large breasts float on the surface of the water.

Ginger nods, stealing a glance at Rachel’s ample bosom. “Isn’t this evening supposed to be about getting to know the men? We can’t very well get to know them when they’re not here.”

“Which brings us back to…” I turn to Misty, who’s sitting next to me. “Who has picked whom?”

Misty smiles deviously, giving me a side-eye. “I’ve been sworn to secrecy.”

“It must be either River or Sebastian,” I say. “You were with them, weren’t you?”

I’m pressing for information about Sebastian, of course. He couldn’t have picked Misty. If he wanted a spoiled heiress, he could have gotten that in Hollywood.

“I’ve been with all the men this evening,” Misty says innocently. “I’ve made it a point to talk to each of them. That’s the only way to get to know if we have rapport with them.”

She talked to all of them? Not that I saw. Then again, I was in Sebastian’s room for twenty mind-blowing minutes.

“What would you do if all four of them chose you?” Misty continues. “I know who I’d choose. Do you?”

I don’t reply.

Earlier in the evening, I’d have said Sebastian. Now? I’m not so sure. I may go home alone, and I was okay with that at the beginning. Sebastian Tate and his kisses, though… His lips on my nipples…

Damn him.

“Who cares?” Sienna says. “Just tell us what you think you know.”

“All right. Now listen carefully. I’ve known Sebastian Tate for some time now, and…”

Misty’s words become garbled mush. If Sebastian chose someone already, I don’t want to know.

“Enough already!” Ginger splashes Misty. “Tell us who picked whom. Or are you bluffing?”

“Would I do a thing like that?” Misty asks, feigned innocence dripping from her voice.

Sienna rises, water dripping from her naked body. “I’m calling it a night, ladies.”

I rise as well. “I’ll come with you. We’ve got an early day tomorrow. If you call ten a.m. early, which, on vacation, I do.” I grab two of the towels we brought from the pool house and hand one to Sienna. “Here you go, love.”

“Thanks.” Sienna wraps the towel around her chest.

I grab my robe and Sienna takes the men’s shirt she came into the tub with. The two of us leave the screened-in area and walk toward the mansion.

“She’s so full of it,” Sienna says to me.

“Misty?”

“Who else?”

“I agree. I don’t for a minute think she knows anything.”

“I know who she’s gunning for though,” Sienna says.

“Really? Who? And how do you know?”

“River. She told me.”

“And you think she’s telling the truth?”

Sienna shakes her head, sighing. “I honestly don’t have a clue. But Alex and I saw her jump into River’s arms in the ocean earlier. After that she told me River was hers and to back off. Alex is apparently her second choice.”

I raise my eyebrows. “Alex? Interesting. The two quieter men.”

Sienna draws in a breath and then clears her throat. “That’s what she said.”

“But you and Alex…”

“We…started something on the beach, but we got interrupted.”

“By the tide that washed away your clothes.”

“Yeah, and then by River and Sebastian.”

“River and Sebastian? Whyever would they interrupt you?”

She shrugs. “Tell me and we’ll both know.”

We reach the mansion. The kitchen is vacant. Evangeline must have called it a night.

Sienna and I walk to the third floor where our suites are and say goodnight. Once in my room, I find my dratted sewing kit at the bottom of my computer bag. The one place I didn’t look when Ariel and I were here earlier, after Sebastian tore my dress. I’m not sure how it got there, but I don’t bloody care.

I’m ready to let this day die.

I jump in the shower to wash the chlorine from the hot tub from my hair and skin, dry off, and toss on a tank top and lounge shorts. I step toward my window, which looks down upon the courtyard where we had the opening party. To my right is the pool house. I can’t see the hot tub from here, but Rachel, Ginger, and Misty are no doubt still there. Misty probably still hasn’t told them who has chosen whom.

If anyone has chosen, it’s probably Brett.

The way he looked at Ariel as they were leaving the pool area…

Sebastian looked at me with lust in his eyes, but Brett…

He looked at Ariel with something more.

It couldn’t have been love, of course. But it was something. Something stronger than lust.

I lie down on my bed, but sleep doesn’t come. I’m antsy. This whole evening was sensory overload, between the men, the drink, the food, the location, the naked dancing…and of course my interlude with Sebastian.

How am I supposed to sleep now?

I toss and turn for twenty more minutes before someone knocks on my door.

For a second I hope it’s Sebastian.

“Who is it?” I ask through the door.

“It’s me. Sienna.”

I open the door and she steps in quickly. “Sorry to bother you, but I just saw the guys come back.”

“All of them?”

“Not Brett, but the other three. They’re downstairs. Want to go down?”

“Not really.”

“Oh.” She blows out a breath. “I understand. I just can’t sleep.”

“Me neither. But throwing ourselves at men isn’t the way to do this, See.”

“I know. I just… I thought Alex and I had something. I know it’s too early to tell. I guess I got caught up in the romance of it all. It felt good after being so unceremoniously dumped by Leroy.”

“I get it. I can’t believe Brett and Ariel are still out there.”

“He’s with Ariel?”

“Yeah. They went off together a while ago.”

“Lucky her.”

“Lucky you . You got more than most of us.”

Her cheeks redden.

“You may as well tell me all of it. I can see it on your face anyway.”

“It could have been so amazing,” she says, a dreamy look on her face. “It was amazing, but then the tide… And then…”

“The guys,” I finish for her.

“Right. And he just let me go. He let me walk off with Misty and didn’t even try to stop me.”

“I know what you’re feeling. Sebastian and I had a little above-the-waist action earlier?—”

“That’s why he wasn’t in the courtyard for the announcement,” she says.

“Bloody gold star for you. Anyway, now I’m like the plague, apparently.”

“Alex said something to me tonight that made a lot of sense.”

“What was that?”

“He said they all had to get to know each one of us. That they couldn’t pick favorites just yet.”

“Which means we shouldn’t pick favorites either.” I sigh. “He’s right for sure. I didn’t realize how difficult this would be.”

“Me neither. When Evangeline came to me, all I could think about was what a great opportunity to forget about Leroy this was. So I forgot about him. At least for a few minutes. Alex is the anti-Leroy. He’s perfect for me in so many ways, but…”

“But you don’t really know him.”

“No. I don’t.” She rises. “I’m going to bed.”

“Good luck. Any pointers for getting to sleep?”

“Don’t you Brits like to drink tea?”

"Tea has caffeine."

"Chamomile tea, then?"

I grimace. "Ugh. Hate the stuff. Night, love.”

Sienna opens my door and then closes it quickly without venturing into the hallway. Her eyes are wide as saucers.

“What?” I ask.

“You’re not going to believe what I just saw.”

“Misty and River?”

She shakes her head.

“Misty and Alex ?”

She shakes her head again. “Ginger and Rachel.”

“So?”

“They were holding hands, Emily. Gazing into each other’s eyes. And they went into Rachel’s room.”