Chapter 6

Bain

It was past time I told her the truth about who I was.

At the beginning of this, after that ball achingly fucking hot night, I’d left her to her illusions because I’d thought they wouldn’t matter, but it didn’t sit right with me to lie.

I was an ex-convict, technically, juvenile or not, but that didn’t change shit about me as a person.

I’m not a liar, and she deserves some fucking truth after the way her jackass ex treated her.

I halted in front of the door to her suite – number stolen from the front desk, because I was the boss, so fuck it – and knocked once.

Footsteps, and then the door creaked inward. Hazel appeared, framed by the window on the wall behind her, offering a view of the beach and the falling evening, stars in the sky, a distant fire out on the sands.

She was positively resplendent in her bridesmaid’s dress, a yellow and pink affair with a sash at the waist.

“You look amazing,” I said and handed her the bouquet of flowers I’d chosen.

She blinked at me as if she’d only just registered my presence, then took them and buried her nose in the center of a plumeria flower and inhaled. “Thank you. They’re beautiful. I – didn’t expect anyone to come up here, and also, no, I don’t look amazing, I look like a slutty version of this flower.” She waved the bouquet at me.

Hazel was totally right, she matched the colors of it precisely, except for the creamy white skin above and below the hems of the tight bodycon dress.

“So, the flowers are beautiful, but you’re not?”

She smiled. “You’ve got me there.”

“I’ve always had you,” I said and stepped into her room.

Hazel backpedaled, stepping carefully in stiletto heels and watching my every step. I was the shark in friggin Jaws, approaching through murky waters.

“Everything okay?” I asked. “You’re flushed.”

“Yeah, I didn’t expect anyone, and when you knocked, I thought you were my ex.”

Jealousy thudded in my chest. “Your ex?”

“Yeah, I – he’s close friends with the bride and she probably expected me to be out on the sands this morning taking more photos and I got a bit sidetracked. And I guess that’s – ugh, I’m doing it again.”

God, she was adorable when she rambled like that. I closed in on her, a massive presence in the hotel room, and swept her into my arms, pressing my lips to hers. Fuck, I could take her right here, right now, on the bed for once. Rumple the sheets in my own hotel.

Fuck the wedding and her friend, and that idiot ex.

She’s leaving tomorrow, dick wad. You’ll never see her again.

“Oh,” she moaned, softly, and kissed me back, hard. Her fingers caught the lapels of my suit jacket and tugged. She dragged it from my shoulders. “I need you,” she whispered. “I need you, Bain.”

But this wasn’t right. She had to know the truth, first. “Wait,” I said and held her out, my thumbs against the warm, silken skin of her shoulders. “There’s something you need to know. Firstly, my last name.”

“Oh, god,” she said and palmed her forehead. “You’re absolutely right. This has been a whirlwind. I’m an idiot.”

“Stop saying that about yourself.” I took her hand in mine and kissed it.

“Hazel Wright,” she said. “That’s my name.”

Strangely, it rang a bell in the back of my mind. I shook it off. “Hazel Wright. That’s perfect. The perfect name for the perfect woman.” Since when are you a mushy asshole. There’s an image.

“What’s your name?”

“It’s more than a name,” I replied. “You need to know that I’m not who you think I am. First off, my name is Bain Mitchell, and – what? Hazel? You’ve gone pale.”

The bouquet of flowers tumbled to the floor. “M-Mitchell?”

“Yeah?”

“Your last name is – no, are you serious? It’s probably a coincidence. It has to be.”

“Hey, you wanna let me in on what’s happening?” I raised an eyebrow at her.

A knock sounded at the open door behind me, followed by a sharp inhale, and the clearing of a throat. “I told you,” a familiar voice said. “Didn’t I tell you, Carly?”

What the actual fuck. Is that…?

I spun toward the interlopers, Hazel’s hand still tucked into mine.

My brother, Jacob, stepped onto the cream carpet in the hotel room, closely followed by a blonde chick I’d seen wearing the bride’s shirt at the bachelorette party. She looked as if someone had slapped her over the head with a fish, albeit in a sparkling white wedding gown and matching veil, now tugged back over her head.

And my bro? Fuck, he wore that shit-eating grin I hadn’t seen in a couple years. Not since the last time I’d deigned to visit the mainland and realized he hadn’t changed one bit from the asshole my parents had made him into.

“Jacob, what the hell are you doing here?”

“No, no, no,” Hazel chorused behind me. “No, this is a disaster.”

“I came to find you, bro,” he said and nudged Carly, the bride, forward a step. “And to show my best friend here what an asshole she is.” He nodded to Hazel.

My head swiveled from side to side, connecting dots that were totally fucking faded. “Someone better explain what the fuck is going on, right now.”

“What the fuck is going on?” Carly squeaked. “Apparently, Hazel decided it would be a great idea to have an affair with you. I can’t believe you would do this, Haze. You knew this was supposed to be my weekend. Did you really think I wouldn’t find out?”

“I didn’t know,” Hazel said. “I didn’t know that they were brothers.”

Jacob snorted. “Please. You expect us to believe that? I’m out of here.”

“No, Jacob, please,” Carly said and cut him off at the door. “Please, don’t leave because of her.”

“She slept with my brother three days after we broke up. My brother! How am I supposed to stand here and take that? How do you expect me to stand up in front of all those people with her right on the other side of the aisle, smiling like nothing’s wrong?” Jacob’s voice didn’t exactly shake with emotion.

He’s the sleazebag who cheated on Hazel?

“Whoa, what does it matter who slept with whom? This has nothing to do with your wedding,” I said.

“Nothing to do with it? Jacob is my best friend, like from high school,” Carly hissed. “He’s the only person I actually care about in the wedding party and now, he’s threatening to leave because he saw his older brother fucking… her on the beach. I won’t stand for it.”

“Carly, I didn’t know,” Hazel said and tugged her hand from my grasp. “I wouldn’t have done anything if I’d known.”

Was that really true? It’d been two pristine, delightful fucks, but she wouldn’t have done it if she’d known I was related to Jacob? The same jackass who hadn’t informed me he’d be visiting one of my resorts? “Bro,” I said and speared Jacob with a look. “Why didn’t you tell me you were here?”

“How was I supposed to know you owned this place? I don’t keep track of your movements, Bain. Christ, until yesterday. Nice thrust action.” Jacob sneered at me.

I balled up a fist and raised it. “Shut your bitch mouth, kid.”

“Tough talk, eh? You learn that in prison? Or was that part of the thrusting yesterday?”

Hazel swayed past me toward the exit.

All the information I’d meant to impart, the stuff I’d felt I’d owed her, had come out.

Billionaire. Check. Ex-con. Check.

I lurched toward her, bubbling rage forgotten, and caught her hand. “Hazel, wait. We’re going to talk about this.”

Tears streaked down her cheek, and she tugged her arm from my grip. “There’s nothing to talk about. Nothing. This is over.”

“Damn right, it’s over,” Carly announced. “You’ve ruined my entire weekend. First, the fucking bachelorette party where you couldn’t force yourself to wear a smile. Yesterday, you weren’t on the beach to take photos like I asked you to, and today this. You’re out of the wedding party. Pack your shit and leave.”

Hazel didn’t stay to pack. She ran from the room, a blur of pink and yellow, trailing the scent of cherry blossoms.

“Hazel!” I strode after her, but Jacob darted into my path.

“Stop,” he said and placed a palm on my chest. “She’s not worth it, man. If you care about me at all, you won’t go. Come on, we’re family.”

He was my only family, since I didn’t talk to my parents. But Hazel was… a woman I’d known for a day, and one I’d somehow cultivated feelings for in that span. A connection unrivaled by anything I’d felt before.

With her, shit was easy. It was natural.

“Don’t do it, man. I’ll never forgive you. She’s my ex.”

I pushed past Jacob and sprinted out of the room, down the hall. But by the time I reached the lobby, it was too late.

She was gone.