Page 8 of Trust

“Why didn’t you tell me about the brake issue with Lani’s car?”

His friend waved Jakob’s worry away. “Oh, it’s no big deal. She knows how to drive well, so she was safe.”

And the alarm was now hitting him again. He was starting to understand why Lani had been so weird talking about herbrother. There was something definitely off about Ben. Their parents had died in an accident a few years earlier, so Ben had always been a bear about Lani’s safety.

Before Jakob could question his friend, Royal Jones entered the room. She was dressed in a Hawaiian print dress. However, from the look of it, it was what some non-Hawaiian designers thought a Hawaiian dress should look like. He blinked at the amount of makeup the woman was wearing. Most people probably wouldn’t see it, but Jakob did. As an actor, he knew more than he ever wanted to admit about makeup. It was just odd seeing a woman who was already pretty slather on so much makeup in Hawai’i.

“My love,” she said, her gaze moving from Ben to Jakob. “Please introduce us.”

“Royal,” Ben said, rising from his seat, “this is my best friend in the world, Jakob Wulf. Jake, this is the love of my life, Royal Jones.”

Jakob called on all his acting abilities and didn’t roll his eyes. The fact that both of them were acting so pretentious was a warning sign to him. Maybe it was because he had been surrounded by good relationships. Jensen and Nicola were so balanced, and you could never doubt their love for each other. He didn’t know Alek as well as Nicola since she had worked for their family for years, but Jakob knew his brother-in-law was devoted to Jules. This seemed fake.

Jakob rose as Royal made her way over to him. She kissed him on the cheek, and he tried not to gag. The woman was wearing so much perfume it made his eyes water.

“It’s so nice to meet you.”

“Likewise,” was all he could say before she started grilling him.

“Where’s Lani? I thought she was bringing you here.”

Her tone had turned cooler. “She had a call she had to take.”

“What on earth could be more important than spending time with us. I have things about the wedding that we need to go over.”

He said nothing for a moment or two. He had grown up rich, so he recognized this kind of behavior. His mother would have boxed his ears if he had done it. His gaze moved over to Ben, who was frowning now. Jakob waited for his friend to blast his fiancée for being such an ass.

“I’ll find her for you,” he said, kissing her cheek. Before he could leave, though, Lani stepped into the living room.

“Sorry, I had a call. What’s up?”

“It was rude of you to waste time,” Royal said.

She was talking to Lani as if she were a peasant. Again, Jakob waited for his friend to correct his soon-to-be wife, but he just stood beside her, frowning at his sister.

“Sorry, but some of us have jobs with phone calls that require time. It was insane for me to do the job tied to Kingston Surfing in the middle of your wedding planning. But just so you know, it was a call with the caterer.”

Jakob didn’t miss the sarcasm, but apparently, Royal did. “Exactly. I was thinking that we need to change the flowers.”

Lani blinked. “Won’t happen.”

“Excuse me?”

“It won’t happen. It’s too late.”

He thought Lani would stick it to the woman. Jakob knew she had a temper. Royal opened her mouth to respond, but Lani forged ahead.

“If we were on the mainland, it might happen, but we are on Oahu, and they have limited supplies. Besides, it would mess up the bridesmaids’ dresses. You don’t want that because it would disrupt the wedding theme.”

Damn, her tone, everything…perfect. He had forgotten that she was a lawyer. He knew they were using her in PR right now,but he’d heard she was also working on contracts with the aunt, who ran the legal department.

“Oh,” Royal said as if that had not occurred to her. “You’re right.”

“I’m sorry. But you know, you could always have some kind of party when you returned from your honeymoon and use whatever idea you had there.”

Royal’s eyes widened, and a smile curved her lips. “That sounds fantastic. I will give you my ideas.”

Lani said nothing, but he watched her closely enough to see her right eye twitch.

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