Page 70 of Last Ticket to Paradise

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Georgette replaced the lid on the toilet tank with a sigh. Drugs still intact. She sat back on her heels and whispered. “What were you and Jean-Claude up to, Jamie?”

When Jake thought her fiancé had come for her, he’d sent her suitcase back to her hotel room. She dragged it out of the corner, flipped up the lid, and pulled out a few dresses for Gunther’s birthday dinner tonight. She decided on a two-piece outfit—a white bandeau top with a pair of satin boy shorts on the bottom covered with a lacy, see-through, white skirt that reached her ankles. She slipped into a pair of barely-there stiletto sandals, which made her more than six feet tall.

She’d come to embrace her height here, pull back her shoulders and own it. When she strode into a room, heads turned, and she felt confident and sexy. She’d never felt sexy before in her life, but that might have something to do with the way Jake had lit a fuse in her belly.

She finished applying her makeup and then sashayed into the dining room, the sheer skirt swaying around her legs. Making a beeline for her party, she lifted her hand and wiggled her fingers at Gunther, who had risen from his chair, full of old-world gallantry.

Georgette almost tripped in her heels when she spied Brice at the table, his eyes goggling through his glasses. She recovered and aimed a smile in his direction. A woman in love could afford to be generous.

As Georgette took the seat next to Gunther, Nicole took a long pull from her martini glass, assessing her over the rim. “You look stunning.”

“Thank you, and you are beautiful, as usual.” Georgette air-kissed somewhere above Nicole’s cheek. Nicole would be horrified if she actually made contact.

“You remember Diego, don’t you, Georgette?” Gunther put his hand on the shoulder of the slim, handsome young man sitting on the other side of him. “He was here when you first arrived and then left. Now he’s back.”

Diego dipped his head in her direction. “Yes, we met, although you look...different.”

“Must be the sun and fun.” Georgette giggled and raised her glass to Diego. She recognized him, with his slicked-back hair that curled slightly at the ends, from his argument with Gunther this morning in the stairwell. He and Gunther must’ve patched things up in time for Gunther’s celebration.

The conversation bubbled over dinner and cocktails, the mood light and the laughter flowing as smoothly as the island punch, until Gunther leaned over to Georgette.

“I understand some bones were found in a locker at the airport today.”

Georgette toyed with a scallop on her plate. The police had said they wouldn’t release the name of the owner of the locker or the names of the people who’d discovered the bones—Jake had requested it as a favor.

“I heard something about that. Of course, I’m praying they don’t belong to Jamie, but I don’t know why her body would be in a locker anyway.” Georgette took the straw to her island punch between her teeth. “It’s your birthday. Let’s not focus on anything negative or dark.”

Gunther stroked the inside of her wrist. “Diego’s right. You’ve changed since coming here,liebling. You’ve had an...awakening.”

Warmth crept into Georgette’s cheeks, and it couldn’t be the punch she’d been nursing for over an hour. “Let’s just say I’ve embraced my sister’s lifestyle.”

“Let’s just say you’ve embraced your sister’sman,” Diego announced broadly to the entire table to laughs and winks...and a tight smile from Brice.

Diego pointed his fork at her. “Don’t be shy, Georgette. Whodidn’thear the two of you the other night at Jake’s place?”

Georgette’s smile froze on her face, and she took a gulp of her drink to hide her confusion.

Diego cupped his hand around his mouth and leaned into the table. “They were doing it in the hot tub, and I don’t think it was the bubbles making her scream.”

Brice took off his glasses and wiped them with a napkin, but Georgette barely noticed as her fingers curled around the stem of her glass, the laughter and ribald comments washing over her. Diego’s outing her to the rest of the table, including to Brice, didn’t bother her. After all, that was what she wanted, but his comment about Jamie’s man stuck in her throat, choking her.

When the teasing ended, Georgette leaned across to Diego. “I didnotsteal my sister’s man. She and Jake never hooked up while she was here.”

Diego raised an eyebrow at Gunther. “I thought you told her.”

“I tried to tell her, but others shot me down.” Gunther patted Georgette’s hand.

“Nicole and...other people told me it wasn’t true.” Georgette squeezed her legs together, the roaring in her ears almost unbearable.

“But other people don’t have the same vantage point as Gunther...and I, on occasion, when I’m not being a fool.” Diego placed a hand on Gunther’s back. “We’re in the same building as Jake. We see and hear almost everything that goes on in his suite. Believe me, he had Jamie as a guest quite a few times. Don’t worry, Georgie, she wasn’tquiteas loud as you were, but they did make quite a pair—Jake so big and dark and your sister so blond and petite.”

Georgette made a grab for her glass and knocked it over. “Oh, I’m sorry. I’m so clumsy.”

“We’ll get that cleaned up.” Gunther snapped his fingers for a waiter and then squeezed Georgette’s thigh through the lacy material of her dress. “I’m sorry, Georgette. Diego’s the clumsy one. I told him not to mention the relationship between Jamie and Jake to you. I can tell you’re quite taken with the big man. Don’t let it get to you. Jake’s a sensual creature. Your sister was obviously his match in that area, but it’s clear he’s attracted to you, too. There would be no other reason for him to bed you—unless he thought he could get something from you, and you don’t have anything he wants in that way.”

Georgette nodded, her teeth clenched behind smiling lips. Jake had wanted something from Felicia, and she’d given it willingly, even though it could’ve cost her a job. Had he bedded her, too? The women at the pool—the touches, the smiles. Was he buying their loyalty? The word of mouth for his resort? Even Clive’s deputy, Dottie, had seemed besotted by Jake and had given her earnest assurances that nothing would get out about the connection between Jake and the bones in the locker.

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