Page 16 of The Reluctant Billionaire

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The pool bar was busy that morning; a large group of new resort guests had arrived the previous day and set up camp. It was a wedding party, Nessa soon discovered, almost thirty young people who were close friends of the bride and groom. They kept her busy serving beer and cocktails from shortly after she opened the bar, too busy to dwell much on the events of the previous day other than feeling the pleasurable ache in her thighs and groin whenever she moved.

It was about two o’clock which she spied Jace arriving; he raised his eyebrows at the crowd around the bar, but found himself a stool at the far end in the shade and waited until she had a moment for him.

“Hey.” Nessa dropped a coaster in front of him and smiled. “Sleep well?”

“Better than I have in a long while.” Snagging her hand, he dropped a quick kiss on the back of it. “I can see you’re busy, angel. Don’t worry about me.”

“’Kay. Get you a drink?”

“I wouldn’t say no to a mojito.”

She smiled and reached for the fresh mint stored in the cool box below the bar. “Coming right up.”

Nessa had served Jace his drink and was busy making a pitcher of margaritas for the bride and her friends when, from the corner of her eye, she spied Luke walking up to the bar. She wasn’t worried about the resort manager dropping by; Luke was a hands-on type and regularly did a walk-around of all the different facilities. She usually saw him at least once a week, and indeed when she was really busy he wasn’t averse to rolling up his sleeves and helping serve drinks. He cocked an inquiring brow at her now.

“Need a hand?”

“I’m good, thanks.” She gave him a cheerful smile, handing off the pitcher to the drinks waiter. “Get you anything?”

“I could go for a ginger ale,” Luke grinned back at her, turning to survey the happy, noisy crowd around the pool as Nessa scooped ice into a glass and topped it off with the amber fluid and a lime wedge.

“Your wish is my command. Hey, I think we need another keg of Carlton Dry; could you do me a favour and have main stores send one down? I’ve been flat out since opening and I’m worried this one’s about tapped out.”

“I’ll sort it for you.” Luke pulled his phone from his pocket and tapped in a message before picking up his drink and toasting her. “Cheers.” His gaze slid past her, and a broad grin spread across his face. “Hey, Jace!”

Surprised, Nessa turned to watch as Luke rounded the bar to greet the other man. The expression on Jace’s face was oddly panicked.

“I didn’t know you knew Luke,” she said.

“This guy?” Luke jerked his thumb at Jace’s chest. “I hope you’ve been taking good care of him, Ness. One word from him and even I would be out of a job.”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Jace said weakly.

“Sure, sure, you know you’d never find anyone as good as me to run this place for you. Trust me, you’ll never find a better bartender than Nessa, but since you’re drinking one of her creations, I guess you already figured that out.” Luke chuckled, placing a friendly hand on Jace’s shoulder.

Nessa’s jaw had tightened, her lips thinning as she clamped them together. Obviously not trusting herself to speak, she turned away with a curt nod to pour more drinks as her server returned.

“Fuck.” Jace shut his eyes and groaned.

“Why do I have the feeling that I just completely put my foot in it?” Luke asked, glancing from Jace to Nessa’s turned back and the tightness of her shoulders. “She didn’t know who you were?”

“No…”

“And that’s a problem because…”

“We’ve kind of been seeing each other.”

“Shit, Jace.” Luke blew out his cheeks, shaking his head. “I’m sorry.”

Jace shook his head too. “No, it’s okay. I should have told her who I was. I knew no good was gonna come of keeping the secret, but it was hard to know what to say.”

“Yeah, because ‘I’m a billionaire and my family owns this whole island’ is kind of a big thing to hit people with right off the bat.” Luke’s mouth twisted. “I really am sorry. Nessa–well, clearly you’ve already clued in that she’s special. Would you like me to speak to her?”

“Oh hell no! I clean up my own messes, Luke. It wasn’t your fault, you had no way to know I’d been misrepresenting myself. No hard feelings.” Jace smiled to show Luke he meant it, but he never took his eyes off Nessa’s turned back, her tightly controlled movements which spoke of her tension and upset. “I think I’d better give her some space.”

“That’s probably a good idea unless you want to get brained with a vodka bottle. Want to come for a walk with me?”

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