Page 17 of Alpha Bait

"It's fine," I grumbled.

"Do you want me to send it to the dry cleaners for you?" She slurred.

"No, really it's fine."

"I'm sorry, girl."

The girl stumbled towards me, sloshing more wine onto me after completing her apologetic hug which had been more for her than for me. She stumbled off, leaving me soaking wet in front of the hottest guy I'd seen all night.

"You alright?"

"Except for my dress."

"Do you have anything to change into?" He pulled off his Seersucker jacket, "You can wear this if you want to, to cover it up."

"No, thank you, but I think I have to go change."

"It's a shame. I was enjoying our conversation."

I had been too.

"I don't usually do this," I said, "but maybe we could meet up again after the boat docks? You know Two Mile Hollow?"

"Yes," Mr. Seersucker suit answered, "my family has a house around here."

"Perfect," I replied, "so does mine."

"30 minutes after the boat docks, I'll meet you there."

"Great. What did you say your name was?" I asked.

"I didn't. See you there."

He turned around and walked away before I could ask him what the heck kind of an answer that was. I didn't chase after him. Red wine covered me head to toe and the last thing I wanted was to be chasing after a man while dripping in red wine.

I slunk along the back of the boat towards our suites and entered my cabin, turning the lock behind me. I wondered who the hell that tall stranger could be. He had this air of familiarity as if he knew me and from what I could see of his features, he bore a family resemblance to the Zachariah family, the Lyman family or the Moore family. Still, something about him wasn't quite Lyman or Moore. And he didn't have the bleach blond Zachariah hair either.

I'd have to ask Jamal if I saw him again before we docked.

I stripped off my white dress and scoured my closet for something else. I'd half expected something like this to happen, and the sun had set already, so I switched from the white dress into a bright yellow bikini with a lace throw over it.

I twirled in the mirror, embracing how the bikini hugged my curves and how the yellow popped against my melanin. Mr. Seersucker suit would take him mask right off once he saw how I looked in this.

Jamal had a lot of nerve telling me who I could and couldn't see. He wanted me to find a respectable man? Fine. Mr. Seersucker was clearly a gentleman; he'd offered me his jacket. Mr. Seersucker was also tall, brown-haired and devastatingly handsome. Even if his mask had obscured the details on his face, nothing can truly hide a strong masculine jawline or towering height. And his voice...

I'd nearly crossed into crush territory so I had to get back out there and dance my butt off before the boat docked again. We had two more hours.

I didn't run into Mr. Seersucker suit again and not for lack of trying. I tried describing him to Donnie and Jamal but neither of them could place who I was talking about. How in the heck could a mystery man that nobody seemed to know have made it onto the yacht? If we weren't in the Hamptons, I would have been worried.

As we drew closer to shore, the music wound down into slow R&B jams. Donnie and a cute, petite dark-skinned woman were locked in an embrace on one end of the dance floor. Jamal smoked a cigar at the bar with his business associate, Chuck and Chuck's wife, Ida. I had no interest in dancing and I'd done enough flirting for the night.

One of Jamal's programmers asked me out, but I respectfully declined. I never mix work and dating. Ihit it off with another guy that night, a younger guy, thirty-years-old and heavily invested in Bitcoin and the stock market. He was interesting, smart and clearly monied but throughout our entire conversation my mind fixated on only one thing: the identity of Mr. Seersucker.

The ship docked and I wrapped my kaftan tighter around my body as I prepared to walk the length of the beach to Two Mile Hollow. Neither Jamal nor Donnie knew where I was headed and the secrecy surrounding both his identity and the clandestine meeting sent a thrill down my spine. I hadn't lived like this in a long time. Only a Holloway family party -- and copious amounts of Möet -- could bring out the frisky risk taker buried inside me.

Donnie caught me as we left the boat onto dry land.

"Coming back to the house?"

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