Page 48 of Forking the Billionaire

How many women had he spentno more than two nightswith? Were they all as hot and grumpy as Jules was? Also, if Jules wanted to be here, why did she seem so put out at the cliffs today?

“I thought it’d be fine,” Jasper said.

“But it’s not?”

“I shouldn’t have brought her. Spending so much time with her emphasized that. We’re done.”

He broke things off with her during their trip. I didn’t know how to feel about that. “So you’re a player who gets bored easily.”

“I don’t need complication. I like my life as it is,” he said.

“I get that.” My life was about to get exceedingly more complicated, and it terrified me. The closer we got to my house, the less I actually wanted to go home to sit alone with my thoughts. “Hey. Your suitcase—is it still missing?”

“Yes.”

“Now that I’ve heard about how you broke poor Jules’s heart, the chances of it being her who disposed of it is even higher.”

“I didn’t break her heart. There are no feelings between us.”

“Except animosity. Jealousy. Heartbreak. Hatred!”

“No. Nothing. Nada.”

“Then it had to be the ghosts. Remember this morning when you passed me that note, and I circled yes?”

“Of course. But you’re sick. We need to get you?—”

“I’m feeling so much better. Watch.” I hopped off my board, ran out in front of him to give myself some space, then I did a cartwheel. A bit of bile rushed up my throat. I swallowed it back down and smiled. “See?”

“All you needed to cure your food allergy was fresh air?”

“Yep.”

“And now you’re prepared to go ghost and luggage hunting?”

“Totally.” I hopped back on my board and turned us down the path that led away from my bungalow, towards the abandoned resort. “How are you not totally freaking out right now? I’d be a mess if someone stole my bag.”

“They’re just clothes.”

“I’m passionately attached to my clothes,” I said.

Amusement flitted across Jasper’s features. When he smiled, he completely committed to it. His nose wrinkled. His just slightly crooked teeth flashed. It was the two front ones at the bottom that overlapped a hair because he hadn’t worn his retainer after his braces. The barely-there imperfection made him all the more charming.

“I’m serious,” I said. “There’s nothing in your bag that you consider irreplaceable? What about your passport? And your favorite shirt?”

“I have my passport. Shirts are shirts.”

“There’s really nothing you care about in your bag?”

“There’s an accessory I want back.”

He only cared about a belt or tie or something like that?

He smiled again, big and warm and mischievous. “But there’s no reason to worry. We’re going to find it, right?

It was impossible not to look into his crinkled forest-green eyes and not wholeheartedly want to dive headfirst into whatever trouble he was brewing. And there was no question he liked trouble.

And he worked with his hands and surfed with his free time. His muscles had muscles. Plus, his dad was a billionaire. So of course boatloads of women would gladly drop their panties for him. They probably took their two days of fun, then thanked him as he kicked them out the door.

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