Page 122 of Sinful Palace

“Sure,” I murmured. It wasn’t like I had much of a choice.

He led me down to the river’s edge. A small silver motorboat was rocking gently on the dark water, tethered to a thick wooden post.

Alex helped me aboard. Then he fired up the engine and steered us downriver.

The freezing wind whipped my hair around and made my teeth chatter as I crouched at the back of the boat, trying to ignore the queasy feeling in my stomach.

“See those lights down there on the right?” Alex called back to me a few minutes later.

I glanced up to see him pointing toward some glowing orange lights in the distance. “Yes.”

“That’s the marina. We’re about ten minutes away.”

“Okay.”

Alex’s phone suddenly rang in his back pocket. He grabbed it and answered the call with one hand, keeping the other on the boat’s steering wheel. “Hi. Uh-huh. She’s fine,” he said. “Great. Okay. I’ll tell her.”

He hung up and briefly turned to look at me. “That was Jamie,” he called over the howling wind.

“What did he say?” I asked, brows shooting up.

“He just arrived at the marina with your brother. Apparently he refused to leave your aunt’s house without his favorite dinosaur book. He wants you to read it to him when we get there.”

I smiled. “I will.”

When we arrived at the marina, Alex slowed down and carefully steered the boat to a narrow pier stretching out into the water. He tied it up and helped me out with one hand, pointing to a white luxury yacht with the other. “There’s our real ride,” he said with a grin.

The yacht looked to be around eighty feet long with three decks. The lights were all on, and I could see Jamie standing on one side of the middle deck, staring out at the water.

When he heard us approaching on the pier, he turned and walked down to greet us. “You made it,” he said, leaning down to give me a peck on the cheek.

“So did you.”

He nodded and directed me into the main cabin. “Jared was excited for you to read to him, but he fell asleep a few minutes ago,” he said. “Should we wake him up again?”

“No, let him rest. It’s late.”

“All right.” Jamie motioned toward a narrow doorway separating the main cabin from another space. “I’ll show you around. We’ll just have to be quiet so we don’t accidentally wake him up.”

I followed him through the doorway to the next cabin. There was a black leather couch on the left and a TV on the right. Beyond that were two single beds with fluffy gray blankets and overstuffed pillows.

One of Jared’s backpacks was sitting on the floor near the beds. His favorite dinosaur book was right next to it, along with a pair of sneakers. Jared, however, was nowhere to be seen.

“He’s not here,” I said, eyes widening.

Jamie’s brows furrowed. “He must’ve woken up again.”

“Where did he go?”

“Bathroom, presumably,” he replied, peering around. “I don’t know where else he could’ve gone.”

He beckoned for me to follow him through the cabin to another doorway. On the other side, a wooden stairway led down to a room lined with marble tiles. There was a shower and vanity on one side, and on the far end, there was another door. It was shut, but there was a crack of light under it, and I could hear the faint hum of an exhaust fan.

“There we go,” Jamie said, gesturing toward the door. “Guess he needed to pee.”

My shoulders slumped with relief. “At least he’ll get to see me before the morning now.”

Jamie smiled and patted me on the back. “Will you two be okay by yourselves for a few minutes?” he asked. “I have to go and confirm our course with Alex.”

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