Page 65 of Wilde Nights in Paradise

…

She should’ve known. As soon as she felt Jude leave the bed, as soon as he left the house and she decided to follow him, she should’ve known they’d end up here.

Libby stopped cold just inside the door of the bar as the past flashed before her eyes. Except it wasn’t the past. It was happening again, right now, in living color. The brunette with the skin-tight dress showcasing a great body, tracing a nail along his jaw, her body language screaming come-and-get-me. Jude fresh from bed with Libby, his hair still mussed from her fingers, smiling, learning toward the woman…

No. Not again. She wasn’t watching it happen again. Wasn’t even going to confront him about it again. He didn’t deserve even that much effort.

Bastard.

With angry tears burning her eyes, she slammed through the door and hailed one of the pink cabs sitting on the street. Yes, the hurt was there, and she was sure it’d come out later to torment her, but right now it was buried so deep under a layer of pissed off that it barely rated. God, she’d been such a fool thinking he’d changed. Playersalwaysplay—and the stupid thing was she had known that from the start. So why was she surprised? This was her own damn fault for letting herself fall for him yet again.

Last Man on Earth Wilde.

“Stupid. Stupid, stupid, stupid.” She kicked the seat in front of her with each word, and the driver eyed her in the rearview mirror.

“Hey, you gonna do that to my car, you can walk.”

“Sorry.” She pushed her hands through her hair and sucked in a calming breath. Realized she’d knocked her glasses askew and straightened them with as much dignity as she could muster. “I just caught the man I love cheating. Again.”

The driver’s expression softened. “Lotta that around here, unfortunately. People get drunk off booze and island life and lose their minds.”

She straightened the hem of her lightweight jacket, which had bunched up around her belly during her tantrum. “That implies he had a mind to lose in the first place.”

“Ah-ha. Good point. A man would have to be mindless to cheat on you.”

Since the driver was at least as old as her grandfather, she took that as a compliment and not a come-on. “Thank you. You’re very kind.”

He shifted the car into gear. “Where do you want to go? I imagine away from here.”

“Far away,” she agreed. “The airport.”

The driver left her to her thoughts after that, and she watched the party atmosphere of Duval give way to quiet, residential neighborhoods. She should tell the driver to change directions so she could go back to the house and pack. Maybe even leave a note for Jude because despite him cementing his spot as the King of Assholes tonight, he would worry if she just up and disappeared.

Libby scoffed at herself. What did she care? Let him worry. Served him right and, although she regretted not being able to say good-bye to Sam, she couldn’t go back to Seth’s house. She might break something—like Jude’s thick scull if he decided to come home tonight after his dalliance with the brunette. She’d just have her father send someone for her things and catch the first available flight back to Miami. From there, it was only a two-and-a-half-hour flight home.

Oh God. Her father. Why hadn’t she listened to him in the first place? She just hoped that he didn’t resort to his father-knows-best speech, which was essentially a long I-told-you-so. She didn’t think she could handle that now.

Libby leaned her head against the cab’s seat and shut her eyes, blocking out the passing scenery, sick to death of palm trees and beaches and ocean.

Thisvacation was officially over.

…

The moment Jude stepped into the house and heard the particular echo that only came with emptiness, panic roared through him like a tsunami. Still, he checked every room, found the bed still rumpled from their earlier lovemaking, her clothes still in the dresser, toiletries still in the bathroom, her book still on the coffee table in the living room.

What if…?

No. He shut down the thought before it completely formed. Burke was in prison. With the stalking charges, Pruitt’s abduction, and after his confession to K-Bar’s murder, he was never getting free. The danger to her had passed.

Tell that to his heart, which was trying to pound out of his chest. He grabbed his cell phone from his jeans pocket and dialed Camden, who answered groggily after a handful of rings.

“What the hell, Jude? It’s two o’clock. I just got to sleep.”

“Libby’s gone.”

“Gone?” he repeated.

“Yes, gone, goddammit! She’s not in the house! I can’t find her!” Some distant portion of his fear-drenched mind realized he was screaming into the phone, but he didn’t give a fuck.

---