Page 101 of Mail Order Sunset (Hawthorne Billionaire 4)

“I never forget pretty faces, dude. Okay, well, I do, but only when I’m drinking, which I’m not right now.” Asher covered his mouth. “The one behind my mother is Tina from, I believe, California.”

“Okay, and the next brunette behind her?” I asked through gritted teeth.

“That would be Nadia, I think. Let me see the others first.” Asher stretched to look behind her. “Yeah that’s Nadia, and the third brunette is Sarah, from Australia.”

“Right, right. So the blonde is one of the girls your mother picked. Her name is Rebecca.” I waved to the group as they waited for the ramp to be placed on the dock. “Where’s the fifth girl?”

“Is there one? I thought Mom said a few backed out. No, wait, I remember, you did say she found a fifth” Asher laughed. “Maybe it’s the one at the helm.”

“What?” I looked up to the helm to see Jade. “That’s funny, Ash.”

“I’m just sayin. I don’t see any other women up there.” Asher walked to the ramp before me to help the girls off the boat. “Good morning, ladies.”

“Welcome to Cloud Nine. I’m Sawyer.” I put my hand out to shake each girl’s hand.

This is gonna be tough. They’re all so pretty.

Asher was doing his best to behave, but he was a charismatic good-looking guy, women were drawn to him. I couldn’t hold that against him. Aunt Victoria was still standing on the dock talking to Josh and the crew. I spotted Jade hovering around next to the ramp.

“Aunt Victoria, invite Jade in as well,” I called out, then followed the women and Asher. “The first thing I want to say is going to upset you, but Asher is not the groom. It’s me.”

They all laughed and Asher shook his head, trying not to laugh at me.

“What would you like to do first?” I waved Josh over as soon as he walked onto the patio. “Give Josh your drink request and I’ll show you around the pool area and the beach.”

Josh asked each girl what they wanted and left. I motioned for them to follow me out onto the beach. I slipped my shoes off and stepped into the sand.

“Sorry, the basket there is full of flip-flops, so pick a pair, and let’s go feel the water.” I watched as they tentatively picked a pair and changed their shoes. I noticed right away that Rebecca wasn’t too crazy about this.

“Rebecca, do you prefer swimming in a pool or the ocean?” I asked when they joined me. “I personally prefer the ocean, but I don’t like the idea of sharks.”

“I’m a pool girl. I don’t really like salt water,” Rebecca answered. “I mean, I can learn to like it.”

How did we miss that? I wonder what else we missed?

I looked back to see Aunt Victoria and Jade standing on the edge of the sand, watching us. I wanted to go ask how everything went with her dad but figured it wouldn’t be fair to the women that were here to get to know me.

“Over there is the volleyball court. How do you ladies feel about beach volleyball?” I tried to not look too worried, waiting on their answers.

“I played volleyball in college, and me and my friends play on the beach back home,” Sarah spoke up. “I have a decent serve.”

“Good to know. What about you, Nadia?” I pointed to the pool area. “This is one of the three pools.”

“I play a lot of sports, so volleyball should be fun,” Nadia answered after a minute. “Did you say three pools?”

“Yes, sometimes I like to swim out here, minus the sharks I mentioned before, and sometimes I like the patio pool and, of course, we have an indoor pool for those rainy days.” I stopped talking to see four blank faces. “Two of the pools were already here when I bought the place.”

“The water here is very pretty.” Tina finally spoke. “I’m from California and the water is cold and dark.”

“I have a home there and, I agree, the water is not the best.” I stopped talking.

I’m saying too much.

“Are you hungry?”

“I’m starving. My flight was so long I might need a nap,” Sarah said. “What’s for lunch?”

“I’m not really sure. Let’s go back up and see what the chef made for us.” I looked again at blank faces. “Don’t worry. If you don’t like what he made, you can order anything you want.”

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