The Lost Soul Trilogy (Primani Book 5) (9 page)

Chapter 8: International Diplomacy

I DIDN'T HAVE TIME to dwell on my newfound sense of peace. Ricki was back from her family’s trip to Charleston, and she was ready to party. It was the fourth of July and we were invited to at least four cookouts. I would’ve been happy with one, but Ricki couldn’t say no.

“So will there be any cute guys at Aric’s house later?” It was a key consideration for wardrobe selection.

Ricki held up a tiny purple tank top and sighed. “God, I wish I could pull these off. You’re so lucky you’ve got little tits. My rack would break these straps.”

“At least I can still see my feet. Hurry up so we can get going. My dad’s going to bug me about staying here today. I do
not
want to get stuck on flag duty.”

My dad always bought a bunch of mini American flags and made someone pass them out to everyone who showed up at his cookout. He was very patriotic that way. The porch was covered in red, white, and blue ribbons and other things I couldn’t really identify. It was sort of sweet though.

Domino wanted to come with me. She was dancing around us with her leash in her mouth. “Oh, I’m sorry, pup. You can’t come today. We have to go to a lot of places, and I don’t know if they’re dog-friendly. Dad says you can hang out with them at the cookout.”

She didn’t look impressed and stood stubbornly next to the door. I gave her a hug, told her to behave, and ran out without looking back. Angry barking followed us to the car. I hoped she wouldn’t pee on my pillow.

We left the second party at about 3:00 to head to the marina. I was doing a little happy dance on the dock when Dani showed up with a strange guy. I nudged Ricki in the side. “Who’s the new eye candy?”

She squinted towards the parking lot. “Oh, he’s an exchange student. He’s from… Oh, I forget. Some place. Anyhow, he’s here until January. Wow, he looks like Heath Ledger.” Then she laughed evilly, and added, “Dani said Aric is so pissed! He’s gone ape shit over this guy staying at her house. He even complained to her mom! It makes total sense now.” She was still laughing when they got to the boat.

I hugged Dani, whispering, “Oh, my God! Who’s this guy? And why didn’t you tell me you were getting a model? I am
so
jealous!”

Dani, being Dani, looked chagrined and apologized for not calling sooner. “Let me introduce you guys. Stefan?”

The blond-haired eye candy ambled over with an adorable crooked smile. I resisted the urge to stand taller and push out my boobs. All drooling aside, I wasn’t interested in males at the moment. It was all Sean’s fault too. Jerk. Even so… The yummy Stefan was stare worthy at the very least.

“These are my two best friends, Mica and Ricki. This is Stefan. He’s from Switzerland,” Dani explained.

Ricki was less than enthusiastic since Kevin and Aric had joined us. She was still hoping Kevin would ask her out, but he kept dragging his feet. I didn’t have the heart to tell her that she should move on. There were just some bubbles I didn’t want to burst. I figured
someone
should have dreams! My days of dreaming were behind me. I was a live-in-the-moment kind of girl now. ‘Happily ever after’ could kiss my ass. Sean too.

After loading skis and snacks, we all squeezed onto the boat. Ricki maneuvered the shiny craft out of the marina. The perfectly calm air turned the lake into a giant blue mirror. Gorgeous! Once we got into the open water, Ricki pushed down the throttle until we flew. The jolt sent us all stumbling into each other. Dani fell against Aric, and he made a big deal out of catching her. Yes, Aric, you’re a stud. Good job, dude. Dani was dimpling up at him but turned around to wink at me. It was time to reel her man in. I almost felt sorry for him, poor dumb guy. She was enchanting when she wanted something. Once she made up her mind, no one said no to her. Her mother never could, I hadn’t done it yet, and Aric would give her whatever she was whispering about now. No doubt about it, the dimples were impressive.

It wasn’t long before we were out far enough to ski. Ricki slowed the boat to a stop, and I bounced into Stefan’s arm. He caught me against his bare, and very muscular, chest. I was laughing. He was laughing. Everyone else was gawking. I turned beet red all the way to my boobs.

Still chuckling, I put some space between us and turned magenta when Aric teased, “Holy shit, Kevin, look at Mica’s face! Could she get any redder?”

“By the way, Mica, where’s Sean?” Kevin asked with an evil smile.

Ricki, being the awesome best friend she is, hit the throttle a bit, and Kevin fell on his ass. I gave him the finger and grabbed the skis. I’d been waiting all week for this.

In minutes I was flying over the water, literally. My skis were barely skimming the surface, and I gave the thumbs up for more speed. I had five more minutes and was making the best of it. The boat went 60 miles an hour, and today I was maxing that out. The rush was incredible! I let myself fly. I was free!

Buuuut… not for long. Reality can be so rude. A sailboat was approaching from the starboard side. From the corner of my eye, I could make out a couple of people on the deck, but I wasn’t close enough to see faces. Aric kept the speed high, and I was showing off. I did a little hip wiggle as we passed the boat and nearly fell off my skis. I was so surprised that I stumbled and nearly lost it. Don’t fall, don’t fall, don’t fall. Aric slowed down, and I sank in the lake. I floated with my back to the sailboat, cursing fluently in two languages: English and girlfriend.

When Aric stopped to pick me up, I waved happily in case
anyone
was watching. Stefan reached over the side to help me in. Gorgeous, but clueless Stefan… with his ripped chest and curling blond hair… Perfect! I wrapped my arms around his neck and let him pull me up. Take that, you jerk on the boat.

The never-ending holiday wasn’t over yet. We had one last party to get to thanks to Ricki’s overscheduling. Since my apartment was closer to the lake, we stopped there to change clothes. Dani took forever in the shower, but that was okay. I had more than enough distractions. Stefan was lounging across my bed, leafing through my photo album from Ohio. I was sitting on the floor narrating for him. He was gorgeous in a natural, open way. His skin was smooth; his eyes were light green with thick curling lashes. Beautiful. Eyes were the most important part of a person’s face. You could see everything you needed to know by looking into them. In this case, they were trusting and honest and more than a little sexy. I dragged my eyes to his mouth and swallowed. How embarrassing to drool. He was just so damn hot. It wasn’t fair; no healthy woman could look at him this closely and not feel attracted. And I was more than healthy.

“So are you planning to kiss me now or should I do it later?” Even his accent was sexy.

Face in flames, I shoved it against the quilt. Maybe I could disappear? With a sexy grin, he unfolded himself and moved over the edge of the bed, clearly intending to try for that kiss. I jumped up, stammering some excuse or another to cover my embarrassment. That’s how Dani found us when she finally showed up. She swung her gaze knowingly between us and shook her head. “Really? Already? Geez.”

“Well, you took too long. We got bored. Can we go now?” I snapped.

So now we were at the beach for that last party of the day. Stefan was occupied with someone other than me--many
someones
. Everyone wanted to meet the cool guy from Switzerland. Most of those people were girls, and they all wanted to screw him. Bitches. He had so many half-naked bodies sprawled against him that I’d need a bottle of bleach to clean him up again. I growled in my throat. Stupid cows. He met my annoyed glare with a lick of his lips. Whatever. I tossed my head away and took a swig of my drink. I was
not
jealous. Nope.

“I’m afraid to kiss you now. You look like you’ll bite me.” Stefan came up behind me and whispered against my hair. He was standing very close, and I tensed in surprise.

“If you startle me like that again, I might accidently kick your ass,” I said with a slow smile.

He laughed at that and came around to face me. He looked me up and down and sighed. I knew what he saw. I ran 50 miles a week. I followed an intense workout routine I bought from an infomercial on TV. My muscles were lean but strong. I did self-defense training twice a week too. Sure, I might look and behave like a typical girl, but I was training my body and mind to kick ass if anybody ever assaulted either of those again. I knew people talked about me sometimes. The whole thing with Scott was old news now, but people still whispered. I didn’t let it bother me, but I wanted them to know I would not go down so easy next time. And if my stronger body couldn’t save me, the stun gun I carried would help out. I was in charge now. That felt pretty good. But tonight I wanted romance not violence.

“Don’t worry. I won’t bite as long as you play nice.” I slipped my hand in his, smiling up into his eyes. They were clear and green. His hair was blowing away from his face, and the light from the fire flickered across his skin. I hoped I looked as good right now.

He ran his palm down my back, and murmured, “Let’s go for a walk. It’s crowded here.”

My heart did a little flip-flop as we left the group. We walked barefoot along the water’s edge, skipping out of range when the cold water splashed across our feet. Someone had left a lawn chair in the sand, and we wandered over to it. Stefan pulled me onto his lap and kissed me.

His lips were soft and felt nice against mine, but I didn’t see fireworks. I pulled back and peered into his eyes. They were still a beautiful green, and that was the problem. They weren’t filled with the blue fire that could ignite me with a glance. This wasn’t going to work. I sighed. Stefan misunderstood my sigh for interest and kissed me more passionately, his hands gripping my face, holding my mouth to his as he slipped his tongue inside. I tried, really, I did. I kissed him back with enthusiasm, but still no fireworks… No warmth in my belly; No tingling in my blood. Very quickly,
his
excitement became obvious; I should probably get up. Before I could though, the sound of voices interrupted us.

“Mica, is that you?” Dec was striding towards us with an angry scowl clouding his normally sunny face.

Now what?

In my struggle to get out of the wobbly chair, I nearly knocked us into the sand. Stefan helped me up, stiffened, eyes shooting warily beyond Dec. I groaned out loud. Of course he wasn’t alone. Killian was with him. I casually looked around for the one I wanted to see.

Killian said, “He’s not here. Don’t bother looking.”

His tone set my teeth on edge. “I can see that. What do you want?”

“Oh, now it’s attitude?
Nice
. We actually came to make sure you were okay.” He looked down his nose at Stefan, and added, “But I see you’re handling yourself just fine.”

Dec still looked angry, and said, “Can I talk to you alone for a minute?” He glanced at Stefan and added, “Sorry, dude.”

“Sure. I’ll be right back,” I told Stefan.

We moved a few feet away before Dec stopped me. He looked over his shoulder with another frown. Killian was speaking to Stefan. To the average person, it probably seemed like they were just hanging out. But Stefan’s face was tense, his eyes narrowed. He was pissed, but he’d be crazy to try anything with Killian.

“So what do you want, Dec?”

“I wanted to make sure you are really okay. Do you need anything? Have you had any more trouble with Flynn?”

Something in his voice made my skin prickle. He was warning me… and he was honestly worried… It was impossible to stay frosty with him, so I relaxed and responded with less sarcasm.

“Dec, you’re sweet. But I don’t need you to worry about me. I’m a big girl now, and I can take care of myself. I’m ready for him if he comes after me again.” I even flexed my biceps for him.

He didn’t look convinced. “I think you should know I’ve heard rumors… it sounds like he’s planning something, uh, nasty, for you. I’m sorry to have to tell you that, but I couldn’t leave it to chance.” He rolled his eyes at Killian.

“Oh, and let me guess. Killian wanted to leave it to chance? Is that why you were so mad when you got here? Were you arguing about telling me?”

He hesitated. “No, I was angry seeing you with that… that guy over there. How could you do that?”

“Do what? Move on now that Sean has blown me off? Find someone else to hang out with? Someone who wants to be with me? Oh, yeah, I guess I should just sit around and wait for him to come around. Sorry, Dec, I liked Sean, really. But he’s blown
me
off, remember? This isn’t what I wanted.” My voice caught at the end.

“You don’t understand what’s going on, and I can’t tell you anything else. Please, just know that Sean would be here if he could.”

Oh, yeah, right. Like today? It was too much. I snapped, “Really? Well, that’s news to me. Where is he?”

“I can’t say, and here comes Killian. He’s going to kill me if I say anything else.”

Killian came up, and announced, “Time to go, Dec. The others are waiting for us.” He looked over his shoulder at Stefan, and added, “Be careful. Everything has a point of no return, and you could get caught in something you can’t handle.”