Saltwater Kisses: A Billionaire Love Story (The Kisses Series Book 1) (22 page)

“Dude, this is Paul...” Logan said, patting Jack's shoulder like a disturbed child. “You've met him before.”

Jack rolled his eyes. “No,
you're
Joe. Our bartender doesn't know who we are.” Jack grinned as “Joe's” eyes lit up as he got it.

“That game? I love it. I guess he's still Paul, then.” Logan/Joe inclined his head at the heavy-set man bee-lining his way to the bar. “Who's everybody else?”

“I already introduced myself as Jack. Same with Noah. But “Bob” did not.”

“Lucky Bob, then. Noah's here? Awesome.” Logan/Joe turned to the bar, looked at Izzy, and mumbled something about a lucky Noah.

“Give me some of that 1954 Mccallan scotch, sweetheart,” Paul said, sidling up the bar.” And don't be stingy.”

Jack looked at Logan. “Why'd you bring him? This is supposed to a party.”

Logan shrugged. “He's been working with my dad to try and take over this concierge travel business...” Logan shook his head, exasperated. “He overheard me and had dad invite him. I didn't get any say in it.”

“You are worth billions and you didn't get any say in it?” Owen asked. His tone was mild but the condescension was still there.

Logan glared at him. Logan's father was a definite sore spot with him. “Drop it, okay?”

“What about Aiden? Is he coming?” Jack asked, trying to change the subject. Tonight was supposed to be about fun.

“Yeah, he'll be here later with Sebastian and Leo. They decided to Jet-pool, and Leo was late as usual,” Logan replied. He eyed the TV and game consoles. “
Halo
match?”

“You're going down,” Owen informed him. “No crying to Daddy when you lose.”

“You're going to be asking for your mommy when I'm done with you,” Logan informed him, heading to the couch. Jack rolled his eyes at both of them but followed along willingly.

They set up the game and Jack quickly lost himself to killing aliens. The three men called out taunts and insults, thoroughly enjoying the blood-lust and competition of the game. Jack only paused the game when his younger brother waltzed in the door.

“Hello, Party People!” Robbie announced. Jack sighed. He had been hoping for a little more time before his screw up brother showed up. While the two men looked alike, with the same sandy hair and rugged features, they couldn't be more different. Where Jack was dedicated and professional, Robbie was a drunk with no direction in his life.

“Looking good, Dean,” Robbie said, patting Dean's chest and admiring his shirt. Dean rolled his eyes. He'd rescued Robbie's ass enough times not to take him too seriously.

“Oh, look, my brother is here,” Jack said blithely. “Noah, Izzy, hide the booze so there's some for everybody else.”

“Hi, big bro. Love you too.” Robbie winked at him and then went directly to the bar. Jack sighed and un-paused the game. He had aliens to smash. Owen killed him immediately, putting Jack just behind him in the rankings. Jack reached down and found that his drink was empty.

“Noah, Izzy!” Jack called out. “More drinks!”

The game officially ended and Owen stood up to do his victory dance. “I win again!”

“Here you go, Jack,” Izzy said, handing him a drink. Jack took a big sip. He was going to destroy Owen in the next match. Izzy handed something with a ridiculous amount of whip cream to Owen. “And here's your drink,
Owen
.”

Owen immediately stopped his obnoxious arm wiggle. “So you do know who we are?”

“Owen was actually a guess,
OwenedU”
she said, tilting her head to the winner's screen. The video game clearly highlighted his name on the screen. He sank into his chair and groaned. “But thanks for the confirmation. One down, two to go.”

Jack laughed. His victory dance was what had given him away. Served him right. “Ready?”

The game started off. Jack was in the lead, riding around in a stolen Ghost and killing the level. Jack focused entirely on the game, blocking out all the sounds of the party behind him. He was going to win, but then with just a few moments left in the game, Owen somehow tied him. Logan was close enough to be a threat when Izzy walked directly in front of the TV screen.

He craned his next, desperate to see around her and stomp Owen into the ground but she just stood there, calling out, “Drink for Joe.”

“Just take the damn drink, Logan!” Jack hissed before realizing his mistake. He let the control drop to his lap, and he looked up at Izzy, eyes narrowed in speculation as the game ended. Owen won the match again. “You did that on purpose, didn't you?”

“Maybe. Your brother bet me I couldn't get everyone's name by the end of the night, and now he's the only one left with a pseudonym.” She handed Logan his drink, moving away from the TV.

Jack raised his eyebrows and looked over at his brother. “Just first names?”

She nodded. Jack thought for a moment. This was definitely a form of entertainment he hadn't planned on for the evening. It was nice not to be recognized.

“If you can get his name out of him, I'll double whatever he offered you,” Jack said. That should be a good incentive for her to mess with Robbie. If she was able to get him to spill Logan's identity by simply standing in front of the TV, he was excited to see just what she would do to Robbie.

“Are you sure? I mean, he offered two thousand dollars, and I don't want to put you in a tight spot,” she said, her eyes wide at the amounts. It was kind of cute.

“Just two?” Jack frowned. He yelled across the room at his brother, “You're getting cheap, bro!”

Robbie just grinned at him from the bar.

“What are we calling him anyway?” Jack asked.

“Sam,” Izzy told him, picking up a couple of empty drink cups. Jack laughed.

“Oh, I bet he loves that. Sam was the name of his girlfriend in middle school.” The two had been inseparable and insufferable.

“She was not my girlfriend!” Robbie yelled at Jack, unfortunately sounding like a middle-schooler himself.

“Right, that's why you cried—ouch, man!” Jack stopped his teasing as Owen smacked his arm.

“I know it's your party, but I don't want you two to brawl again. Especially over that. Leave it,” Owen warned. Owen's blue eyes darkened as he stared Jack down. Jack glared at him for a moment and then shrugged. Owen was right. It wasn't worth it.

“Rematch?” Jack challenged. He was going to beat Owen if it killed him.

Owen hit start on the game.

***

I
t wasn't long before Aiden, Sebastian, and Leo arrived.

Logan shook his brother Aiden's hand. “Hey, we're playing the game tonight. My name is 'Joe' tonight.”

Aiden looked mad. He looked at his buddies and said, “Man, I told you we should have gotten her earlier. I love this game!”

Jack spoke up. “Aiden, nobody ever believes you're rich anyway, you bum!” That got a lot of laughs, but they all knew it was right.

Once they were settled, the official
Halo
tournament began. It was one of the main events of the party for Jack. He had played more
Halo
during college than he had spent studying, but he remembered it as a good time. It didn't matter who he was when he played. It just mattered that he was good. As one of his last memories of freedom before the job took over his life, he wanted to feel the simple joy of winning the game.

The tournament sucked Jack away, just like he wanted it to. The hours flew past, buoyed by the fruity, girly drinks Noah had perfected. The night was going just how he had planned. He was tipsy enough to feel good, but not drunk, and was dominating everyone but Owen in the tournament. It was down to just the two of them and he was about to win; that was until Leo barfed all over his shoes. It of course happened with just seconds left in the match, distracting him and letting Owen win the match and the tournament.

Jack dropped his controller in his lap and groaned. At least Owen didn't do a victory dance. “How can you still beat me when your house is now covered in vomit?” Jack asked.

Owen blinked. With complete sincerity, he said, “Years of practice of hanging out with you destructive assholes.”

Jack smiled. “Dean, will you grab me a bucket and some napkins?”

Dean came over with an empty ice bucket and a roll of paper towels. He took one look at Leo and shook his head. “He's going to need more than just a bucket.”

Jack sighed. He was going to have to clean up after someone else's mess. Story of his life it seemed. He bent down and took one arm while Dean took the other, and together they took him upstairs to put him to bed.

“He's in this room tonight,” Owen said, holding open the door to one of the guest rooms. It was the one Jack had put Owen in after their night in the bar. The nightstand was already stocked with Gatorade and water. Rachel had thought of everything.

“Hey guys,” Aiden called, popping his head in the door. “We need some muscle. Paul's roughing up one of the caterers.”

Jack sighed. So much for his perfect bachelor's night. “Dean, Owen, you two go down and kick the crap out of Paul. I'll get Leo cleaned up and put to bed.”

“I'm okay, really...” Leo tried to protest, but then sprinted to the bathroom.

At least it wasn't on my shoes again,
Jack thought as Dean and Owen hurried out to solve whatever damage Paul had done. He hoped they really did have to beat him up. Maybe he could go get a punch in himself. Jack certainly felt like punching something.

Jack got Leo back into bed and set up with a bowl and a bottle of water before cleaning off his own shoes. Jack was pretty sure he wouldn't be hearing from Leo until at least late evening with the hangover he was going to have. As delicious as Noah's drinks were, they unfortunately left the worst headaches.

Jack meandered back to the Man Cave just in time to see Noah and Izzy come back down the stairs. Izzy was pale and shaken while Noah had his pissed-ready-to-hit something face on.

“Is everything okay?” Jack asked.

Noah put a hand on his shoulder. “Yeah. Paul was just a dick. Like usual. Sorry about the bad ending to the party.”

“Not your fault. Besides, the party was mostly over anyway.” Jack shrugged and looked around the room. Glasses and food were everywhere. “It was still a great sendoff.”

Sendoff?” Izzy asked, peeking at his left hand. “Are you getting married or something?”

Jack laughed. “I suppose you could say that I'm getting married to my job. I'm taking over my dad's company in a week, and I won't get another day off until I'm seventy. I even got a nice little bed installed in my office.” He grimaced and shook his head as if to clear the thought. “Where's Ro—I mean, where's 'Sam'?”

“
Robbie
is upstairs helping,” Izzy said, emphasizing the name.

Jack laughed. “So he lost the bet. Good job. I'll have Rachel put my part on your check. Don't let Robbie stiff you on his share.”

Jack went and sat on the couch. Someone had cleaned up Leo's accident, so at least he didn't have to deal with that. He started a new game, more just to relax and let his brain melt than to actually play.

Rachel came down shortly after but he was already drifting to sleep. He heard Noah offer to walk Izzy out and Rachel say something about waiting until the morning for the cleaners.

Jack stared at the TV screen as long as he could. He was tired down to his bones. All he wanted to do was sleep. He turned off the game console and headed upstairs, nearly going for his normal room before deciding he didn't feel like dealing with Brandy. He probably smelled like booze again and didn't want to be chastised about it.

He collapsed into bed, thinking he would pass out almost immediately. Instead he lay there, face buried in the pillow just thinking. His life was about to become an endless string of meetings and business transactions, yet all he could think about was how nice it had been not to have Izzy know his last name.

J
ack raised his arms above his head, feeling his shoulders tighten and release with the motion as he climbed out of bed. Surprisingly, he wasn't hung over. If nothing else, that made the day a good one.

Only a few more days
, Jack thought as he threw on a t-shirt over his swim trunks.
Only a few more days before Dad's company owns me.

He barked a bitter laugh. Who was he kidding? His father's company already owned him and he knew it. Next week would just make it official. His thoughts skittered away from the cause of the sudden increase in responsibility. He didn't want to think about how his father's gaunt frame no longer in his suits or how tired his once vivacious father became during even the simplest of meetings. Jack didn't have to read the doctor's reports to know the chemotherapy wasn't working. It was written all over his father's face.

Jack scrubbed his face with his hands and then ran them through his hair. This wasn't the time to be thinking such morbid, unhappy thoughts. This was vacation. He should be frolicking on the beach or out pestering Robbie on his boat, not using the last few days of freedom to dwell on things he couldn't change.

Jack shook his head, trying to free himself from the cobwebs of his thoughts. He needed breakfast.

He sauntered down the stairs, heading for the kitchen when he heard voices coming through the swinging door.

“I'm so sorry, ma'am. Jack didn't tell me anything about getting you any yogurt.” Jack recognized the voice as coming from one of his housekeepers, Janet. He smiled when he thought of her kindly face, even as she was apologizing for something that wasn't her fault.

“Well, you probably should start remembering what it is I like. The next time we come here, I'll be Mrs. Saunders, and the first thing I'm going to do is get rid of the dead weight around here.” Brandy paused for a moment, obviously evaluating the woman in front of her. “And it looks like you have plenty of dead weight to spare," Jack heard Brandi say.

Jack's jaw dropped as he leaned against the wall. Janet apologized again, promising to go and get some yogurt right away. Her keys jingled as she ran out of the kitchen to start her car. He knew how much Janet needed this job to feed her three kids.