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She found him charming again. She thought that was the thing about this businessmen, they had some ace up their sleeve. Just when you’d think they were assholes, they’d turn out to do some charity work or shit like that.
“Justin, hi,” a woman interrupted them, stepping in front of Mikaela.
Mikaela found herself rolling her eyes. Damned people had no manners nowadays. Couldn’t she see they were having an “interesting conversation”?
“Hi,” Justin began, wondering who the woman was. He hoped he hadn’t slept with her or taken her out to a date or something in one of those rare, spontaneous drunken nights. She didn’t look familiar.
“We were introduced last week at Malibu Sunset,” she tried to remind him, referring to a recently opened high end bar.
“Oh, I’m sorry. Yes, how are you?” he asked, still not knowing who the woman was.
“I’m all right—” she began.
“That’s great, but I’m still talking to my date here,” he said smoothly. “I hope you don’t mind.”
The woman gave Mikaela dagger looks, while Mikaela stood expressionless. She didn’t quite get what was going on. She had wanted to leave, but the moment Justin Henderson said he was talking to his date, she stopped. That date would be her. Duh.
“Why, I—” and the
woman said nothing more, as Justin held out his arm for Mikaela to take.
She stared at it for a full three seconds, realization dawning that he wanted to get far away from the intrusive woman as soon as possible. She took his arm, still unsure of where this was going, but fully sure that she wanted to stay away from that trespasser. There was this sudden urge of selfishness, and she wanted to keep him for herself.
“Who was that?” Mikaela whispered, as soon as they were out of earshot.
“Some woman whose name I forgot. One of my friends introduced us and I disliked her immediately,” he told her.
Wow. He wasn’t one to mince words, was he? She began to feel flattered that he was comfortable with her. There must be a reason why he stuck to her all this time, when he could have just about any other female in the room, dressed much better, and looking much better too.
“Are you sure you’re fine walking around with me?” she found herself asking.
“If I wasn’t, would I have asked for your hand over my arm?” he responded.
She forced herself to hide her smile. She hadn’t been this flattered before. It was actually a nice feeling, done by a nice-looking guy. Nice-looking guy was an understatement—he was gorgeous, but she wouldn’t say this aloud or show him how she found him attractive in the least. Although, she could tell he had quite an ego.
They headed out to the balcony where they had a good view of the beach. The noise had significantly faded from where they stood. It was dark and she could only see a few feet into the beach. They heard waves crash on the shore.
It was a cold night, and she did her best not to shiver. She hadn’t worn a bra because she had thought the dress’s material would be thick enough. She hoped her chest peepers wouldn’t show. She began to get conscious about it when he took off his coat and placed it on her shoulders.
“Thanks,” she said, looking up, surprised.
“You’re welcome.”
“You live anywhere near here?”
“I’m actually based in L.A.,” he replied. “I just travel here for work every few weeks.”
“I like it here better than L.A.,” Mikaela said.
“I like it better here too. And the beaches have a lovely sunset.”
“What about England?” she asked.
“What about it?”
“The beaches there?” she prodded.
“Oh. It’s cold. Good for cryogenics this time of year.”
