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Piper makes a quick escape. Dash pinches the bridge of his nose. “I’m really sorry about this. I promise I had no idea. Zelda is…”
He doesn’t get a chance to finish because the hordes of eligible bachelorettes have noticed his presence and are descending like a swarm of hungry hair-tossing locusts.
“Dash, sweetheart, how have you been?”
“It’s been so long!”
“I haven’t seen you since Aspen, what a hoot.”
It’s either move or risk certain death by trampling, so I scoot way off to the side, taking cover by a gorgeous, stone fountain featuring Neptune surrounded by what appear to be assorted sea creatures.
I squint. Except, that sea creature to the left of the mermaid has four legs and horns. I’m leaning closer to figure out what it is when something furry brushes my hand.
I yelp and spin, to find a goat nibbling on my pants.
A goat.
In the middle of a fancy cocktail party. I guess now I know what inspired the fountain. But now I’m worried about those teeth working overtime on my pants. “Shoo!” I try, but it stays munching. “Give that back!”
“You know he’s not going to answer you, right?”
I turn. A friendly-looking blonde woman is standing there, dressed in white linen and pearls. “Sadly, goat is not my native language,” I agree, finally yanking my pants free.
“Really?” the blonde coos. “You look like you’d be at home with livestock.”
Did I say she looked friendly? Scratch that. Because now that I’m not wrestling free from a tiny hell-beast, I can see that her smile doesn’t reach anywhere near her eyes.
Eyes that are regarding me with barely masked disdain.
I become painfully aware of every wrinkle and crease in my travel outfit, and the airplane grease that’s probably making my nose shinier than a bacon strip. “Hi,” I smooth my hair down, and try to seem easy, breezy, and at home on a billion-dollar mansion terrace.
“You’re the mystery girl, I take it?” The woman keeps looking me up and down.
“That’s me,” I say brightly. “Callie Delgado, International Girl of Mystery.”
Blondie is not amused. Of course, her outfit is immaculate. Chic linen dress, just short enough to show off a pair of killer legs. Tasteful gold jewelry gleaming against her tanned skin. Not a blonde hair out of place. “I’m Georgia,” she says expectantly.
That’s it. That’s all she gives me. Georgia. As if I should recognize who she is based on first name alone, like Madonna or Prince. “Nice to meet you, Georgia. Are you a friend of the family or something?” I guess, just to be polite.
Those green eyes narrow. Clearly, that was not the answer Just Georgia with no last name was hoping for. “More than that,” she says with a little trill of laughter. “Dash and I go way back. We’re very close.”
“Oh. How nice for you.” I keep my smile bland, even though that was supposed to inspire some kind of jealous, insecure reaction from me. And maybe it would have, if I was Dash’s real girlfriend.
But since I’m just a decoy? I can say things like, “I’m guessing there are a lot of you.”
“Hmm?” Georgia frowns.
“Exes,” I say cheerfully. “Lord knows that man is a certified man-whore. Or should that be certifiable? Either way, I’m guessing he’s fucked half the women here today. Practice makes perfect, right? I guess that means I should be thanking you,” I add with a wink. “You know, for honing his skills.”
Georgia’s jaw drops.
“So nice meeting you!” I add, before she can reply. “Now, where is the food in this place?”
I turn to leave, pausing by the fountain to get my bearings. The next thing I know, something knocks into my shoulder from behind, making me stumble off-balance—right as that damn goat scampers through my legs. My arms windmill helplessly for a moment, but there’s no righting this ship.
I tumble into the fountain with a SPLASH.
Spluttering, I surface to find the entire party has gone silent, staring at me.
