Hot Mistake

by Cara Lockwood

  “No. Absolutely not.” Gabriela shook her head. “It’s a bad idea.”

  Felicia frowned at Gabriela. “You already spoiling my fun, Gobstopper?”

  Felicia let out a sigh. “Do you think he still has that motorcycle?”

  “He does, actually. A new one,” Lola said. “Saw him driving it down around South Beach the other week.”

  “Okay, well, if he has the motorcycle...” Liv seemed to be suddenly okay with her sister dipping her toe back into the shark-infested Sebastian Lott waters.

  “No, guys!” Gabriela needed to put her foot down. “From here on out, we need to think about Sebastian as Swipe Left.”

  “Why?” Felicia grabbed her phone and pulled up Sebastian’s Instagram account. She swiped through picture after picture of a gorgeous man who seemed none too keen on wearing shirts. She stopped on one where he was astride his motorcycle, an amazing Miami sunset behind him, wearing a tight-fitting white tee and jeans that hugged his flat hips.

  God, he still looked the same, Gabriela mused. Sex on a stick, that’s the only way to describe Sebastian Lott. Those smoldering eyes, that washboard stomach. Gabriela felt the little tickle at the back of her throat she used to feel in high school. She wasn’t immune to the man’s good looks. Not that Gabriela had ever told a living soul she was fond of the broad-shouldered football player with jet-black hair and hazel eyes. Scratch that, she’d only ever told one person. Some good it had done. Not that he’d ever noticed her. Sebastian would’ve never given her a second glance in high school. She’d been the awkward kid with glasses and braces, the one who’d opted to stay home from parties to study. No, definitely not hot enough, daring enough, for Sebastian Lott’s tastes.

  “Oh...my.” Veronica leaned in to get a closer look.

  “You cannot be serious!” Liv cried. “He’s Swipe Left!”

  “He’s hot, though.” Felicia tucked a small bit of blond hair behind one ear.

  “He knows it, too.” Liv rolled her eyes. “I’d rather not spend the evening talking about how great he is, thanks. Look at all those half-naked women hanging all over him in all those pictures.” She thumbed through them and Gabriela saw she was right. There was a new woman in each one. “Ugh... Gross.”

  Gabriela nodded. She needed to talk some sense into Felicia. “You can’t do this. Say you hook up with him and say he says something that upsets you. Or, ignores you for the rest of the trip.”

  “He does tend to do that,” Liv said. “He is Mr. One and...Done.”

  “We can’t let him and his man-drama ruin Lola’s big day.” Gabriela glanced at her friend, who stared at her drink.

  “Sebastian’s not that bad,” Lola offered, ever the optimist. “He’d be nice. He’s...matured. He’s actually pretty nice now, if you spend more time with him.” Also, she was going to be Team Sebastian because he was the reason she’d met her groom, Marco. The two worked together at the same law firm, and Sebastian had introduced them at a bar on South Beach. According to Lola, it had been love at first sight.

  “You’re biased, Lola,” Liv said. “Sebastian might be older, but you can’t convince me a leopard can change its spots.”

  Felicia seemed to consider this. “But it’s not like I want a relationship,” she said. “I just want to hit that.”

  “Yeah, but why give him the satisfaction?” Gabriela offered. “Didn’t he ghost you summer after graduation? After you and he were finally going to get together...” Felicia and Sebastian had been heavily flirting with each other through all of high school, with Felicia doing most of the pursuing, if Gabriela remembered right. Then, after a particularly wild party the summer after graduation the two were rumored to have made out. But after that, Sebastian had ignored her.

  “That was ten years ago.” Felicia’s voice was flat. It was clearly a sore subject even all these years later. So why did she want to go back to drink from that same well? Seemed like it had disaster written all over it, and Gabriela’s one job was to make sure the wedding went smoothly. Lola didn’t need some brewing drama between Felicia and Sebastian to worry about, either.

  “Well, it does sound like maybe Sebastian’s a bad choice,” Veronica said. “And we want things to go smoothly for Lola.” She leaned in and gave Lola a one-armed hug.

  “Yeah,” Liv agreed, nodding, her blue-tipped blond hair rippling. She’d dyed it blue for something blue in the wedding party.

  “I guess so.” Felicia shrugged. “And I like James anyway.” She glanced sideways at her sister, but thankfully Liv didn’t rise to the bait.

  “Okay, so then we all agree?” Gabriela felt a little bit of relief. She raised her glass. “To none of us going near Swipe Left tonight.”

  They all raised their glasses and clinked them together, and Gabriela breathed a little sigh of relief. The last thing anybody needed was for someone to hook up with Swipe Left and then have the whole wedding party sidetracked with drama.

  Lola took a sip of her quickly vanishing margarita. “Seriously, though, Sebastian isn’t the same jerk from high school. You should actually have a conversation with him. See what I mean.”

  Gabriela scoffed. No way was she talking to Sebastian Lott. She’d long since gotten over her girl crush on the guy. No need to revisit those painful days when she’d be frozen by her locker and he’d come bounding up to his, three down from hers, with a caravan of hangers-on following his every move.

  “Oh, lord. Is that a cheese plate the bartender just put out? I freaking love cheese,” Veronica exclaimed, glancing at the small snack nook near the end of the bar. “Lola, come on, honey, let’s go get fortified. Come with me, I can’t be the only one pigging out. Did I mention I love cruises? Seriously. Love them!”

  “You know she’s getting married in two days,” Gabriela felt the need to point out. The last thing she was probably thinking about was consuming dairy fat.

  “All the more reason for her to keep up her strength.” Veronica tugged Lola off her bar stool and the two snuck over to see about the cheese bar.

  “I’ll be right back,” Lola promised, leaving Gabriela with her least favorite people at the bachelorette party. Gabriela would’ve headed over, as well, but Liv grabbed her arm.

  “You’re right about Swipe Left,” she said. “Thanks for reminding us.”

  Felicia even reluctantly nodded.

  Gabriela felt perhaps a temporary truce might have been struck.

  “Okay, I get it. I get it. No Swipe Left.” Felicia shrugged, adjusting her strapless bra. The top of a tattoo at her neckline became visible for the briefest of seconds and then disappeared behind the spandex fabric. Gabriela thought she saw the head of a running stick figure. Really, Felicia? She’d just started running 5Ks a few months ago and now she suddenly got herself tattooed?

  “The worst part is that I heard he’s seriously hung,” Felicia said.

  Gabriela seriously did not want to know this information. She really didn’t. Why were they still talking?

  Felicia, however, could not read a room. “One girl told me she didn’t even know they came that big. Like an actual eggplant,” she whispered.

  “Guess that’s where the emoji came from,” Liv said and barked a laugh.

  “Do I really need to know this?” Gabriela protested.

  “Yes, Liv, consider poor Gobstopper. You know she hates being explicit,” Felicia teased and the two sisters burst into laughter at Gabriela’s expense.

  Gabriela was half tempted to confess a few of her exploits in New York. But she wouldn’t. Not to these gossips. She mentioned word one and then the whole ship would know about her sexual exploits.

  “Ugh, all this talk about cock makes me want some,” Felicia declared, slamming her margarita glass on the bar as some of it sloshed over the rim.

  Classy. Gabriela sipped at her malbec, wishing this night would come to an end.


  “What are we going to do about this lame-ass party?” Liv moaned. “I’m bored.”

  Lame? This party was not lame, and Gabriela had a clipboard to prove it. A clipboard full of activities. Granted, they’d only gotten through the shots part so far, but they were warming up to the rest, like Friend-ivia. Trivia all about the roots of Lola’s friendship with each bridesmaid. Gabriela had read about it online.

  “We could play a trivia game. I made up one just for Lola,” Gabriela began, searching for her clipboard. She had all the questions mapped out and party prizes for bridesmaids who got the right answer.

  “Trivia? No way.” Felicia frowned. Then she seemed to get inspired. “I know! Why don’t we go crash the bachelor party?”

  Liv squealed in delight, clapping her hands together. “Yes! Yes! Yes!”

  Oh, no, no...no! Gabriela couldn’t think of a worse idea. For one, they were supposed to have separate parties, and she’d made sure through a detailed schedule on her clipboard that they’d all be headed to different bars at different times to avoid crossing paths. Now Felicia was going to ditch all her hard work!

  “No, we can’t,” Gabriela said. “We promised we’d stay in separate bars.”

  “Who promised? I didn’t promise.” Felicia smirked at Gabriela.

  Gabriela thought the idea had disaster written all over it. “Seriously. What if they’ve got strippers there?”

  “On a cruise ship?” Liv looked doubtful. “Besides, I bet Lola wants to go. Lola!” Liv raised her voice.

  Lola turned after having a bite of cheese. Veronica was already stacking her plate high with tiny cubes.

  “Do you want to go crash the boys’ party?”

  Felicia skipped over and Lola’s face lit up. Pretty soon, the two were jumping up and down and squealing in delight.

  “Of course she does!” Felicia called as she tucked her arm through Lola’s and led her out of the bar.

  “But I don’t think...” Gabriela protested one last time.

  “What the bride wants, the bride gets,” Liv said and pushed past Gabriela on her way to the cruise ship elevators.

  Gabriela shook her head. She had a bad feeling about this. A very bad feeling.

  CHAPTER TWO

  UP ON DECK TEN, Sebastian was desperately trying to liven up what he could only call the world’s tamest bachelor party. They’d taken over the small whiskey bar on Deck Ten, with the ornate, old-fashioned, carved wooden wraparound bar, and had staked out the corner table surrounded by oversize leather chairs. The men sat in a semicircle: the groom, Marco; his brother, James; and Marco’s cousin Bill, who were about as lively as a stick in the eye. The only lively attendee so far was Lola’s brother, Theo, whom Sebastian had known since first grade.

  So far, the men had only barely sipped at their expensive whiskeys and the most exciting conversation revolved around who took which expressway to work every morning. Boring.

  Sebastian had to think of something to put this party back on track and fast. He was determined to make this bachelor party the very best party of a lifetime. If his best friend was saying goodbye to singlehood, something Sebastian himself thought was darn near close to social suicide, then he was determined to send him off with a bang. First, he needed to get these guys to drink.

  Sebastian raised his glass high for a toast. “To you, Marco. Tonight is almost your last night—technically—as a single man. You crazy fool!” The others laughed a bit, but he continued. “I know that Lola is going to make you a very happy man. And no one deserves it more than you.”

  Sebastian meant every word. He’d known Marco since law school, where the two happened to sit next to each other in Constitutional Law. But their friendship had deepened when Marco had helped him bury his mother after she lost her battle with liver cancer. That was a sorrowful memory, but Sebastian would always be grateful to Marco for being there.

  “Hear, hear,” James echoed.

  “Let’s get this party started,” cried Theo.

  They all clinked glasses and took a swig. “By the way, when is it going to be your turn, Sebastian? Isn’t this the fifth wedding this year you’ve gone to?” Marco asked.

  “The answer is never,” Theo interrupted. “This guy? He’s not the settling-down type.”

  “That’s not true,” scoffed Sebastian. And lately he’d been thinking more and more about settling down. Sure, marriage sounded like pure insanity to him: one woman for the rest of his life? What was he, dead inside? Or he would be if he ever put on a ring. But, lately, he was thinking more about a woman who might be able to keep his interest for more than a week or month at a time. Lately, his parade of partners on the dating hookup app Spark was all about the quick physical connection. He couldn’t actually remember the last time he’d had a decent conversation with one of them. Then again, that’s not why they came over to his house at midnight, either.

  “You like to play the field, huh?” Bill leaned forward and grinned, his wedding band catching the meager light. “Tell me about it.”

  Bill was the last person Sebastian wanted to confide in.

  “He was the first guy with a dating app account in law school,” Marco agreed. “He cleaned up.”

  “He’s got game.” Theo grinned and elbowed Sebastian hard. Sebastian mustered up a weak smile. Sure, he had to admit, it was fun hooking up with random women who weren’t looking for commitment, but these days, he wanted to take a girl out for once, maybe even learn a single detail about her other than what position she liked best. Maybe he was getting old, or maybe he was just tired of the revolving door of his own bedroom. He wanted something more. Marco had showed him exactly what he wanted, actually—real companionship. Someone to talk to. Someone to care for him when he was sick. Somebody who’d just care about him period after the fury of the one-night stand wore off.

  “Yeah, but I’m not into that now.” Sebastian shrugged and stared at his glass of whiskey.

  “You want to get married?” Theo asked, shocked.

  “Hey, I don’t know. Maybe.” What was he saying? Was he really ready to shelve his riding spurs for life? Strap himself to one woman for all time? He didn’t know. All he did know was that for the very first time in his life, he’d actually consider the possibility.

  “Oh, please.” Marco didn’t believe him. Of course, Sebastian didn’t blame him. Why would a player suddenly have a change of heart? Because the player was almost thirty, that’s why, and realized that he’d built a life and had no one to share it with. In fact, most of the men here were married or engaged. James and Sebastian were the only fully single partygoers. “You once dated three girls in one weekend.”

  “Well, be careful,” Bill said. “You know how many STDs are out there? Some of them aren’t pretty.”

  Who talked about STDs at a bachelor party? Geez.

  “Sounds like you know a bit too much about that, Bill,” Sebastian joked. But when the man turned bright red, Sebastian realized that Bill might actually have had a few experiences at the local health clinic.

  “You get in trouble, Bill?” Theo echoed.

  “I’m married now,” Bill said, as if that answered anything. It didn’t.

  The men all stared at Bill. Now they were all thinking about Bill’s issues. How had this party got so far off track? Next they’d be asking about where his rash might be.

  What this party needed was a drinking game. Sebastian knew he sure needed another drink.

  “How about we play a game of Never Have I Ever?” Sebastian offered.

  “Yes, let’s,” Theo said, leaning forward.

  “Remember first year of law school?” Marco slapped the table, causing his whiskey to slosh in his glass. Beneath their feet, the boat swayed slightly, the only indication they were out to sea. “You killed with this drinking game.”

  “You binge drank in law school?” Bill shook hi
s head in disapproval.

  Sebastian glanced at the man’s pressed khakis, super-starched, pin-striped, short-sleeved, collared shirt and wingtips. Who wore wingtips on a cruise ship? Hell, who wore them to a bachelor party? Sebastian had opted for a tasteful Aloha shirt and flip-flops. They were headed to Cozumel and then to Key West. Nowhere in that itinerary did wingtips factor in.

  “Hell, I binge drink now,” Sebastian joked. Or I will soon if this party doesn’t get going. “Come on, one round?”

  “Let’s do it,” James said, his dark eyes lighting up a bit.

  “How do we play?” Bill asked. Of course Bill wouldn’t know how. He’d probably drunk wine spritzers in college. Sebastian glanced at the wingtips again. Hell, he probably drank wine spritzers now. It would explain why he’d barely touched his whiskey on the rocks.

  “Everyone takes turns declaring ‘never have I ever’ something. If it’s true for you, you drink. If not, you don’t drink. Those aren’t the regular rules, but it’s more fun this way.”

  “Sounds a little silly,” said Bill.

  “Let’s just try it.” Sebastian raised his glass. “I’ll go first.”

  “But never is such a strong word. I mean, does this include all future acts, as well?” Bill asked, clearly overly concerned about the legalities of a drinking game. “Also, what if a participant lies? How will we know?”

  Sebastian stared at the man wearing Argyle socks in the tropics. God, if there was a vampire of fun, Bill would be it. Did the guy have to be so literal? Theo frowned and shook his head, as well. At least Theo got it. The two men exchanged a what’s-with-this-dude look. He guessed it just went to prove you didn’t choose family.

  “Well, nobody’s taking an oath to tell the truth, so the only way we’ll know if you’re lying is if we just call you on it,” Marco explained.

  “Fine.” Bill shook his head in disgust.