Hot Mistake

She-shed? Felicia mouthed then rolled her eyes.

“The groomsmen aren’t even here,” Gabriela pointed out. They were currently having their own stag party on Deck Ten, which was just fine by Gabriela. Handling the G Squad was enough trouble—and broken glasses.

“All the more reason to figure out who has dibs.” Felicia took a breath. “Not that you’d care about men.”

Gabriela’s phone dinged, more notifications from her Spark dating app. Sure, I don’t care about men. She almost wanted to laugh. How little you really know me.

“I want Marco’s younger brother,” Felicia declared.

Lola was so deep into Veronica’s slideshow about her she-shed that she was no longer paying attention. Ugh. Gabriela hated it when Lola wasn’t in the mix. Lola always calmed the Tyler sisters down in ways Gabriela never could.

“No way. I want him.” Liv’s lips curved down into a pout. Gabriela just stared at the two sisters, amazed. While she’d only had brothers, she couldn’t imagine why on earth two sisters would be plotting how to best divvy up the single guys on a cruise ship. Besides, how could they be thinking about hookups during Lola’s big wedding weekend? Then again, she knew the answer: the Tyler sisters thought about hookups all the time, so why would this weekend be any different? She was saddened yet not at all surprised that they’d grown so little since high school.

“What about Bill?” Felicia offered.

Gabriela still couldn’t believe they were talking about men like trading cards. This was what she didn’t miss about Miami.

“Bill is...okay,” Liv said.

“Bill is married,” Gabriela pointed out, not that it seemed to faze either Liv or Felicia. Gabriela felt like she’d dropped into the Harlot Twilight Zone.

“I’d rather have James,” Liv said, ignoring Gabriela altogether as she pushed the tray filled with empty shot glasses and signaled the bartender for another refill on her now-empty margarita.

“Or maybe we shouldn’t be planning hookups at all,” Gabriela offered, already feeling like she needed another shot of tequila to make it through the night.

“Says the woman who is allergic to fun.” Felicia rolled her eyes. “We all know you’re never hooking up with anyone, Gobstopper.” Gabriela cringed at the sound of her awful nickname from high school. She never knew how she had become Gobstopper, but the name had stuck. She hated it.

“You never do anything fun.”

Not true. Not that you need to know that.

“Come on, girls, let’s get along,” Lola pleaded just as the bartender brought a fresh round of margaritas and a new glass of malbec for Gabriela. Both Liv and Felicia instantly stopped. Gabriela inwardly sighed. She’d talked to Lola about them before, but Lola was loyal to a fault, and she had a habit of adopting strays. Once you were in her inner circle, she’d never kick you out. Her fierce loyalty inspired others, as well. Even though Gabriela didn’t like Felicia or Liv, she knew both women would take a bullet for Lola if asked. So be nice, Gabriela told herself. Don’t start anything. Don’t stoop to their level. Just let it go.

“Yeah, stop picking on her,” Veronica said, and Gabriela was happy for the defense. “We all know the lamest person here is me. I haven’t stayed up past ten o’clock in two years.”

“You have two kids under the age of four!” Lola cried.

“Exactly,” Veronica said. “And I’m literally nearly drunk from half a margarita and one shot.” She hiccupped as if for effect. Veronica stared at her new margarita. “Seriously, someone else should drink this or I will be asleep in, like, ten minutes.”

Felicia happily took it, double-fisting her drink. Gabriela frowned. Not a good idea. “Well, you know, ” Felicia added, a wicked smile crossing her face. “If I must, I’ll take Sebastian.”

Gabriela choked on her wine at the mention of Marco’s best friend and the infamous best man. Sebastian Lott was not a name she’d thought about in a long time. He’d been the hottest guy in high school, the one everybody’d had a crush on at some time or another, and also the man who’d left the most broken hearts in his wake. Sensitive, he wasn’t.

“No!” Gabriela said, gagging on her drink. “Are you insane?”

“Yeah, girl, don’t you remember summer after high school?” Liv looked as taken aback as Gabriela felt. She thought everybody knew the rules about Sebastian Lott. The man was toxic, pure and simple.

“Well, yes, I remember summer after high school. The man knew his way around a body, is all I’m saying, and that was then. What if he’s picked up new tricks since?” Felicia’s eyes glazed over at the thought as she greedily sipped at one of her margaritas.

“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.