Chapter One
“I’d rather get a cavity filled without novocaine rather than go on another date with the losers on this dating site,” Gigi said, throwing her phone down on the couch in disgust.
“Oh, honey. They can’t be that bad,” Skyler, her neighbor, said, snatching her phone and scrolling through the recent matches.
“They are. And if you disagree, your standards are seriously compromised.” Gigi stood and moved over to her French doors to stare out at the churning sea. It had been nine months since she’d divorced her abusive husband and moved into the lovely seaside home in Premonition Pointe. If it weren’t for Skyler and the rest of her friends pressuring her to get back out into the dating scene, she’d have happily kept to herself, making her potions and spending quality time with her friends when they weren’t too busy with their partners. Since she relished her freedom these days, she never felt like a third wheel… especially when Sebastian was around.
Gigi shook her head. If she were honest with herself, Sebastian was the main reason she’d agreed to let Skyler put her profile on Exclusive, the over-forty dating site for professionals. It was meant to match people who had similar lifestyles. Gigi found it pretentious, not to mention elitist, but Skyler had a point when he said the last thing that she needed was a gold digger hanging around. Gigi hated to admit it, but far too often when her dates realized she had money from a family trust, everything became about her bank balance and not anything else she had to offer.
Her ex had fit that description to a T, and now that she had distance from him, she could see the warning signs had always been there. It was better to date someone who already had his life in order and wouldn’t only see her as his meal ticket.
It was too bad every single guy who’d messaged her on the app had been a pompous ass who led with his bank account balance instead of something interesting like what books he liked to read or his favorite hobbies besides the stock market.
“Wow,” Skyler said, his eyes popping wide. “This one has a giant c—”
“Don’t say it,” Gigi said with a groan, clasping her fingers over her eyes. She’d forgotten about the one who’d sent her unsolicited dick pics. “I’m never going to get that image out of my mind.”
“Why would you want to?” Skyler asked with a snicker, swiping to look at the next message. “This guy is hot. The one with the private plane.”
“So is his wife,” Gigi said dryly.
“He’s already married?” Skyler asked with a gasp. “Does his wife know?”
“Yes.” It had been quite a shock when his wife started messaging Gigi, too. Apparently, the couple liked to mix it up with multiple partners. And while Gigi didn’t have any judgments about that, it wasn’t for her. “I’m not much for sharing.”
“Me neither,” Skyler said, scrolling some more. “Damn. You weren’t kidding.” He tossed the phone down on the cushion and gave her a pitying glance. “And I thought the gay hookup sites were bad.”
“When was the last time you were on a gay hookup site?” Gigi asked, raising one eyebrow. “Please don’t tell me you and Pete have some sort of arrangement. If you do, I’m going to be convinced that romance is dead.”
Skyler tossed his head back and laughed. “No, darling. Pete and I are monogamous. I think the last time I looked at one of those hookup sites was when we were helping Pete’s co-worker make an appealing profile. You know, one that says hot, available, and interesting, but not desperate.”
“Of course.” Gigi’s lips twitched into a small smile. “Did it work better than mine? Does this friend of yours have decent prospects? Or are they all rich douchecanoes like the ones that keep contacting me?”
“I don’t know about rich, but there were plenty of douchecanoes. There always are. If you want to meet someone, there’s always going to be sewage to wade through,” he said, moving to stand next to her by the French doors and patting her arm.
“Nope.” Gigi shook her head. “I’m swearing off dating. I’ve seen one too many penises this week. The worst was the one that had a hundred-dollar bill wrapped around it.” She shuddered and made a face. “Talk about a narcissist.”
“You know, I’m embarrassed to admit that at one time in my life, I’d have been turned on by that,” Skyler said with a chuckle.
“That’s TMI, Sky. TMI.”
“Sorry!” He threw his hands up, flushing pink but grinning, letting her know he wasn’t too mortified by what he’d said. “I sometimes forget you’re not quite as open as my other friends.”
“I’m open,” she said, biting her bottom lip, feeling a little embarrassed herself. “I swear I’m not a prude, despite my preferences for leaving the dick pics to the bedroom and politely declining threesomes.”
“Of course you are.” He nodded, looking serious for once. Skyler had a penchant for humor and teasing. It was rare when he wasn’t making a joke. “I just meant that some of my friends have zero filter. I didn’t mean to imply you were uptight.”
“It’s fine,” she said with a sigh. “It’s just disheartening to get a look at the options out there.”
Skyler tilted his head, making his stylish blond hair fall over one green eye. “Tell me again why you don’t just go out with Sebastian? That guy is smokin’ hot. How can you resist those smoldering gray eyes or his thick dark hair? Not to mention that chiseled jaw. And you do realize I’d kill to have those lips of his, right?” He touched his long fingers to his mouth and said, “Maybe I should make an appointment at the spa and see about some lip fillers.”
“Stop.” Gigi rolled her eyes. “You have no need for lip fillers. Besides, I’m fairly certain that Pete would not be on board with any cosmetic enhancements.”
Sighing, Skyler nodded his agreement. “You’re right. He’s all about growing old naturally or whatever. Mr. All Natural would throw a fit if I modified anything.” He smirked as he added, “But I bet he wouldn’t be complaining when I wrapped my new and improved lips around—”
“Stop!” Gigi held her hand up, laughing at her friend. She knew he’d only added that last bit to tease her after their earlier conversation.
“I was going to say popsicle,” he said innocently, batting his long eyelashes at her.
“Sure you were.”
They both laughed, and then Skyler glanced at the stairs. “Ready to face the past?”
Gigi’s smile slipped from her face as she followed his gaze. She’d actually invited him over to go through a sizable portion of her wardrobe. She had a lot of designer clothes leftover from when she’d been married to James. He was the type of man who’d wanted his wife to look a certain way and dress to impress his country club crowd. It meant she’d shopped at all the high-end retailers and collected a number of expensive, well-made articles of clothing. Most of them were gorgeous, but they weren’t anything she planned to wear again. They held too many memories she’d just as soon forget. Also, she was a beach girl now. Her current wardrobe consisted of peasant blouses, cotton skirts, and leggings with oversized shirts.