Hand on his heart, he said, “My mother is the best woman in the world.”

Trina roared with laughter. “Boundaries are set. Okay . . .”

Chapter Seven

The sound of fists hitting the door met the pounding in Trina’s brain. She cracked one eye open and protested the sunlight blaring through the hotel window.

Shots . . . they had ended the night drinking shots.

Trina never drank shots.

Her eyes drifted closed again.

“. . . is she in here?”

What was Avery doing in her hotel room?

The door opening didn’t wake her up, but the voices that followed did.

“What the hell, Trina?”

With a hand to her forehead, Trina faced the glare of the light to find the very women she was trying to avoid standing over her.

“What are you—?”

Behind Lori, Shannon, and Avery, Wade leaned against the doorframe. “We had a bit to drink last night.” Wade wore a hotel-issue bathrobe and a smile.

Lori moved to the bed and Avery turned on Wade. “You had better not have—”

“Whoa, feisty lady. Hold your fire.”

“Back down,” Trina said, a little loud. She winced at the sound of her heartbeat behind her eyeballs. “Oh, God.”

“I know that look.” Wade’s voice was closer than the buzz of women in the room.

An arm wrapped around her shoulders at the same time her stomach reminded her why she never drank shots.

In the space of five seconds, the covers on the bed were thrown off and she felt her body lifting and a flat chest pushing against her cheek.

She held back a burp that promised to be so much more until her knees felt the cold tile floor of the bathroom.

Then she lost it.

“I’m getting ice,” someone behind her said.

Her body protested the evening before while someone held her hair back.

“It’s okay, little lady. Give it all up. You’ll feel better.”

Wade. God, how embarrassing.

If her head wasn’t pounding so much, she might actually encourage him to leave the bathroom.

But she was pretty sure he was the one keeping her from falling face-first into the toilet. She peeked out of the corner of her eye.

Yup, it was Wade.

She groaned.

“I advised you against that last round,” he reminded her.

A smirk found its way on her lips.

From her other side, someone produced a cold washcloth.

“Thank you.”

“No worries,” Lori said.

Trina swiveled her head, slowly. Her stomach was finally empty. “What are you guys doing here?”

She started to stand to find Wade helping her up.

“If you won’t come to us, we will come to you,” Avery said.

Shannon walked into the bathroom with a bucket of ice, which sounded like a really good idea on the back of her neck.

“Do you want to go back to bed?” Wade asked.

Trina finally looked him straight in the eye. “I think I need to brush my teeth.”

Avery pushed past him and dislodged his hand from Trina’s arm. “We got this, Cowboy.”

Wade put both hands in the air and stepped back. “I’ll just take a shower and let you all work this out.”

Lori regarded him without emotion and Shannon offered a polite smile.

“You do that,” Avery snapped.

Trina smacked at Avery’s hand. “Stop it.” She turned to Wade. “Thank you.”

He winked before zigzagging through the women and out of the room.

They fell in like hungry wolves on fresh meat.

“What is going on with him?” Avery asked.

“Are you okay?” asked Shannon.

“We needed to make sure you were all right,” Lori added.

Trina took an ice cube and placed it directly behind her neck. “Outside of a hangover, I’m fine.”

“You ditched us.”

Trina looked at Avery. “I know. I just couldn’t deal.”

“That’s what we thought,” Shannon said. “But disappearing only results in others worrying.”

“I’m sorry for that. I don’t want anyone to worry.”

“You could have just told us,” Lori said.

“You would have come running either way.” Trina was sure of that. When no one protested, she knew she was right.

Shannon moved to the shower and turned it on. “Let’s get you cleaned up. Order something mild for breakfast.”

That sounded good.

Avery started for the door.

“Don’t give Wade a hard time. He hasn’t so much as touched me.”

Three sets of doubtful eyes met hers.

“Not that he hasn’t suggested it. But he’s been nothing but respectful, regardless of my late night indulgence.”

“He better not have.”

“Avery!” Trina gave a warning.

Her feisty blonde friend left the bathroom and the others followed.

Alone, Trina stepped to the mirror and dared a look.

Green was not her color.

There had been many times in Wade’s life when he had been in a hotel room surrounded by beautiful women, but never, not even once, could he recall a time when three women stared him down with such doubt against his moral character as this pack of females. It was as if three lovers all got to talking and figured out he was seeing each of them.

Wade was smarter than that. He never dated three women at the same time. When he was in between girlfriends, when he was free to date as many or as few women as he liked, he did so in different states. Making a situation like the one he was in right now next to impossible.

It seemed his quiet little weekend without a crowd had come to a close, and he was the cog in the wheel of an all-girl party.

With a smile, he greeted the women as he moved to the room service cart to pour a cup of coffee. “Ladies.”

“So you’re Wade Thomas,” the woman with a chip on her shoulder the size of Texas said.

“I am. And you would be?”

“I’m Avery.” She pointed to the tall, thin, dark haired, model looking woman. “That’s Shannon.”

“I’m Lori,” said the slightly less hostile blonde. “Trina’s lawyer.”

Wade’s eyebrow went up with that. What an interesting introduction. “Funny, I thought you were all just her friends.”

“We are. Just making sure the introductions are thorough.”

Lawyers. He had yet to find one he truly liked.

He took his first swig of coffee, happy to have the caffeine on board.

“How did you two meet?”

He could see the end of this conversation before it began. “In a bar in Miami, and before we begin twenty questions, let me sum this up. Yes, I hit on her. She is stunning and was oddly sad, and I had a desire to make her smile. But instead of taking me up on my offer, we drank and talked until the early morning hours. We ended up here, where there has been more talkin’ and drinkin’, but no foolin’ around.” He looked directly at Trina’s attorney. “My mama taught me never to mess with a girl who has had too much to drink or I might end up needing someone in your profession.” He sipped his coffee. “Anything else you wanna know, you’re gonna have to ask your friend.”

He took a piece of toast from the table and ate half in one bite.

Once he washed it down, he headed for the door. “Tell Miss Trina I’m going out to retrieve her broken phone. I’m sure I’m leaving her in capable hands.”

Once he escaped the henhouse, he felt the weight of the women inside lift. It was good for his ego, he decided . . . to have so many women not falling at his feet. It had been a good long while since that had happened. If ever.

The sun outside was a bright contrast to the day and evening before. The storm had blown through and left fresh, albeit humid, air behind. He hid his features with dark sunglasses as he walked down the still, quiet streets.

Some debris left over from the storm littered the sidewalks, and sand made tiny drifts along the buildings. He managed a glimpse of the sea as he ducked around until he found the phone store.

The clerk recognized him when he entered.

They greeted and shook hands. “Where is your friend?” he asked.

“We had a little bit too much fun last night at the place on the corner.” He pointed in the general direction of the bar they’d closed the night before.

“Those tropical surprises have a kick.”

“Sure do.”

He produced the phone and turned it on. “I did a direct transfer overnight. It looks like everything is there, but if it isn’t, just have Ms. Petrov download it from the cloud.”

“I’ll do that.”

Wade placed the phone, and her old one, back into the bag. “What do I owe you?”

“She already paid.”

Oh, yeah . . . he’d forgotten. “I guess that’s all, then.”

The clerk stopped him before leaving. “One more thing.”

Wade smiled, expecting some kind of comment on his music or recognition.

“There was a hiccup during the download.”

“Oh?”

“Some kind of tracking app kept kicking an error message.”

“Okay.”

“It was strange,” he went on. “The icon wasn’t something I’d ever seen before, and it kept flashing, but so fast it would have easily been missed.”