Page 65 of Belle Amour
“She's not with you guys?” Bastian frowned, a flicker of worry igniting in his stomach.
“Nope.” Lila shook her head. “She wasn't here when we got back from the Arcade, so we left and went to a few of the smaller shops we noticed when we did the scavenger hunt.”
“Really?” Bastian tensed up, the flicker turning to a small flame in his gut. She never told him she was leaving the hotel. He pulled out his phone and checked it. She hadn't responded to his last text to her either. “Have you heard from her?”
“No, but she usually texts Eleanor.”
Bastian looked at Benji. “I’m sorry, I need to -” He stood up and looked for a waitress.
“Go on, go check on her.” Bastian glanced at Benji, seeing his concerned look. “I got this, " he reassured him. “Go find her. Let us know if you can’t.”
“Thanks, Benji.”
Chapter Forty-Three: Safe and Sound
Bastian quickly returned to the hotel room and opened the door to see Mirabelle sitting on the bed, wrapped in the blanket. His panic faded almost instantly, and he smiled in relief at her. “Hey,” He walked in, shutting and locking the door behind him. “Where did you go?”
“The beach.” She smiled back and held up her phone. “I left my phone here, sorry.”
“No worries, Love. I thought you went with Eleanor; they just got back, and you weren't with them or here, and I panicked a little.” He walked over and sat on the bed next to her, wrapping her in a hug and rubbing her back. “Why did you go to the beach?”
“Between Jillian approaching me at the pool and Zeke ambushing me in the parking lot, I just needed to be somewhere I wouldn't see anyone who knew me.” She explained, leaning her head on his shoulder.
“Zeke ambushed you?” Bastian's arms tightened on her momentarily, and he pulled back a little to look at her. “What did he want?”
“To tell me I needed to stop telling my side of the story.” She yawned and cuddled back into him. “I know you havereservations at the restaurant, but can we stay here, please? Maybe order a pizza and watch a trashy movie?”
“Of course, Bunny, whatever you want.” He could see how tired she was and was more than okay with spending an evening in bed with her watching bad movies. “Hang on.” He texted Benji and offered him the reservation at the restaurant, explaining that Mira wasn't up to it. Benji responded yes almost immediately, thanking him for it.
No problem, you deserve it. The reservation is under Avery.
Bastian smiled at Mirabelle. “All right, let's get you into a hot bath because I'm willing to bet good money you spent three hours sitting on a windy beach in September without a jacket. I'll order us a pizza and find a movie, and we'll be good to go when you're done with your bath.” He leaned in and kissed her forehead. “And I fill you in on what Benji found.”
“Sounds good, Bast.” She smiled up at him, looking absolutely exhausted. “Did you have a good time?”
“My afternoon was a thousand times better than yours was, by the sounds of things. I enjoy Robert and Peter's company, but I might have my first man crush on Benji.” He dug in the bags from White Lotus Farms and found a bath bomb with vanilla and lavender infusions for her.
“It's the accent, isn't it?” Mirabelle teased him, grinning at him. “That’s what does it for me.”
“That might be part of it.” He chuckled and held his hand out to her, helping her up and leading her to the bathroom. “I kinda want to see if he'd consider being put on retainer for our law firm. The man has some incredible computer skills. Definitely bringing him in to do our computer security.” He turned on the tap, adjusted the water temperature in the soakertub to what he knew she liked, and threw in the bath bomb. “Take your time, Bunny; I'll let you know when the pizza arrives.” He left her in the bathroom to do her thing and ordered the pizza and some wings. While waiting for the delivery to arrive, he cleaned up the room and packed their things for the move to the Stone Chalet the next morning.
Mirabelle came out of the bathroom just as the delivery boy knocked on their door. Bastian brought pizza over to the bed and flicked through the channels while she put on some comfy clothes. Finding a rerun of their favourite movie, he turned it on and waited for her to join him.
She crawled onto the bed with him and grinned when he handed her a slice of pizza. “What happened to your no food in the bed rule?”
“It's our last night here.” He shrugged. “Just keep your crumbs on your side.”
“My crumbs?” She raised her eyebrow, looking mildly insulted that he thought she would get crumbs in the bed and immediately dropped a piece of sausage off her pizza. “Okay, fair.” She picked it up quickly and ate it. “Tell me what Benji found out.”
Bastian gave her a rundown on what Benji had told him. When he finished, she sat back against the pillows and sighed. “We gotta bring her down, Bast.”
“Yeah, I figured you'd say that. Benji is adding all the information to the virus package.” Bastian took a couple of bites of his pizza. “Do we know where we’re sitting?”
“She checked the time on her phone. “Let me make a phone call.” Bastian watched as she brought up Francesca’s contact and pressed call.
“Hello, Dear.”Francesca sounded extremely happy to hear from her, which made Mirabelle smile. Bastian leaned back and closed his eyes, listening to the call.
“How did the rehearsals go?”