Filed to story: Once Upon a One Night Mistake Book PDF Free by Simone Shirazi
Sebastian made a disgusted sound and rolled his eyes, electing to stay silent after a few people in the area glanced at them. As far as pretending to be a couple went, they were failing miserably, and Taliana was really starting to doubt their ability to pull this off.
They both took a good ten minutes to ignore each other after that, and with each one that passed, Taliana felt herself getting sicker and sicker. By the time Sebastian glanced back in her direction after having a brief conversation with a few other kids she recognized from Trinity, Taliana was trying hard not to throw up all over his expensive shoes.
“You’re looking a little green, Stick Girl,” he murmured, giving her a once over.
She felt more than just a little green.
“I’m fine,” she choked out, swallowing back bile. “Really.”
“If you vomit on me, I will throw you overboard.” Given the disgust written all over his face, Taliana had no doubts that he would actually do it.
“You try that, and I’m taking you with me.” A sudden wave of nausea passed over her like a strong breeze, making her clutch her stomach in concern. “Excuse me for a second.”
Pushing away from the bar, she moved as quickly as her high heel clad feet would allow to get to the side of the boat, where she promptly lost her lunch. Luckily, she’d managed to procure a spot on the deck where she was relatively hidden from sight, meaning she wouldn’t have to suffer the humiliation of puking in front of a crowd. She didn’t think anyone really wanted to see the remains of her last meal anyway.
She wasn’t sure how long she’d been hanging over the railing before someone’s cool fingers pulled her hair back, out of the line of fire.
“Maybe you should have skipped lunch,” Sebastian teased, his chest reverberating with laughter.
Of course, he was getting a kick out of this. The asshole. But before Taliana could tell him off for it, she puked again, preventing any words from coming out. She did, however, manage to give him a stiff middle finger.
Eventually, she pulled back and turned her head to glare at him. “Why did this party have to be on a b-
Ugh, not again!”
Taliana clutched the railing to keep from going overboard as she heaved one more time. Sebastian cringed away but managed to hold her hair back until she was finished.
“That it?”
She nodded hesitantly and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand before straightening up again. “It better be,” she grumbled as he let her hair fall back to her shoulders.
He reached into his pocket a moment later, producing a pill wrapped in a tissue. “Here. I nabbed one of those motion sickness tablets off a waiter.”
It was an incredibly kind gesture, but she wasn’t about to give him too many kudos for it. Still, she thanked him and downed it with the glass of champagne he handed her. “When do you think we’re going to get back to land?”
“It’ll probably be a couple hours at the earliest,” he answered with a grimace.
Wasn’t that her luck. Taliana groaned, putting a hand back to her tender stomach. “Is there somewhere I can lie down? Hopefully this pill will kick in soon, but I know they make me tired as hell.”
Sebastian nodded. “Oakley has a couple suites below deck; I’m sure he’ll be all right with you hanging out there.”
By that point, Taliana couldn’t have cared less whether it was okay with the host or not. “Just show me the way.”
He rolled his eyes but led her to a door a little farther down the deck, ushering her into a brightly lit dining area with an impressive oak table and decadent place settings for twenty people. Another bar was off to the left a little way down in the almost endless room, and on the opposite side was a lounge with several couches and chairs.
“Jeez, you could live here if you wanted to,” Taliana noted.
“Oakley would never dream of it,” Sebastian scoffed. “That’s what his family’s seven houses around the globe are for.”
Taliana barely had enough time to admire the lavish features before Sebastian began nudging her in the direction of a spiral staircase that separated the two parts of the room. The marble stairs dumped us into a wood paneled hallway with two doors on either side, and Sebastian pushed open the nearest one.
Stepping into the bedroom was like Taliana had died and gone to heaven. Everything was big, white, and plush, like they were on a cloud instead of some rich guy’s yacht. However, a sudden surge in her stomach forced her back to reality.
Sebastian grabbed a trash can from the corner of the room and placed it by the bed, where Taliana had just collapsed in exhaustion.
“Use this if your stomach decides to empty itself again,” he instructed, moving back toward the door. “I’m going back up to the party.”
By then, her head had already hit the pillow and his words were merely background noise. “Fine. Whatever. Go.”
“Don’t throw up on anything,” he warned one last time before stepping out the door and letting it close behind him.
Once he left, Taliana closed her eyes and curled up, hoping she could just sleep until she felt better. She must’ve managed that at some point, because by the time she opened her eyes again, the sky outside the tiny port window was dark and the clock on the bedside table proclaimed it was half past ten. It took her a moment to figure out what had brought her out of her slumber, but the sound of footsteps crossing the room made her relax again. Thinking Sebastian had come back, she let her eyes close once more as she snuggled back into the blankets.
“Why aren’t you upstairs?” she mumbled into the pillow. “I’m sure the party’s a lot more interesting than me.”
The footsteps stopped when he reached the edge of the bed, but when a tender hand brushed her cheek, she knew instantly it wasn’t Sebastian by her side. Taliana’s eyes snapped open a split second later, only to find the last person she expected to run into tonight staring down at her.
She’d almost forgotten there was a possibility Zak would be here. She’d been more worried about running into Blair, completely disregarding her own ex for the time being. It was a stupid thing to do, really, seeing as Zak had connections himself being the nephew of a senator, the son of one of the world’s biggest music producers, and cousin to one of my fake boyfriend’s closest friends.
“What the hell are you doing?” Taliana questioned groggily, glaring up at Zak as she struggled into a sitting position.
A faint smile played around his mouth as he let his hand drift down from her cheek to her neck, leaving a trail of warmth in its wake. His touch fell away from her skin when she managed to scoot away and put a decent amount of distance between them.
“Seriously, what are you doing, Zak?” she asked again, trying hard to blink away the fog of sleep. “Better yet, why are you even down here?”
“I know why? you’re down here,” he said. “Seasick, aren’t you?”
Taliana frowned and crossed her arms, hating how well he knew her. “Unfortunately.”
A true smile finally spread across his face, and Taliana’s heart sped up at the sight of it. She was disgusted with herself, but it was that smile that had initially attracted her to him. Apparently, it still worked.
“You’ve never done well on the water,” he chuckled, taking a seat on the edge of the bed. His black pants and dress shirt contrasted starkly against the white duvet, but his deep brown eyes were what caught her attention. “Remember that time I took you out on my father’s yacht for New Year’s Eve? You barely had a sip of your champagne before you were leaning over the railing.” His eyes glinted with mirth and something a little darker. “Do you remember that night?”
She did. That New Year’s Eve, she’d spent the majority of the night puking her guts out in the Pacific. Zak had laughed at her the whole time but took them back to the harbor so she wouldn’t have to suffer anymore.
After five minutes of being back on land and a couple swigs of vodka to wash her mouth out, the nausea had cleared and Taliana was back in good spirits, but she had a feeling that had something to do with the fact that his warm hands were on her waist and his mouth was pressed against hers.