Reunited on Wedding Island
~ Chapter 1 ~
Haven Hapsgood was sure that La Isla Marina was everything her acquaintance and client,
Instagram superstar and model Valentina, had promised—from the glorious azure sea surrounding the tiny island, to the luxurious guest bungalows and Moroccan-styled main building. But, to be honest, Haven knew she wouldn’t be able to relax and take in her surroundings until after she’d finished the job she’d flown all the way from Los Angeles to do.
Valentina might be all loved up and relaxed, ready to marry her soul mate later that afternoon. In fact, she was probably getting ready to walk down that perfect sandy aisle between be-ribboned chairs and celebrity guests right now. But Haven still had some work to do to make sure that the destination wedding of the year wasn’t interrupted by a dozen or so bored, screaming kids.
Valentina might be almost a friend, or at least close to becoming one, but Haven was there to work. Not to be seen, not to get her photo on some celebrity’s Instagram feed, but to work.
This was more than a job. This was her entire potential career on the line—the biggest job since she set up Under the Sea Entertainment. Her company, her dreams, her ambition. Her chance to show that fame wasn’t everything, that she was more than Heather and Richard Hapsgood’s talentless youngest child. Her chance to just be Haven, without all the family baggage that went with the Hapsgood name.
And if it all went up in flames because of one little boy with a mermaid phobia, Haven was never going to live it down.
“Todd never said anything about there being mermaids for the children’s entertainment.” The boy’s mother—obviously from the groom’s side of the wedding—sneered down at Haven. “Our little Bentley isn’t really interested in make-believe, are you, Bentley, darling?”
From the way the unfortunately named Bentley was hiding behind his mother’s legs, clinging to her silk skirt even as she repeatedly pushed his hands away from the expensive material, Haven suspected this was something more than just “not being interested.” Besides, what kid didn’t like make-believe? Surely pretending you could be anyone or anything, anywhere, doing whatever you wanted and without worrying what anyone else might say about it, was the whole point of being a kid?
“We have plenty of different sorts of entertainment prepared for the children,” Haven said, as brightly as she could in the face of the woman’s general patronising attitude. Behind her, she could already hear the other kids starting to get restless. She knew from past experience that once the kids started to lose it, it was hell to try to get them all back on track. Time to sort this out. “If Bentley would like to come with me—”
But as Haven reached out to try to take Bentley’s hand, the little boy took one look at the sparkly, sequinned mermaid tail of her costume and flung himself backwards, tottering dangerously close to the rocky drop down to the beach below.
“Bentley!” his mother screeched. Which was when he lost his balance and toppled over completely…