A snort drew my attention to the girl topping the stairs. I instantly recognized her from the reception. It was hard to miss jet-black hair with blue tips—styled so they piled on top of her head and spilled over one side. She bumped into a server, nearly putting him on his backside, and hadn’t bothered to stop or acknowledge his presence.
“Of course we know who you are,” she said. “I’ve never seen anyone make a bigger ass of themselves in public. And that includes Lukas and his kink for streaking across campus.”
“I was drunk and it was a bet,” a masculine voice sounded behind her.
I slid past Zion, erasing the distance between us. “I’m afraid I don’t have the pleasure of knowing your name.”
“Ivy Thompson.”
“Well, Ivy, if speaking my mind is making an ass of myself, get ready to see just how shameless I am.”
She rolled her eyes. “Can’t stand girls like you.”
“You don’t know me. Let alone the girls I’m like.”
“Oh, please. You think you’re the first self-righteous, condescending know-it-all to bang on about us being controlled and treated like property. Did you ever think for a minute that we’re here because we want to be?”
“Want to be? You want to get engaged at nineteen?”
“Unlike some...” She raked me up and down. “My parents love me. They’d never cut me off or abandon me for marrying someone they didn’t like.”
My jaw clenched. That strike hit its target dead center.
“What about this summer is different from online dating, dating shows, The Bachelor, or the rest? People with the same interests are matched up and given a chance to find that spark. My parents want that for me, and if it doesn’t work out, no one is forcing anyone to get married.”
Speak for yourself.
“There’s no harm in spending the summer being wined and dined by a dozen or so hot guys. So, ease up, Adler. We don’t need you to save us.”
Ivy rammed my shoulder, shoving past. I moved quick, sticking my leg out and hooking her ankle. She dropped with a scream, hitting the floor before Zion could catch her. The furious look she flashed me would’ve turned a lesser woman to stone.
“Don’t touch me, Thompson,” I said mildly. “Never do that. But I thank you for sharing your point of view. If everyone just sees this as a summer of dating and hooking up, it makes things much easier for me.”
“What’s the holdup?” Hendrix called into the bus. “Is everything all right?”
“Fine.” I stepped over Ivy, hooking my arm through a gaping Zion. “Most of you are from the academy, right?”
“Uhh. Pretty much all of us,” he said slowly.
“Good. Then you can tell me everything the information packet left out. Who is just looking for fun and who’s out here for a wife?” I plopped us both down on a row in the back, ignoring the glares from Ivy and the two girls who helped her up. “Ready when you are.”
“What do you plan to do to us, Adler?”
I chuckled. “Don’t worry. Most of you are safe.”
I don’t think Zion found that particularly reassuring, but he launched into it anyway. Grabbing my folder, he pulled out the list of names we received and began at the top of the list.
“Preston Desai.”
My legs crossed just thinking of the night he made me his jungle gym.
“Among those honestly looking for marriage, he’s the top prize,” Zion began. “His father’s family, the Du Ponts, is an old wealthy family stretching back to France. They’ve made their name in the art world, amassing the largest private collection of famous artwork and antiquities, and then Preston’s grandfather branched out, buying up galleries and building studios to teach the next generation.
“The Du Ponts married into the Desais’ second-largest commercial real estate company in the country, popped out Preston, and bam, you have the richest guy here,” he said. “Everyone wants him, but the only one who is going to get him is—”
“Delilah Winthrop.”
“Yeah. How did you know?”
I fixed my gaze out of the window, feeling the rattle and hum as we set off for the cove. “We’ve met.”
“Do you know about Carter Knight and Nathan Prince too?”
I know plenty about them, but not why they’re here.
“Enlighten me.”
Sighing, Zion leaned back in his seat. “Nathan’s a cool guy, but he got everything the hard way. He lost his dad in a sailing accident when he was ten and then his grandmother a few years later to cancer. Both left him sizable inheritances that will