Free Still a Bad Boy: A New Adult Romantic Suspense by Ada Scott

concrete blocks that belonged to my noisy upstairs neighbor.
    The driver, definitely a different one than the one who’d picked me up previously, looked up from something on his phone and quickly put it away.
    “Ms.  Brooks?” he asked.
    “Yes?” My disbelief drew the word out to an absurd length.
    “Good morning, Ma’am! I’m Thomas, I’ll be your driver today.” He opened the rear door and gestured inside with a gloved hand and a smile.
    I stepped towards him as if he might squirt me in the face with water from a fake flower in his breast pocket at any moment.  This had to be a trick.
    “Good morning,” I replied on auto-pilot, stooping down to look inside the luxury car.
    Inside was like Jace’s office in vehicle form.  It oozed class and anybody could tell that no expense had been spared in even the most minor of details.  I briefly owned a car back in Woodville before I sold it to help fund my move to Port Magnus, and it was probably worth less than one of the armrests in here.
    There was a bottle of Champagne sitting in a bucket of ice, but no Jace sitting in any of the seats.  I stood up straight again.
    “Where’s Jace?” I asked.
    “Right now your guess is as good as mine, Ma’am.  That’s above my paygrade.  All I know is that I’ve been instructed to pick up a VIP, take them to the AquaVell Spa, be at their service for the rest of the day when they’re finished there and to take them downtown at seven sharp.”
    “Oh.  That’s like ten hours from now.  What am I supposed to do all day?”
    “There’s plenty to do at AquaVell, I’m told, so that will eat up a big portion of time, I’m sure.  I’ve heard people say they could spend a lifetime there.  Other than that, your wish is my command and you’ll have to use your imagination, I suppose.” Thomas’ professional smile was unwavering.
    “I… see.”
    I’d been up late the last few nights, working hard to make sure that the next time I saw Jace I was prepared to get the story I so desperately needed, and at the top of my game.  This was throwing me off what little game I had.  I felt like a sprinter poised at the starting line, only instead of hearing the starting gun, I was hearing that I was going to a health spa and being driven around in a limo with a bottle of Champagne for ten hours.
    Unlike the hypothetical sprinter, I didn’t have any athletics commission to appeal to for unfairness.  If I wanted to be in this race, I had to play by the ever-changing rules of the host nation.
    Plus, at the end of the day, there were worse ways to spend ten hours.  I stepped inside the lap of luxury and Thomas closed the door behind me.
    We drove to the edge of town smoothly, the only hiccup being when the cork from the Champagne smashed one of the lights and spilled on the floor.  Thomas consoled me through the intercom and said it happened all the time.  I didn’t believe him, but I did down that first glass faster than I normally would have and felt a bit better.
    I was only a sip into my second glass when we arrived at AquaVell.  I remembered reading an article about it once, but there hadn’t been any pictures.  Even if there had, I didn’t think pictures would have done it justice.
    Set well back from the road with strategically placed water features, trees and other greenery, it was easy to forget just how close to the city we were.  The facility had the outward impression of some southern mansion with a vast swathe of land around it, and I stared out of the window in awe.
    As the limo circled to the front entrance around the most elaborate fountain of them all, avoiding the relatively small parking lot, I saw a red carpet laid out like I was arriving at a movie premier.  Standing there waiting were a man and a woman wearing loose light-colored clothing and smiles bigger and more relaxed than Thomas’.
    Thomas opened the door and I stepped out like Alice through the looking glass.
    “Ms.  Brookes, welcome to