Page 52 of Dr. Stone (Billionaires’ Club #9)

I exhaled in relief. “That makes me feel a bit better, but damn,” I shook my head. “I don’t even know how to explain how that conversation makes me feel, talking about dating Titus, and now here I am, meeting them again while I’m with their son. Honestly, I feel like a piece?—”

“No way in hell am I allowing you to go there,” he interrupted as we walked under a canopy of twinkling lights. “Think of it how Titus put it. You were mine when Hawk swept you off to Costa Rica, correct?”

“I was, I just didn’t know it yet.” I nudged him, loosening up a little more.

“Hawk knew it, or he wouldn’t have defended your honor like that,” Jace said. “Titus might be a great white shark in business, but he’s salt of the earth. His heart’s bigger than his ego, and he doesn’t lie or play games.”

“But I kissed him.” I cringed. “Or rather…he kissed me, and I let him.”

“I know.” His mouth curved into a smirk. “That was right before you became the first woman in history to break things off with him.”

“Wait—how do you know that?”

“Titus is a childhood friend of mine, Gorgeous. That man would never go behind my back. I let him believe you were just like any other woman I’d been with, so he enjoyed the chase and the win.

But once he saw what you really meant to me?

He called and apologized for even thinking he might’ve stolen my girl. ”

“Lord.” I groaned. “I’m just glad it all ended well.”

“Me too,” he said softly. “Hawk’s a good man. I appreciated the call—though I gave him hell for it.”

I laughed. “That charming devil will make some woman very happy one day.”

Jace chuckled. “And I’d pay money to meet the woman who finally spins his head and sets him straight.”

We descended through the split-level garden, lights woven through the olive trees overhead.

The clink of glasses and low hum of laughter grew louder with each step.

I smiled as I spotted our group of friends casually chatting.

Suddenly, the event felt smaller, more intimate.

They sat in a circle like the powerhouses they were, just your average group of friends who could buy empires with their weekend budgets.

The group was tucked into a sunken lounge surrounded by fire bowls and sleek curved couches set below a canopy of eucalyptus. It was apparent they’d sought this out for privacy, not to mingle, but most likely to talk business.

“They all look like fucking titans, kicking back with their drinks, forgetting that they rule the world,” Jace snickered. “Except for John. His ass and mine are just around to save theirs when their workaholism catches up to them,” he grinned.

“There’s the couple of the night,” Mickie said, sitting up and waving over at us. “Finally.”

Avery smiled. “Hey, babe!”

I waved and smiled back at the rich group of powerful men and their stunning wives, each radiating extravagant wealth, yet wearing smiles that said you were welcome to join, so long as you had a damn good sense of humor and a great personality.

“This is one hell of a group,” Jace said, guiding me to sit beside him, directly across from Titus. Titus sat casually, one leg crossed over his knee, arm draped over the sofa, engaged in what was most likely a business conversation with Seb Aster.

“A group that is honored that the man of the hour chose to join,” John Aster said.

“Congratulations, though, big guy. Saving someone’s life in this line of old money codgers definitely puts a notch on your belt,” he chuckled.

“If nothing else, it’s an absolute rarity for Sebastian Aster IV to owe you one . ”

“No shit,” Jace said, plucking two glasses of rosé from the tray a server brought over as soon as we arrived. “I mean, I love what I do, and it doesn’t demand gratitude like this , but at least it gets us all together, right?”

“So, what was more terrifying when you saw them roll the old man in?” Seb said, smirking at Jace after finishing his chat with Jim and Titus.

“Was it the thought of losing him or saving him? Because you know saving him means Margot’s going to pull something like this in your honor.

” His grin stretched wide, lighting up his eyes and the sharp angles of his face, making his features even more commanding.

“Jesus,” Jace looked out at the wave of Italian silk flowing throughout the area like a dream, “that’s a damn hard question to answer.”

“I saw you introducing your lovely lady to your parents,” Avery said, smiling over at us.

“How’d that go?” Jim taunted.

“Well, you know my parents are people of few words,” Jace said, rolling his eyes.

He couldn’t have been more right about that, in my opinion.

“I honestly think they’re more in shock that I’m with someone right now than anything else, but really, it doesn’t fucking matter what they think.

What’s the worst they can do? Stop inviting me to these ridiculous parties? ”

The group laughed, and then I felt Jace stiffen when the man I remembered being introduced to in Costa Rica approached the area. I spotted him before I heard him, seeing the glint of a watch that probably cost more than a sports car, and dark hair swept just enough to look effortless.

Dorian Stone.

Jace’s younger brother walked like a man who believed the air moved for him. Each stride was smooth confidence wrapped in polished charm. His walk reminded me of Jace’s, but where Jace carried an air of authority, Dorian had a harder edge.

“Don’t tell me you started without me,” Dorian said as he slid into the circle with a smirk and no invitation. “I had to endure a glass of flat champagne and two conversations about market volatility just to get down here.”

“The tragedy,” Mickie said, arching an eyebrow teasingly at him. Being married into the Aster family, I wasn’t surprised she knew what kind of man he was. “We were all just wondering where the real party was.”

“I aim to deliver,” Dorian replied, flashing her a grin before his gaze landed on me. “Ah, if it isn’t the woman who managed to teach my brother what a real relationship is,” he said with a wink to me and a daring grin to Jace.

“I’d say he’s teaching me,” I smiled at Jace’s handsome expression, my mind drifting back to us being on the sailboat and spending the next day in the museum with my son.

“Damn,” Darcy cut in, interrupting Dorian’s attempt to steer the conversation. “You two look like you’re lost in love,” she grinned.

I blushed and leaned into Jace, while Jim chuckled, “Sure, you might have it all in that Tom Ford suit, buddy, but you’ve got nothing on your brother when it comes to being in his position.”

Dorian chuckled, leaned back, and crossed a leg over his knee, “Relationships do nothing but slow a man down and force his ass into submission. I’m not the type.”

“Oh, God,” Avery said. “You bastards and your cockiness about women. Newsflash, in the end, we always bring your arrogant asses to your knees and leave you begging for more.” She shook her head, “I swear, every time one of you chumps talk like this, you end up with a shattered heart, wishing you’d never fucked up the best thing that ever happened to you. ”

“Oh, sister,” Dorian raised his glass to her, “that last part is why no one in this group will catch me allowing another woman to get her hooks in me again.”

“Something I said,” Jim smirked, looking at Avery, “and now look at me.”

“That’s because you’re a big teddy bear, lover man,” Titus finally joined in with a laugh.

Dorian leaned back. “At any rate, it’s a pleasure to see you again, Andie. For the record, I haven’t seen my brother’s smile light up like that in years, so it appears you are to thank for that.”

“How’s Madrid treating you, hermano?” Titus asked. “It’s been a while since I’ve visited your cocky ass.”

Dorian raised a brow. “Same shit, different continent. How’s that yacht treating you? Is she still running smoothly?”

Titus raised his eyebrow. “Oh, hell, man. Are you talking about the one I refitted because your broker oversold the interiors?” He took a sip of his drink, a tiny smile playing on the corner of his mouth.

“That lady is fine now. I only had to rework the galley and crew quarters, but we made it,” he dramatically sighed, then said. “Tolerable.”

Mickie laughed. “Of course, you, Titus Hawk, would spend three hundred million and call that bullshit tolerable .”

Dorian chuckled with a bit of edginess. “Well, I’m glad you made her work for your tastes, my friend. There are not many people who appreciate European design.”

“Meh, not everyone needs to,” Titus replied coolly. “But some of us—myself included—like things to respond when I push hard.”

Sebastian laughed softly and raised his glass to Titus. “There’s nothing better than watching you two bicker like a couple debating what to order at a drive-thru on a Friday night.”

Avery leaned in toward me, “I give Dorian seven more seconds, then his ass is going to be competing for top spot again.”

“Wasn’t that what he was trying to do before Titus just knocked him down a couple of notches?” I whispered back.

Jace stayed quiet, a faint smile playing on his lips, content simply having me by his side. Though the conversation seemed like one he’d usually dive into, tonight he chose to sit it out.

“Aside from my company not meeting my best guy’s standards,” Dorian said, “it’s good to see my big brother and be among his friends and achievements.

Damn, I thought that hospital would swallow him whole before he ever made it to an event like this.

” He glanced at the group, thumb pointing in Jace’s direction.

“I keep telling him to get into yachting with the rest of us and broaden his tastes, but my big brother just likes to sail little boats.”

“You don’t feel the ocean in your soul on a super yacht,” Jace said, meeting Dorian’s gaze.

“That just feels like standing in a palace on the water. Sailing is different. You feel the pull of the wind, the current beneath you, the shift of the boat when the sails catch right. It’s not about luxury.

” He lifted his glass toward his brother.

“It’s about letting the boat and the ocean into your soul. ”

“Well, damn,” I said, unable to stop smiling at him.

“That’s the perfect way to describe it.” His words pulled me in, reminding me of everything I loved about sailing, the raw beauty, the intimacy of it.

All I wanted in that moment was to be out on the water with him, feeling it all, just the two of us.

“You’re perfect, gorgeous,” he whispered, his eyes softening before the conversation drifted toward some acquisition Jim’s company was making.

This world was overwhelming, yes, but with Jace at my side, it felt strangely natural.

He navigated it with ease, never letting it define him, never letting it overshadow who he was.

That was what mattered to me, not the money or the names, but him.

The man who saw the world in a way that mirrored mine, who made everything feel right.

I leaned into him, letting the warmth of the fire bowls and the low hum of laughter wrap around me.

For the first time all night, I stopped thinking about appearances or expectations.

The only thing I cared about was the way I was falling for this man, harder with every glance, every touch, every word.