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CHAPTER ONE

❝HOW MANY EPISODES OF GOSSIP GIRL DID YOU WATCH TO GATHER THAT INFORMATION?❞

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"Papa! One more story?"

Winnie's father, Julian, laughed and looked at her stand on her tippy toes to display to him the next book she wanted him to read to her — even though he'd just finished Sleeping Beauty.

"¿Quieres escuchar a otro, mi luz del sol?"

You want to hear another one, my sunshine?

Winnie nodded her head so quickly that her beautiful dark brown curls bounced, along with her bangs as she heard her father laugh again and take the book from her grasp.

"Okay."

Winnie squealed excitedly as her father bent to her level and picked her up to place her small body under the sheets of her pink princess bed while he pulled up the wooden rocking chair he always sat in for story time.

"Escondido, mi luz del sol?"

Tucked in, my sunshine?

Winnie gasped and quickly scattered her sheets so that she was tucked in as her father watched with a warm smile on his lips.

"Done."

"Okay, let's begin. . ."

And so he did.

He read the story to Winnie just like he always did, making sure to use the same voices and the same facial expressions to intrigue Winnie into a book she's heard a thousand times before.

"And they all lived. . .Feliz para siempre."

Happily ever after

"Again! Again, Papa!"

"No más, mi luz del sol, necesitas dormir."

No more, my sunshine, you need to sleep

Winnie whimpered as she saw her father rise up from his wooden rocking chair and placed it back into the corner it came from as Winnie hopped up onto her knees on her mattress.

"Papa, I want to be like those people."

"What people?"

"The ones that make my books, Papa."

Julian smiled and nodded as he turned back around to Winnie's somewhat tall pink shelf full of books that she liked to read or she had yet to read.

"You mean an author, my sunshine. . .," Julian murmured softly when he placed the book onto the shelf neatly and turned to Winnie seeing her wide smile. "You want to make books?"

Winnie nods. "Everyone deserves a happy ending, Papa."

Julian let a small smile come to his lips as he just stood there and looked at Winnie for a moment — mostly processing her words she had just uttered. For being just six years old, Winnie was very intelligent.

"If you want to be an author, my sunshine. . .Ten valor y se valiente."

Have courage and be brave

Winnie smiled up at her father seeing his big brown eyes look down into her beautiful doughy one's momentarily before reaching down to kiss her smooth forehead.

"Get some sleep, my sunshine."

"Night, Papa. . ." Winnie murmured softly with a yawn following behind it as her father opened the door to her room and turned around to face her.

He gave her one last smile and placed his palm to his lips and kissed it before moving his hand outward to Winnie as her eyelids slowly began to droop.

"Buenas noches, mi sol. . ."

Goodnight, my sunshine

Julian then slipped out of her bedroom and walked around the corner of the hallway toward his bedroom where his wife, Elaine, waited for his arrival in their king sized bed.

Just when he walked inside, the wide smile on Julian's lips had suddenly disappeared when he felt a tight pressure in his chest making him, on instinct, grab his chest and make Elaine gasp sharply and quickly remove herself from the bed.

"Julian?! I-I'm going to call 911, you'll be okay, baby. Hang in there, please!"

Yet it was too late, if only Julian could've given her a sign that the minute she went away from his side to her phone on the nightstand. . .Julian was dead.

And little did Winnie know, but that night would be the last night she ever heard a story from her Papa.

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"Winnie, they need you at table four."

"Four, got it." Winnie breathed out as she noticed a curl from her messy bun fell onto her face making her move it as she grasped onto a pitcher full of water and made her way to the table.

As she approached the table, she got a wave through her body — a wave of annoyance. She realized they were the rich people that came into the restaurant every Monday and Friday.

Winnie never understood how people that were so rich and could buy anything in life could be so rude to other people around them.

They gave being born with a silver spoon in their mouth a whole new meaning.

As she approached the table with a wide — but fake as hell smile, she looked around at everyone, most of them looked about her age or maybe a year or two older.

"More water?"

"I'll just have some more iced tea. . .and you if you're on the menu, beautiful."

Winnie had to bite back her sly tongue, she couldn't lose this job. At least not right now, she had just invested money into her summer vacation and couldn't afford losing her job over some arrogant comment.

"No, I'm not on the menu, sir. Anybody else?"

"I'll take some."

Winnie didn't even recognize the deep and raspy voice that had spoken up until she made eye contact with him seeing he was very handsome.

He was dressed in a white button up shirt that had the first three buttons undone to show off his chest tattoos — same with the rolled up sleeves to show off his arm tattoos, he had on black slacks with some white Versace moccasins to match with gold logo trim to match the gold watch he had on his right wrist.

But his face was the most gorgeous, he looked like God himself took his time to make his face. From his beautiful hazel colored eyes that shined from the glisten of the sun to his thick — yet arched eyebrows to his perfectly plump pink lips, Winnie was mesmerized.

"Of course."

Winnie walked around everyone to give the mysterious handsome man his refill of water, he thanked her as she nodded and headed back to the front of the table.

Only to be stopped when she felt hands grab onto her ass making her gasp sharply and look to see it was the guy who made a comment earlier.

Winnie didn't know what came over her, but right on time, she threw the pitch of water onto the guy making everyone at the table, even him, look in awe with their mouths open.

"You. . .bitch!"

"Excuse me? You have no right to grab my ass!"

The guy flared his nostrils and stood up so quickly and towered over Winnie making her slightly gulp and step back an inch.

"Za, back off!"

Winnie and the guy — well, Za, looked over at the mysterious guy and saw he was on his feet too as everyone at the table looked dumbfounded.

"JB, you saw what she did—"

"I don't care, let's get out of here."

Winnie chewed her bottom lip softly as her eyes locked with the mysterious guys hazel eyes from afar. He quickly looked away with a clenched jaw as everyone with them shot up without uttering a word.

"What's going on here, Winnie?"

"I'll tell you, this bitch of a waitress threw her pitch of water on my Gucci and Versace! And accused me of touching her sorry excuse of an ass!"

"Winnie?"

"That is not true, just ask them! They all saw him—"

"My office, now."

Winnie huffed and threw down the pitcher of water and followed behind her manager, only to turn around and see Za was standing behind with a grin on his lips as he made eye contact with her.

Why did I look back? Winnie thought to herself.

Winnie clenched her jaw and followed her manager to his office and shut the door behind him as he walked behind his desk to sit in his leather chair while Winnie sat on his white leather couch.

"Winnie, this is your third strike—"

"Leo, no! I mean. . .can't you just listen to my side of the story?"

Just as Leo opened his mouth to speak, he was interrupted by the sound of the door opening making both him and Winnie look to the door and see the mysterious guy appear.

"M-Mr. Bieber, I'm handling the issue now—"

"Don't bother, she wasn't in the wrong, and one last thing. . .," The mysterious guy spoke softly before leaning back and motioning with his head for someone to come, that's when Za appeared. "Speak."

Za huffed and looked from Justin to Leo and then finally to Winnie making her bite the inside of her cheek to prevent a smile.

"I'm sorry."

Winnie creased her eyebrows and rose up from the leather couch with a small grin as she crossed her arms over her chest. "What was that?"

"I'm sorry."

"For?"

Za clenched his jaw and glared at Winnie from afar with the feeling of his blood boiling, if he was a cartoon he'd probably have smoke coming out of his ears by now.

"For touching your ass, happy now?"

Winnie looked from Za to the mysterious guy seeing him grinning as well, she then looked back to him and nodded as she rocked on the heels of her feet.

Za rolled his eyes and fixed his velvet emerald green and gold blazer and walked away from the door, but not before glaring at the mysterious guy and heading to the his car.

The mysterious guy leaned his body off the door frame and headed off as Leo stood there in awe making Winnie clear her throat and walk over to him with a boost of confidence.

"I have a vacation I'm taking for the rest of the month and July. I expect to be getting paid vacation and my regular hours plus extra when I return."

"Um. . .of course, Winnie. Have a nice vacation."

Winnie smiled and turned around to speed walk out of the office to catch the mysterious guy before he left, with luck, she had saw him opening the exit door as she arrived around the corner.

"Hey!"

The mysterious guy turned around and looked at Winnie making him lick his lips and stop pushing the door and come back over to her, with every step he took, her heart started to pound faster in her rib cage.

"Yes?"

God his cologne is amazing, Winnie thought.

"I-I. . .thank you."

"No problem, Za can be. . ."

"A hard ass?" Winnie asked with an eyebrow raised making him laugh softly and slip his hands into the pockets of his slacks.

"I guess."

"Well. . .I'm Winnie."

"I know."

Winnie creased her eyebrows and was about to ask how he knew only to see his eyes divert to the name tag she had on her shirt making her cheeks heat. "Oh."

"I'm Justin."

"Nice to meet you, Justin."

"Listen, I have an appointment to catch, I'll see you around. . .Winnie."

Indeed you will, Winnie thought.

Winnie nodded and watched Justin wave one last time and make his way out of the restaurant using the exit door once again.

Winnie sighed and turned around to head into the locker room to get her things when she felt her phone vibrate in the waistline of her leggings.

She pulled it out and cursed under her breath when she realized it was a reminder she set for her appointment with her realtor agent.

Winnie quickly took the lock off her locker and grabbed her things so quick, she forgot to lock her locker back. But she didn't care, she was running late.

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Winnie was panting as she walked into the realtors office and saw her currently sitting on the couch with her phone in her hands.

"Sorry I'm late."

"Ah, Ms. Stone. . .we need to talk."

"What? Why? Oh no, someone out bought the house?"

"Oh no no no, but um. . .we seem to have a bit of a conundrum." She spoke in a soft voice making Winnie crease her eyebrows and shake her head as a deep voice spoke up.

"I'm back, sorry I had an important call. . .Winnie?"

Winnie turned around so quick, she thought she caught whiplash when she saw who it was. "Justin?"

"What're you doing here?"

"I-I could ask you the same. . .," Winnie murmured as she let her eyes move from Justin to the realtors as she sat there dumbfounded. "Is this the conundrum?"

"Well. . .ha, it's a crazy story actually. . ."

"Beth, what did you do?"

"O-Okay, you both deserve an answer. . .," Beth murmured softly as she cleared her throat and readjusted herself on the white suede couch as Winnie and Justin waited. "It all started two weeks ago."

Beth hummed a tune as she unlocked the door of her loft and walked inside with a smile on her face, ready to see her fiancé she hadn't seen since Tuesday.

Just when she walked in, she looked around to see the room was dim and there was candles lighting the walkway, the scent of roses to match the red rose petals on the wooden floor.

"Aw, Henry. . .you're so sweet."

Beth slipped her shoes off and walked over to the table where the red wine lay, but her smile somewhat fell when she saw it was already opened and two glasses were full.

"Did you leave this for us, Henry?"

Beth chuckled and picked up the two glasses of wine and laughed all her way to the bedroom her and Henry shared.

She hurriedly opened the door and let her smile drop when she saw her fiancé thrusting into a woman from behind as her head lie buried in the pillow she sleeps with.

She didn't even realize it, but her grip on the wine glasses was now history. She dropped the glasses onto the wooden floor and heard the glass shatter and feel the wetness of the wine hit her feet and ankles.

"H-Henry?"

Henry shot his sweaty and red face at Beth and cursed under his breath as he pulled out of the woman quickly and covered himself with the sheets. "B-Beth—"

"Save it! Who is that?!"

The woman had finally turned around and looked at Beth and she automatically recognized the woman making her chuckle dryly.

"Your assistant, Henry?! You said she meant nothing to you!"

"Beth, it's not what it looks like—"

"I-I can't do this."

Beth gulped hard and threw her engagement ring down onto the floor hearing it ring a bit before fully lying flat on the floor.

Beth heard Henry calling her name, but she toned him out and made her way out of the bedroom and back into kitchen and took the whole bottle of wine off the table and sped walked to the door.

She felt the tears coming down her cheeks and hurriedly placed her shoes back on and picked up her things and left with tear stained cheeks and a bottle of wine.

"So you see, I'm not in the right frame of mind. . .I got the dates mixed up so that you're both at the same beach house, I'm so sorry."

Winnie had stopped moving for a moment, she felt her heart begin to beat faster as everything Beth and Justin said sounded muffled to her as she tried to process Beth's words.

"So there's no other beach house for rent? How's that possible?"

"Mr. Bieber, our company is a very highly requested business to use, we sell out for beach houses sometimes in January."

Winnie toned back in and licked her lips as she watched Justin groan and run his hands through his dirty blonde hair and pace the area where he stood. "So that's it?"

"What do you purpose I do?"

"I can't stay in a beach house with someone, okay? This is my getaway from people's bullshit!"

"I'm with Justin, Beth. . .this trip was for me to write my first book. I need my peace."

"I understand—"

"Beth, I could get you fucking fired for this."

"Justin. . ." Winnie spoke out in a whisper with her eyebrows creased as she saw Justin's jaw clenched looking at Beth, almost like how Za looked at her.

"What?"

"Can we have a talk outside?"

Justin huffed and fixed his composure and nodded as Winnie gave a soft smile and lead her and Justin out into the hallway and shut the door behind them.

"What was that about?"

"I can't do this, no."

"Well, we need to decide what to do. We both can't be at the same beach house."

What a concept, Winnie thought.

"I know. . .I mean, can't you buy another one?"

"Excuse me?"

"Yeah, obviously I was here first, so. . ." Justin dragged on as he puffed out a breath making Winnie scoff and cross her arms over her chest.

He's so not attractive anymore, Winnie thought.

"This isn't finders keepers, Justin."

"Didn't say it was, but you know I was here first. You're just trying to beat around the bush about it."

"Wow, you really are like them. And here I was, thinking you might actually be different."

"Like who?"

"Those arrogant asshole friends you have that come to my job." Winnie spoke as she moved a bit closer to Justin as she saw him chuckle and roll his eyes.

"I'm not like them."

"Yes you are, all you care about is making money, having sex with a different person every day, lying to people, and buying your way out of things."

"Wow, how many episodes of Gossip Girl have you watched to gather that information."

Winnie rolled her eyes and shook her head in pure disgust of Justin's comments, she went to open the door to Beth's office, but stopped. "I'm not giving up."

"I don't expect you to, I'll just out buy you."

Winnie gasped and shut the door back so quickly it slammed loud enough to make Beth yelp from the other side of the door. Winnie clenched her jaw as she turned back around to Justin seeing him grinning.

"How dare you, I worked hard to save up for this! All you did was walk in here nonchalantly and ask!"

"Babygirl, that's how the game goes. . .now if you excuse me, there's a beach house I have to write a check for."

Just when Justin's palm touched the door to open it, Winnie placed her hand back on top of it and shut the door back hard with a slam making Justin sigh heavily.

"Like hell you will."

"What're you going to do?"

Winnie unclenched her jaw and shook her head, trying her best to calm herself down from the anger she had in her and cleared her throat. "We can work this out."

"Work what out?"

"This, we can stay at the beach house together."

"Funny, and when we get there we can make a campfire, sing kumbaya, and eat s'mores."

"I'm serious. . .," Winnie murmured softly as she sighed heavily and moved Justin's hand away from the knob and looked him in the eyes. "It's just for a month."

"But—"

"You'll be doing most of the touring around, I'll be at the house writing my book. We won't even cross paths."

Justin huffed and crossed his arms over his chest as he looked down at Winnie seeing her show off her pearly white smile in hopes he'll agree making him shake his head. "What the hell, let's do it."

Winnie squealed and gave Justin a quick hug and opened Beth's door again as Justin followed behind to shut the door with Beth still in the same spot waiting.

"So?"