“Fresh off the plane.”
“I thought so. How long will you be staying with us?”
“As long as it takes.”
He looked at me funny and dumped in some ice before flipping on the blender, the roar of the motor preventing further conversation. I was very aware of his gaze on me as we waited, which made me determined to keep mine on the blender. I wasn’t here for a random hookup, no matter how hot the guy was. I had a mission.
He flipped the off button and, grabbing the glasses, poured the contents evenly into them before adding the garnish and sliding them toward me.
“How much do I owe you?”
“They’re on the house. Consider them a welcome to the island. I’m Mike, by the way. And you are?”
I smiled sweetly. “Very grateful.”
Nothing wrong with keeping an air of mystery, even if he wasn’t husband material.
“It was nice meeting you,” I said and slipped off the barstool and grabbed the drinks and took off before I could do something stupid like jump across the bar and kiss that beautiful mouth. As I reached the steps, I took greater care so as not to trip, very aware that Mike was still watching my progress. No pressure.
I handed Holly her drink just as Penny returned.
“Sorry about that,” Penny said.
I offered her the drink, but she shook her head, saying softly, “In the room. I have an image I need to keep up.” She waved to a porter standing nearby, who hurried over to get our luggage. “Thanks, Kai. Okay, ladies. Follow me.”
With Kai at our heels carrying our luggage, Holly and I followed her through the hotel and outside onto a patio, where miles of green grass, tawny beaches, and the brilliant blue ocean stretched before us. It was beautiful, but I didn’t have time to appreciate it as Penny kept the pace brisk and led us along a pathway that took us past the main part of the hotel, three swimming pools, tennis courts, and several adorable bungalows. I was starting to wonder how long we’d be walking and if we’d be on the other end of the island when we were done as she finally slowed her pace and pulled out a key. She headed over to one of the bungalows that had a couple of chairs sitting outside of it and a brightly painted turquoise door.
She pushed the door open. “Here we are.”
Okay, so I admit I was a little taken back by what I saw.
The place wasn’t the picture of refined luxury and class that the website had portrayed. Hardly. The place was a literal mess. Clothes were strewn across the back of a couch, and there were dishes piled on the counter in the small kitchenette.
“I think someone forgot to have maid service come by in between guests,” Holly said, sounding as taken aback as me.
“Sorry, I meant to clean up before you got here, but there was an emergency in one of the high rollers’ cabanas that I needed to attend to,” she said, picking up a couple of shirts and laying them across her arm. She disappeared into a bedroom that, aside from the main living area and kitchenette, where we were standing, was all there was of the place.
“Penny, is this your place?” I asked.
She reappeared in the doorway, looking a little sheepish, and nodded. “It is. Look, I know I promised to comp you a room if you came out to visit me, and any other time it might have been possible. But we’re past capacity this week, thanks to the Mali-Hali Annual Stars and Sand Tournament. I would have told you sooner, but I was afraid that you might postpone your trip. And lately…well, I’ve been a little lonely and tired and really needed to see a familiar face. At least we don’t have to share the place with three other line employees like everyone else, thanks to my management position.”
I glanced around. “Where are we all going to sleep?”
“Well, there’s a king bed in my room that we can share, and there’s the pullout couch here if you prefer.”
Okay, so this was going to be a little more cramped than I thought, but beggars couldn’t really be choosers, could they? And even better, I got to see my friend. I looked at Holly, who seemed to be reaching the same opinion.
“This is going to be great, Penny. It will be like a big slumber party with my two best friends. Besides, how could I resist having another cohort to help me pull this off?”
“Pull this off?” she asked, taking the glass I held out to her and sipping.
I raised my glass. “Here’s to Operation Marry a Billionaire.”
“What?” Penny asked, spraying a mouthful of daiquiris down her shirt.
Holly smiled wickedly and tapped our glasses. “Cheers.”
“I know we’ve just met, but Holly, you seem to be like a reasonable, intelligent, and progressive woman. How have you not talked Janie out of this insane plan?” my supposed best friend said an hour later, after I’d explained everything.
Okay, so to say that Penny wasn’t exactly on board with the whole plan was putting it mildly.
Holly shrugged. “She can be decidedly pigheaded when she gets something in her head. I figured I could either leave her to her own devices or come out here and try and minimize the damage. Maybe bail her out of jail if it comes to it.”
“Thanks, guys. Your support is overwhelming.”
“But Holly is right. You are too stubborn for your own good, and like her, the least I can do is make sure to keep you out of trouble.”
She was oddly more amenable than I expected her to be so early in the evening. Probably was the daiquiri she’d already reached the bottom of. I tipped the last half of mine into hers and grabbed my laptop.
“First potential target is Brennan Thornock Junior,” I said, clicking on a dossier I’d made with all the relevant information I needed.
“You have to be kidding me,” Penny said, looking over my shoulder.
“Hey, I’m nothing but prepared. Anyway, Brennan comes from new money. His dad was lucky enough to invest in Apple when it went public in 1980, cashing out in early 2000 to a tidy sum. Brennan basically hasn’t had to work a day in his life, instead spending most of his time golfing, partying, and racing expensive sports cars.”
Okay, so the guy was like a cliché archetype of the typical lazy billionaire and wouldn’t ordinarily even be on my radar. But Brennan had a few pluses that had him on my list. One being that he wasn’t exactly a winner in the looks department, which meant he might be more susceptible to the overtures from a twenty-eight-year-old unemployed non-model. The other plus was more obvious. He was, geographically speaking, available. As in, he was supposed to be checking in sometime this weekend for the tournament. Who knew? Maybe when our eyes met, we’d know it was fate and I could ride off in the sunset with him. I mean, you couldn’t exactly tell how you really felt about a person until you met in person.
Take, for instance, Eddie. We met when I was a second-year intern at his dad’s law firm. And even though I’d seen his picture on his dad’s desk tons of times, it wasn’t until he came to meet his dad for lunch that our eyes connected and I felt that zing. It could be the same here.
“Brennan? I definitely am familiar with Brennan,” Penny said, wrinkling up her nose. “He took the Mahl-ha-la suite with three bedrooms, and as far as I can tell from housekeeping, he likes to uh…entertain pretty frequently.”