SEAL’s Love by Leslie North
4
The next morning, Colin was up before dawn and got ready before Harper stirred. By the time she woke up, he was sitting on one of the sofas, drinking a cup of coffee from downstairs and reading the local newspaper, hoping to find some clues that might lead them to Serenity’s whereabouts.
“What time is it?” she said groggily from the bed, raising up on one elbow to squint at him through the increasingly bright sunrise slanting through the windows. It was glorious here this time of day, Colin had to admit. What was even more glorious though, was Harper, all rumpled and adorable, one strap of her tank top hanging off her shoulder, the cotton stretched tight across her breasts, their size just perfect to fill his palms.
Oh shit.
He barely managed to keep from choking on his coffee. What the hell was wrong with him. He was working here. He and Harper had an agreement. He had no business noticing her body or anything else about her that wasn’t related to the case. Scowling, he stood and paced over to the windows, opening the sliding doors that lead out to the veranda. “It’s still early, but you should get up soon,” he said, gruffer than usual. “My mom will have breakfast downstairs in twenty minutes or so. But first I thought we could talk here and decide how to proceed today.”
Yep. Keep the focus on the business. That’s the way to do it.
“Uh, sure.” She yawned and stretched and he did his best to ignore her reflection in the windows, the way that tank top of hers rode up to expose a creamy swath of her abdomen. Dammit. He needed to get a grip. And get laid. That was his problem—he was sure of it. It had been a while since his last fling. Then Harper got up and padded across to the room to the bathroom and Colin felt a zing of awareness straight to his groin. The door closed and he seriously contemplated diving off the balcony and straight into the chilly swimming pool below. He’d actually done it once when he’d been young and stupid. Survived just fine then but given the downward trajectory of his luck since arriving on the island, he didn’t want to chance it today.
Below, he saw Jojo and her wife Sara walk out into the backyard to use the pool. Beyond the gates of his parents’ home, other island dwellers were walking or jogging on the beach while some brave surfers paddled out into the ocean. The water was beautiful, but there could be strong riptides in this area if you weren’t careful.
By the time Harper got ready and they finally sat down on the sofa opposite the one Colin had been sitting on, he’d gotten his errant arousal back under control. The fact she seemed determined to argue with him over every detail once they started discussing their activities for the day helped too.
“Since we’re no longer guests at the resort, we don’t have a good excuse to be over there as a couple. But I’m the son of the owners and I haven’t seen the place in years, so no one will think it’s strange if I go over there and check things out, see how the place is running. I’ll head over by myself this morning and find out if Serenity is there. If she is, I’ll talk to her and confirm she’s okay. Or, if she’s not around, then I can search her room for any clues.”
“No,” she said, after sipping a bottled water. “I want to go with you. I know Serenity better than anyone. If she’s there, I want to talk to her myself. She might give you the runaround about her situation, but she’ll be honest with me. And if she’s not there, I might be able to pick up on something that you’d miss from searching her room.”
He took a deep breath. This was why he worked freelance. Life was so much easier when you could just do your own thing and not have to worry about getting anyone else on board. “It might not be safe, Harper. We don’t know what we’re dealing with yet, and until we do, I don’t feel comfortable putting you at risk. Please. This is what I do for a living. Let me do it. Stay here at the house and relax. Spend time with my mom and Jojo. Go to the beach. I promise, as soon as I know anything, I’ll contact you.”
Colin could tell that Harper was frustrated, but he wasn’t going to change his mind. He really could work better and faster alone. She looked like she wanted to argue with him further, but then she sat back and sighed. A soft breeze blew in off the ocean, carrying the sweet scent of plumeria from the gardens surrounding the estate.
“Fine,” she said, staring out at the horizon. “But be careful. And promise me you’ll text as soon as you find something.”
“Will do,” he said, then stood. “Should we go down to breakfast, then?”
* * *
After another hour of fending off his family’s nosy questions about him and Harper, and ignoring his father’s glowers from the other end of the table, Colin finally headed off to Nirvana Resort, having borrowed the least ostentatious car he could find in his father’s ridiculous collection. Breakfast actually hadn’t been as painful as he’d feared. A lot of that was due to Harper taking some of the heat off of him just by being there. It also helped that she seemed to get along with everyone instantly. His family was going to be disappointed when his “relationship” with her ended after this trip was over.
Once he got to Nirvana, he went inside and up to the enormous, semi-circular registration desk. The place was pretty much as he’d remembered—lots of pink marble and gold gilt and sparkling glass. The “lost city of Atlantis” motif done up to be as luxurious as possible. A stylish woman in her mid-forties stood behind the counter, smiling broadly as he approached. “Welcome to Nirvana Resort and Spa. How may I help you, sir?”
“Hi, yes. My name’s Colin Parks III.”
The woman’s jaw dropped. “The…the son of the owners?” she squeaked.
“Yes, but there’s no need to worry,” Colin said, doing his best to project calm and friendliness, “I’m not here for anything bad. It’s just been a long time since I’ve been on the island, and I wanted to check in and see how things are going here, what’s changed. If you have a minute, would you mind talking to me about how you like your work here?”
Fortunately, there were only a few people walking up for check-ins at the moment, and several other receptionists to help them, so Colin was able to take his time. The woman—Maria—was happy to talk to him about her experience working at the resort for the past three years. Colin listened with every appearance of attentiveness until he felt the moment was right to ask his real question. “Oh, and while I’m here, I was hoping to chat with an employee by the name of Serenity Bell. Could you tell me where I can find her?”
Maria nodded and turned to her computer, typing a few things in before looking down at the screen with a frown. “It looks like she was staying in room 1105, but according to our records, she left a few days ago.”
“Left? As in checked out? Or quit? Or what?”
She shook her head, still frowning at the screen. “It doesn’t say. Though since she was a resort employee, the timing is a little strange since we’re in the middle of our busy season.” She looked up at him and shrugged. “Maybe there was some kind of personal emergency.”
Damn.
Colin thought about asking for a key to the room so he could check it himself, but just from talking to Maria for a few minutes, he could tell that that kind of request would be a red flag to her—and the whole point of this visit was to gather as much information as possible while avoiding drawing attention to the fact that he was searching for Serenity.
He thanked Maria for her help and then walked away, taking the elevators up to the eleventh floor instead. Housekeeping was busy making their rounds, and he walked past several carts before swiping an all-access key card from one of them without anyone noticing. Then it was just a matter of making a few passes through the hotel before discreetly making his way back to the room. There was no answer when he knocked on the door, but that didn’t mean the room was empty. As Maria had said, it was the busy season. If Serenity had checked out days earlier, the room probably had new occupants.
In his experience, there were two ways this could go. Either he’d walk in and find that whoever was staying there had already gone for the morning. Or he’d walk in and find them asleep or otherwise engaged. Then he’d have to make up some story about who he was and why he was there. Good thing working here had been his summer job until he’d graduated from high school. He knew enough to make it convincing.
But his luck held, and the room was already empty. Well, there was enough stuff scattered around to make it clear that someone was staying there, but whoever it was had already left for the morning. Colin let himself in, hung the Do Not Disturb sign on the handle, then started searching the room. The trouble was, he didn’t know Serenity. There was just no way for him to be able to tell if anything he came across was hers or if it belonged to the people currently using the room. The nagging thought struck him that Harper might have had a point when she’d said she should come with him…but he pushed that idea aside. He worked better alone.
He’d just cleared the bedroom and was going to start on the bathroom when the sound of someone else entering made him freeze in place.
Fuck.
Then the person crept into view and…
Double fuck.
“Harper? What the hell are you doing here?” he hissed. “How did you get here?”
She shrugged. “I told your mother and Jojo I wanted to see the resort. Then I said I needed to use the bathroom and snuck away from them to follow you up here.”
“How could you have followed me? You couldn’t have been that close behind me.”
“I wasn’t.” She winked like this situation was not a big deal. “But I saw you talking with that woman at the reception desk, and I watched when you got on the elevator. Since the elevator’s walls are glass, it was easy to tell what floor you got off on. When I came up here, I said my boyfriend had headed back to the room ahead of me and that I’d forgotten the room number. You’d be surprised what a striking figure a tall, buff guy like you cuts. Especially when he looks like a Greek god. One of the maids was able to tell me exactly what room you’d gone into—she even swiped me in when I said I’d forgotten my key.”
A muscle ticked near his tense jaw. Not good. Not good at all. He prided himself on his undercover skills, but she’d managed to track him just fine. “And what happens when my mom and Jojo come looking for you?”
“Oh, they won’t.” She gave him a smug smile. “I left a message with the front desk that I wasn’t feeling well and took a taxi back to the estate.
He wanted nothing more than to continue their argument until he convinced her that she was in the wrong, but time was limited. He had no idea when the room’s current occupant would return. He took a deep breath and got back to work. He’d deal with Harper later. “Search this room again to see if you pick up anything I’ve missed. I’m going to check the bathroom. Look for anything that looks like it might be Serenity’s or that points to signs of a struggle.”
They each did their own area, but by the end, Colin hadn’t found a thing. He was about to tell Harper that when she gasped. He rushed out of the bathroom and over to the far corner of the room where she’d pulled aside the drapes.
“What?” Colin asked, thinking she’d maybe found blood or something.
“It’s Serenity’s crystal. It’s the same as mine.” Harper bent and picked the thing up off the floor, the iridescent purple glittered rainbows in the sunlight. “Housekeeping must’ve missed it when they cleaned the room.”
“Hmm.” He bent and picked up a crumpled piece of resort stationary that had been on the floor beside it.
He flattened out the paper and stared at the notes scribbled on it. Something about pyramid schemes and medical fraud.
“This means she couldn’t have left willingly. If she had, she wouldn’t have left this behind,” Harper said, still holding the crystal. “She took hers everywhere, just like I do.” She lowered her head. “I’ve got a bad feeling about this.”
“Right.” He folded the paper and stuck it in his pocket, then took her arm. “Let’s get—”
Before he could finish, the sound of a key card sliding into the lock followed by the turning of the door handle echoed through the room.
