SEAL’s Love by Leslie North

5

Before Harper knew what was happening, Colin had pulled her into his arms and whispered, “Play along.”

Then he was kissing her, and if she was honest with herself, it didn’t suck. In fact, it felt pretty good. So good, that she slipped her arms around his neck and kissed him back, tracing her tongue over his lips, then slipping inside when he parted them. He tasted like mint and sugar and…

“What the hell are you doing in here?” a strange voice yelled, jarring them apart.

For a second, all Harper could do was blink at the man and woman standing in the doorway. She’d been so lost in the moment with Colin that she barely remembered who she was, let alone that they were standing in a stranger’s hotel room. One they’d broken into to search for her missing sister.

Oh shit.

She gave Colin some side-eye and was comforted to see that he looked about as poleaxed as she felt, not that that helped with their current situation. So, she did the only thing she could think of on short notice and stepped on his toes, hard, to jolt him out of it.

In an instant, his expression changed to one of mock outrage, and he tugged Harper into his side. “I could ask you two the same question!” he shouted, glaring at the guests rightfully staying in that room.

Harper wondered if they taught those kinds of acting skills in the SEALs, and made a mental note to ask him about it later. Right now, they needed to get out of here without making so much of a scene that hotel security was called. So, she played her part as well. “Uh, honey,” she said, pointing at the suitcase on the luggage rack against the wall. “I don’t think that’s ours.”

Colin looked from her to the suitcase, then back again, the rage dropping off of his face. “No, you’re right. Oh God.” He swallowed hard and took her hand, squeezing slightly before looking back at the couple across from them. “I am so, so sorry. We must have gone into the wrong room. My sincere apologies. But all these damned rooms look the same from the outside and we were… well, otherwise occupied.” He shook his head. “I can’t believe the front desk screwed up our keys again! We need to go talk to them right now!”

With that, he tugged her out of the room and down the hall, past the still staring guests who appeared too stunned to stop them. They kept walking around corner after corner until they were far enough away that they could be sure the other guests hadn’t followed them.

Colin stopped in an alcove leading to the stairwell and let her go, leaning back against the wall and raking a hand through his hair. “Jesus, that was too close for comfort.”

“No shit.” Harper slumped against the wall beside him, her sister’s crystal still clutched in her hand. Now that the sexual tension and adrenaline that had sparked between them was fading, the old familiar anxiety bubbled inside her again. There’d been no sign of force used in the room and people did leave things behind in hotels all the time, but her gut told her something was wrong here. Besides, there might have been signs of a struggle that the housekeeping staff had cleared away. There was just no way to know. She held the crystal up and sighed. “What are we going to do now? We have no idea where Serenity is.”

“We’ll find her,” Colin said, nudging her with his shoulder. “Don’t worry. Not yet anyway. What we need to do now is start asking around to try to figure out where she was last seen. Hopefully, it might give us clues to her current location.”

Well, it was better than standing around doing nothing.

They took the stairs down to the lobby rather than risk meeting up with the other guests in the elevator, then found an old acquaintance of Colin’s who now worked as a bellman at the resort.

“Mike, dude,” Colin said, slapping his friend on the back after giving him a bro hug. “Long time, no see.”

“Right?” Mike pulled back, straightening his bellman uniform of a pastel peach shirt and slacks, his gold name tag gleaming on the right side of his chest.

“What’ve you been up to the past few years?” Colin asked.

“Eh, you know. Hustling, trying to make ends meet.”

“Really?” Colin frowned. “The last thing I heard, you were jostling to the title of Wolf of Wall Street. What happened with New York?”

“I got in over my head.” Mike cringed. “The company I worked for…some of their practices weren’t on the up and up. Once I figured out what was going on, I notified the authorities and it all got shut down, but it made me take a good, hard look at my life and decide if that world was one I wanted to be part of anymore.” Mike shrugged. “So, one day I sat down and thought, if I have to work for the rest of my life, what would I want that to look like? Sun, beaches, getting to meet people and help them out. So, yeah. This is a good fit for me.”

“What about your degree? Don’t you miss the stock market?”

“Nah. And I got a day-trading app on my phone if the bug bites me. Do pretty well on it, in fact.”

“I bet.”

The clerk at the reception desk waved to Mike to get moving.

“Well, best get back to work.” Mike thumped Colin on the shoulder again. “Great to see you. We should get together one night while you’re here and reminisce.”

Colin chuckled. “I’d like to, man, I would, but I’m only here for a short time, and my schedule’s pretty full with our family reunion and all. But maybe next time?”

“I’ll be here,” Mike said, holding up a hand. “Nice to meet you, Harper. See you both around.”

Mike started to walk away. Harper’s pulse stumbled and she gave Colin a look. “Ask him if he’s seen Serenity,” she whispered.

Colin shook his head. “We don’t want anyone to realize we’re searching for her, remember?”

“Then make it sound casual,” she said. “Just…please. What if he knows something?”

He sighed, but turned to Mike’s retreating figure and called out, “Oh wait, Mike. Hold on a sec. You might be able to help me with this. Harper’s sister, Serenity, was working here at the resort until a few days ago. She must have lost her phone or something because it’s been hard to get in touch with her—we couldn’t even get a hold of her to let her know we’d be here on the island. We were hoping we might be able to run into her, but we’re not sure where to look. Have you seen her around?” He turned to Harper. “You’ve got a picture of her on your phone, don’t you, honey?” Harper nodded and fumbled for her phone, quickly pulling up a selfie of her and Serenity from a few months ago. She handed the phone over to Mike.

“Uh what?” The previously talkative Mike suddenly looked nervous and clammed up as he passed the phone back. His gaze darted to Harper, then away again fast, like he was hiding something. At least that’s how Harper took it. “So many people work here. Hard to remember everyone.”

Right. At this point, Harper was scared. The feeling of not-rightness in her gut had grown claws and was shredding her inside. She wasn’t above begging, if that’s what it took. “Please. Anything at all you can tell us would be so helpful. She’s my sister. I just want to see her. We won’t tell anyone what you said. Promise.”

“Hey,” Colin said to Mike. “Remember that time when we were kids and you lost your little brother at the swimming hole? How freaked out you were? You were terrified and thought he’d drowned? Well, that only lasted twenty minutes. Harper’s sister’s been out of contact for a week, and she keeps thinking up new worst-case scenarios. We’re not looking to make trouble for anybody, but if Harper could just touch base with her, it’d make her feel a lot better.”

Mike looked back and forth between them, shuffling his feet, his expression growing more guilty by the second. Finally, he leaned in closer and lowered his voice, his tone carrying an edge of desperation. “Fine. But you have to swear you won’t tell Colin’s parents I told you anything. I need this job and my manager’s a real hardass about maintaining privacy about resort operations.”

Harper and Colin both nodded.

“I do remember seeing your sister,” Mike said. “We’ve talked a couple of times, just in passing. Last time I saw her here, she was hanging around with this faith healer named Sebastian down by the pool. She was helping him with one of his free meditation and yoga classes out there. That was about a week ago.”

“Does this Sebastian work here, too?” Colin asked.

“Nah, he’s got his own place—a fancy spa on a private estate here on the island. Calls it a Wellness Center. He uses those free classes to lure the people staying at the resort into paying for private sessions at this spa, then charges them out the wazoo for a bunch of hippy-dippy crap they don’t need. That’s all I know.” He gave Harper, with her piercings and bohemian style, a quick look. “No offence on the hippy-dippy.”

“None taken.” Wasn’t the first time she’d gotten it. Wouldn’t be the last. “Can you tell us anything else about Sebastian? What’s his last name?”

“Bone—Sebastian Bone. Tall guy, long hair. Kind of a big deal, I guess, in certain circles. Sure seems to be raking in plenty at that Wellness Center.”

“Thanks, man,” Colin said, patting his friend’s shoulder. “That’s actually really helpful.”

“Yes, thank you, Mike,” Harper said, then followed Colin back outside. “Where to now?”

“Back to the estate,” he said, walking up to a tricked-out SUV and clicking his key fob to unlock it. “The last thing we need is for my mom and Jojo to find out you lied to them about being sick.”

“Speaking of lying,” Harper said, climbing into the passenger seat, then fastening her seatbelt while Colin did the same on his side. “I’m glad to know that’s not a skill they teach you in the SEALs because you’re not very good at it.”

He fiddled with the touchscreen dashboard, then slipped on his shades before grinning at her, all tanned skin and white teeth. Her pulse tripped. Damn. He was good-looking. Too good-looking for her peace of mind. And now that they’d kissed, she couldn’t seem to think of anything except his mouth. How soft those lips had been. The way his breath had caught when she’d nipped the bottom one. The feel of his big, strong body melting against hers as she’d swept her tongue into his mouth, tasting him.

Flustered, Harper shifted her attention out the windshield as they pulled away from the resort and headed back to his family’s estate.

“We did actually learn basic espionage skills,” he said, signaling before making a right turn. “But it wasn’t my favorite part.”

“Huh,” she said, staring out at the passing scenery and trying to calm her errant libido. The last thing she needed was to get the hots for Colin. “So, I guess you being a real-life James Bond is off the table, then.”

Colin snorted. “Yep. Though I can read people pretty well.”

“Yeah?” Without thinking she looked over at him again, then immediately wished she hadn’t as a fresh wave of heat rushed up her body. “What am I feeling right now?”

He gave her a side glance, his eyes hidden by the mirrored aviator shades, her own image reflected back at her, making her feel even more like an. Idiot.

“Impatience over how hard it’s been to uncover anything about Serenity. Fear, again over your sister. And…” The frown line between his eyebrows deepened and his lips pursed, drawing her attention there again. “Confusion.”

“Confusion?”

“Yes. You seem torn about something. Distracted.”

“I’m not torn.” She crossed her arms and stared straight ahead again, feeling far more exposed and vulnerable than she liked. Harper said, as much for herself as him, “I know exactly why I’m here. To get Serenity back. That’s it.”

“Sure. Of course,” he said, not looking at her, one wrist draped over the steering wheel, the epitome of lithe male ease and grace, damn him. “And may I say, Harper, you’re pretty good at lying yourself.”