Page 120 of Scandalous Lover

I steer my cart onto the main road and head for town instead. My suitcase will still be waiting for me later.

I park next to the shipping building like everyone else and walk down the narrow lane that runs through the village down to the beach. It’s quiet at this time of day, all the sane people sheltering from the hot afternoon sun, rather than parading down the street with no hat or sunscreen. I’m lucky to have my wallet with me, as I was coming in to get another coffee when fate ambushed me.

I don’t even have my purse.

Wait, I don’t have my phone.

I pat my whole self down to make sure, a futile exercise as I’m wearing tropical clothes with very few places to hide anything.

I must have left it at my table at The Sands, along with mylaptop, bag, and everything else I’d brought to the resort with me that morning for a full day of work.

I keep walking until I reach the beach, flopping down in the sand and shielding my eyes from the overhead sun. I’m just settling into my warm sand bed, content to spend the rest of my life laying here, listening to the waves crash, when someone calls my name.

Or, my last name, anyway.

“Ms. Fuentes!”

I sit up enough to prop my upper body on my elbows and glance around, finding no one in my line of sight.

“Over here,” the voice comes again.

I turn all the way around to find a man smiling at me from a table in the closest café. I recognize him from breakfast with Sam so I smile and wave, hoping that will be enough to satisfy him.

It’s not.

“Come join us for a drink. It must be hot out there in the sun.”

Because it is very hot, and because I don’t have my phone to distract me from all my thoughts and feelings, I drag myself out of the sand and walk over.

The slight, black haired man is sitting at a square table with a round, cheerful looking woman his same age, both of them smiling up at me. I settle into the third chair and immediately feel relief as the shade from the umbrella takes away the heat of the direct sun.

“Thank you. I didn’t realize how hot I was.”

“You young ladies never do,” the woman at the table states, laughing at her own joke.

I watch her, wide-eyed, and my first smile in what feels like hours spreads over my face. “I guess that’s true.”

“The plight of the young. To not know how good you haveit,” the man says, his grin as wide as his companion’s. “I’m Max. We met at breakfast the other day. This is my wife, Petunia.” He gestures to the woman, who bows slightly.

“Nice to see you again,” I say to Max. “I’m Naomi.”

“Oh, we know who you are,” Petunia says slyly before sharing a glance with her husband.

“Okay…”

What do they think they know about me?

“You’re Dominic’s little sister.”

I relax. “You got me.”

“Here on a mission to figure out your purpose in life.”

Wait, what?

“I…I’m sorry?”

The waiter chooses that moment to swoop in and get my drink order. I hastily ask for an iced tea to get him to go away.

---