Page 110 of Maneater
That makes my head pop up. “Plans?”
“You and I are going on an adventure today.”
I want to be excited. An adventure with Rowan, especially in this paradise-like place, sounds amazing. But…
“I’m here for work, Rowan. I can’t just go off on an adventure. It’s not fair to Rory,” I say, giving him an apologetic look.
“Please go, I’m begging,” Rory says, exasperated.
“What?” I ask, turning to her.
“Go. I want to stay in this room in peace and quiet for six hours. I’m going to start sifting through the cameras around the time of each incident, look into Tanya, that kind of thing. Plus, we have all those new cameras in the staff areas I want to screen.”
“I could—” I offer, but she shakes her head.
“You could enjoy a day off like a normal fucking person,” Rory says with a glare.
“And you?” I counter, putting my hands on my hips. “You’renot taking a day off.”
“This is the equivalent of my taking a day off. I’m going to pop in the raunchiest audiobook I can find, then dig through these files. Basically, my version of bliss.”
She’s not wrong, but it still makes me uncomfortable.
“I don’t know, I feel like I should stay here. I could go to the pool and talk to some people or?—”
“You also got a lot of intel yesterday.” She reaches for my hand, and I know I’m not going to like whatever she has to say next. “I also think you should lay low for a bit,” Rory says, looking at me.
“Excuse me?” I ask, my eyes wide. I’veneverstood aside or lain low.
“Just for a day or so, while we dig further into Tanya and check to see if she could be behind this. Where has she been during, before, and after each sabotage? I’m going to keep moving through the cameras and, now that I have access, check all of her scans, see where her card has been used and what times.”
“And while you do that, I could?—”
“She thinks that if it’s Tanya, she could target you,” Rowan says, concern in his voice, and my words cut out.
“You guys have talked about this?” I ask, looking from one to the other with a hint of betrayal, I know is silly. Rory sighs.
“He came to me with the same concerns I was feeling. I don’t want to raise an alarm or anything, but we can never be too sure.” She looks at me. “Plus, you just went out with Daniel, and she saw it. If you’re out today, flirting with any man you think could give you intel?—”
“But maybe I could?—”
“You’re going to start bringing attention to yourself, and you know it if you don’t just enjoy yourself like a normal person.” My jaw tightens, and I glare at her, but then Rowan’s hand is on my wrist, and I’m turning to look at him.
“We can do some extra inspections while we’re out. Now make a beach bag, and we’ll go,” he says, then presses a kiss to my forehead. “But it’s a hike to get there. Wear sneakers.”
I stand there, confused and elated, warmth sliding through my body as he sits on the couch to wait for me. I look from him to Rory, who is smiling approvingly.
“The man has spoken.”
He takes me hiking, which at first, I argued against, considering what happened the last time we went. I’ve been assured that, although the hikes are discontinued for guests until everything clears up, a team has thoroughly swept the area for any other booby traps. They did find another one, a trip wire that lifted its suspect into the air by the foot like in old cartoons, but nothing else. Still, we keep a vigilant eye out for both traps and for any additional evidence.
Nearly an hour into our hike, we reach the other side of the property, which turns out to be a small, secluded beach with light sand, a few palm trees, and miles of a bright blue ocean. In the distance, I see a dolphin jump up and out of the water, and I gasp. It’s so picturesque, I might think it was fake if I weren’t actually here.The entire back of it butts up to the woods, but the beach itself is clear.
“This,” Rowan says, looking around with a proud smile. “This is why I chose this location.”
“A wooded beach?” I ask with a smile of my own.
He nods. “A wooded, secluded beach. When the excursions aren’t stalled, we do super exclusive trips out here. A couple, maybe two, pay extra to be here by themselves, no one else around for the whole day. We cater to it and sometimes even send a masseuse out here for couples’ massages. Very expensive, but the guests love it. It’s like their own private beach. They don’t even have to wear suits if they don’t want to.”
