Page 14 of Grand Escape

“Hi,” I said, but it came out like a dying frog. I cleared my throat and tried again. “Hey. Fancy meeting you here. You’re getting me all hot and bothered with profit-margin talk. Can you throw some supply and demand in there too?”

“I have the day off, and I sure can. Management doesn’t like me for nothing. I know how to make a drink just right, where we make money and you come back for more.”

The first part explained the cut-out one-piece black bathing suit she was wearing, hiding all the private parts and revealing some very luscious other ones, leaving my mind to wander far away from talk of supply and demand. The latter confirmed she was a valued employee at the Grand.

“And you spend your day off here?”

“Not usually. Sometimes, I go see a friend at the Ritz. Most days, I take the jitney around the island and go to the farmer’s market. Today, I did some paperwork I needed to update, then decided to go for a swim. Here, because why not?”

I sat up a little taller and wiped my hand across my face, which was feeling a little tender.

“You have a nice little sunburn going,” she said matter-of-factly with a smirk.

“Yeah, I can feel that. Guess I didn’t reapply my sunscreen after the recommended seventy minutes.”

“Here.” Rylan stood up and raised the umbrella behind our chairs to shade us. Her hair was down and brushed the lower part of her back where it met her ass. The sun reflected off the blond strands, making her look almost ethereal.

“Thanks,” I said, mentally urging my own body to calm the fuck down. It was responding in ways to the blond beauty it hadn’t reacted in public since I was a teen.

“You can tip me later.”

“I, uh, I don’t have any cash down here.”

“I was joking,” Rylan said, laughing as she plopped back down.

This woman got me so tongue-tied, I couldn’t even respond.

“You’re allowed anywhere around here?” That’s the genius response I came up with.

“Yep, I am. Most of the senior staff are. As long as we act appropriately, we can do what we want on the grounds. I actually live on property, one of the few long-term employees who does. Tony does too.”

“You don’t own a glamorous hut somewhere?”

This made her laugh. “Another commitment I don’t want to make. A hut, glamorous or not. I like the idea of living here, people coming and going, and my not being tied down to extra commitments.”

I nodded. I didn’t know what the hell was going on in her head, but this girl definitely wanted nothing to do with strings of any kind.

Rylan glanced at me. “I wanted to say I was sorry for earlier—”

“Hey, you dusted me fair and square.”

“That’s not what I meant. I mean Tony. He’s overprotective, but we aren’t ... like that. We don’t—”

“Don’t what? You’re going to have to spell this one out for me.” I turned to see her profile as she gazed at the ocean.

“It’s so pretty here,” she mumbled, not answering me. “I think it’s this exact view that has kept me here all these years. Absolute raw nature, uninhibited, wild and free.”

I listened without commenting. I didn’t know where she was going with this and what it had to do with me, but as a lawyer, I knew sometimes people just had to get things out.

“Florida was so different,” she said. “Commercialized, like a pop-music makeover of an old song. When I got here, it felt like a purer version of home, and now it is my home. Anyway, I keep it simple here. I work, I have a few close friends, and I enjoy nature. Tony’s been sort of like a guardian since we got here. We arrived together at the same time. I was eighteen then, barely legal, and he’d worked in Vegas for a while. He took me under his wing, showed me how to fill out forms and save money. He’s the closest I have to family.”

Licking my lips, I digested what she was telling me. It was hard to reconcile this thoughtful, gorgeous woman as a wet-behind-the ears eighteen-year-old arriving on an island to serve drinks. I couldn’t help but wonder how and why she made the leap, but I didn’t ask. This wasn’t a woman you pressed.

“Anyway, Tony’s had some of his own issues over the years. I’ve been there for him, so he worries about me even more now. It’s not something I encourage, but I can’t get him to stop.”

She was back to making excuses for Tony, and I didn’t play second fiddle to other dudes.

“We’re not involved, though,” she added, looking at me now, her soft eyes betraying her stoic stance.

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