Page 11 of Doubly Bound

Chapter 3

“Okay, ladies, this vacation is always about sister time first, but, and I mean this with nothing but love for both of you, we should not get in each other’s way either. So, if you all find someone you might want to get to know a bit better—”

“OMG, Ginger, she’s gonna give us the sex talk again,” Ani said, followed by puking sounds.

“Really?” Sage rolled her eyes at the two younger women. “No, I am not giving the sex talk again. However, if you find yourself engaging in some consensual boinking, please remember to ask your partner, or partners for those of us into double the fun.” She winked at both her siblings. “Look, if they are currently not involved in a relationship, have condoms, and are free of STDs—”

“So romantic!” Ani snorted.

“It’s not about romance. It’s about safety. And, for the love of fuck, please make sure you send a text to let us know you are safe! I need to know you haven’t been kidnapped, or drowned, or tied up—”

“Unless it’s consensual!”

“Or left for dead on a beach somewhere,” she continued, ignoring Ani’s snark. “Do not make me call the police this trip!”

“It was only the one time,” Ginger whispered.

“Well, once was enough.” Sage glared at Ani, the resident troublemaker. Who knew such a seemingly nerdy woman could get into so much trouble? Sigh.

Okay, sister business was all good and settled. She straightened her shoulders and headed out of the lobby doors. Next stop, party central.

Sage called on her inner sassy-self-confident-boss-lady-super-tude for support. Hells yeah, she needed that extra boost tonight. Something was brewing. She felt it tingling along her skin. Tasted it in the air. Like ozone and electricity.

She took her sisters by their arms. Tonight was night one of her three-day-fun-in-the-sun-and-sand party weekend with the girls! She was going to let her hair down, shake her groove thang, and maybe get herself a little somethin’ somethin’ before the night was over.

“Dayum!” Sage whooped as the three of them entered the resort bar. “Moongate Island Tiki Lounge is the place to be!”

And it was! Hot damn. Even she couldn’t have predicted the effect the moonlight, sea breeze, and awesome reggae beat of the live band would have on her. Immediately, all the stress she’d been carrying around seemed to disappear.

“Look at all these hot guys. Eeeeeek!” Ani bit her lip.

“Go on girl, get it!” She winked at her baby sister.

Out of the three of them, Ani was the one forever trying to prove herself. Competition was good, of course, but it could make you lose sight of what was important. She often worried about the littlest Freeman, but this was supposed to be a fun trip.

If anyone needed to let loose, it was her sister. Ani was like a ticking time bomb. Especially after her company’s latest environmental disaster went public a month ago. She was a topnotch PR rep, but even she could not help EarthOil recover from that global tragedy that could have apparently been avoided had her company’s CEO simply followed the guidelines set forth by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

Sage understood all about having a high pressure job, which was why she’d started this whole annual sister trip a few years back. Even though they lived fairly close to one another, it was tough to get together during the regular year. These mini vacays allowed them to reaffirm their sisterly bonds. Still, they’d never gone anywhere like this.

“Sage?” asked Ani, baby blues bugging out of her head as she took in a pair of long, tall cowboy types. “Where did you find this place again?”

“Uh…” Sage was having trouble speaking.

Not ten feet away was an enormous, drop dead gorgeous, cover model worthy man, and he was openly staring at her from his perch at the gleaming bar. What a coincidence. That was exactly where she was headed.

She closed her mouth before she drooled, realizing it had opened of its own volition.

Holy hotness.

She recognized the stranger as one of the men she’d noticed on the beach earlier that day. Men like that hardly ever paid attention to women like her, but he seemed to be doing nothing but.

She glanced around, but nope, there was no one else there. His eyes were glued to her. Swallowing down the lump of nerves that stuck in her throat, she pretended not to notice him. But come on, he had to be seven feet tall.

How could she not notice?

Oh my, she sighed. His muscles had muscles. He was outrageously cute. Sandy-colored hair with thick, platinum highlights reached his chin in the front, but she could tell it was cut short in the back. For some reason that wild, surfer-dude look reminded her of a mane. Like a lion’s but different. His eyes were light blue. She could tell the color from the short distance, and the fact they seemed to glow in the dimly lit space.

“Um, Ginger?”

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