Page 15 of Kidnapped from the Paradise Resort

Now all she had to do was find the way to the resort herself.

That shouldn’t be too hard, she reassured herself. Pulling the small folding map out of her purse, she glanced at the instructions and the route—which was clearly marked in colorful lines. It shouldn’t take more than five minutes to walk to the Fem Lovely, which was located very close to the Shuttle Docking Area. In fact, their proximity to the shuttle was one of their selling points.

Feeling confident and much less uncomfortable now that she’d gotten away from J’orn, Kara strolled down the broad white sidewalk that led into the city. As she walked, she looked around her—there was a lot to see.

There were plenty of Paradisians with their shiny gold skin gleaming in the sunshine. The sky was a pale purple and the neatly trimmed grass was turquoise instead of green.

This was obviously a tourist area, Kara thought, because she saw lots of little shops selling souvenirs and candy and other eatables—some of which looked quite exotic. There were also plenty of street vendors. She noticed several large alien males strolling through the crowds, hawking various wares. The ones she noticed in particular had strings of flower necklaces hanging from their arms.

The necklaces, all made of exotic blue and purple and pink and orange blooms, reminded her of the leis you sometimes saw in Hawaii. Not that she’d ever been, but that was that kind of tropical paradise vibe she got from the whole planet so far.

She wandered into a little shop and bought herself a cup of some kind of frozen dessert that tasted like exotic fruit sorbet. It was something like a cross between mango and lychee with a twist of lime. The flavor was very strong and had a faint bittersweet aftertaste that lingered pleasantly on the back of her tongue.

Kara continued on her way, scooping up the alien sorbet with the tiny wooden spoon. She was headed in the general direction of her resort, but she was also interested in people-watching. And there were plenty of people to watch here on Paradise Prime.

She saw one of the alien males selling flower necklaces approach a couple of Paradisians. The male Paradisian stopped to bargain with the necklace vendor and after a moment they seemed to reach an agreement. The Paradisian gave him a cred chip and received a lovely necklace made of blood-red flowers in return.

He then turned to the female Paradisian, who must be either his wife or his girlfriend, and draped the flower necklace over her head.

She exclaimed in excitement and gratitude—Kara wasn’t close enough to hear exactly what she was saying but she could hear the tone of her voice and see the look on her shiny gold face and the happiness in all three of her eyes.

Aww, how sweet,she thought and felt a surge of longing. She didn’t miss Kevin one bit—she was glad to be rid of her ex-husband. But shedidmiss having someone to hold hands with as she strolled down the street and to cuddle with at night.

You should have stayed with J’orn then—he would have been happy to cuddle you,whispered a little voice in her head.

Kara pushed the thought away. Aside from the fact that he used to work under her, it would be wrong to get with the big Kindred. He was simply too young for her.

Of course, if their sexes had been reversed, it would have been no big deal—younger women dated older men all the time. But it never worked out when it was an older woman with a younger man. She’d watched enough celebrity gossip shows to know how that kind of relationship went. The pair would be happy at first but the minute the woman started showing even the tiniest signs of aging, the man would leave her for someone his own age or even younger. He would?—

Her thoughts were cut off abruptly because the Paradisian couple who had just purchased the flower necklace were doing something weird. The man was on his knees before the woman. Was he going to propose? Or maybe tie her shoe? But no, she had on sandals. So what?—?

Her question was answered when she saw the Paradisian man push up the long skirt of his date to expose her panties—which were bright green. Leaning forward, he began kissing her passionately between her thighs. The flower necklace vendor, who was still standing by, nodded approvingly and moved on to try and sell another couple a necklace.

Kara tried not to watch as the male Paradisian continued to kiss and rub his cheek against his date’s panties. The woman Paradisian didn’t seem to have a problem with it—in fact, she was lovingly running her fingers through his metallic copper hair.

Kara was waiting to see if a policeman—or a “Peace Keeper” as they apparently called them here on Paradise Prime—would come and arrest the couple for public indecency. But though a few people stopped to look, nobody complained or seemed to think their behavior was anything out of the ordinary.

Is this normal here? Do people just start kissing each other on their private areas in public,Kara wondered?

She looked around and saw a few other Paradisian couples doing the same thing. In most cases, it was the man on his knees kissing the female’s panties. But there was at least one woman who was passionately kissing the front of her husband’s pants. And more importantly, nobody was calling the cops or getting arrested. So itmustbe a local custom, Kara decided.

She was about to continue on her way to the Fem Lovely Resort when one of the flower necklace vendors—a Paradisian with shiny gold skin and a bright green third eye in his forehead—approached her.

“Lovely lady,” he began, sounding vaguely Italian for some reason—was something wrong with her Translation Bacteria? “Lovely lady, most beauteous lady ever I see! Would you like to purchase a gorgeous neck decoration? Made of freshLoolaBlooms—so pretty and the smell so good that all the mans will want you!”

“Er, how much?” Kara asked. She loved fresh flowers and the alien blooms hanging over his armdidgive off an enchanting fragrance.

He named a price that was considerably more than the sorbet she’d had and Kara shook her head regretfully. She had a budget—even on vacation—and she wasn’t going to blow it all on flowers, no matter how much she liked them.

“I’m sorry—that’s too much for me,” she said and started to move on.

“Wait!” The vendor stepped out in front of her again. “Wait—you no go, lovely lady! These are special courtship blossoms. You buy them and you sure to get a man pretty quick!”

“I don’tneeda man,” Kara said firmly. She was beginning to get annoyed with his persistence. She hoped he wasn’t one of those vendors that would chase you down the street, shouting and demanding that you buy whatever it was they were selling. That would be a bad start to her solo vacation.

“You don’t need no man? Oh, my—buteverylovely lady needs a man to pleasure her and keep her company on the long lonely nights! I tell you what, I give you one for good luck—what do you say?”

“You’llgiveme one?” Kara looked at him uncertainly.

---