Page 63 of A Quick Stop in Paradise

Ryan smiled slyly. “Well, you mademelike climbing, so fair’s fair.”

She certainly had gotten more comfortable flirting with a girl. Not that she’d ever left anything to be desired.

She hung out at the bar with me and Oscar for a while, while I flitted between her and the occasional customer. Laura finished cleaning the back, and true to my word, I pretended not to see anything as she went and dipped her feet in the pool with a drink. Allison got back to her shift, only narrowly remembering in time to not be late back from her break, and once Stella and Oscar were both in the pool, Ryan leaned across the counter to speak quietly to me.

“Let’s not… rush to the gym after your shift,” she said quietly. “We could spend a little time at your place first. Help you decompress from your shift.”

I bit my lip through a smile. “You want to stare at my stomach some more, is what you mean.”

She rolled her eyes, smiling drily to herself. “Planning to do a lot more than stare. Hey, just saying, it’s an offer. I’ll be back at your place enjoying the terrace.”

“Oh, I’m accepting. I have something fun in mind. I’ll let you think about that.”

Which was a great thing to have in my mind, except that the timing wasn’t great, because it was still burning hot in the front of my mind when I got a visit from the last person I wanted to see when I was thinking about having hot, passionate sex with Ryan.

“You’re Brooklyn, right?” the woman said, leaning against the edge of the bar, her expression furrowed. Two women, both probably around fifty, both of them looking uncomfortably like Ryan.

“I understand I’m very popular lately,” I said lightly. “Can I get you girls something to drink?”

The other woman, the taller, thin one with a sun hat and a printed maxi dress, shook her head. “No, that won’t be necessary,” she said. “I’d like to talk to you about Ryan. Do you know where she is?”

At my home waiting for me to get back and fuck her brains out.As much as I desperately wanted to see their reactions if I said so, I wisely kept it to myself. “If I did, I wouldn’t tell it to just anyone.”

The shorter one, who looked a bit younger with rounder features and a softer build, leaned over the bar. “I’m her mother. Elizabeth. This is my sister Helena.”

I couldn’t help it. “Ah, the one who complained to my manager about me.”

Helena pursed her lips like she’d sucked on a lemon. Elizabeth gave her a look. “You lodged a complaint about her?”

“She’s sheltering your daughter somewhere she won’t tell you. Isn’t that literally a crime? Lodging a complaint seems pedestrian.”

“Ryan is very much an adult,” I said, and apparently for this one narrow moment, Elizabeth was on my side, because she made a face.

“I’d rather she be sheltered than not if she’s not staying here.”

Helena ignored her, looking at me. “I don’t want the police to get involved,” she said. “And I don’t want you to lose your job over this. We’re her family. I’m afraid you’ll have to let us know.”

I smiled at her, folding my arms on the counter. “I’m afraid you’ll have to pound sand.”

Helena clearly had never been spoken back to in her life, because her jaw dropped. I gestured around.

“It’s a beach resort. You’ll have no trouble finding sand to pound.”

“Do you have any idea what you’re doing?” she said. Elizabeth put a hand to her forehead.

“Helena, please calm down. I’m stressed too. She’smydaughter. But we can’t call the police to arrest a bartender over it.”

“She’s taken my niece and is hiding her.”

“Feel free to complain to my manager again,” I said. “She gave me a day off last time you did. I could use a Mai Tai at a sunset beach club.”

Helena leaned over the counter, curling her hands into fists. She looked like a poster for stroke risk, and I just hoped there were enough witnesses around to attest that I didn’t touch her if she up and dropped dead on the spot. “Youcannotkeep hiding her. Youaregoing to face consequences for this.”

She turned and stormed away before I could say anything to make the situation worse, and Elizabeth looked back after her, sighing hard before she turned back to me. “I’m sorry. We’re just all very stressed right now.”

“From what I understand of the situation, it actually seems pretty easy to get Ryan back,” I said lightly. “Admitting you were wrong is only hard for a second.”

She went through a lot of emotions—clearly not used to admitting she was wrong, but she seemed to have a better attitude about it than her sister, at least, which was a hell of a low bar. Finally, she said, “Can you tell her for me?” she said. “That I’m sorry I made her feel this way, and that I want to talk to her? To make things better?”

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