Page 41 of Poseidon's Island Flower

I couldn’t promise Cy we could hang out the next few days because I had to work. My job hours varied. I could go in early in the morning, but if the rooms were overly messy, and I had to do extra laundry, I couldn’t see him until late in the evening. But I wanted more than anything to spend more time with this mysterious person, and if I could have taken a few days off, I would have.

It was going to be so awkward when Cy and Zeus saw us at the door when it is time to clean their room tomorrow. I crossed my fingers that they decided to go to the pool or do an excursion when it was time to clean their room.

But to my surprise, the next morning, I arrived at work, and our boss, Eric, was standing there with his arms crossed. The hospitality committee was supposed to be bright and cheery, but not when it came to their own employees.

“You and Candice are off for the month,” he said. “You both haven’t taken vacations or sick days in nearly eight years, and we’ve been audited. If you don’t take them, we’ll get fined. It starts immediately. They are all paid days, so get out of here.”

Candice jumped for joy, screaming, “Thank you, sweet baby Jesus!” She let go of her mop and broom, and I felt the vibration as they hit the floor.

“Dramatic one, isn’t she?” Eric drawled and waved two of his fingers at two women who stepped up in front of the counter in the office. Both were slender, wearing a far smaller uniform than I wore, and one had gorgeous pink hair and the other aquamarine. It looked eerily natural because their eyes and eyebrows matched just the same.

“This is Orabelle and Kelby. They will take over your shift until you return.” Kelby, the one with aquamarine hair, cupped her hand and whispered to the other. They giggled and did a weird form of curtsy but fell over each other and began laughing loudly.

Eric pinched his nose and swore under his breath. “Ladies, go on. You have a lot to do.”

We were all dismissed, and Candice ran to her car excitedly. “Can you believe our luck? No work for an entire month? I don’t know what I am going to do with myself!” She twirled in her uniform and unlocked her car. “But I bet I know what you are gonna do!” She turned her back and made kissing noises while crossing her arms and rubbing her body sensually.

“Don’t you think it’s weird?” I interrupted her craziness. “Those girls, did they hire them just to replace us for a month? They don’t normally do that.”

Candice shrugged. “I don’t know, maybe they were going to get fined heavily and took whoever they could get. They don’t normally like the funky hair dye, though.”

No, they didn’t. In fact, it was part of the dress code.

“Then why hire them? Or make them change their hair? And why now? Did you see anyone that looked like an auditor and not a tourist?”

Candice pursed her lips, slamming the car door she opened. “Lani, you really gonna question this? The universe?” She looked to the sky. “You’ve been dealt a shitty hand in life.”

I let out a heavy breath, my feet crunching through the unpaved, gravel employee parking lot. I didn’t think my life was that bad. I had my health; I had Koma.

“You are so saintly, Nini.” Candice rounded the car and flung her arms around my neck. Her short, skinny stature had her standing on her tiptoes. Her face was buried in my breasts, and she laughed as she rubbed her face deeply into them. “You have done so much for Koma, so much for the house you live in. Don’t you deserve a break? I swear when your eyes went all wonky and changed from brown to green and blue, I thought you were having a stroke! You work too hard! Besides, don’t you want to go out with your shy whittle man?” She poked my chest.

“He isn’t little.” I shoved her. Cy was tall, and the way the back of my hand brushed over his thigh last night, he certainly wasn’t small anywhere else.

Cue the debauchery.

“This is the universe telling you to go for it. You don’t know how long he will be here, you got to be like Ariel and make him fall in love with you in like, three days!” Candice held out three of her fingers.

Her face lit up with excitement, her eyes sparkling with the idea that it was so simple to have Cy fall in love with me. People don’t fall in love in less than a month, which seemed crazy, that was only for fairytales and books.

I rolled my eyes. “He isn’t leaving in three days.”

“No.” she shook her head thoughtfully. “But it could happen in about a month. Especially if he is the one.” She wiggled her eyebrows. “Give him something worth staying for, or better yet, have him take you with him to wherever he goes. He likes the ocean like you do, Lani. He can’t live far from it.”

“But what about you,” I countered. “If, and I am saying if, this works out, which it may not.” Candice glared at me. “And he lives somewhere else. What about you? I can’t leave you here, Candice. Not at this resort to nowhere.”

Candice raised an eyebrow, her fists sitting on her hips in mock fierceness. She looked more like a kitten with itty bitty claws.

“Me? You are worried about me? Honey, I can get a job anywhere, got a friend out in Vegas that needs a server, and it pays way more than this gig. Free room and board. With that, I can go back to school and really do something.”

“Then why stay here? If you had that opportunity to go to school, why?”

Candice stomped her foot. “Because I love you, Nini. You are my bestie, and I won’t leave you here alone without your brother. If that house was big enough, I would have moved in. I just can’t sleep in the same bed as you. That tentacle dick scares me.”

I held Candice close, feeling the tenderness of her tiny frame in my arms. She pulled away and wiped a tear from her eye. “Aright, enough of that emotional stuff. I’m going home to take a nap. Go call Prince Eric… Oh wait, King Triton, and see if he will go on a date with you.” She shook her head as she opened the door. “That is some weird ass backwards chivalry shit but whatever floats your tits.”

Chapter Fourteen

Poseidon

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