Page 2 of Beach Reads

The other women at the table laughed like I’d said something funny. “Virgin? It’s way too late for that,” Purple Hair said teasingly. “What’s your name, barkeep?”

“Colin.”

“Hi Colin. I’m Evie. These are my friends Dawn and Emma,” she pointed to each one in turn, then put her arm across the shoulders of my girl. “And this is my little sister, Teresa.”

“Nice to meet you all, are you gals here to celebrate something?”

“It’s Evie’s fiftieth birthday,” Emma responded. “We’re here for a girls’ weekend.”

“Well, happy birthday. And thank you for choosing the Hamilton Keys Resort for your celebration trip.”

I headed back to the bar to mix up their margaritas and send their food order to the kitchen. I could feel the ladies watching me as I worked. When I returned a few minutes later with their drinks, the birthday girl pounced.

“So, Colin,” she drawled. “My sister hasn’t had a vacation in many years. She was hoping someone could show her around the resort.”

“No I wasn’t,” she protested. Teresa shot me a wry smile. “Ignore these old ladies.”

“I would be happy to show you around. I get off in an hour.”

Evie giggled and whispered something to her sister that I could swear was, “Say yes so you can get off too.” It was nice to know the sister was on the same page as me.

I pointed at Teresa. “Don’t disappear.”

Then I moved back to the bar while I was still ahead, although my eyes kept going to Teresa every few minutes. She was watching me too, even though she tried to pretend otherwise. The women were halfway through their second pitcher of drinks when Javier, the nighttime bartender, arrived.

“How’s it going, Boss?” he asked me. “Any problems?”

I knew he thought it was weird that as the owner of the resort I insisted on scheduling myself for shifts at the bar. God knows I had enough money to never work another day in my life. But I wasn’t the type of guy who sat around in his big office bossing people around. The best way for me to understand the customer experience was to be out among them, so I tried to do a few customer service shifts throughout the resort each month. Incognito, of course. Every once in a while someone recognized me from the local tabloids or one of those “World’s Sexiest Billionaires” articles, but for the most part, it was easy for me to just blend in if I was dressed casually.

“Awesome.” I nodded to the table where my girl sat. “Keep an eye on that group. They’re drinking fast.”

Except for Teresa, that is. She was still sipping at her first glass, seeming to prefer water to the strong margaritas her sister and their other friends were drinking like it was their last day on Earth. They’d all be feeling that later. I knew they were only a few years younger than me, and at our age, we couldn’t drink all day and party all night anymore.

I headed towards the group, laser focused on Teresa. I gave her my most charming smile. “You ready for that tour now?”

I grabbed her hand to help her out of the chair, and I felt a current of awareness run up my arm like I’d grabbed a live wire. Teresa gasped, her eyes going to where my hand touched hers as if she was trying to figure out what was going on.

“Go on Teri Bear,” her sister slurred. “We’ll see you at dinner. Or not.”

The group cackled in the way that only drunk women could do. Teresa rolled her eyes, then turned to me.

“I only have an hour.”

“Then we’d better walk fast,” I replied.

Teresa

I followed Colin out of the restaurant, silently cursing my sister. I should have expected her to pull something like this after our conversation earlier today. I’d flown down from New York while Evie and her friends came in from Virginia, all of us meeting at the airport to take a shuttle over to the resort.

It was a beautiful place on the beach, light and airy, with several restaurants and bars, and every outdoor activity you could think of. I had a bad feeling I was going to spend the entire weekend saying ‘no’ to my sister and her wild schemes. I mean, she was older than me and she wanted to go ziplining? No thank you. Although based on what I had seen so far, there was a good chance my sister and her friends would be too drunk the whole trip to do much of anything.

After arriving this afternoon, we had all gotten settled into our cabana. It was large and beautiful, with tile floors, comfortable furniture, and a Spanish theme that was no doubt a nod to the early settlers of Florida. We had two bedrooms, one on either side of the spacious common area, each with two queen beds. Emma and Dawn took one bedroom, and Evie and I took the other. The cabana also had a bathroom that was larger than my entire apartment in New York City, and a private patio with lounge chairs and a jacuzzi. It really was a lovely set-up.

The minute the bedroom door had closed behind us Evie announced, “You need to get laid.”

I looked up from unpacking my suitcase. “Huh?”

“Promise me that you’ll try to get laid this weekend.”