Laura didn’t sleep until Tex arrived.

She sensed him changing places with the surly landscaper, and spent several long moments anticipating the knock on the door before she realized he wasn’t going to.

It was strange to be courted by someone who listened to her refusals, who treated her with respect.

Once she figured out that he planned to stay the night on her doorstep, she fell easily into a deep, restful sleep. Her dreams were of a strange field of tall grass, brightly lit as if by daylight, but the sky had no sun.

The cottage had not been fitted with curtains or blinds, so the rising sun woke her early. She looked at it curiously for several moments, trying to recall the details of the fleeting dream.

Laura dressed in the same sundress she had been wearing the night before, and went out onto the front porch to find a gigantic brown bear that took up not a step, but all the steps, head laying on crossed paws next to a tidy pile of Tex’s clothing topped by his ridiculous hat. He sat up when she came out, moving aside so she could get down the stairs.

He is a fine bear, her wolf told her suggestively.

He is a fine man, she responded with a sigh.

Instead of walking past, she sat down beside him. She ought to be afraid, she thought. Each of his paws was the size of her head, trimmed with sharp claws as long as her fingers.

“My secrets are mine to keep,” she said severely. “I choose who to share them with, not you. I get to decide how to keep myself safe.”

The bear gave a whine, then shifted gracefully down to the form of a man sitting beside her. A gorgeous man.

A gorgeous, very naked man.

And to Laura’s surprise, the gorgeous, naked man did not offer a single excuse. He could have pointed out, rightfully, that Scarlet would probably have figured it out anyway, or that he needed her help to protect her.

All he said was, “It was wrong of me. I am sorry.”

Laura waited, too experienced with men not to expect the ‘but…’

It didn’t come.

“You won’t always be able to protect me,” Laura pointed out.

His sorrowful look cut her to the heart. “I can always try,” he said fiercely. “I couldn’t rest if you weren’t safe.”

Laura picked up his hat, running a finger along the band before setting it on her head. It was big on her, but she had enough hair to hold it up from her eyes.

“I know you meant well,” she conceded. “I’m not used to having someone willing to run to my rescue,” she confessed. “I’m not sure what to do with it.”

“I like you in that hat,” Tex said shyly, with a crooked smile.

Laura tipped it at him, an echo of his own habits. “Pleased ta meetcha,” she drawled.

“I am so glad I met you,” Tex said, all sincerity and chivalry.

Laura gave a laugh that was more snort. “Me, with all of my baggage.”

“Ma’am,” Tex said seriously, “I’m happy to carry all of your baggage.”

Laura tipped forward to kiss him, forgetting that his hat was still on her head. It hit him in the forehead, and he lifted it off her head in one smooth motion, cupping her face with his big, gentle hands.

She had not forgotten that he was naked, however hard she was trying to ignore it. Her whole body tingled to be so close to him, and she put one of her hands on his chest. Fine hair curled over her dark fingers. He felt like the softest leather imaginable, warm in the early sun.

He shivered at her touch and drew her in for another, deeper kiss.

They kissed until they had to break apart for breath, hands exploring over muscles and the planes of their bodies. Tex had his hand up under her sundress, barely touching the wet heat of her entrance, while she just accidentally brushed the attentive member that Tex was sporting. And kept accidentally brushing it.

“Scarlet wants you to take the boat to the mainland, Tex. Travis can’t go because he is fixing the toilet in cottage eight.”

The voice that interrupted them was matter-of-fact and Laura and Tex scrambled apart hastily to find a woman standing in the overgrown path, looking at them with open curiosity. Her salt-and-pepper hair was wild around her face, and her feet were bare beneath a short, flowing sundress.

“Gizelle,” Tex said, strangled. He pulled his hat over his lap. “This is Laura.”

Gizelle stared at Laura. “Your skin is much browner than mine,” she said candidly.

Laura blinked at her unexpected statement, and slowly agreed, “Yes, it is.” Gizelle had pale, freckled skin and Laura couldn’t decide if she looked very young, with her straight, innocent gaze, or very old, with the white that streaked her hair and the unexpected wariness in her expression.

Tex coughed. “Gizelle hasn’t been in human form very long,” he explained, hinting at a deeper story.

Gizelle finally turned her intense stare from Laura to Tex and she felt like she could breathe again. “Scarlet says we need more things before the bonfire tonight, and Travis wants duct tape that isn’t pink. I like the pink duct tape. Chef wants strawberries, twenty pounds if you can get them. What were you doing when I walked up?”

Laura blessed the dark skin that kept the heat of embarrassment from showing. Tex, not so lucky, was scarlet-faced. The blush extended down to his chest, Laura was amused to see.

“I’ll explain it to you later,” Tex promised. He stood up and grabbed his pile of clothing, keeping the hat in place in front of him. “I’ll go grab a quick shower…”

He paused just a few strides down the path. “Do you want to come to the mainland with me?”

Laura had to consider only a moment — escape from the crowded resort in a boat with only Tex? — and she said, “Yes!” exactly as Gizelle primly said, “No, thank you.”

The two women looked at each other, and Gizelle explained, “Scarlet says I shouldn’t, until I stay human when I get frightened. You’ll have a nice trip. The sunlight will be pouring before the ocean gets in.”

“How long will it take you to get ready?” Tex asked Laura.

Laura shrugged. It wasn’t like she spent a lot of time on makeup, and the shower was too chilly to tempt her to stay long in it. She did want a quick bite first, though. “Thirty minutes?”

“You know the staff house by the cliffs? The one closest to the beach?” At Laura’s nod, Tex said, “Meet me there when you’re ready to go.”

Then he left, and once his adorable bare buttcheeks had vanished around the corner, Gizelle turned to Laura.

“Will you explain what you were doing?” she asked directly.

Laura felt her cheeks heat again. “He’s my mate,” she finally said, simply.

“Ah,” Gizelle said knowingly.

Laura braced herself to explain further, but Gizelle tossed her head as if she were scenting the air and said, “He likes you,” before she turned and scampered off.

Probably, her befuddled look was similar to the look Fred gave her when she caught him leaving the buffet. “I’m headed to the mainland today,” she told him. “So don’t worry if you don’t see me around!” Then she was off to grab the quickest food available at the buffet before she went to meet Tex.

Laura wasn’t sure what to expect when she tapped at the door to the staff house, but it definitely wasn’t the cheerful roar of welcome that the staff gave her.

“Come in!” Breck hollered from the kitchen. “Mi castle, es so castle, or something! Can I get you a breakfast beer? Some juice?”

Travis stood at the bottom of the stairs and shouted up, “Tex, your girlfriend is here!” He wandered back into the kitchen to take a plate of eggs from Breck. “It’s supposed to be mi casa, my house.”

“Compared to our last place, this is totally a castle,” Breck retorted. “It’s also one of the only buildings in the place with its own kitchen. Do you want some eggs Miss Smith?”

Bastian, who had answered the door, smiled down at her. “We’re watching last night’s speeches, join us?” He was already wearing his lifeguard’s uniform, the first aid kit strapped to his waist.

Even Graham thawed enough to smile and stand up to remove a pile of questionable literature from the end of the loveseat so she could sit.

Laura did sit, gingerly, and accepted the juice Breck brought her with a flourish.

The Mr. Shifter competition being streamed on the big TV was returning from a promotional break, and the little blonde hostess was standing in front of the red curtains of the little theatre, all her charm turned on. If Laura hadn’t watched her stridently return a perfectly good meal at the restaurant two nights before, she might have believed the charismatic little act.

Mr. India took the stage and flashed a perfect white smile before launching into a well-rehearsed tirade about responsibility to the environment.

“Keep it down,” Breck told Tex, as he stomped down the stairs in his cowboy boots. “This one’s actually coherent.”

“Unlike Mr. Canada, who might have written his speech from a Tim Hortons menu. Maple syrup and donuts, eh?” Travis was clearly unimpressed.

The bachelor banter faded to Laura’s ears at the sight of Tex. Mr. India, in his crisp white shirt, was forgotten.

Cowboys had never done it for her, but there was something about Tex, something that made Mr. India look inconsequential. It was something that made Laura forgive the foolish boots and the big buckle. And the hat was perfect.

“Bring me back some double A batteries, will you, Tex?” Travis indicated an ancient personal tape player.

“I need a new pair of socks,” Breck showed off the hole in his stockinged toe. “And can you grab me copy of the latest People magazine?”

“A new septic system would be great,” Travis quipped. “I don’t know how this one hasn’t failed yet.”

“We’ve only got a few more days,” Tex reminded them calmly. “Tonight are the final awards, we just have to get through them, and then the beach party, and almost everyone will be leaving tomorrow on the charter.”

“I don’t know if the water system is going to last that long,” Travis said. His golden skin couldn’t hide the dark circles under his eyes. As early as it was, Laura suspected he had been up late the night before and already been hard at work that morning.

“I wish I was going,” he added longingly. “But I know if I step foot off the island, there won’t be a working generator in the place.”

“I could probably fix a generator,” Breck told him. “But I am not touching the toilets, so you aren’t allowed to go.”

“If people wouldn’t keep flushing whatever the hell they are flushing, they’d all work just fine,” Travis stormed. “Seriously, who flushes paper towels?”

“Let’s get out of here before Travis goes off on a rant about the crappy electrical system that the original builders put in,” Tex suggested at Laura’s elbow.

“Lucky dog!” Breck called after them.

The dock at the south end of the beach was simple and old, which also described the boat that waited for them. It had two outboards, one tipped up out of the water. While the boat was still moored and Laura was getting comfortable in her seat, Tex drew the other up and put the dry one into service. “Travis says to switch them every time we use them,” he explained to Laura’s quizzical look. “Says it prolongs their life.”

“Why are there two?” Laura asked.

“Emergency, mostly, but also speed. It’s a good hour to get to the mainland, a good hour back, and it’s open water. You can run both if you’re in a hurry, but it’s really loud that way, and we’re in no rush.”

One engine sounded plenty loud to Laura; it drowned out easy conversation as it was.

The day was beautiful; Gizelle’s lyrical description of pouring sunshine seemed incredibly accurate. The ocean glittered under the rays, and twice they saw pods of whales in the distance, flipping tails and blowing spouts. Laura would not have wanted to see them closer.

“Otter!” Tex pointed out. A small dark head swam beside them for a short while, but they quickly outstripped it. “You don’t often see just one of them,” Tex observed.

Laura let her hand trail in the sparkling waves, and marveled at the ocean. It was incredibly clear, and at first, they could see down through turquoise layers to the sand and reef below, but it fell away to unspeakably dark depths very quickly.

There was something comfortable about the journey; the rocking of the boat was alarming at first, but settled into a soothing, mesmerizing pattern. They felt like a part of it, like they fit, together, into an interlocking destiny.

Turning to look behind them, Laura watch the island shrink. Roofs and landmarks that already felt like home disappeared into the dark emerald jungle that surrounded it, and eventually even that dissolved into the waves of the ocean. It was an odd feeling of loss when it was finally impossible to make out. But by that time, the mainland was in sight, stretching across the eastern horizon like an invitation.

Tex took the boat into a protected little jetty, to a dock so rickety it made the Shifting Sands dock look new and modern. The mix of boats already there ranged from shining yachts to tiny rowboats with ancient outboards bungee-corded onto them.

“Can we just leave the boat here?” Laura asked, looking around. The village they’d landed at was a curious mix, the kind of abject poverty she’d expect from a third world nation directly next to a crisp tourist cart with a menu in English, German, and Japanese.

“It’s perfectly safe,” Tex assured her. “They know us here, and no one will risk Scarlet’s wrath by stealing anything. That’s the sort of thing that only happens once...”

He helped her up onto the dock, which swayed under their steps, and laughed and held her up when Laura’s sea legs caught her by surprise. “It didn’t feel like that long of a ride,” she laughed.

“We’ll put our order in at Lee’s and go have lunch and a cold drink while they get it together,” Tex suggested, tucking her arm into his and strolling to solid ground.

Lee’s seemed to be a poorly marked shack from the outside, but was a modern grocery on the inside, stacked to the low ceiling with Spanish-marked goods and more bottled water than Laura had seen in her life. Tex went straight to the back, where a grizzled little Asian man took their order.

“Not sure I can get that many bottles together,” Lee said, shaking his head over the wine order. “But I’ll ask Lita to run up to the In and Out and see what they have.”

Tex tipped his hat to him. “My thanks, sir.”

“Anytime, Cowboy. Take your beautiful young lady here over to the market for a while and come back late afternoon. We’ll have your boat loaded by four.”

Tex shook his hand.

“Give my regards to Ms. Scarlet,” Lee added with a wink.

“Always,” Tex agreed.

“They know Scarlet here?” Laura observed. “I didn’t think she left the island.”

“I’ve stopped being surprised by anything to do with Scarlet,” Tex said.

“Will we be able to get back before dark?” Laura asked with sudden concern. She didn’t like the idea of boating out into darkness without being able to see where they were going. She was honestly a little unnerved by the thought of boating on the open ocean altogether, but she didn’t want to admit that to Tex.

“When Lee says four, that means four on the dot, so we’ll have a little over an hour to get back before sunset. Should be fine.”

The reassurance was all Laura needed to enjoy herself.

They ate lunch at a place on the outskirts of the village that was mostly a leaning porch and a hut, but it served ice cold colas in glass bottles and plates piled with rice, beans, plantains, a salsa Tex introduced as picadillo, something that was almost coleslaw but not quite, and a thigh of spicy grilled chicken.

A skinny stray dog made itself at home underneath their table, and Laura fed it the last of her rice when she was too full for the last few mouthfuls.

There was something about the hum of the ocean and the insects, the cries of toucans in the treetops. The fruity smell of warm jungle was comfortable, and the hum of conversation that Laura didn’t understand somehow didn’t make her feel excluded. Everyone flashed wide, sincere smiles at her, eyes almost crinkled shut in their enthusiasm.

Laura had stuffed herself full, and the stray dog was thumping it’s grateful tail on her foot when Tex stood up and took her hand. “Let’s go see the market.”

The market proved to be a crooked row just off the beach of tents and cars with their back hatches open, an informal collection of local merchants selling an array of colorful goods. Scarves fluttered in the breeze, and opportunistic sellers offered overpriced suntan lotion and bottled water next to hand-carved masks and sculptures.

Tex stepped knowingly into a slightly more permanent booth, built of weathered plywood on two sides, with a metal roof over tables heaped with open bins of spices.

“I’ve got a shopping list from Chef,” he said apologetically. “I thought I’d get it out of the way first.”

“Don’t mind me,” Laura said, and Tex entered heated negotiations for quantities of spice in the pounds.

Laura wandered away to let him haggle, stroking silky sarongs hung in wild-colored clusters at the edge of the next booth.

“Real silk,” the vendor tried to tempt her.

Laura stopped touching them and moved on with an apologetic smile and shrug. The vendor moved on to the tourist behind her, launching at once into a friendly explanation of the dying technique.

Laura glanced to find that Tex and the spice seller were still deep in discussion, and wandered to the next booth.

It had a collection of carnival masks, brilliantly painted and finely detailed. She was used to masks that relied on the natural color of the wood, but these were entirely covered in a rainbow of paint, bright animal markings, with tiny toucans and many-hued parrots added in relief along the edges. An empty-eyed wildcat with a tiny emerald island painted on its forehead caught Laura’s attention.

“Hand-carved by my uncle, painted by my sister,” the seller said with an ingratiating smile. “A special price for you.”

Laura touched it gingerly, drawn to it but skeptical of the sales pitch. The price tag was on the high end of reasonable, but even reasonable was out of her price range.

She pulled her fingers back, sobering to remember that she was going to need every penny she had in the event she needed to flee further. The idea of staying at Shifting Sands was undeniably appealing, but part of her still doubted her safety there. There had been two attempts on her life, and although Scarlet was skeptical that it was the mob, Laura couldn’t imagine what else it might be.

And she couldn’t fathom the idea of someone wanting to hurt Jenny.

She shook her head at the hopeful seller, and walked on, past rows of magnets and souvenirs that had COSTA RICA written in all caps, and, almost as frequently, “Pura Vida,” the Costa Rican motto that meant “pure life.”

She was looking at carved wooden keychains when she glanced around and saw a fit, dark-haired young man in obviously American clothing talking to the seller in the next booth. He looked shifty, with his close-mouthed smile and mirrored sunglasses. Did she imagine the words “Shifting Sands” at the edge of her hearing? She ducked her head and turned away from them. How far would she have to run to get away from the cartel? And how would she do it with the paltry money she had?

She hurried back to where Tex, a heavy bag of spices already purchased, was haggling for socks and double A batteries with a seller out of the back of his car.

A glance back showed the young man buying a keychain, laughing easily. He looked like a tourist, not like a hitman. Laura shook her head and steadied her breath.

There was no point in becoming paranoid.

She greeted Tex with a smile that was first forced, then irresistible in return for his delighted grin. Something about his boyish charm drove away her dark musings, and she resolved not to return to them until they were back on the island. She would enjoy this excursion.

The vendor, having lost Tex’s attention, made a valiant effort to get it back. “Both for twenty-five hundred colon, perhaps?”

Tex looked back at him blankly, their negotiations clearly forgotten. “Sure,” he laughed with a shrug.

Laura hoped she hadn’t distracted him into a terrible price.

Money exchanged, Tex took Laura’s hand and they walked on, pausing to look at the items for sale.

Tex convinced her to model ridiculous gemstone sunglasses from one table. Laura got him back by convincing him to try on a rainbow sombrero.

“I love it,” she teased, hiding his cowboy hat behind her back. “It’s your fabulous new look. Much better than the cowboy hat!”

Tex laughed at her, reaching for his own hat, but Laura giggled and held it away.

Tex tossed the sombrero back onto the display and made a tackle for Laura, tickling her until she released the hat, and then refused to let go of her without a kiss, which she willingly gave him.

When she glanced back towards the market, she thought she saw the man with the mirrored sunglasses, but he disappeared back into the crowd before she could be sure.