Tara slept better than she had in a long time and woke up early even though there was nothing official planned until after lunch. There were a few text messages on her phone from her dad.

“Missed you after the ceremony. Guess you went to bed early. Do you want to do breakfast or lunch tomorrow?”

She’d already explained her absence when she’d bumped into him at the door last night so she replied to the second half instead. “Lunch. Going to take a relaxing morning to myself.” She got dressed and made her way through the silent halls back to Remy’s room.

He answered the knock at his door in the bathrobe provided by the resort and a pair of sweat pants. Tara greeted him with a quick kiss and slipped inside with a glance over her shoulder. “Good morning,” he said, shutting the door.

“Yes, it is. My dad wants to have lunch today but otherwise I don’t think he’ll bother me.” She kicked off her shoes and dropped her sweater on the chair.

He smiled. “You’re obviously not a neat freak.”

She looked back at the shoes and sweater. “Not really. Are you?”

“Only when I travel. I don’t want to be embarrassed when housekeeping comes in.”

“Good. I dated a neat freak for a while and I drove him up the wall. I really try, but…” She shrugged.

“No explanation needed.”

“Did I wake you?”

“No, I just finished shaving. Did you want breakfast?”

“Yes, please.”

They went over the room service menu and he phoned down their order. They tucked into bed together to wait. He’d opened the curtains and they could see the grey sky and the tips of the trees from where they sat.

“Were you really afraid I’d reject you?” Tara said as she snuggled against his side. His arm felt nice draped over her shoulder.

“I’m not rich and your father hates me. I had no idea what he’d tell you about me, I had no idea of you’d believe his stories, and I had know idea if you would care about the wealth difference.”

“Well, it was a bit of a whirlwind romance so I can understand your concern, but no, I don’t really care about the money.”

“You say that, but you might. I live in a little apartment, I rarely eat out, I only buy new clothes when the old ones wear out. Honestly, this trip is going to put a huge dent in my savings account – huge. I’ll be living lean for months after this.”

She laughed. “I know, I get to eat out wherever I want, whenever I want, and buy anything I want without thinking about it, but the money isn’t really mine. For the most part I don’t touch it, even though Dad says I don’t have to worry about how much I spend.”

“Living on my kind of budget will be a big adjustment, and it’ll be even worse if I’m supporting the both of us.”

“Why would you need to support me?”

He blushed. “Ah, I don’t actually know what you do for a living.”

She kissed his cheek. “It never came up, did it? We were too busy talking jazz and politics. I’m trained in coding, app design, web design, that sort of thing. I take freelance jobs to stay busy because Dad doesn’t really want me working and it’s a ‘my house my rules’ sort of situation right now.”

“I can get you a good job with a great company if you move to New Orleans,” he said. “Tandell Corporations would love you.”

“See. You won’t have to support me. And if I’m helping you with the rent, you’ll have more money for other things.”

“Here we are talking about moving in together and we’ve hardly even discussed being in love!”

There was a knock at the door and Tara said, “Please tell me that’s breakfast.”

“I hope so. Be right back.”

They moved to the couch with their plates. As they ate, Remy said, “So, what did your dad say about me?”

“He blames you from some business deal with the Tandells going south.”

“That? Believe me, I had very little to do with that. Your father thought Brock was more like him and less like you – an arrogant, old-money, business man who looked down his nose at the common man. As I understand it, your father made some comments to Brock along the lines that his money alone gave him the right to challenge his new Chief – me. He didn’t realize that Brock and I grew up together and that Brock had seconded my claim.”

“Wow. So, Brock was insulted and shut down the business deal?”

“Brock is not one to let the personal get in the way of business. The deal was losing him money. The insult was just bad timing, or the nail in the coffin, however you want to view it.”

“You don’t meddle in Brock’s affairs?”

“If Brock isn’t putting my clan at risk there is no reason for me to meddle – and a business deal with an aging Chief in another corner of the country isn’t a risk to me or my clan.”

“You sound like an honorable leader. My father likes to meddle.”

“I’m thinking there are a lot of good reasons for your father to not know about us sleeping together. Or being involved together.”

“You’re right. I don’t like it, but you’re right. I don’t need to deal with the conference and him at the same time.”

“Does it bother you how quickly this all happened?”

She shook her head. “For one thing, our bears seem to be quite all right with this whole situation.”

“Yes, they certainly are.”

“And if I had a problem, I wouldn’t have slept with you last night.”

“So that wasn’t a one-night-stand?”

“Not at all. Are you done breakfast?”

“I think so.”

“Then why don’t we crawl into bed? I have a few hours before I’m needed anywhere.”

Tara really disliked the hotel beds. The mattresses were too hard. The blankets were thick and lumpy and while they were certainly warm enough, they were not comfortable and familiar like hers back home. The sheets were the worst of it though. They were good quality, sure, but they were stiff and made crinkly paper noises when she folded them back or tried to snuggle in them. But this time, crawling into bed with Remy, she didn’t even notice the crinkling.

They crawled in dressed, well, half-dressed in Remy’s case, and pulled the covers, as uncomfortable as they might be, up to their shoulders. They snuggled in close, their legs tangling together, their noses almost touching.

He brushed her hair back from her face with his finger, she traced the line of his cheek bone with hers. They were both smiling. The passion and need of the night before had lessened with their first coupling and now there was time to explore, to be slowly intimate.

They ran their fingers through each others’ hair and traced lines on each others’ faces, pausing to indulge in little kisses. Gradually their touch spread to neck and shoulders, then arms and sides. He smiled wider when she squirmed.

“Are you ticklish?”

“Only a little.”

He kissed her and brushed his fingers over the ticklish spot on her ribs again.

“Okay, enough.” She squirmed back away from him.

He pulled her in close, kissing her hard.

Their touches became more intimate and more sexual as they lay there exploring. She crawled on top of him and ran her hands over his chest, then took her shirt off so he could do the same with her. The more skin-on-skin contact they had the more desperate their touch became.

Tara could feel her breath catching low in her throat every time Remy brushed his fingers or lips over a delightfully sensitive spot and she was starting to crave his kisses.

He flipped her over, pinning her beneath his body, and began lavishing kissing on her, starting with long passionate kisses on the lips, kisses that involved a little tongue and a lot of heat. Then they moved down her jaw and neck and over her shoulder. Then down further until he stopped to take her breast in his mouth. He stayed there a long time, switching his attentions from one to the other, while she ran her fingers through his hair.

Then he went lower still, trailing kisses down the flat of her stomach. He paused at her hips, kissing and gently biting them, making her squirm and moan. He kissed her thighs and then nudged her legs apart.

She laid back and let the pleasure sweep through her as he used both fingers and tongue to explore between her legs. He took his time, testing and teasing, trying to gauge how good it felt from her moaning and the twist of her hips. It took time but he didn’t mind and he soon had at least an idea of what she liked. He settled into those sweet spots, pushing all the right buttons that would drive her towards her climax.

The intensity of her pleasure continued to build inside of her. Her body began to tense and she had to fight to breathe. Her moans became ‘oh’s and ‘ah’s and words of encouragement and she fisted her hands in his hair.

When she climaxed, she had to stifle a shout as her hips bucked and her body twisted. Still, he didn’t stop, his tongue doing what felt like magic tricks along the sensitive folds of skin. When her body relaxed and her breathing settled to a panting, he finally stopped.

“Wow,” she whispered.

He was grinning at her.

She giggled. “You don’t have to look so damn smug,” she said.

“I liked doing that to you. I wish you didn’t have to keep your voice down. I think I like making you scream.”

She pulled him close and kissed him. It took a little shuffling but soon he was kneeling between her legs, the tip of his erection pressing against her still-trembling opening. She nodded and he pressed into her.

Their movements were slow and lazy, and they let their hands roam over each others’ bodies as they made love. They changed position, first him on top, then her, then on their sides, and always they were kissing and touching each other. Sometimes their hips fell still as they indulged in deep kisses or stared into each others’ eyes.

She rolled on top and smiled down at him. She was about to say something flirty when she caught sight of the clock. “Wow, is that the time?”

“Yeah, why?”

“I don’t have all day.”

“Oh, well then.” He flipped her back over, pressed his lips against hers, and began thrusting into her with more force. He moved his lips to her neck and nibbled, lightly so as not to leave incriminating marks. One day, soon, I am going to leave a mark where everyone can see it so they know she’s mine.

Beneath him she moaned and thrust her hips up to meet his, her fingers digging into his shoulders, urging him on. He finished quickly and fell away, panting.

She kissed him and scooted out of the bed. He wasn’t sure where she’d gone, his gaze directed at the ceiling, but he soon heard the tap in the bathroom turn on. With a groan, he sat up and began gathering her clothing. He had it in a pile on the foot of the bed by the time she came back.

“Sorry to cut it short,” she said.

“I’m just glad this isn’t turning out to be a one-night thing.”

“We’ll have to finish talking about what this is, and where it’s going, later.” She pulled her clothes on and kissed his cheek.

“So I will see you later then?”

“I’ll try to come tonight.”

“Okay. Sounds like a plan. I’ll be here waiting for you.”

She let herself out with a smile and a wave, and he set about showering and dressing for lunch.

---

Tara and Charles ordered lunch up to his room, a simple sandwich with soup and coffee for her and a beef and broccoli stir fry with extra sesame seeds, no ginger, double the rice, and a side salad with some fancy latte for him. He sat at the desk with his food while she sat on the couch. It felt odd, sitting here so casual with him, when not half an hour earlier she’d been in bed with a man her father despised. She still felt flushed and flustered and her mind kept wandering to things that were embarrassing to think about with her father so close.

“Where were you today? I came to your room but you didn’t answer the door?”

She’d been expecting the question and had rehearsed the answer the entire way back to her room. “Oh, I was all over this morning. I had a long hot bath, I went to the pool, and then of course I had to shampoo the chlorine out of my hair. I went for a walk in the garden because I needed fresh air …”

“You didn’t answer your phone either.”

“I forgot to plug it in last night so it was dead this morning. I left it in my room charging.”

“Sounds like you’ve already had a busy day. What happened to lazy morning?”

“I did a lot, but it was all lazy stuff. I sat in the hot tub for a long time. I admired the gardens. I’m feeling all relaxed and ready for the afternoon.”

“That’s good. I was getting a little worried about you. I actually popped into your room at one point to look for you but you must have been in the hot tub.”

Tara’s heart skipped a beat. She’d forgotten her dad had an extra card to her room. Because he obviously doesn’t trust me to behave. I guess he’s got good reason, all things considered! Too bad I’m an adult now and I couldn’t give a damn what he thought. “You could’ve caught me in the tub, you know.”

“I only went in after the third or fourth time you didn’t answer. I was worried.”

“Dad, I’m an adult, and a werebear. I’m not helpless. I’m not in danger here. I didn’t leave the grounds. You shouldn’t have come into my room like that.”

“Old habits die hard, hun. It’s always been my job to look after you.”

“You know, you pay a lot more attention to what I’m doing than what Sophia or Mark are doing.”

“Tara, I don’t want to have this conversation now.”

“Yeah, you said that Friday, too. That I could understand. There were other people at the table and I can respect your desire to keep private matters private. We’re alone now, so maybe we should talk about this now.”

“When we get home?”

“You’ll be too busy when we get home. I’m a lot less vulnerable than my brother and sister, so why don’t you hound them the way you hound me?”

“You don’t see everything I do to or for your siblings. I’m sure if you spoke to them they’d have similar complaints.”

“It’s because I’m the only werebear, isn’t it?”

“That has nothing …”

“I may not be a Chief, but I can smell a lie.”

“That has little to do with it,” he amended. “Tara, you’re at risk of being targeted by The Human Order. Your brother and sister are human. No one will bother them so I don’t have to worry as much about them.”

“Until they’re kidnapped by those terrorists and used as leverage against you.”

“That won’t happen.”

“It happened in New Orleans. Two humans were involved in that shoot out.”

“Did Remy tell you that? I thought you weren’t seeing him anymore.”

“I did spend two days chatting with him, on and off, so he had lots of time to tell me things, one. Two, no, I’m not seeing him anymore. And three, no, he didn’t tell me that, I read it in the papers.” It was risky, voicing so blatant a lie to her Chief, but she wasn’t going to admit to sleeping with Remy. She wasn’t ready to have that fight with him just yet.

“My apologies.”

“And I know you read it in the papers, too. You know that anyone directly associated with any of us is vulnerable, family more than anyone else.”

“It’s my decision, okay, Tara? Let’s leave it at that.”

“No.”

“Excuse me?”

“Dad, it’s my life. What if I want to move away from Boston? What if I fall in love with a human? Are you going to lock me away like a princess in a tower until I listen to you?”

“Of course not. Honey, you’re being ridiculous.”

“Am I?”

“Yes. I’m done with this conversation.” He dropped his napkin on his plate. “And I’m done with my lunch. We should hurry. We have a session starting soon.”

“Sure. Whatever. I’ll go grab my stuff.”

---

Luckily, Daniel was in Remy’s afternoon session because Remy was having trouble paying attention. His mind kept wandering to Tara. She was overwhelming his senses in a way he’d never experienced before. He’d had plenty of girlfriends, maybe not as many as Brock, but not one of them had captivated him this way. It wasn’t just her body, which was amazing, or her face or her hair, it was something more than that, and at the same time, so much simpler.

It was her laugh. It was the way she just walked in and took charge. It was her lack of shame and embarrassment. It was her sass and her poise. It was the way she kicked off her shoes and tossed her sweater around in his space like she was already home there.

It was the way she soothed something inside of him, and the way she made him feel alive.

“Remy?”

“Hmm?”

“Your plans for the next hurricane season?”

“Oh, right, sorry.” He tried to focus and managed it for most of the meeting, only letting his thoughts wander a little and not losing complete track of the conversation again.

When the session was over, Daniel patted him on the shoulder. “You okay?”

“Yeah. Just something on my mind.”

“Good news or bad?”

“Hoping it’s good.”

“Then good. You coming to dinner?”

“No, not tonight. I think I’ll eat upstairs tonight.”

“Fine. Leave me alone with Marnie.”

“She’s not so bad.”

“It’s a good thing I’m married or she’d be hounding me, too. Go. I only jest. It’ll be nice to sit and chat with her some more.”

“All right. See you tomorrow.”

---

Tara sat down next to her father and started pulling out papers for the session. The chair beside her moved and someone sat down. She turned to smile and offer a polite ‘hello’, but found Dimitri sitting beside her.

“How was your lazy morning?” he said.

“Amazing.” She turned away. “Dad, do you think we’ll need the security cost reference numbers today?”

“I don’t think so but make sure you know where they are, just in case.”

“All right.”

“Still busy, I see,” Dimitri said.

“I’m used to it.”

“There’s no ceremony tonight, and no full moon, and I’m not attending any of the evening events tonight.”

“Okay.”

“So let’s do something.”

“No.”

“Oh come -”

“Let’s get this session started then, shall we?”

Dimitri and Tara both looked up, his face set in a scowl, hers awash with relief.

She moved her chair so she was closer to her father and kept her focus on the meeting, ignoring Dimitri to the point of not even looking at him when he spoke. The break was short-lived however, even with the men talking well past the set end time of the session, and soon she was packing up her papers again.

“Let’s get dinner,” Dimitri said.

“I’m not interested.”

“You don’t have to be so cold. I’m not as well off as your father but I can look after you. And if you’re not into long term, I don’t mind that either.”

“I’m not into you at all,” she said. “And how do you know I don’t have someone waiting for me back home?”

“Because I already asked your father.”

Thanks, Dad. You hate Remy but you’ll set me up with this asshole. She glared at Dimitri. “My father doesn’t know everything that goes on in my life. Maybe if you wanted to know if I was single you should have asked me.”

“You would have lied.”

“Excuse me. The session is done, I’m going now.” She scooped up her folder and marched out.

He followed her. “I thought your father would have raised you with better manners.”

“You mean you hoped my father would have raised me to be a subservient push-over who would jump into bed with you just because you told me to. If you’re going to try to insult me at least be honest.”

“You’re reading too much into this.”

“You’re not reading into it enough. I said ‘no’. Do you understand what that means?”

“That’s you being coy.”

“It means I’m not interested in you, at all, not now, not at any time during this conference, not if you buy me dinner or drinks or a Mercedes Benz. I’m not interested. Leave me alone.”

He grabbed her arm hard enough to make her wince. “You little bitch. Your daddy is Mr. Successful Businessman and you grew up rich and spoiled so you think that gives you the right to look down on people like me who actually worked for their money, it doesn’t.”

While he was talking, she was fussing with her phone in her pocket. “I don’t look down on people who work. I look down on entitled assholes.”

He barked a short laugh. “Entitled. Oh, that’s rich coming from you.”

“Let go of me.”

“We’re going to dinner.”

“The lady asked you to release her, now I will have to ask you to do the same.”

Dimitri snarled at the finely dressed man who had appeared in the hallway.

“Of course if you insist on harassing our guests in this manner we can certainly have you removed from the resort.”

He let Tara’s arm go and pointed a finger at her. “This isn’t over.”

“Sir, it certainly is.”

Dimitri stalked away.

“Ma’am, I apologize for this inconvenience. If there’s anything I can do?”

“This wasn’t the resort’s fault. Thank you for answering a very vague call for help.”

“It was smart of you to dial the front desk. I’ll just have them call back all the servers they sent out to find the source of your distress call. I will let the manager know about this.”

“His name is Dimitri, I don’t know a last name.”

“That will help. Again, I am sorry.”

“You’re not the one who should be sorry, but thank you.” She stayed in the hallway for a few minutes while she steadied herself, then put on what she hoped was a convincing smile and went upstairs.

---

“God save me from old men,” Tara said as she entered Remy’s hotel room. She hung her coat on the hook just inside the door. She was still feeling shaken by the encounter with Dimitri but she didn’t want to discuss it with Remy.

“I hope you don’t think I’m old,” he said, turning off the TV. “What kept you?”

“Old men. They never shut up. I honestly just got out of that session. I’m starving.”

He eyed her carefully. “Aside from long-winded old men, was everything okay?”

“The session was fine.”

“A half-truth if I ever heard one.” He kissed her forehead. “I won’t push, but you can trust me.”

“I know. I just – I don’t want to think about it so I’m not going to talk about it. The whole truth is that I’m fine now.”

“That’s good enough for me. Do you want to drive into town?”

She flopped on the bed. “No.”

“Then we’ll call something in.”

“What are you going to have?”

“Roast and potatoes, I think. I want something with gravy. Want a bottle of win,e too?”

“Sure. And just order me what you’re having.” She waved in his general direction and then let her arm flop onto the bed beside her.

“Is there anything you won’t eat?”

“A ton. I’m too tired to care today.”

Once he was done on the phone, he stretched out beside her. “That bad?”

“Talk, talk, talk, they love the sound of their own voices. Two chiefs from Boston, two from Maine, one from New Hampshire and for some odd reason a tech jockey from California. Tomorrow we’re meeting the chiefs from New York. At least the one from the Bronx is a lot of fun.”

He kissed her. “Hmm. You’re going to make me jealous.”

“I said interesting, I didn’t say charming, or devilishly handsome, or young.”

“Is he any of those things?”

“Charming, maybe. The rest, not a bit.”

“Then I guess I’m safe enough.”

“I should think so. How was your session?”

“We mostly talked about hurricanes, Brock’s term as Mayor, and that time I got tied up in my own warehouse by The Human Order. I didn’t realize I was a celebrity.”

“That shoot out made all the news stations in the country. That’s the first real show down with The Human Order so far. You guys beat them so soundly no one else has tried yet.”

“I’m glad we could be a cautionary tale to the bad guys at least.” He kissed her again. “I missed you.”

“Mmm. I missed you, too.”

They were cuddling and kissing when there was a knock at the door. Remy kept kissing her. “It’s rude to keep him waiting at the door,” she managed between kisses.

“Fine.” He went and fetched dinner and set it on the desk before crawling back into bed with her.

“I’m starving.”

“I want you.”

“It’s not safe to get between a girl and her dinner.”

“I’ve got something to tide you over,” he whispered in her ear.

She slapped his shoulder. “Remy!”

“Too far?”

She was laughing. “If I was only hungry, I might take you up on that, but I’m really starving.”

He let her up. “Okay, okay. Go eat.”

She paused to trail kisses down his neck and tucked her hand between his legs. “There’s always dessert,” she said.

His eyes fluttered shut. “Don’t tease.”

“Who’s teasing?”

They got set up on the couch. The table was a little crowded but they managed to eat without knocking anything on the floor. Over dinner, the conversation shifted away from bedroom talk.

“Something odd happened today,” Tara said.

“What’s that?”

“Well, my father was asking where I was this morning.”

“That doesn’t seem odd.”

“No, and I was expecting it so I had this whole story about where I was that I couldn’t answer the door or the phone.”

“Clever girl.”

“Well, that’s the odd part. He believed me.”

“So?”

“I grew up with a Chief for a father. I learned to lie without lying at a young age. Didn’t you?”

“Yeah, I guess I did. I just got in a lot of trouble over the years and accepted it was inevitable.”

“So did I. But even when I lied without lying he always gave me this look, like he suspected something but couldn’t prove it. It got worse once I became a teen and had to take my oath to him as my Chief.”

“But he didn’t give you the look at lunch?”

“No. Not at all. I outright told him I hadn’t spoken to you, at all, since before the banquet, and he didn’t even blink. And I have no idea why.”

“Could it have anything to do with the sex?” Remy wondered.

“That’s what I was thinking, but why are you so sure?”

“You’ve had sex before, haven’t you?”

She blushed. “A few times, sure. But nothing serious.”

“Same with me. Has this ever happened before?”

“No.”

“So it’s not the sex.”

“And I haven’t taken an oath to you.”

“So why can you now lie to your Chief? It’s a good question. Look, why don’t I go ask someone on the Council. I’ll tell them I’m asking for one of my clan members and I need to know all the ways a clan oath can transfer.”

“Okay. But be careful. If my father finds out …”

He squeezed her hand. “He won’t.”

They finished supper and stacked their dishes and trays on the desk. “Now, about that dessert,” Tara said.

“We didn’t order dessert,” Remy said.

Tara was suddenly in his arms, her body pressed against his. She kissed his lips and then trailed kisses down his jaw and neck, all the while her hands were fumbling with the front of his pants.

When she got the button and zipper open, she helped his pants to the floor, going to her knees in the process.

“Tara, you don’t have – oh.”

She freed him from his underwear and licked the tip, cutting off his words. “I’m still hungry.” She took him, semi-hard, in her mouth, and sucked on him until he was hard.

“Can I sit?” he muttered. He was clutching the back of the chair hard enough that his knuckles were turning white and his knees were feeling wobbly already.

She eased the length of him out of her mouth, then licked him, base to tip, before answering. “If you have to.”

He turned the chair and dropped into it. She tucked herself between his knees and started licking him with long, slow strokes of her tongue.

He was soon moaning under her thorough attentions. It didn’t take her long to bring him up over the edge.

He sat there panting while she wiped her face with a napkin from their dinner tray. She smiled at him and said, “Yum.”

“You didn’t have to,” he said, still trying to catch his breath.

“Couldn’t you tell I wanted to do that?” she said.

“You did seem to enjoy yourself.”

She crawled up into his lap. It was awkward, given that it was the smallest seat in the room, but they managed it without toppling the chair, or toppling out of it. She kissed him and ran her fingers through his hair.

“I have a session this evening,” Remy said when they parted.

“So does my father. I am going to take a walk outside and then I’m going to have a long hot bath and when I’m sure everyone is tucked away quietly, I’ll come back here.”

“Here, I wanted to give you this.” He nudged her out of his lap, stood, quickly dressed again, and handed her a plastic card in a paper cover with the resort’s logo on it that he fished from his pocket.

“A key card?”

“Yes. To my room. I stopped at the front desk earlier and got a second one. Said I had a bad habit of leaving things in my room so I wanted a second in my wallet for just in case. She said that was common and now I have two.”

“You don’t strike me as the forgetful type.”

“I can be a little scatterbrained but no, I’ve never left a key card in the room.”

She kissed his cheek. “Thank you for this. I’ll see you tonight.”

“I can’t wait.”

She’d brought her jacket with her so she could head straight outside without going to her room. Less chance of getting caught by her father that way. It was lovely out so she didn’t zip up, but she did have to keep an eye on the path for puddles.

The gardens were lovely but she’d seen them before and Remy wasn’t here to play chess today so she didn’t linger long. She debated just going up to Remy’s room and waiting for him but she was sure her father would want to check in with her before bed so she headed for her own room.

Besides, your shampoo and stuff is all in your room and that bath sounds wonderful.

She was humming as she let herself into her room. She closed the door and hung up her jacket.

“Where were you?”

She jumped. “Shit.” She had her hand over her heart. “You want to not scare me like that? What are you doing in my room? I thought we talked about that this morning. And I thought you were doing something this evening. Drinks? Or something.”

“You weren’t at dinner.”

“I was outside. I wasn’t really hungry. I was feeling restless after the afternoon session. Why?”

“You were outside a long time.”

“It was a nice evening. I went out in the woods for a bit. I was really restless.” That last at least wasn’t a lie. Dimitri had really set her on edge. “And I was planning to have a warm bath.”

“Go ahead.”

“Uh, you want to leave, maybe give me some privacy?”

“You can close the bathroom door.”

“Are you being serious?”

“Yes.”

“You know what? Fine. You can wait right there. But I’m not rushing.” She shut the bathroom door with a little force, turned on the light and the fan and the water, and took a few deep breaths. While the tub filled, she pulled out her phone.

“He suspects something. He’s in my room right now and won’t leave. I don’t know when I’ll be able to get out.”

“Good thing you have a key then,” came Remy’s reply.

True to her word, she took her time in the tub, letting the hot water soak out the chill from her walk. She shaved her legs, then drained the tub and ran the shower so she could wash her hair. She toweled off and blow dried her hair. When she was dry and dressed, she took a deep breath and went to face her father.

He was seated in the arm chair in the corner of the room, browsing something on his phone.

“Well, what do you want?” she said, folding her arms over her chest.

He set down the phone. “You’re acting oddly.”

She rolled her eyes. “Why? Because I’m not sitting here in this room waiting for you to summon me? Because I’m trying to enjoy my time here? Or because I’m not keeping my eyes on the floor while meekly replying ‘yes sir’ to everything you say?”

“Tara Brown, that is enough.”

“Oh, sure, scold me like I’m five again.”

“Tara.”

“You know what? I’m tired of being treated like a servant. Or like some submissive sex toy.”

Something dangerous flashed in his eyes. “Has Remy been harassing you?”

She shook her hair back and raised her chin. “No. In my limited experience with Remy he has been nothing but a gentleman. That Dimitri What’s-His-Name from California on the other hand expects me to fuck him to earn the privilege of working for him, and he expects me to be grateful for it.”

“What?”

“Okay, not in so many words. He’s been hounding me for dinner, implying that he wants something more and threatening my career as a freelance techie if I don’t comply. I actually had to have someone from the resort deal with him today.”

“It can’t be that bad.”

“Dad, he almost left bruises where he grabbed my arm.”

“Why don’t you just give him a chance?”

“Because I don’t want to. I’m not interested. He’s too old for me, too arrogant, and too damn creepy. By the way, thanks for telling him I was single, now I’ll never get rid of him.”

“You both work in tech, I thought he’d be a good match for you.”

“You were wrong. If he comes to you looking for the scoop on me, keep your mouth shut, please. I do not want to deal with him.”

“Fine, I will not tell him any further personal details about you, though I still think you’re overreacting.”

“You didn’t come here to listen to me rant or shut down my concerns over my safety. Why are you here, Dad?”

“I’m worried about you.”

“Because I took a walk? Not likely. You didn’t hound me or chase me while we were busy setting up for this conference.”

“You weren’t randomly disappearing while we were setting up for the conference.”

“There was nothing for me to do this evening so I went outside. What is wrong with that? And speaking of things to do, didn’t you have a session this evening?”

“I did, yes. I didn’t go.”

“What? You missed a session, a networking session, just to sit here in my room while I had a bath? You’re losing it.”

“Maybe you should just tell me what’s going on.”

“Maybe I’m bored! Maybe I’m tired of you treating me like I’m five. Maybe I’m an independent person and I don’t actually have to check in with you every time I move or breathe.”

“I can see you’re upset.”

“Thanks Captain Obvious.”

“You should get some sleep. We have a busy day tomorrow.”

“Well thank you for your permission. If you think I’m getting ready for bed with you sitting there, you’re sorely mistaken.”

“Of course.” He offered her a thin smile. “I will see you first thing in the morning.”

“Good night.”