After an exhausting day of travel, flight delays, and dealing with obnoxious people, Kayla slept like the dead for a solid eight hours. The unwelcome sound of her alarm heralded her first day back to reality.

She popped a few ibuprofen caplets to take care of her lingering headache and stiff limbs, washing them down with coffee and an energy shot. It didn’t compare to the stuff she’d had on vacation, but it did the job. Then she took a long, hot shower while her body revved up and her mental state recalibrated from vacation back to work mode.

Feeling marginally better, she looked in the mirror and was pleased with what she saw. The radiant kiss of bronze could be attributed to the tropical sunshine, but the inner glow was from her sexy times with Spencer Dumas.

So were the quickly-fading red marks from his playful nips around some of her more sensitive areas, like her breasts, her abdomen, the tender curve where her backside met her legs.

She couldn’t help the soft smile that curved her lips as she angled her body this way and that, remembering how completely focused he had been in giving his undivided attention. The man had serious, serious skills.

Chances were, their paths would never cross again. It was for the best. As sexually compatible as they were in the insular bubble of paradise that was Sate, it would never work out in the real world. He was a multi-millionaire CEO, and she was a travel agent who had learned her lessons the hard way a long time ago.

With that less-than-cheery thought, she grabbed a protein bar and fixed herself another cup of coffee, both of which she ingested while getting ready for work.

Annette liked her agents to look professional, so Kayla’s work wardrobe consisted of fashionable, business casual skirts, blouses, vests, and jackets. The clothes were well-made and comfortable, but felt confining after bikinis and fine silk wrap dresses.

Playing the vixen again had been fun for a few days. She had enjoyed wearing the provocative, elegant clothing and the appreciative looks she had received as a result. Those things wouldn’t fly at the office, though. Annette would pitch a hissy fit.

At least she still had her expensive lingerie. Even if no one else saw the fine silk and lace pieces, she knew they were there. They made her feel sexy and empowered, and that was what was really important.

Spencer had liked them, though, hadn’t he? As fierce of a lover as he was, he had been remarkably gentle with her underthings, removing them with care and reverence ... and occasionally, with his teeth.

She wondered if he ever found the vibrant red panties she had left for him. It had been an impulsive, spur of the moment act on her part. As she had been sneaking out, she had seen a pair of his shorts draped over a chair and had tucked her thong into one of the deep pockets, a memento of their brief but explosive time together.

Would he fist them and bring them to his nose, closing his eyes in fond remembrance? Or would he sigh and toss them into the nearest waste basket?

She knew which scenario she preferred. She also knew which was more likely.

Grabbing her keys, she locked up the house and drove to the travel agency. The gray skies, heavy with forecasted rain, reflected her mood.

“Wow, that must have been some trip. You’re glowing!” Stephanie hung up the phone and stared at Kayla with envy.

“It was,” Kayla agreed. She thought briefly of asking Stephanie how her sick kid was, but didn’t bother. She would know soon enough anyway. Stephanie couldn’t go five minutes without talking about her kids—what they did, what they said, where they went. Carly, the other working mom, was the same way. Kayla vaguely wondered if they never noticed that no one cared, or if they did and just kept talking anyway.

“Thanks for covering for me last week,” Stephanie said, right on cue. “Sammy picked up something at the daycare. He was running a fever and throwing up, and with Bill taking on those extra-long hauls—”

Kayla was granted a reprieve when the sharp staccato of high heels clacked across the flooring.

“So?” Annette snapped, interrupting what was certain to be a long-winded recap of Stephanie’s domestic woes. Sour-faced as usual, Annette looked Kayla up and down with a critical eye. “Recommendation?”

“Hands down, five-star rating,” Kayla said truthfully. “I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it, especially to wealthy singles or couples looking for some quality pampering.”

Annette’s scowl deepened. “Any issues?”

“None whatsoever. Sate is a taste of paradise on earth.”

“Hmm,” Annette hummed, then went back to her office.

“What crawled up her ass and died?” Kayla asked, though she suspected she already knew the answer.

“She’s pissed that you went instead of her,” Stephanie confided with a smile.

“She wouldn’t have liked it,” Kayla said, tossing her purse in her desk drawer. “People actually have fun there.”

Stephanie laughed, then got a wistful look on her face. “Must be nice, though. The most exotic place Bill and I ever went was to a lake up in Canada, and I was already pregnant with Sammy, so we ...”

Kayla turned on her computer and tuned out whatever else Stephanie was saying. It didn’t matter. Stephanie would continue to tell the story in its entirety whether anyone was listening or not.

As she scanned the more than three hundred emails that had accumulated in her inbox, Kayla’s thoughts drifted to Spencer again. When he had woken up and found her gone, had he come looking for her? Did he even know she had left the island? Had he already found another lover?

Kayla shoved the surprising sense of disappointment aside and focused on her screen. Thinking like that would lead her down a dangerous road, one she had no intention of traveling.

After weeding out the junk mail, she was down to just under two hundred, and of those, less than a hundred would need to be handled today. Not as bad as she had thought.

Then she checked her voicemail. She jotted notes as she listened, prioritizing as she went. She paused when a message held a voice she hadn’t heard in a long time.

“Kayla? Hi. It’s Lexi. I’m sorry to bother you at work, but I ... well, it’s the only number I could find.” A pause followed, the awkward kind when people didn’t know what to say next. Then, softer, Lexi continued, “Thanks for giving me a chance to save my parents’ things. Listen, do you think we could meet sometime; have a cup of coffee? It’s been a long time, and—”

Kayla deleted the message, having heard enough.

She had done her good deed. She had no intention of wading in those shark-infested waters again. Her brief trip to the pub had been enough to know that a family reunion wasn’t anywhere in the near future. Lexi might be a soft-hearted, forgiving woman, but the rest of the family wasn’t.

That was fine by her. She had messed up, done terrible things. She had learned and moved on.

“Oh. My. God.” Francesca, better known as Frankie, burst through the doors.

Kayla knew that look. Bright eyes, flushed cheeks, body nearly vibrating in excitement. Frankie had come across a juicy piece of gossip and she couldn’t wait to share. Her sister was the daytime receptionist at the Brandyville Town Hall, and as a result, Frankie was often the first to find out anything about local goings-on.

“What?” Stephanie asked immediately.

Kayla turned back to her computer. Unlike those two, Kayla didn’t follow celebrities or give a single fuck about local gossip.

“A new Wawa is opening up in Brandyville,” Frankie said, barely containing her excitement. “Right down the street! No more of Annette’s shitty generic coffee.”

Kayla chuckled silently. Wawa was a chain of convenience stores and gas stations up and down the East Coast, lauded by locals for their excellent coffee. The stuff Annette bought for them was pretty bad, unlike the expensive blends she kept for herself in her private office.

Frankie bustled over to her desk and plopped down the suitcase-sized quilted handbag with a loud clunk. “Oh, and remember Ashley, the one Annette fired for sleeping with Mr. Davenport? Turns out, she wasn’t sleeping with Mr. Davenport. She was sleeping with Mrs. Davenport!”

“No!”

“Yes!” Frankie clapped her hands together and beamed proudly at Stephanie’s exclamation. “Janelle at the hair salon told me that Mrs. D filed for divorce, and her and Ash are shacking up somewhere on the other side of Birch Falls.”

“Wow.”

“I know, right? And that’s not even the biggest thing. I’ve saved the best for last.” She paused for dramatic effect, ensuring she had everyone’s attention. Even Annette was poised just inside her office door, listening. “Spencer Dumas, the most eligible bachelor in Pine Ridge, is officially off the market!”