“How could you have followed me? You couldn’t have been that close behind me.”

  “I wasn’t.” She winked like this situation was not a big deal. “But I saw you talking with that woman at the reception desk, and I watched when you got on the elevator. Since the elevator’s walls are glass, it was easy to tell what floor you got off on. When I came up here, I said my boyfriend had headed back to the room ahead of me and that I’d forgotten the room number. You’d be surprised what a striking figure a tall, buff guy like you cuts. Especially when he looks like a Greek god. One of the maids was able to tell me exactly what room you’d gone into—she even swiped me in when I said I’d forgotten my key.”

  A muscle ticked near his tense jaw. Not good. Not good at all. He prided himself on his undercover skills, but she’d managed to track him just fine. “And what happens when my mom and Jojo come looking for you?”

  “Oh, they won’t.” She gave him a smug smile. “I left a message with the front desk that I wasn’t feeling well and took a taxi back to the estate.

  He wanted nothing more than to continue their argument until he convinced her that she was in the wrong, but time was limited. He had no idea when the room’s current occupant would return. He took a deep breath and got back to work. He’d deal with Harper later. “Search this room again to see if you pick up anything I’ve missed. I’m going to check the bathroom. Look for anything that looks like it might be Serenity’s or that points to signs of a struggle.”

  They each did their own area, but by the end, Colin hadn’t found a thing. He was about to tell Harper that when she gasped. He rushed out of the bathroom and over to the far corner of the room where she’d pulled aside the drapes.

  “What?” Colin asked, thinking she’d maybe found blood or something.

  “It’s Serenity’s crystal. It’s the same as mine.” Harper bent and picked the thing up off the floor, the iridescent purple glittered rainbows in the sunlight. “Housekeeping must’ve missed it when they cleaned the room.”

  “Hmm.” He bent and picked up a crumpled piece of resort stationary that had been on the floor beside it.

  He flattened out the paper and stared at the notes scribbled on it. Something about pyramid schemes and medical fraud.

  “This means she couldn’t have left willingly. If she had, she wouldn’t have left this behind,” Harper said, still holding the crystal. “She took hers everywhere, just like I do.” She lowered her head. “I’ve got a bad feeling about this.”

  “Right.” He folded the paper and stuck it in his pocket, then took her arm. “Let’s get—”

  Before he could finish, the sound of a key card sliding into the lock followed by the turning of the door handle echoed through the room.

  5

  Before Harper knew what was happening, Colin had pulled her into his arms and whispered, “Play along.”

  Then he was kissing her, and if she was honest with herself, it didn’t suck. In fact, it felt pretty good. So good, that she slipped her arms around his neck and kissed him back, tracing her tongue over his lips, then slipping inside when he parted them. He tasted like mint and sugar and…

  “What the hell are you doing in here?” a strange voice yelled, jarring them apart.

  For a second, all Harper could do was blink at the man and woman standing in the doorway. She’d been so lost in the moment with Colin that she barely remembered who she was, let alone that they were standing in a stranger’s hotel room. One they’d broken into to search for her missing sister.

  Oh shit.

  She gave Colin some side-eye and was comforted to see that he looked about as poleaxed as she felt, not that that helped with their current situation. So, she did the only thing she could think of on short notice and stepped on his toes, hard, to jolt him out of it.

  In an instant, his expression changed to one of mock outrage, and he tugged Harper into his side. “I could ask you two the same question!” he shouted, glaring at the guests rightfully staying in that room.

  Harper wondered if they taught those kinds of acting skills in the SEALs, and made a mental note to ask him about it later. Right now, they needed to get out of here without making so much of a scene that hotel security was called. So, she played her part as well. “Uh, honey,” she said, pointing at the suitcase on the luggage rack against the wall. “I don’t think that’s ours.”

  Colin looked from her to the suitcase, then back again, the rage dropping off of his face. “No, you’re right. Oh God.” He swallowed hard and took her hand, squeezing slightly before looking back at the couple across from them. “I am so, so sorry. We must have gone into the wrong room. My sincere apologies. But all these damned rooms look the same from the outside and we were… well, otherwise occupied.” He shook his head. “I can’t believe the front desk screwed up our keys again! We need to go talk to them right now!”

  With that, he tugged her out of the room and down the hall, past the still staring guests who appeared too stunned to stop them. They kept walking around corner after corner until they were far enough away that they could be sure the other guests hadn’t followed them.

  Colin stopped in an alcove leading to the stairwell and let her go, leaning back against the wall and raking a hand through his hair. “Jesus, that was too close for comfort.”

  “No shit.” Harper slumped against the wall beside him, her sister’s crystal still clutched in her hand. Now that the sexual tension and adrenaline that had sparked between them was fading, the old familiar anxiety bubbled inside her again. There’d been no sign of force used in the room and people did leave things behind in hotels all the time, but her gut told her something was wrong here. Besides, there might have been signs of a struggle that the housekeeping staff had cleared away. There was just no way to know. She held the crystal up and sighed. “What are we going to do now? We have no idea where Serenity is.”

  “We’ll find her,” Colin said, nudging her with his shoulder. “Don’t worry. Not yet anyway. What we need to do now is start asking around to try to figure out where she was last seen. Hopefully, it might give us clues to her current location.”

  Well, it was better than standing around doing nothing.

  They took the stairs down to the lobby rather than risk meeting up with the other guests in the elevator, then found an old acquaintance of Colin’s who now worked as a bellman at the resort.

  “Mike, dude,” Colin said, slapping his friend on the back after giving him a bro hug. “Long time, no see.”

  “Right?” Mike pulled back, straightening his bellman uniform of a pastel peach shirt and slacks, his gold name tag gleaming on the right side of his chest.

  “What’ve you been up to the past few years?” Colin asked.

  “Eh, you know. Hustling, trying to make ends meet.”

  “Really?” Colin frowned. “The last thing I heard, you were jostling to the title of Wolf of Wall Street. What happened with New York?”

  “I got in over my head.” Mike cringed. “The company I worked for…some of their practices weren’t on the up and up. Once I figured out what was going on, I notified the authorities and it all got shut down, but it made me take a good, hard look at my life and decide if that world was one I wanted to be part of anymore.” Mike shrugged. “So, one day I sat down and thought, if I have to work for the rest of my life, what would I want that to look like? Sun, beaches, getting to meet people and help them out. So, yeah. This is a good fit for me.”

  “What about your degree? Don’t you miss the stock market?”

  “Nah. And I got a day-trading app on my phone if the bug bites me. Do pretty well on it, in fact.”

  “I bet.”

  The clerk at the reception desk waved to Mike to get moving.

  “Well, best get back to work.” Mike thumped Colin on the shoulder again. “Great to see you. We should get together one night while you’re here and reminisce.”

  Colin chuckled. “I’d like to, man, I would, but I’m only here for a short time, and my schedule’s pretty full with our family reunion and all. But maybe next time?”

  “I’ll be here,” Mike said, holding up a hand. “Nice to meet you, Harper. See you both around.”

  Mike started to walk away. Harper’s pulse stumbled and she gave Colin a look. “Ask him if he’s seen Serenity,” she whispered.

  Colin shook his head. “We don’t want anyone to realize we’re searching for her, remember?”

  “Then make it sound casual,” she said. “Just…please. What if he knows something?”

  He sighed, but turned to Mike’s retreating figure and called out, “Oh wait, Mike. Hold on a sec. You might be able to help me with this. Harper’s sister, Serenity, was working here at the resort until a few days ago. She must have lost her phone or something because it’s been hard to get in touch with her—we couldn’t even get a hold of her to let her know we’d be here on the island. We were hoping we might be able to run into her, but we’re not sure where to look. Have you seen her around?” He turned to Harper. “You’ve got a picture of her on your phone, don’t you, honey?” Harper nodded and fumbled for her phone, quickly pulling up a selfie of her and Serenity from a few months ago. She handed the phone over to Mike.

  “Uh what?” The previously talkative Mike suddenly looked nervous and clammed up as he passed the phone back. His gaze darted to Harper, then away again fast, like he was hiding something. At least that’s how Harper took it. “So many people work here. Hard to remember everyone.”

  Right. At this point, Harper was scared. The feeling of not-rightness in her gut had grown claws and was shredding her inside. She wasn’t above begging, if that’s what it took. “Please. Anything at all you can tell us would be so helpful. She’s my sister. I just want to see her. We won’t tell anyone what you said. Promise.”

  “Hey,” Colin said to Mike. “Remember that time when we were kids and you lost your little brother at the swimming hole? How freaked out you were? You were terrified and thought he’d drowned? Well, that only lasted twenty minutes. Harper’s sister’s been out of contact for a week, and she keeps thinking up new worst-case scenarios. We’re not looking to make trouble for anybody, but if Harper could just touch base with her, it’d make her feel a lot better.”

  Mike looked back and forth between them, shuffling his feet, his expression growing more guilty by the second. Finally, he leaned in closer and lowered his voice, his tone carrying an edge of desperation. “Fine. But you have to swear you won’t tell Colin’s parents I told you anything. I need this job and my manager’s a real hardass about maintaining privacy about resort operations.”

  Harper and Colin both nodded.

  “I do remember seeing your sister,” Mike said. “We’ve talked a couple of times, just in passing. Last time I saw her here, she was hanging around with this faith healer named Sebastian down by the pool. She was helping him with one of his free meditation and yoga classes out there. That was about a week ago.”

  “Does this Sebastian work here, too?” Colin asked.

  “Nah, he’s got his own place—a fancy spa on a private estate here on the island. Calls it a Wellness Center. He uses those free classes to lure the people staying at the resort into paying for private sessions at this spa, then charges them out the wazoo for a bunch of hippy-dippy crap they don’t need. That’s all I know.” He gave Harper, with her piercings and bohemian style, a quick look. “No offence on the hippy-dippy.”

  “None taken.” Wasn’t the first time she’d gotten it. Wouldn’t be the last. “Can you tell us anything else about Sebastian? What’s his last name?”

  “Bone—Sebastian Bone. Tall guy, long hair. Kind of a big deal, I guess, in certain circles. Sure seems to be raking in plenty at that Wellness Center.”

  “Thanks, man,” Colin said, patting his friend’s shoulder. “That’s actually really helpful.”

  “Yes, thank you, Mike,” Harper said, then followed Colin back outside. “Where to now?”

  “Back to the estate,” he said, walking up to a tricked-out SUV and clicking his key fob to unlock it. “The last thing we need is for my mom and Jojo to find out you lied to them about being sick.”

  “Speaking of lying,” Harper said, climbing into the passenger seat, then fastening her seatbelt while Colin did the same on his side. “I’m glad to know that’s not a skill they teach you in the SEALs because you’re not very good at it.”

  He fiddled with the touchscreen dashboard, then slipped on his shades before grinning at her, all tanned skin and white teeth. Her pulse tripped. Damn. He was good-looking. Too good-looking for her peace of mind. And now that they’d kissed, she couldn’t seem to think of anything except his mouth. How soft those lips had been. The way his breath had caught when she’d nipped the bottom one. The feel of his big, strong body melting against hers as she’d swept her tongue into his mouth, tasting him.

  Flustered, Harper shifted her attention out the windshield as they pulled away from the resort and headed back to his family’s estate.

  “We did actually learn basic espionage skills,” he said, signaling before making a right turn. “But it wasn’t my favorite part.”

  “Huh,” she said, staring out at the passing scenery and trying to calm her errant libido. The last thing she needed was to get the hots for Colin. “So, I guess you being a real-life James Bond is off the table, then.”

  Colin snorted. “Yep. Though I can read people pretty well.”

  “Yeah?” Without thinking she looked over at him again, then immediately wished she hadn’t as a fresh wave of heat rushed up her body. “What am I feeling right now?”

  He gave her a side glance, his eyes hidden by the mirrored aviator shades, her own image reflected back at her, making her feel even more like an. Idiot.

  “Impatience over how hard it’s been to uncover anything about Serenity. Fear, again over your sister. And…” The frown line between his eyebrows deepened and his lips pursed, drawing her attention there again. “Confusion.”

  “Confusion?”

  “Yes. You seem torn about something. Distracted.”

  “I’m not torn.” She crossed her arms and stared straight ahead again, feeling far more exposed and vulnerable than she liked. Harper said, as much for herself as him, “I know exactly why I’m here. To get Serenity back. That’s it.”

  “Sure. Of course,” he said, not looking at her, one wrist draped over the steering wheel, the epitome of lithe male ease and grace, damn him. “And may I say, Harper, you’re pretty good at lying yourself.”

  6

  The following evening, Colin and Harper were at yet another family dinner party at his parents’ house. Part of the whole “reunion” thing schedule his mom insisted on was for everyone to be together each day for a mandatory breakfast and dinner. So, here they were, making small talk and avoiding uncomfortable questions as much as possible.

  There were extra guests tonight since his parents had invited over some friends. Colin hoped to take advantage of the extra guests to fish for gossip on Sebastian Bone. He and Harper had done some online digging after they’d gotten back from the resort and had spent most of the afternoon reading through articles and testimonials and watching clips online. Bone came across as a classic con man. Even his voice was too slick. All deep and soothing, like a drug they lull you to sleep with before giving you the lethal injection.

  Though if their research was right, the amount of money Bone was raking in was no joke. The man was pulling in multi-million-dollar profit numbers every year. He’d built himself up a cult following amongst his uber-wealthy clients. From what Colin could tell, Bone offered them intensely spiritual and exclusive experiences, but at top-dollar prices.

  The notes they’d found with the crystal in Serenity’s room had mentioned something about medical fraud. Could that be related to Bone? There was no way to be sure, but if she’d found some dirt that threatened to topple Bone’s high-dollar con, that would be a hell of a motive to silence her.

  But that was a pretty big accusation to throw at a stranger, especially based on such circumstantial evidence. So Colin was hoping that they’d be able to get some insight from the locals—find out if Bone really was shady and really might be behind Serenity’s disappearance.

  Perhaps the open bar at tonight’s dinner would loosen some lips.

  And speaking of lips, the couple who were still flapping theirs at him hadn’t stopped for a breath in what felt like a year. Barb and George had been friends with his parents for as long as Colin could remember. Didn’t make them any less boring or less nosy, unfortunately.

  “Tell me more about you and Harper,” Barb pressed. “Is it serious? I know there’s no ring on her finger yet, but if you brought her to meet the family, you must be close to that point, right? Are you discussing dates yet? Because my social calendar is filling up for the next year and if you want us to come, we’ll need to know fairly soon. Of course, we want to be there. We’re practically family!”

  Colin downed the rest of his gin and tonic in one swift gulp, then opened his mouth to respond yet again with his pat answer about how he and Harper were taking things slow, but never got the chance.

  “There you are, babe,” Harper said, coming up beside him. His relief was damned near palpable and he released his pent-up breath.

  “I’m so sorry to interrupt,” Harper continued, flashing Barb and George an endearing smile. “But I need to borrow him.” She turned to Colin. “I wondered if you could help me with something in the house really quick.”

  George raised a brow and his glass, giving Colin a knowing smile. “Lucky guy. Go on then. Have fun ‘helping’ her.”

  Barb smacked her husband, then beamed at Harper and Colin. “Don’t mind him. If his mind isn’t in the gutter, it’s stuck on the stock market. Go on, you two. We’ll catch up on those dates later, dear.”

  They walked away, avoiding several groups of equally annoying guests, and finally found a quiet spot near the garden wall behind a large plumeria bush. Colin managed to snag another drink from a passing server before they ducked into their hiding spot, and he sipped it as he sagged back against the cool stone wall.