Chapter 4
Chapter Four
Cara’s mother held Adam snuggled in her arms and kissed his forehead as Cooper and Cara’s dad transferred the luggage from her car to his.
“Are you sure you know what you’re doing? How are you going to find her?” her mother whispered.
“Maybe hire a skywriter or send up a flare? Ooh, or maybe I’ll leave her a message in the sand.” Cara had no clue how she was going to track down Becca. “Or maybe I’ll look for people doing the downward dog.”
“I’m serious.” Her mother tsked.
“I have no clue how we’re going to find them, but we’ve got to try. Becca’s the reason his sister ran off in the first place.”
“Becca’s premonitions are extremely accurate. If she knows that the ex is going to chase them, then the chances are that it’s true.”
“I know. That’s what worries me.” Thank God her sister didn’t have access to a gun. She’d probably shoot her toe.
“Look on the bright side, dear. Agent Cruz is a good-looking man, smart, and ambitious. He could be a good candidate for a sperm donor. Maybe while you’re traveling, you can convince him to make a deposit, if you know what I mean.” Cara’s mother raised and lowered her brows in quick succession.
“I can find my own donor, and I can guarantee his last name won’t be Cruz.”
“If you say so, dear.” Her mom kissed Adam’s head. “Be careful and have a nice flight.”
The flight had been nice. Good weather, decent company, and huge leather seats. The best part was no accidental touches. It would eventually happen. She was about as lucky as the dog chasing the rabbit around a track.
“Is the island everything you remembered?” Coop asked while grabbing their bags.
“Thankfully, no,” she answered, slipping her sunglasses over her eyes. “I think for most of my stay I saw double. Alcohol is not my friend. It’s lost some of its…magic.”
“Sobriety will do that to you.”
That was an understatement. Age had made her more cynical.
Betrayals had hardened her against the prospect of conceiving the old-fashioned way and falling in love.
She was hopeless, and was bound to end up just like Aunt Betty, only with Cara’s luck, her hair dye wouldn’t be a pretty pink. It’d turn the color of Pepto-Bismol.
“How about we get some rooms and hit the bar. You know what they say…the bartender knows and hears all.” He walked beside her into the terminal.
The limo ride to the resort was quick. If she’d been back for any other reason, she might have enjoyed the scenery, seeing it for the first time without everything being doubled.
Now it was impossible to enjoy the sweat gathering beneath her bra, or the way her sundress had to be held down against the ocean wind as they stepped out of the car among the hustle and bustle of tourists in front of the resort.
She held her hand to her stomach to squelch the dancing butterflies.
Each person walking by was a potential connection she didn’t care to make.
Cooper grabbed both of their bags and stood next to her. “I was a blocker on the football team during high school. Do you want me to clear the path?”
She shook her head. “I can deflect most of the images if the touch is quick, but too many and it drains me.”
“We’ll make this quick.” He headed into the lobby with her following on his heels. Several people skimmed her arm in passing as she tried desperately to focus on Cooper’s back.
The lobby was filled with old people dressed in flower-printed shirts. It was as though they’d just stepped into the middle of a geriatric convention. She’d never seen so many of their age in one place. She wouldn’t be finding her sperm donor here.
“Well, at least Angela and Becca will stick out like sore thumbs.” Finding them should be a piece of cake. Cara sidestepped several people as they made their way up to the reservation desk, where a young woman stood behind the counter.
“We’d like a room,” Cooper announced, pulling out his wallet.
“Do you have a reservation?” the blonde behind the counter asked.
“No,” Cara answered.
“I’m sorry. We’re all booked for the convention.” She smiled sweetly while undressing Cooper with her eyes.
Cara exhaled a long breath. “Don’t you have anything? He’s FBI.” Cara lifted her brows at Cooper. “Show her your badge. Chicks dig that.” Cara leaned toward Coop without touching him.
“Not all,” he grumbled under his breath.
“Oh, you must be here about the thefts.” She clasped her fingers together. “We still don’t have any rooms for you. Maybe you can try a hotel on the other side of the island.”
A man stepped out from a room behind the counter. “Excuse me,” he said as he approached. “Are you Cara Thatcher?”
Cara shared an uneasy look with Cooper. “Yes.”
“They told me you’d come,” he said, sliding the blonde woman out of the way. “Ms. Becca Thatcher showed me a picture of you. She reserved you a cabana and paid for it in advance.”
“She did?” Cara smirked at the blonde, set her purse on the counter, and dug for her wallet.
“Lovely girl. She also left you a package,” the manager-looking guy said.
He slid the package across the counter along with the paper for her to sign.
“Do you happen to know where I can find my sister?”
“Ummm. I’m afraid not. We’ve been a bit busy at the counter. You might try the pool area or the beach.”
She picked up the brown-wrapped package and hugged it to her chest as Cooper took the keys. Oddly, no visions smacked her in the face. Not even whoever had manufactured the brown parcel.
“Ms. Thatcher mentioned you’d need privacy so she reserved the honeymoon cabana on the west side of the resort, and you have a private pool and a secluded part of the beach.” He used a marker to draw a line from the lobby to the location on a map and handed it to Coop. “I hope you enjoy your stay.”
Cooper remained quiet until they’d passed the guest pool area and were on the walkway toward the cabana. Trees from both sides of the walkway provided a shaded canopy from the sun. “It could be worse. We could be sleeping on the beach.”
“I’m sure they picked that one since it’s secluded and will give us privacy.”
Cara raised her brow. She knew her sister. She’d picked it because she thought Cara might get lucky, or maybe it had the best Feng Shui. Becca’s safety wouldn’t even be a part of the equation. If it had been, Angela and she would have been staying in that room. Maybe they were.
The canopy of trees gave way to their cabana.
It was like a little oasis away from the noise in the resort.
The view was stunning. The décor was light and airy.
The cabana would have been perfect, if it hadn’t been for the reason they were there.
A bed sat in the middle of the room. The position gave the occupants ease to gaze out of the floor-to-ceiling windows that opened.
That bed was a baby-making bed, or maybe it had been made for giants.
She could see herself having hot dirty sex on that bed. Too bad she was here with Cruz.
“Are you going to open the package?” Coop asked, pulling her from her thoughts of sweat-slicked bodies enjoying the beach breeze.
“Of course.” She dropped her purse onto the bed. She ripped the package open and dumped the contents on the white comforter. An envelope, a red bikini, and a pair of flowery men’s swim trunks tumbled out.
Anger stirred in her belly. If Becca thought for one minute that this was some kind of vacation, then she was more delusional than Cara thought.
“What the hell?” Coop asked, picking up the trunks while she ripped the envelope open. Instantly she was hit with her sister’s vibration, and she started to pant and closed her eyes. Every fiber in her body tingled to life as the energies combined.
Becca stood in front of the mirror looking at herself as she held the paper and spoke. “Cara, I know you got this. We had to leave, but we’ll double back on Sunday. Stay, so we know where to find you.”
The scene cut off just as abruptly as it started. Cara’s eyes flew open as she examined the empty sheet of paper and flipped it over to check the back.
“What did you see?” Cooper asked, hovering next to her as if he’d been about to touch her.
Before her legs could give out, Cara slid down onto the bed to catch her breath. The energy from fighting the crowded lobby, and now the letter, had drained her like she’d done to her morning coffee. “They had to leave and want us to stay until they return. They’re going to double back.”
“They’re both nuts if they think I’m just going to sit around here until they decide to show back up.”
“You’re right, but I need to rest.” Cara’s shoulders drooped, and she exhaled a long, deep breath. The bed beneath her butt promised a comfortable snooze fest. “The energy from the lobby was too much.”
“Did you get touched?”
She nodded and scooted up onto the bed, resting her cheek on one cool pillow and grabbing the other to snuggle with.
They provided just the right support. Those two pillows would go missing when they left, even if she had to sneak one in her bag and the other beneath her shirt.
It would give her practice maneuvering with a pregnant belly.
“Let me just close my eyes for a little bit, and then we’ll leave. ”
If he had a reply, she didn’t hear it, as the sweet, silent darkness quickly worked its magic and pulled her into a restful sleep.