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“Thanks,” I tell her. “It’s so soft.”
She reaches out and pets my arm. “My goodness, but that is the softest thing ever!”
Karen does the same. “Ooh, wow.”
“It’s real baby alpaca.”
Savannah’s jaw drops and she pulls her hand away. “They killed a baby alpaca for that?”
Oh dear. “No, they just shear them down. Like they do with sheep.”
She lets her shoulders drop. “Thank heavens! Here I was starting to think you were a real Cruella de Vil.”
“Nope. I’d never make a coat out of puppies.” I add some syrup from a small bottle at the table and slice into my pancakes. My stomach grumbles at my first bite, reminding me of how long I’ve been awake already.
“You certainly got lucky yesterday,” Savannah says.
“How so?” I ask, wondering if she’s referring to being vomited on, losing my luggage, or almost dying in a helicopter.
She gives me a ‘you know what I mean’ look. “Mr. Sterling picking you as his buddy? All that extra time together?”
I set my gaze on my breakfast to avoid eye contact. “Umm, yeah, I guess so, but it’s not like he’s going to change his mind about the money.”
She purses her lips together. “You certainly seemed to be doing your best to convince him in the hot springs last night.”
“Hot springs?” Karen asks, her eyes growing wide.
A little louder, Karen. I’m not sure the entire restaurant heard you. I glance at Ty, who is looking over at me with his eyes narrowed a little. Oh, perfect. Now he’s going to think I’m spilling the tea over here, which I definitely would never do.
“Uh-huh, real late last night too,” Savannah says, stabbing a piece of melon with her fork. “I woke up and there they were, nearly naked as jay birds. And from the looks of things, you two left that pool hotter than you found it.”
“What?!” Karen whisper-yells.
“Nothing happened,” I whisper, leaning in. “Nothing at all. Just … talking.”
Savannah glances at Karen. “They almost kissed.”
“No,” I say, chuckling like it’s the craziest thing I’ve ever heard. “We definitely didn’t… Is that what it looked like from your vantage point?”
“It looked like it because that’s what was happening.” Glancing at Karen, she adds, “You should’ve seen them, all snuggled up together.”
“There was a meteor shower and I was showing him the meteors. That’s why he was so close to me.” I take a gulp of water, hoping to cool down my flaming cheeks.
“You were showing him your meteors all right,” Savannah says. “I know what I saw, honey, but don’t worry. I’m not mad. We’re all out here playing the same game. You just got a head start on us is all. Now, my big question is who asked who to meet out there?”
“Neither.” I shake my head vigorously. “It just sort of happened. I was there, then a little later, he was there too. Then I left. Alone. Went back to my room and straight to bed. To sleep. Alone,” I ramble. “Look, I don’t know what you thought you saw, but believe me, I am not interested in him that way. Obviously I want the money. We all do,” I tell her. “But I’m not about to prostitute myself to get it.”
“I don’t think we’re supposed to say prostitute anymore,” Karen says. “The correct term now is sex worker.”
“Really? I thought we weren’t supposed to say sex worker. I read an article that suggested the rebranding of it has hidden dangers.”
“No, I think that’s the new term,” Karen says.
“Okay, well, either way, I’m not going to do any…” I lower my voice so I can barely even hear it myself, “…sex working. No sex work at all. None.”
“It wouldn’t exactly be a job,” Savannah says, gazing across the restaurant at him. “Not with a man that fine.”
Karen and I both look over too, and of course, he sees us, which means he totally knows we’re talking about him. Gah! This is brutal. Why don’t we just pass him a note in bio class that says, “Which of us would you want to marry, kiss, or kill?” I look back at Savannah. “Even with a man that fine, sleeping with him to get money from him would be the definition of … either of those terms.”
