Tropical Bartender Bear (Shifting Sands Resort 3)

“I’ve got a shopping list from Chef,” he said apologetically. “I thought I’d get it out of the way first.”

“Don’t mind me,” Laura said, and Tex entered heated negotiations for quantities of spice in the pounds.

Laura wandered away to let him haggle, stroking silky sarongs hung in wild-colored clusters at the edge of the next booth.

“Real silk,” the vendor tried to tempt her.

Laura stopped touching them and moved on with an apologetic smile and shrug. The v

endor moved on to the tourist behind her, launching at once into a friendly explanation of the dying technique.

Laura glanced to find that Tex and the spice seller were still deep in discussion, and wandered to the next booth.

It had a collection of carnival masks, brilliantly painted and finely detailed. She was used to masks that relied on the natural color of the wood, but these were entirely covered in a rainbow of paint, bright animal markings, with tiny toucans and many-hued parrots added in relief along the edges. An empty-eyed wildcat with a tiny emerald island painted on its forehead caught Laura’s attention.

“Hand-carved by my uncle, painted by my sister,” the seller said with an ingratiating smile. “A special price for you.”

Laura touched it gingerly, drawn to it but skeptical of the sales pitch. The price tag was on the high end of reasonable, but even reasonable was out of her price range.

She pulled her fingers back, sobering to remember that she was going to need every penny she had in the event she needed to flee further. The idea of staying at Shifting Sands was undeniably appealing, but part of her still doubted her safety there. There had been two attempts on her life, and although Scarlet was skeptical that it was the mob, Laura couldn’t imagine what else it might be.

And she couldn’t fathom the idea of someone wanting to hurt Jenny.

She shook her head at the hopeful seller, and walked on, past rows of magnets and souvenirs that had COSTA RICA written in all caps, and, almost as frequently, “Pura Vida,” the Costa Rican motto that meant “pure life.”

She was looking at carved wooden keychains when she glanced around and saw a fit, dark-haired young man in obviously American clothing talking to the seller in the next booth. He looked shifty, with his close-mouthed smile and mirrored sunglasses. Did she imagine the words “Shifting Sands” at the edge of her hearing? She ducked her head and turned away from them. How far would she have to run to get away from the cartel? And how would she do it with the paltry money she had?

She hurried back to where Tex, a heavy bag of spices already purchased, was haggling for socks and double A batteries with a seller out of the back of his car.

A glance back showed the young man buying a keychain, laughing easily. He looked like a tourist, not like a hitman. Laura shook her head and steadied her breath.

There was no point in becoming paranoid.

She greeted Tex with a smile that was first forced, then irresistible in return for his delighted grin. Something about his boyish charm drove away her dark musings, and she resolved not to return to them until they were back on the island. She would enjoy this excursion.

The vendor, having lost Tex’s attention, made a valiant effort to get it back. “Both for twenty-five hundred colon, perhaps?”

Tex looked back at him blankly, their negotiations clearly forgotten. “Sure,” he laughed with a shrug.

Laura hoped she hadn’t distracted him into a terrible price.

Money exchanged, Tex took Laura’s hand and they walked on, pausing to look at the items for sale.

Tex convinced her to model ridiculous gemstone sunglasses from one table. Laura got him back by convincing him to try on a rainbow sombrero.

“I love it,” she teased, hiding his cowboy hat behind her back. “It’s your fabulous new look. Much better than the cowboy hat!”

Tex laughed at her, reaching for his own hat, but Laura giggled and held it away.

Tex tossed the sombrero back onto the display and made a tackle for Laura, tickling her until she released the hat, and then refused to let go of her without a kiss, which she willingly gave him.

When she glanced back towards the market, she thought she saw the man with the mirrored sunglasses, but he disappeared back into the crowd before she could be sure.

Chapter 22

“Are you going to want dinner before we head back?” Tex asked Laura.

“After that lunch? I don’t want a whole meal,” Laura laughed.