3 Men and a Body by Stephanie Bond Page B

Hannah,” Coop said mildly.
    “No. It was Peter.”
    “With a better offer, sounds like.”
    “Not necessarily,” she hedged.
    “Peter’s not the jerk-off I thought he was,” Wesley
    commented.
    “Oh?” Coop asked over his shoulder. “He’s your new BFF?”
    “The guy’s loaded. My sister could do worse.”
    Carlotta turned around in her seat. “If I want your opinion,
    I’ll ask for it.”
    Wesley shrugged. “So what’s the 411 on the body pickup?”
    “Sunday morning,” Coop said, “in Boca Raton. We’re
    stopping in Daytona for the night.”
    “Cool,” Wesley said. “We’l have time to hit the beach. Just
    think of all those babes in bikinis. Do you think the hotel
    has a hot tub?” He rubbed his hands together. “This is
    going to be great!”
    “Yeah,” Coop said, his demeanor utterly defeated, “just
    great.”

    11
    “Two rooms,” Coop said miserably to the clerk behind the
    hotel desk.
    “Smoking or nonsmoking, sir?”
    “Smoking,” Carlotta and Wesley said in unison, then
    looked at each other.
    “I don’t smoke,” Carlotta protested. “I was just saying that
    I don’t mind a smoking room if more of them are
    available.” She swallowed weakly. “Or if they’re less
    expensive.”
    “Don’t you smoke?” Wesley asked Coop. “If we’re bunking
    together, I was only thinking of you.”
    Coop frowned at both of them. “Two nonsmoking rooms,”
    he clarified, then handed over his credit card.
    “I can pay for my room,” Carlotta murmured.
    “I invited you,” Coop said. “I’m paying.”
    From his tone, it sounded as if he was wishing he hadn’t
    asked her to come along. She pressed her lips together to
    hold back a smile. It was charming that he was so irritated
    at Wesley for crashing their trip. Obviously, Coop had been
    hoping that the two of them would have some alone time.
    And admittedly, she’d begun spinning a few fantasies of
    her own.
    Their rooms were next to each other. Coop carried in her
    suitcase and gave her king-size bed a wistful glance before
    setting the big piece of luggage on top of it.
    Carlotta opened the curtains to a view of Daytona Beach
    below. It was three o’clock in the afternoon and the beach
    was swarming with brown bodies. “Nice room,” she
    commented.
    “Yeah,” he grunted.
    She walked over and clasped his hand. “Coop, I’m sorry
    that Wesley intruded on the weekend. But we can stil
    have fun.”
    A pained smile twisted his mouth. “I know. Just let me
    pout for a little while over what might have been.”
    She raised herself on tiptoe and planted a kiss on his
    cheek. “Thanks for being such a great guy.”
    He sighed. “Guess that’l have to hold me over for a bit.
    Ready to hit the beach?”
    “You and Wesley go ahead. I think I’l do some shopping
    first and join you in a couple of hours.”
    “Do you need for me to drive you?”
    “No, I’ll get a taxi.”
    “I’l take my phone with me. Call me when you get back so
    we can find each other.”
    “Okay.”
    “Have fun.” He gave her bed one last look of longing, then
    left the room and closed the door behind him. Carlotta
    laughed to herself, then unzipped her suitcase. With the
    cast, it took a while to change into an Anika Brazil beaded
    halter bikini and cover-up, but after much contortion and
    cursing, she finally managed. She slid her feet into jeweled
    flat sandals, donned a wide-brimmed hat and sunglasses,
    then picked up a beach bag of supplies and headed down
    to the lobby.
    Outside, several taxis were standing by. She slid into the
    backseat of the first one and said, “The Holiday Inn,
    please.”
    Daytona Beach was a tourist town, crammed with half-
    naked students and tackily dressed middle-aged
    sunseekers. Palm trees and wild birds abounded, as did
    plastic palms and pink flamingos. It was both quaint and
    vulgar, like Las Vegas, but it was a happy, vibrant place.
    Daytona, she decided, was an ideal setting for her parents
    to blend in and