“I’ve heard!” Lydia exclaimed with a laugh, returning his embrace with a sisterly kiss on the cheek. “First Tex, now Travis and Bastian!”
“It’s awful,” Breck said, dropping into a chair beside her. “I’m afraid to drink the water.”
Lydia patted his leg reassuringly as she sat beside him. “It wouldn’t be so bad, would it?” she teased.
“I’m not done sampling all the beautiful people the world has to offer,” Breck said firmly.
“You won’t want anything else,” Tex, the bartender and bear shifter, told him, pulling up a chair on the other side of Lyd
ia. She leaned over to give him a sitting half-hug.
“Maybe you didn’t,” Breck said skeptically. “But you weren’t gifted with a libido like mine.”
Travis gave a friendly laugh as he took a seat across the table with Chef and Bastian. “No one in the world has been ‘gifted’ with a libido like yours.”
“On other topics,” Scarlet interrupted firmly, “we do have business to cover.” The resort owner tolerated Breck’s extracurricular activities with guests and staff alike provided it didn’t cause any drama, but she didn’t exactly approve of it.
Lydia listened politely as Scarlet outlined the bullet points of the resort business. Comment cards had come back from the World Mr. Shifter event, and most of it was positive. They were having unfortunate supply problems following the storm that Lydia had missed, and their lack of a boat was complicating their ability to restock.
“The insurance company doesn’t really have a leg to stand on,” Scarlet explained. “But they are using all the delay tactics at their disposal. We’re going to have to purchase the boat and roof repairs out of pocket and wait for reimbursement. Most of the profits from the Mr. Shifter contract went to pay off some of our outstanding debts, and we’re going to have to reopen credit at some of our suppliers. I had hoped we would be able to operate in the black after that windfall, but it doesn’t look like we’ll be quite that lucky.”
“No Christmas bonus,” Breck muttered to Lydia in an aside.
Scarlet’s sharp ears didn’t miss it. “A minimal bonus, at the most,” she said frankly. “I’m having the accountant go over my numbers again. Last year’s unexpected housing situation put us at a fairly large deficit going into the fiscal year.”
She was referring to the fact that they had fed and housed, free of charge, a large number of refugees from the shifter zoo that had been kidnapping people from all over the world that had been on the other side of the island from the resort. None of the staff had protested the act of charity, but it had dented the operating budget of the resort rather severely.
“On the upside,” she continued, “we do have a busy schedule for the remainder of the year and well into the first months of the next. As we had hoped, the World Mr. Shifter competition gave us a great deal of positive press in the shifter community. If the insurance company stops balking and this trend continues, we should be back in the black early next year.”
“And if nothing major breaks,” Travis added cautiously. “I’m not sure how much longer the air conditioner in the hotel is going to keep grinding on.”
Scarlet grimaced. “Cross your fingers,” she said. “We’re well stocked in duct tape, at least.”
The rest of the staff went around the table and updated each other on plans and problems. Lydia gave the okay to put her morning yoga, meditation, and dance classes back on the schedule. “I’m also certified in acupuncture now, so we should add that to the list of services!”
“Congratulations,” Scarlet said, with a warm smile as she noted it down on her clipboard. “And welcome back! You missed some exciting weeks.”
Lydia could only smile secretly. She knew that the most exciting week of her life was just ahead of her.
Chapter 5
Wrench held the shampoo bottle at arm’s length, squinting at the butterfly on the label as it compared to the butterfly he had plastered onto the wall.
It was better.
Having a reference had helped. The first butterfly, down in the corner of the wall was awkward and cartoony. The second was not much better, but this one, larger, had a more correct form, and a more pleasing placement on the wall.
“Oh.”
Wrench turned in alarm to find that a woman had come into the private courtyard while he was inspecting his work.
And not just any woman.
She had a healthy, unadorned beauty, from the crown of her straight, shoulder-length dark hair to the curves of her tanned skin. She was standing like a dancer, poised to fall into motion at the slightest hint of music. Her body was a lush combination of strength and softness, and Wrench might have stared at the generous expanse of her cleavage if he had not been entirely captured by the gorgeous planes of her face and the eternity in her brown eyes.
“Oh,” he said in return.
Oh yes, his panther said, stretching in his head.