“I guess Tana’s pretty easy, then?” I asked.
“Nearly all Western names are easy for me. I have relatives in the states and used to spend summers there.”
“So that’s why your English is so good!”
“Thank you, Miss Murray.”
“I’m afraid I can’t speak any of your language.”
“Well, I can teach you the important words. It’s my routine with our guests. Please, thank you, hello. Those words are good to know. Tell me, Miss Murray, do you speak more than English?”
Instead of rolling my bag, he picked it up by the handle. As if it weighed nothing.
“I know some high school French. But I’ve never had the chance to try it out. Maybe someday. What about you? Do you speak more than Thai and English?”
“Some French and some German, mostly picked up from our guests.”
When we reached the resort van, Chay threw my bag in the back as if it weighed nothing, and then slid the side door open for me. Cool air blasted me in the face as I jumped in, and I realized I’d never been so happy to feel air conditioning. He took my hand as I stepped into the dim interior, and after I’d grabbed a seat on the first bench seat, I realized I wasn’t alone.
* * *
2
Handsome Strangers
“Oh. Hello,”I said, doing a double take.
Holy shit.
Seated behind me were two studs as hot as the Bangkok weather. One of them, sitting in the second row of seats, had sandy blonde hair and the broad shoulders of a natural athlete. His lips were full and sensual, but his eyes were shaded by mirrored aviators.
The other, in the last row, was dark-haired, trimmed nearly to the scalp on one side but combed neatly over the other, and a jawline that looked sculpted by a master.
“Bonjour. I am Jean-Pierre,” he said.
“And I’m Rob,” the other one added with an American accent that sounded out of place so far from home and in a place so exotic. This man was on the wrong side of the Pacific, but then I guess I was, too.
“You’re the guest who Chay’s picking up? Glad I came along for the ride,” Rob said.
Well.
“I must also say I am lucky that my day’s activities brought me here,” Jean-Pierre said.
A wave of heat passed over my face, and I knew it was not because of the temperatures outside.
“Are you both arriving today? I didn’t see any other luggage.”
Rob chuckled. “Oh no, we’re employees like Chay.”
He leaned over the seat back to get closer. “So how long are you staying?”
“Just five days.”
Rob raised his hand. “Hold on. You came all the way here for just five days?” he asked.
Now that I knew what the flight was like, he had a good point.
I shrugged. “Yeah. So what are you doing here at the airport?”