Free Barefoot in the Sun by Roxanne St. Claire Page B

more sure of anything,” she said, her dark eyes slicing through Zoe with an incomprehensible message.
    No way Zoe was staying here and facing Oliver in front of her friends. “I’m coming back with you,” she said, standing up as Pasha hooked her arm into Will’s and headed out.
    Tessa grabbed the strap of Zoe’s cover-up. “Hang on, Miss Z. You’re not running away this time.”
    “Tessa, I want to go with her.”
    “She’s fine.” She kept a grip on Zoe long enough for Pasha to get on her way. “Do you think I’m blind and stupid?” Tessa whispered so soflty only Zoe could hear her. “You could have lit up the whole resort with the electricity in that room last night. You need to face this guy down and get rid of whatever hold he has over you.”
    Just before Pasha disappeared around the corner, she turned and gave Zoe a long, incomprehensible look. Then she was gone.
    “He doesn’t have any hold over me,” Zoe said softly.
    Except he knew her darkest secret and he’d been the only man she’d ever loved. But all that mattered now was that he held the keys to the one thing she wanted most in the whole world: Pasha’s life.
    “Prove it,” Tessa challenged.
    “I will.” She wasn’t sure how, but she had to. Pasha’s life depended on it.

Chapter Four
    T his is fun, Dad.”
    “Is it?” Oliver tried to see Mimosa Key through his son’s eyes. Thick with tropical foliage, dotted with colorful, mismatched cottages and old-school mom-and-pop retailers, the center of the island was no more than a tiny town built around one main intersection that boasted a convenience store as its main attraction. Lowbrow as it was, Oliver imagined the charm of the place was more appealing than the manicured perfection of Naples to an eight-year-old.
    Frankly, it was more appealing to a thirty-nine-year-old, too, but that might have more to do with the charm of a current resident than the town itself.
    “And Mom says you hate fun.”
    Oliver almost smiled. “So I’ve heard.” But if that were true, he wouldn’t have fallen for Zoe, the human embodiment of fun, in the first place. “But I cleared my day and brought you to…” He squinted at the one-story fleabag across from the Shell station. “A place with a motel called the Fourway.”
    “Bet it’s named after the intersection,” Evan mused.
    “One would hope.”
    Evan laughed, but he sounded uncertain enough to assure Oliver that his son wasn’t quite that precocious.
    “Want to have even more fun, Dad?”
    “If I can handle it.”
    “Let’s go in that place called the Super Min and get Slurpees. I’m parched.”
    Oliver smiled at the word so few eight-year-olds would ever use. “All right. Let’s live dangerously and see some local color.”
    Evan bounded out of the Porsche the second they parked in front of the store, full of energy and enough excitement over the modest adventure that Oliver had a pang of guilt. He’d worked a lot, and missed a lot, and now he’d moved away and ended his marriage. Evan might act smart and tough, but none of Oliver’s decisions had been easy on the child.
    And who knew better than Oliver what a lasting impact a parent’s actions can have on a kid his age? He vowed to remember that this summer. No, he wasn’t going to spoil Evan, but indulging him a little couldn’t hurt, either.
    With that promise in his heart, he watched the boy yank open the door and stopped to appreciate the old-fas hione d bell that announced their arrival. Inside, they met the sharp-eyed gaze of a sixty-something proprietor propped on a stool behind the counter.
    “Don’t tell me,” she said. “You’re going to Casa Blanca.”
    Oliver and Evan shared a look. “How’d you know?” Evan asked.
    “The car’s a dead giveaway.” She narrowed her eyes at him, giving Oliver a once-over. “And the designer threads. What’s your name?”
    Oliver bristled a little at the question, but had to consider where he was. In a town this size,