Touch and Go

Doors to the left led to the pool and beach area, and a young, attractive couple walked through them into the lobby.

“I hate you!” the woman snarled. “I wish I’d never married you.”

“The feeling’s mutual,” the man snapped back. “Do you know how much that wedding cost?”

“I know because my parents paid for it. Your parents were too damn cheap to chip in on anything but the flowers.”

He glowered at her. “I should have hooked up with your roommate instead of you.”

“I knew you had the hots for her, you bastard!” She burst into tears and ran off toward the elevators and he stomped back out to the pool area.

A chill moved down Carrie’s arms after witnessing the squabble.

A couple of moments later, they arrived at Will’s office. “What you just saw out there is one of the many problems at Violet Shores right now.”

“A married couple arguing about their relationship.” Patrick crossed his arms. “Not all that unusual.”

“Yeah, but they only got married yesterday. Here, on the beach at sunset. They invited me as one of the witnesses, since they decided to elope. They were madly in love, no doubt about it—so much so that I envied their happiness. Now? I don’t know.” Will sighed. “And they’re not the first to have a falling out right after their vows. Almost every couple that stays here and is obviously in love leaves miserable and, uh, not in love. I assume other guests are repelled by the arguing and fighting and end up going across to the Loa Loa, hoping there are rooms available.”

“And you think this is a curse?” Carrie asked.

He spread his hands. “What else could it be?”

“You said you believe you’re in possession of a cursed amulet. It says here—” Patrick studied the small screen of his BlackBerry “—you’d give more details once we arrived.”

Carrie took a seat across from Will’s desk when he indicated that she should. Patrick remained standing.

“Yes.” Will lowered his voice to a whisper and looked around nervously. “It’s Erzulie.”

“Gesundheit,” Carrie said.

“No, I didn’t sneeze. That’s the name of—”

“The Caribbean goddess of love and sex,” Patrick finished.

Will nodded. “It’s all her fault.”

Patrick eyed his screen again for a long moment. “You think a mythical goddess cursed your resort.”

Will’s jaw set. “Yes, I do. And I’m surprised you sound so skeptical considering who you work for.”

“I didn’t say I didn’t believe you, but it’s very unusual. I’ve never, in all my time at PARA, come across anything like this before. I typically deal with curses and enchantments cast by magic-using humans, not…goddesses.”

Will looked at Carrie hopefully.

She shrugged. “Patrick’s the expert here. I’m new at this.”

His shoulders slumped. “Well, that’s just great.”

“But…” she began. “Why would a—a goddess of love and…uh…”

“Sex,” Patrick said.

The sound of that particular word leaving Patrick’s very enticing lips caused a pleasant but unexpected shiver to run down her spine—similar to the one she felt every time he said her name. The sensuous reaction was instant.

She cleared her throat, feeling warmer all of a sudden, wishing she wasn’t wearing a long-sleeved shirt. She’d have to take a swim in the pool later to cool herself off.

“Why would a goddess of love and sex want to curse your property?”

“Because I pissed her off.”

“You pissed off a goddess.”

He nodded gravely. “When Violet passed away I was out of my mind with grief—I just couldn’t accept she was gone. I acquired the amulet from a museum auction—had to mortgage the resort since it was a huge amount of money—I was told to hold the amulet and think very hard about what I wanted in order to summon Erzulie. So I did. I wanted to see if she could…” His voice trailed off.

“Could what?” Carrie prompted after a moment, disturbed that Will’s expression had grown strained.

“Could bring Violet back to life.” His eyes were glossy now. He rubbed the back of his hand over his forehead. “Anyway, little did I know, she hates being woken by humans and our petty little problems. She refused to help me. After that, everything went to hell. Not only was I in debt thanks to buying the amulet, but the property’s now cursed. I can’t pay the bills and I’m going to lose the resort. The Loa Loa has already made me an offer. They want to expand. But I—I just can’t give up that easily. So I called your agency hoping like hell you could help me.”

Carrie glanced at Patrick. There was genuine concern on his face for their grief-filled client. One thing she knew for sure about Patrick, he sympathized with people in distress. She was the perfect example. Will’s pain had reached him. It had reached her, as well.

“Of course we’ll help you,” he said after a moment.

Her heart warmed and she was relieved he wasn’t going to argue about it.

Will nodded. “If there’s anyone in the world who can get to the bottom of this I know it’s you, Patrick. Your reputation precedes you. That’s why I asked for you specifically.”

Patrick smiled. His lips were a major distraction for Carrie, especially after the mention of sex. “We’ll try our best to find out what’s causing your problems—whether it’s really a curse or something else entirely.”

“Good. Thank you.”

“Where is the amulet?” Patrick asked.

“A couple miles from here on the west island. It’s a tourist trap only accessible by private boat, lots of great photo ops. I buried it there hoping to be rid of it once and for all, but it didn’t make a damn difference—the damage was already done. My boats are both in the shop, but they’ll be back tomorrow so you can head over.”

“Sounds fine.”

Will glanced at Carrie and smiled. “Till then, why don’t you two have some fun here at the resort? I’ll give you a honeymoon suite with a heart-shaped hot tub. It’s way classier than it sounds, I assure you.”

Carrie shifted in her seat, feeling a line of perspiration slide down her spine. Great. Now she had a very clear image in her head of a wet, naked Patrick rising out of a steamy tub, the hot water trickling down his chest, over his flat stomach, and down to his—

Suddenly, the coffee mug on Will’s desk shot off the side and crashed to the floor.

She froze. Oops.

Will frowned as he looked at the broken glass. “That’s odd. Is there a breeze in here?”

Carrie cleared her throat and looked away.