Tall Cool One by Zoey Dean

quite wild. It’s the no-cameras policy, I think, that does it.”
    “I don’t understand.”
    “This resort has a strict no-cameras policy. If we see a guest with a camera, we take it away and expose the film. If it’s a digital, we take away the internal media. And we don’t return it. It’s in our contract. We want our guests to feel safe . . . no matter what they choose to do. We’ve got excellent security.” He pointed to the sky. “The last time some tabloid from the States sent a flyover helicopter, the Mexican government launched two fighter jets. I’m sure they scared the bejesus out of the poor fellow.”
    “That seems a bit extreme,” Anna commented.
    “Hardly. The gossip rags will pay millions for a nude photo of either of the Jennifers. We have to protect their privacy.”
    “Has anyone ever snuck in a camera?”
    “We had one guy try to scuba in with one.”
    “What happened?”
    “If I told you, I’d have to kill you,” Kai joked.
    The tour ended at the Surf Shack. Kai gestured to the Pacific; the waves were rhythmic and well spaced. “The water temp is seventy-six. Sure I can’t get you out there?”
    “Not now. Maybe later. Thanks for the tour, though. It was great.”
    “Definitely my pleasure.”
    Kai gave her another one of those sexy, crinkly smiles. Her conversation with Danny about one-night stands suddenly flew into her head. Someone hot she’d never see again.
    Then she stopped herself. She was only seventeen years old. She’d only been with one guy, Ben. Who did she think she was kidding?
    Anna,
a voice inside her said.
If you aren’t at least going to try it, you should go back to Beverly Hills. Now.
    “Kai?”
    “Yes?”
    Anna cleared her suddenly dry throat. “Would you like to meet for a drink later?”
    For a moment, he didn’t answer, which made Anna feel like an idiot. What if he wasn’t allowed to fraternize with the guests? What if he wasn’t attracted to her? He probably had a girlfriend. Probably ten women a day came on to him, like he was just another perk of paradise. He might even be married. How could she be so—?
    “I’d love to,” Kai answered.

Tens and Near Tens
    “W ho’s in charge here?” Sam asked pointedly. She’d just left her house for about an hour or two to shop for her diet at Whole Foods, and when she returned, unexpected mayhem greeted her inside the front door. Skinny men flitted around the cavernous interior hall, guiding a small nation of workers in the fine art of hanging strands of tiny lightbulbs entwined with ropes of red and pink wildflowers. Other workers were gluing twenty-foot panels of red washed silk fabric to the stone walls in some manner that would allow them to remove said fabric without a trace. Another work crew fastened a scarlet velvet carpet runner to the slate floor. And amongst this mini-cast of thousands, not one person responded to her question.
    Suddenly Dee trotted into the hallway, trailed by a man in red monk’s robes. “Can you bless this area, too, please? Thanks.” Then she skittered over to Sam and enveloped her in a hug. “I was wondering when you’d get here. Isn’t this going to be the best baby shower?”
    Poppy’s baby shower. The next day. Sam had done her best to erase it from her mind. She hadn’t even bought a gift yet.
    “Wait,” Sam recalled. “Isn’t it supposed to be at House of Blues?”
    “Yeah. But Poppy had a dream in which Ruby Hummingbird told her that she needed to be in a more nurturing atmosphere. So we decided at the last minute to have it here. Isn’t that sweet?”
    “Ruby Hummingbird makes a habit of showing up in dreams,” Sam uttered, absolutely deadpan.
    “She’s preparing us for her arrival,” Dee said, missing Sam’s sarcasm. “Besides, Baba Yaga has blessed the entire house, room by room. We tried to get a rabbi from the Kabbalah Center, but no one would volunteer. We even called Chabad. No luck.”
    “Well, you got . . . Baba,” Sam intoned,