LITMIR.BIZ

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turned back to the mirror. Maybe she should have gotten a few more golden highlights. Her hair still looked awfully drab, not really brown but not blond either.

      “I was glancing. I don’t have time to gawk. There are way too many fine-looking men here to waste time ogling just one.” Ginger got out her lipstick and re-applied a coat to her already orange lips. “Do you think I should wear my pink sundress or the yellow sarong to dinner?”

      Carly laughed. “We haven’t been here for five minutes and you’re worried about dinner wear?”

      “This is a singles resort, n’est ce pas?”

      Carly stuck her comb back into her purse, and didn’t reply. She figured the question was rhetorical.

      “The travel agent told us that most of the guests arrive on Friday and generally stay for a week. Today is Friday.”

      “And?” Carly said as they headed for the lobby.

      “Tonight is crucial. Everyone will be sizing up everyone else and starting to move in and—never mind.” Ginger shrugged and walked out the door of the bathroom, steering toward the reception desk.

      “What?”

      “You don’t understand what it’s like to be the only girl in the senior class not to get asked to the prom.”

      “Bull.”

      Ginger stopped behind three women waiting in line to check in and turned to Carly with an arched brow. “You, too? No way.”

      “And how about this one? Going stag to a party and standing around while all the other girls are being asked to dance. You try to shrink into the wall pattern while you’re praying that you’re not the last one.” Carly dug in her wallet for the confirmation number she’d tucked in with her blood-donor card. “And if you get really desperate,” she continued, “you pretend you have to go to the bathroom, and then leave before anyone realizes you’re gone. Assuming they ever do notice. Ah, here’s the number.” She slipped her wallet back into her purse, and then looked at Ginger, who stared back in surprise.

      “I wouldn’t believe it except you sound like one who knows.”

      “I’m flattered you think otherwise. But that’s the sorry truth. The only reason anyone from school would remember me at all is because our graduating class totaled sixty-three.” Not totally true. Actually, practically everyone in town knew who she was, but only because of her father.

      Ginger laughed. “What’s wrong with those boys back in Oroville?”

      “Apparently the same thing as the ones in Tucson.”

      Ginger got serious. “I hope this week isn’t a bust. I’m using all but three hundred dollars of my savings for this trip.”

      “I know. Me, too.” Carly mentally cringed at the dismal state of her own bank account. She’d be returning to her parents’ home, back to her old bedroom—she hoped without the white lace canopy bed. Expenses would be low…but the nights as exciting as dishwater.

      “Next.”

      The woman behind the desk motioned them forward. They’d been so busy talking they hadn’t noticed that the line had disappeared. Within minutes they’d registered, the bell staff had been notified to deliver their bags and they were in the elevator headed for the sixth floor.

      Carly took a deep breath and told herself there was no reason to be nervous. She’d planned this trip for the past year. This was a necessary life experience. It would satisfy her curiosity, and in some ways, it would provide closure. If she ended up an old maid like her father’s two sisters, at least she’d have this trip to look back on.

      This week there’d be no rules. No second-guessing. No worries. She’d bask in anonymity and have the most mind-blowing sex of her life.

      THE BALLROOM LOOKED like Mardi Gras in June with red, yellow and blue balloons floating around the ceiling. Others were tied to the portable bars set up in each corner of the large room, already crowded with bodies, tanned and disgustingly well-toned bodies, more bare than clothed.

      Mostly twenty-somethings, Carly guessed, the ratio of men to women thankfully pretty equal. Except the women here were all beautiful, or at least confident, she noted as a blonde wearing only a micro-mini sarong asked possibly the best-looking guy in a hundred miles to dance.

      The band had just finished tuning up and started playing “Night Moves.” No one else was out on the dance floor yet. A few people sat at tables clustered in the back of the room, and the rest milled around the bars.

      “What did I tell you?” There could be no doubt that Ginger was blatantly gawking at the passersby. And not just at the men. No discrimination here. The women wore the more mind-boggling outfits. Lots of bare midriffs and diamond-studded navels.

      “Oh, my God.” Ginger straightened, throwing out her chest. “He’s coming this way. No, don’t look.”

      Carly had started to follow her gaze, but instead kept her eyes trained on the stage.

      “Okay, now. Look. Wait.” Ginger gave her a fake smile. “Do I have lipstick on my teeth?”

      Sighing, Carly shook her head. Ginger was right. This was like high school all over again. The way everyone sized each other up made her crazy.

      A tall guy with a ponytail and gold hoop earring approached, and she held her breath. He passed them and asked a blonde in a slinky neon-pink dress to dance.

      “His loss,” Ginger whispered, and went back to scanning the crowd.

      God, Carly hated this. Why did they have to have this meet-and-greet anyway? She shouldn’t have come. She should have made an excuse and stayed in the room. Surely she could meet someone on the beach, or at dinner, or maybe in the bar. This set-up was too reminiscent of her past failures.

      “Wanna drink?” Ginger asked, her gaze drawn to a short brunette holding a thick orange fruity concoction topped with a cherry and pineapple wedge.

      “More than life itself.” Carly tugged at the hem of her sundress. It hit mid-thigh, yet in here she looked modest. “I’ll get them. Vodka and tonic?”

      “Nah, I want one of those frou-frou ones with a paper umbrella sticking out of it. And make it a double.”

      Carly nodded, watching as people rapidly started to pair up. She wasn’t much of a drinker, but a double sounded good about now. She headed for the nearest bar while trying to figure out how many beads the drinks would cost her.

      Their vacation package was all-inclusive, with food, drinks and entertainment costs covered. But as soon as they’d checked in, they were given three strings of colored beads each to be worn around their necks and used for payment. Why they had to exchange beads for services she had no idea. Probably some sort of marketing gimmick that went over her head.

      At the first bar she tried, people were lined up five deep. No one seemed to mind the wait though. They all chatted and compared tan lines, or murmured comments about the bartender’s buns.

      When she was finally close enough to get a look, she saw that all he wore was a red bow tie and a G-string. His partner, a blond woman who didn’t even look twenty-one, wore a skimpy flesh-colored bikini top with her G-string, close enough to her own skin tone that Carly took a second look.

      The entire place was about sex. The predatory looks, the sultry music, the way both the employees and guests dressed. Even the drinks had suggestive names. It was kind of fun because she didn’t know anyone. Scary, too, though.

      “I met you last year, didn’t I?”

      The voice was close to her ear, and Carly slid a look at the man standing beside her. “Me?”

      He grinned. “You were here last September only your hair was longer.” He made a slashing motion with his hand indicating a chin-length hairstyle.

      “Sorry,

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