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Odelia retracted her proffered hand and shrugged. She wasn’t here to make friends, but it would have been nice to find some, considering she and Chase were going to be separated soon, and not even allowed a cell phone.

As she piled her plate with those tiny pastries, the female half of the couple Clint had pointed out to them followed her example.

“Are you also here for Passion Island?” asked the woman, sounding nervous.

She was a brunette, with her hair in a ponytail, and looked pretty but a little plain, at least in comparison to the other couple.

“Yes, I am,” said Odelia.

“Oh, great,” said the woman, and held out her hand. “I’m Tina, and that guy over there eating his body weight in sausages is Nick.”

Odelia,” said Odelia, and gestured to her table. “And that’s Chase.”

“He looks fit,” said Tina, and immediately looked mortified. “Oh, heck, I said that out loud, didn’t I? I mean, he looks nice.”

“And fit,” said Odelia with a smile. “He’s not a seducer, though, so you won’t be seeing him, I’m afraid.”

“Oh, no, I didn’t mean it like that!” said the woman, her cheeks coloring. “I’m sorry. I don’t know why I said that. I guess I’m not used to this kind of thing. Seducers and seductresses and all of that stuff. This wasn’t my idea, you know. It was all Nick. He pretty much had to drag me here kicking and screaming;” She rolled her eyes. “Men.”

“So why did you agree?”

“Well, Nick said this would be the ultimate relationship test for us. We’re getting married in the fall, see.” She showed a neat little engagement ring, proudly holding it out for Odelia’s inspection. “And Nick thought it would be a good idea to make sure there were no doubts. I’m a pretty jealous kind of gal, and I’ve been giving Nick hell, I’m afraid. He’s got a pretty extensive circle of friends, a lot of them women. And so I get insecure. And he just figured we’d settle this once and for all, and he’d prove to me that he loves me and he’s not going to cheat on me. And 50.000 prize money sounds pretty sweet.”

“Yeah, that’s the main reason we’re doing this,” Odelia confided, reiterating her rehearsed storyline. “We’re getting married in September, and that money would be a nice down payment for a house.”

“Oh, you lucky girl!” Tina cried, then held her hand to her mouth again. “I keep blurting out the most inappropriate things, don’t I?”

“It’s all right,” said Odelia, laughing.

They both watched as Nick was approached by the female half of the other couple, and immediately his face lit up and he started making animated conversation.

Next to Odelia, Tina sighed.“See what I mean? He can’t see a woman or he has to chat her up.”

Odelia nodded, and felt for Tina. She had the impression she wouldn’t go home with the big prize. But instead, she said, “I’m sure he’s just being friendly.”

But from the way Nick’s eyes kept dropping down the woman’s crop top and checking out her enhanced chest, friendly probably wasn’t the right word.

Chapter 13

Odelia had arranged for Dooley and me to be treated to a breakfast as hearty as the one she and Chase were getting. Which meant… room service! Now if there’s one thing I love about traveling it’s this very concept of room service. Of course you could say that us cats enjoy room service all of our lives, but the service at a hotel is still a little different from the one at home. I don’t know if it’s the food, or being far from home, but overall it’s a pleasant experience. Especially if the room service person is as friendly as the one who’d delivered our breakfast—a sweet lady with extremely kind demeanor.

So we thanked our benefactor, even though she probably couldn’t understand a meow we said, and dug into our juicy fillets and sauce-covered nuggets with relish.

And it was as we devoured the treats that the door opened again and a man strode in.

“More room service!” Dooley cried happily. “Oh, Max, my bones are going to become as big as yours if this keeps up!”

I gave him a look of extreme censure, which went straight over his head, as he was too busy eagerly anticipating this new person’s gifts, and so I turned my attention in the same direction.

And got the shock of a lifetime.

The man who’d just entered… was the same man from last night.

“It’s the guy!” I cried.

“I know!” said Dooley. “I hope he’s brought p?t?. I love p?t?.”

“No, I mean it’s the same guy from last night. The intruder!”

Dooley’s jaw dropped. “What does he want!” he cried.

It soon became clear what the man wanted: to snoop.

He went straight for Odelia’s laptop, which she’d left on the table, and opened it. His hands were gloved, and his fingers were soon deftly probing the keyboard. Judging from the look of frustration on his face, though, Odelia’s password gave him pause.

So instead, he started searching around, until he found her iPad.

“We have to do something,” I said. “He’s going to steal Odelia’s tablet!”

“But what can we do!” said Dooley. “He’s a lot bigger and a lot stronger than us!”

“He doesn’t know we’re here,” I said. “Maybe we can scare him away.”