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Chapter 1

I stepped off the plane A wave of huhthe sreat vacation I stepped carefully down the stair ra like a movie star as I exited the small plane and followed a red carpet off the runway and to the srin off my face to save my life

The airport tere to me at first, until I realized that the weather was always nice enough here that they wouldn’t need to have double-paned s It was a foreign concept to someone likeand cooling throughout the year My s in Ioere only open in the late spring and early fall due to the weather outside which was either too hot or too cold I loved the idea of having s open year round, the weather always nice

My bags were already circling the s the only plane at a s clicked behind me on the tile floor as I looked around for e aviator glasses holding up a sign with my name on it: Emma LaRue I must have looked like so at rin plastered onto take it all in

“Ms LaRue?” he asked, a lilting accent twistingexotic “I’ your stay here, please just let s and usheredfancy town car I felt spoiled as he opened the door and I slid into the soft leather seat The air was running and the car felt cold after the tropical warmth of the airport

Felipe entered the driver’s seat and easily maneuvered the car out onto the lass like a little kid, watching this beautiful world zooreenhouses lined the road, green things groild against the bright blue sky

“Is this your first ti in the mirror at my amazement

“Yes — I’ve al my eyes from the

“Iowa? What is in Iowa?” Felipe asked, his accent n country

“Just pigs and corn,” I said with a laugh

“Pigs and corn We have only fish and coconuts here Hopefully you will find it to your liking,” he said as he turned the car shtthe horizon

“I like fish and coconuts,” I said and he laughed

“Is that why you are vacationing here?”

“Well, I actually won this trip There was a contest on the radio I never win anything, but I so horizon I had never seen the ocean, and even fro and beautiful, even from far away I could barely believe I would see it up close

I was sure I was going to wake up at any moment My favorite radio station had run a contest for an all-expenses-paid vacation to the exclusive tropical paradise resort on Ocean Key I had called in on a whim, and fast-forward two months, here I was It still felt surreal

“You must be very lucky if you won a trip to Ocean Blue Resort,” Felipe said as he drove past an ornate sign bearing the naht blue tile letters proclai the name from the road It looked expensive and fancy

“Itto even out hed, as if I had s never seeo my way I had this horrible suspicion that this wasto arrive at the resort and my room would be occupied, or I’ll find that I was actually responsible for the bill and would end up paying for everything That would be the kind of luck I usually had Not this good kind of luck