Emily Kimelman - Sydney Rye 03 - Insatiable Read Online Free PDF

his eyes and laugh.” A tear dropped onto the stomach of the bear. Juanita ran a well-manicured hand across her eyes and sniffled back a sob.
    She stood up and faced me, her eyes streaked with red. “I trust that you will find my daughter and that you will bring her home. Bobby said that you had insight that would be invaluable. I believe him.”
    “We will do our best.” Juanita Vargas Llosa de Hernandez walked out of the room leaving me alone with her memories.

STRANGERS IN PARADISE

    The next morning we left for Playa del Carmen. After landing in Cancun we travelled on a highway with barely a curve which ran parallel to the Caribbean Sea. The road, a single lane in each direction, brings tourists from Cancun south to Playa del Carmen and Tulum. Unair- conditioned buses passed each other wildly, swerving into oncoming traffic and then veering at the last possible second back into the correct lane. Natural growth of ratty trees and thirsty scrub hugged the roadway interrupted only by the hotel entrances that explained the reason for the road at all.
    Our car turned and passed through the gates of The Paradise Hotel. On the hotel grounds the natural plantation that lived by the road was gone. A long stretch of blacktop carried us through manicured grounds forced into order by a team of invisible gardeners and one hell of an irrigation system.
    The hotel rose before us, surrounded by palm trees swaying in the breeze. We pulled into its circular drive and could see the azure blue of the Caribbean Sea through the open lobby. A uniformed employee opened my door and welcomed me to Paradise. I squinted against the bright sun and smiled. A warm breeze played with my hair as my luggage was unloaded.
    Blue sat on the sidewalk, his neck stretched out toward the sky, his nose sniffing the scents that floated by on the passing air. I felt Blane’s hand curl around my waist and he led me into the lobby. It opened to the driveway on one side and the Caribbean Sea on the other. Couches faced the crystal blue water that rose and fell in small swells. Some people sat enjoying drinks as large fans provided an artificial breeze to the space.
    Blane checked us in and our luggage was loaded onto a cart. A bell boy led us past the elevators, through an arched doorway and out to a shaded path where a golf cart waited for us. The man behind the wheel invited us to step aboard. I turned to look at Blane who smiled. “Pedro made special arrangements for his good old friends the Franks.”
    The small electric cart carried us down a path that ran by the beach. Some people were laid out on chaise lounges baking themselves in the bright sun while others read books under umbrellas. The water was dotted with the heads of swimmers and the occasional happy cry of a child carried across the waves to us. The blue of the sea met the blue of the sky in a barely perceptible horizon.
    As we continued, the crowd thinned, and when we stopped in front of a large cabana with its own private patio, the shore was sparsely populated. Blane tipped our driver who then pulled a u-turn and headed back the way we’d come.  
    The bungalow had a name. It was painted on a wooden sign next to the front door: “Luna de Miel.” Next to the sign, an iguana missing half his tail soaked up the warmth of the sun. Blue’s ears perked and his head cocked when he noticed the giant lizard. “I wouldn’t mess with him,” I said. Blue turned to look at me. I waved him into the cabana before he could start any trouble.
    The bungalow was one large space. A king size bed shrouded in mosquito netting faced a flat screen TV. A small sitting area took up one corner and a small kitchen the other. A ceiling fan meant to resemble palm fronds circulated the air. Blane pushed open the doors and let the sea breezes toy with the long white curtains.
    Our luggage arrived and so did a fruit basket with a note from Pedro’s nephew Alejandro. “Welcome to Paradise! I hope that everything is to