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Prologue
The end-of-semester bash at Barnacle Ben’s in Oceanside had turned into a raucous affair, bordering on the criminal. Later, the group of students from the fire academy had said that from what they could remember, it was also the most fun they’d ever had. Agreeing with the general consensus, Leonardo Saint, or Leon as he was known, grinned, but didn’t add his personal experience to the conversation.
The morning after, he’d awakened in a strange place, on his back. Once the explosion in his head abated, he was aware that he was a human being. He got up on his elbows and turned to a body next to him. To his right lay a young woman he didn’t recognize. She lay motionless on her stomach, long blond hair covering her bare back. He saw faint movement, so at least she was breathing. Maybe if he saw her face, he’d remember her name.
Looking around the room, he realized they were in a hotel. He pulled the sheet back carefully so as not to disturb her, and looked down at his body. He was naked, too. Slowly climbing out of bed, he tiptoed to the closed drapes and peeked out a slit. They were on the water, but he didn’t see any landmarks to reveal where they were, not recognizing the pier or the marina or the faintly industrial-looking area.
A vinyl-clad book on the desk revealed the location. Hotel Sunrise? San Pedro? How in the hell did he get to Los Angeles? Looking for his clothes, he found jeans thrown over a chair, and searching the pockets, relieved, he found his wallet. It appeared all his plastic was there, and as usual, he didn’t have much cash on hand. He pulled on his pants and slipped shoes on, the gritty carpet setting his teeth on edge.
Back at the bedside, he found his phone on the night table. Doing a quick examination, he discovered that he’d had the forethought to get an Uber, blanching when he saw it cost over one hundred dollars, and it would cost that much to get back again. But why were they in LA?
At the window he strained to see to the left, and there was a battleship, and across the water there appeared to be a wharf of some kind. There was no apparent reason he would have chosen this particular grubby hotel. Next, his focus was on finding out who the girl was without talking to her. He didn’t see her belongings. In the bathroom, he saw she’d hung up her clothing, but there wasn’t a purse or anything he could find without digging around, which he didn’t want to do.
Back out in the room, she might have stashed her things in the nightstand, and he couldn’t go through that without waking her up, so he sat down in a chair and waited. He debated just leaving, but that wouldn’t be right. He was a player, but he was Roberta Saint’s son, and she would be appalled that he had done what he was doing, let alone walk out on someone he might have had sex with, which reminded him…he went through the trash can and didn’t find any telltale wrappers, which scared him further. What in the hell had he had to drink that would lead to such behavior?
After fifteen minutes, she moved. She was so young; that scared him. He was twenty-two, but she looked younger than that. Hoping she was at least of age, he waited and watched. She finally opened her eyes.
“Who are you?” she asked.
He couldn’t help it, he must have been holding his breath, and when she asked that, a rush of air left his lungs with a laugh.
“Oh God, my head,” she moaned, holding out her hand to shake. “I’m Tina Marlin.”
“Leon Saint,” he said, standing up to shake hers. “I’ll give you some privacy.”
“That’s not necessary,” she said, pulling the sheet back, and unabashedly bent over to get her phone off the floor. Her body was beautiful. And he couldn’t recall any of it.
“I’m sorry I don’t remember last night.”
“I don’t either,” she said. “What in the hell did we drink?”
“No idea. And why are we in San Pedro? I had to look at the room-service menu to figure out where we are, because nothing out there looks familiar.”
“This place is a dump,” she said, grimacing, tiptoeing across the rug. “I live in Long Beach, but I work out of the cruise terminal. That must be why we’re up here.”
Relieved, at least he’d been a gentleman to bring her back to her job. He tried not to stare at her, but it wasn’t easy.
“Do you know what day it is?” she asked.
“I’m not sure, but it must be Saturday because I think yesterday was the last day of the semester for the fire academy, and that was a Friday.”
“Oh crap! I have a cruise that leaves on Saturday,” she cried, closing the bathroom door.
“Can you get home? I’m going to take off,” Leon said through the door.
The door opened a crack and he could see her breasts, of which he had no memory, unfortunately. “Do you have a car?”
“No. I found an Uber receipt on my phone.”
“Where did I meet you?”
“I was at a bar in Oceanside with my friends. It must have been there.”
Thinking for a second, she looked up at him. “I went there with my boyfriend. I think we had a fight and he left me there.”
Having a hot flash of epic proportions, he wondered where the boyfriend was now. “Why were you in Oceanside?”
“He’s in the Navy,” she said. “He’s stationed down in San Diego.”
