“Okay, I get it.” Linda shook back her long, thick hair. “And contempt means it’s pretty much over.”

Marissa wanted to touch Linda’s hair rather a lot. Her drink was very tasty. “I think so. Our questionnaire gets at what a person loves and what they hate but when we run the analysis, we screen out the likely match-ups that would lead to contempt first. Then we connect up the good stuff, like what each person finds amusing and so forth.” Marissa paused to sip from her straw.

“In real life, do you think people minimize the things they don’t like about someone if there’s lots of things they do?”

Marissa wanted to ask what Linda would be willing to overlook as a negative in her but she supposed she didn’t have to think about it that hard. Linda was the most active person Marissa had ever known, and she was aware that in all the activities they’d done in the last several days, from hiking to snorkeling, she was holding Linda back. How could someone so . . . energetic, fit, delectable . . . have any erotic thoughts about someone like her?

It was undeniable, how much she wanted Linda to really find her as attractive as all the flirting implied. But she couldn’t believe it. The mirror and tape measure didn’t lie. “Sure. There are lots of assumptions that the other person will change or the friction point won’t come up. But, over time, people are who they are. I guess.” Marissa sipped again, more nervously. Why did it seem like every word she said warned Linda off? “I’m not an expert. People don’t change easily. And sometimes they can’t change at all. My father couldn’t be straight.”

Linda swallowed after letting a mouthful melt on her tongue. Marissa simply could not stop watching. Linda was getting kind of blurry too. “Was that why your parents broke up?”

“Actually, it was because he moved out to be on his own and eventually moved in with Phillip.” Marissa put a hand to her brow. “This is going right to my head. Wow.”

“Too much sun.” Linda quickly fetched a glass of water from the bar. “Drink up, all that you can. When’s the last time you had to pee?”

“That’s kinda personal, isn’t it?” Marissa dutifully drank from the glass.

“More than two hours? Three?”

Marissa shrugged. “I don’t know. After breakfast.”

“So five hours. You’re dehydrated, you gorgeous idiot.”

“I’m not an idiot.” Marissa listed to one side. “Not gorgeous either. But I might be drunk.”

Linda firmly pulled Marissa upright. “Don’t fall over. Stay right there.”

Marissa watched Linda stride away and it seemed like only seconds before a plate with several sliced cheeses, glazed almonds and the delicious local bread, toasted, was set in front of Marissa.

Linda’s brown eyes were quite commanding. “Eat up.”

Commanding in a nice way, Marissa thought. In a way where the only thought a girl would have was Yes. “You have some too.”