His enthusiasm is a little excessive, but I let it go. “Thanks for the piña colada. That was very nice of you.”

“Can I get you another?”

Up close like this, Butch isn’t unattractive. He actually has good bone structure and lively blue eyes, and he has a very nice voice. “No, thank you. I don’t drink too much.”

“But your body’s perfect.”

I flush. “Actually, I just don’t like liquor that much.”

Butch pats his round belly. “I wish I didn’t. I wouldn’t have this.” He motions to the empty lounge chair next to me. “Mind if I sit down? The crouching thing’s hard on the knees.” He takes the lounge chair before I can say yes or no, and he’s looking at me closely and shaking his head. “Man, you’re beautiful, baby. Just gorgeous. So natural, too.”

I think Butch means well, but he’s making me really uncomfortable. “Here on vacation?” I ask, knowing it’s inane, but it’s a topic that has nothing to do with me and the way I look.

“Yeah. From Las Vegas. Originally San Diego. You?”

“Seattle.”

“Seattle.” He makes a face, runs his hand across his jaw, which hasn’t been shaved in a day or two. “God, that place is miserable. Always rains there, doesn’t it?”

“Sometimes.” Butch isn’t making a lot of points with me right now.

“Doesn’t it have the highest suicide rate in the country?”

“Haven’t heard that,” I lie, hating when people knock Seattle right off the bat. Oh, the rain, the gray, blah blah blah. Well, it rains in Paris even more than Seattle, and you don’t hear people taking about the suicide rate there, do you?

“What are you reading?” he asks, pushing my book up to see the cover.

“A Patterson novel,” I say, letting him study the cover.

“Any good?”

“Very good.”

He nods. “I don’t read much anymore. Just don’t have the time for it. Work’s too intense. I’m a developer, build the really big hotels in Vegas, and business is booming. It’s been like this for nearly ten years. You like Vegas?”

“Don’t go that much,” I answer honestly. With the house in Palm Springs and Nic’s place in Scottsdale, there was no reason to go to Las Vegas for sun; and since Daniel and I weren’t gamblers, there was no point to go for the casinos, either.

“Vegas is all about food. Did you know that? People don’t realize that Las Vegas draws some of the top chefs now. I could show you Vegas like you’ve never seen it.”