"Bennett, Cherie - Sunset Island 011 - Sunset Paradise" - читать интересную книгу автора (Bennett Cherie)

"You'll really have your hands full with them on the yacht," Sam told Graham and Claudia ruefully.
"Not to worry," Claudia said with a grin. "If I know anything about kids that age, they'll hang out with each other, as far away from us adult types as possible."
"Fortunately, it's a big yacht!" Graham added.
"Listen, tell Dan Jacobs he can call me about the trip if he has any questions," Claudia said. She and Graham waved goodbye and made their way through the crowd.
"Billy Joel's yacht," Sam said wistfully. "I'd like to go on Billy Joel's yacht."
"Uh, Sam, how come you're not jumping up and down?" Emma asked her.
"Because I'm not the one going on the cruise," Sam answered.
"What Emma means is," Carrie said, "hasn't it dawned on you that if the twins are going with Graham and Claudia, you can go to Paradise Island?"
Sam just stood there for a moment, letting what Carrie had said sink in. "That's right," she finally marveled. "But it seems too good to be true."
"It is truer Carrie cried. "It really is!"
"I have to ask Mr. Jacobs firstЧ" Sam began.
"What's he going to do, tell you you have to stay here and watch him date?" Carrie laughed.
"And I don't think he could possibly tell Allie and Becky they can't go out on the yacht," Emma added. "They'd run away from home."
"You're right. You're both right," Sam said. "I have only one thing to add."
"What's that?" Carrie asked.
"Eeeeeeeeeeeeeek!" Sam screamed with excitement. Then she grinned. "The monsters had the right idea. It feels much better when you scream!"
The three girls looked at one another, huge smiles plastered on their faces. As if on cue, they all screamed at once, jumping up and down with happiness, too excited to care if they looked moronic.
"One for all and all for one!" Sam shouted. "Paradise Island, here we come!"
Wow. Paradise Island really is paradise! Sam stared goggle-eyed out the window of the black stretch limousine as it moved unhurriedly along the coast highway. There was sapphire-blue ocean glinting in the afternoon sunshine as far as she could see. Out the other side of the limo, where Emma and Carrie were sitting, she saw towering white building after towering white building, which she knew were luxury hotels.
This is unbelievable, she thought. Everything had worked out so perfectly, she had to pinch herself to believe that it was all real. After calling Claudia Templeton to confirm that the twins really were invited on their trip, Dan Jacobs had readily given his permission for the girls to go. Once that was accomplished, he had seemed glad that Sam wanted to go out of town. Sam suspected it was because it meant he could now bring his
latest flame to the house to spend the night, but so what? It worked out for everybody!
Sam had hardly been able to sleep the night before, and now the combination of exhaustion and excitement made her feel giddy. Did we leave Sunset Island only this morning? Her mind drifted back to the plane flight they'd taken from Maine to New York, where they changed planes for a hop to Miami. In Miami, they'd caught a commuter jet to Nassau in the Bahamas, where a ferry was waiting to take them to Paradise Island. The ferry jaunt had been as smooth as silk, and a black limousine from the Hotel Paradise was waiting for them at the Paradise Island ferryport. The limo driver even held up a card with our names on it, so we could find himЧand he was wearing a tux! Sam marveled to herself.
The chauffeur's voice broke into her reverie. "Ladies, Hotel Paradise is just ahead on the left," he said over the limo's intercom. "I'll leave you by the main lobby, where you'll check in. Don't worry about your bags. I'll arrange for them to be delivered to your rooms. They'll be waiting for you there."
Just then the limo turned sharply to the left, then pulled to a stop. Sam looked up at
the most luxurious hotel she'd ever seen: the Hotel Paradise.
"Girlfriend," Sam said to Emma, poking her in the ribs as she spoke, "when you win a sweepstakes again, make sure I'm still one of your best friends."
"Me too," Carrie agreed, climbing out of the limo after the driver opened the back door for them. "Look at those gardens!"
Sam swiveled her head around to see where Carrie was pointing. Incredibly lush vegetation and palm trees grew practically up to the front entrance of the hotel.
"Hey, cutie.'" Sam heard a voice talking from behind her. She turned around. No one was there.
Then she heard the same voice again. "Hey, cutie!" it cried. Sam whirled around again. It was a parrot, sitting high on one of the garden trees. All three girls burst out laughing.
"I'm planning to break a lot of hearts at this place," Sam said with a grin, heading for the entrance. "I just didn't plan on the first one being attached to a set of wings."
"Let's go check in," Emma said, following Sam into the lobby. "I'm already picturing myself on the beach with a tall glass of iced tea."
"Me too," Carrie piped up.
"Me three," Sam agreed, "only in my case, there'll also be three or four major hunks fanning me with palm fronds."
The girls went into the lobby, which looked to Sam to be about the size of the football stadium at Kansas State University, and only slightly less high. It must be ten stories tall in here, she thought, staring straight up.
The registration area was directly ahead of them, and it was a bustle of efficiency. In the middle of the lobby was an open-seating restaurant filled with well-dressed people enjoying cocktails and midafternoon snacks. And one entire wall of the lobby was glass. On the other side of the glass wereЧcould it be?Чwater and dolphins. Sam stared in amazement. It was like the hotel had brought the ocean right inside!
Emma saw Sam staring, and nudged her. "That's part of the dolphin pool," she said. "I read about it in the brochure Paradise Swimwear sent. Twice a day there's a dolphin show, which you can watch either from in here or from outside."
"I think I'm falling in love with this place already," Sam said, pressing her nose up against the glass. A dolphin with striking markings on its back swam over to her and gently bumped the glass again and again.
When Sam walked down to one end of the tank, the dolphin swam after her.
"This dolphin is following me!" Sam said, laughing,
"It must be a male dolphin," Emma teased her. "You know you're irresistible."
"To parrots and dolphins, anyway," Carrie put in.
"I'm naming this big guy Pres," Sam decided as the dolphin nosed the glass again right in front of her. "In honor of you-know-who."
"I suggest we check in," Emma said, "or else we might find Sam engaged to a fish."
"Hey, Pres here is a mammal!" Sam protested.
"And so are you," Carrie said, sighing romantically. "You two have so much in common."
Twenty minutes later, Sam, Emma, and Carrie were having as much fun in the sitting room of their huge corner suite as kids in a candy store. It was the finest hotel room that Sam or Carrie had ever seen. Even Emma, who had vacationed in the ritziest resorts of the world, was impressed by the luxury.
The sitting room had two entire walls of floor-to-ceiling picture windows that looked
out over the breaking waves of the Atlantic, an enormous entertainment center with TV, stereo system, and VCR, a fully stocked wet bar, and a bathroom equipped with both a hot tub and a Jacuzzi. Off the sitting room were two bedrooms, each with a king-sized bed.
What's more, Emma had arranged for Sam's room to be next door, attached to the sitting room of her and Carrie's suite by a connecting door.