"Tell me what happens, OK?" Beth looked down at the carpet. Her mind going a mile a minute, she had taken a few minutes to do a quick check in with her sister before returning to the party.

"Sure thing, jellybean. Are you OK? We didn't really catch up about you. Kinda went off on my own stuff." Annie said.

"I'm fine," Beth said without hesitation.

"You sure? Cause you sound like just like you'd get right before you'd do a recital and you'd get all in your zone."

"So?"

"Everything groovy?"

Beth smiled. She and Annie had gone through a phase, around the time Beth was 14, that they started using 60s slang with each other. Who knows, maybe they had done it to annoy their grandmother.

"Groovy? It's far out. I'm at a party so I can't really complain." She looked out the window, barely able to make out anything other than her reflection because of the bright room she was standing in.

"Wow. He's making you work, huh?"

"Bye. Good luck with Gregg. It'll work out."

"Good night. Do everything I'd do!"

Beth laughed and ended the call. It was actually comforting to assume her familiar role as the older, wise sister for a few minutes. Annie had lamented challenges in seeing Sadie regularly and most recently trying to arrange to have her over for the weekend. It was difficult managing her schedule with Gregg and his wife's who each had their own commitments to work around. Beth listened and gave her two cents, thinking about how she'd manage herself when talking with Dean if their separation would… Well, last. She was sure she was done with him when she had found out he had faked cancer. After everything… But there were the kids to think about, and the years they had shared, and, and she just wasn't ready to make any kinds of final decisions.

She wished she could go into detail with Annie about her conversation with Karin but she remembered Rio's cautioning words not to discuss any specifics over the phone. It made her feel alone all over again. It was her kids. She wasn't sure she would've gotten as worked up if Karin hadn't brought up the story about Kenny and her son. She wouldn't have even given her reason to think that she and Rio did business together. If she had denied it more forcefully maybe Karin wouldn't have gone there, wouldn't have used it as a threat.

People knowing about her having an affair, real or not, well, if it was between that and people finding out what business she was in… That latter kind of attention could separate her from her kids one day. They were always her first priority.

It's OK, she calmed her nerves as she walked back to the suite, it's OK. She could do this. She'd just have to take it a step at a time.

"Sorry," she said to Rio when she found him, spotting him quicker this time.

"Everything all right?" He passed her the glass. She was all but ready to gulp the golden liquid in one go but she accepted it gracefully, taking a sip.

She smiled. "Yes. I need to talk with you." She said softly.

"Later. Now's not good." Rio looked behind him, his body language jittery. "Can it wait?" His tone a little short he added the question nonetheless, maybe responding to something in her face.

"Sure." Beth exhaled. She preferred to talk to him now but wanted to be smart about it. His mind was elsewhere and she didn't want to rush him.

"OK. Cause I wanted to introduce you to a couple of people." He said, taking her hand.

With Rio on her side, Beth as Alanna mingled with Rio's his business partners. He may not have introduced them as such but based on their formal conversations she expected that this was the case. More than once either Rio or the other person excused themselves to speak privately. During that time she was left behind with the remaining guests in the small circle or to refill her drink and chat with other guests.

Socializing alone was both easier and more difficult than she expected. It was liberating to meet other people as a different character but she also had to be on guard and be careful each time about what and how much she shared about herself. Rio was right. It was much easier to share less rather than more. To her relief more people than she expected jumped on any opportunity to talk about themselves or if not that, their business. Still, throughout the evening she couldn't completely enjoy herself, Karin's words running in the back of her mind.

"You ready to go?" Rio joined her as she was about to excuse herself from a conversation with and Mark and another man whose name she no longer remembered.

"Yes," Beth said. She glanced at a clock in the corner, surprised at how quickly time had passed. She was ready to call it a night and was definitely ready to talk with Rio.

"What'd you think?" He asked her as they walked down the hallway in the direction of her room.

"Like going to a cocktail party after work," she said. "Except usually I've known people, cause I went with my husband." Her heart panged a little at the memory.

"You did that a lot?"

"Not that often. Mostly Christmas parties."

They paced quietly.

"You were busy tonight," she said, alluding to the many side conversations he'd left her for.

"Some of them I haven't seen in a hot minute. Had a lot to say."

That was hard to imagine, unless the talking was done by the other person, and Beth thought of Christopher. A couple strutted by and smiled at them as they reached her room, the guy glancing at them and winking at Rio. Nearly missing it, she avoided sharing a look with Rio, and hoped he hadn't noticed it.

"I still need to talk with you," she took out her key.

"All right."

The air thickened just a little as he closed the door after him and he followed her down the narrow passage of her cabin.

She set her purse on the desk. "You know, now that I think of it, a lot of people talked about their business all night. They didn't all go into a lot of detail, but some of them did." That wasn't the only part of conversation that stood out. The businesses sometimes sounded… Like any business. And she didn't think they were speaking in code.**

"Right." He said matter of factly. "That's what a lot of them are here for."

"I didn't expect them to be so open about it." She picked up her glass and a second one and walked to the bathroom. "Mia asked you about your business." She turned on the tap and filled the glasses with water.

"Yeah." He stepped into the doorway. "Some of the businesses are on the up and up."

Beth blinked. "You mean, they're legal?"

He nodded.

Beth grabbed the two glasses. "So is that what this is? A cruise where legal and illegal businesses meet?"

"That's right. Not everyone's here for that. But those who are work it.. And I wouldn't throw that word around when I'm talking with them," he said, and Beth guessed he meant the word 'illegal.'

He stepped back as she walked out of the bathroom and when he stopped she held out a glass to him. He looked down at it and back to her as if she'd introduced him to a fish with two legs.

"You should have some water." She said.

He took the glass and set it on the desk.

Men could be such children sometimes, she thought. Fine. "Want to sit down?" She pointed at the love seat and took a few steps away from him.

"Nah, I should- I should go. I mean, we'll give it a minute," he smiled. "Can't rush some things, you know." He looked her over.

She ached to touch him. She looked away, uneasy with the uninvited thought and moreso that it came first before say, embarrassment or even annoyance at the insinuation. It's OK. Just keep going.

"So all this goes on during a weekend trip?" She stalled. It was unlike her not to cut to the chase but maybe the fact a lot was riding on this, her kids' security, hell, maybe her own freedom, made her not jump into it.

"Yeah. These trips happen all the time. You got informal meetings." He slid his hand over the desk and took stepped slowly towards her. "And appointments you set up sometimes months before. You know how you asked me about bringing you? Some circles, you wanna make an impression, the light thing works. Like tonight. You pay attention what group most of the people in that suite were?"

Beth went through the faces she had spoken with. "White."

"You saw how some of them looked at me with you there? It makes a difference to some people. Trust me." He said.

She went over the night, the conversations she and Rio had with his associates. Friendly or cordial conversations overall. Had it made a difference? Sure. She would've expected that the tattoos Rio wore may have frightened off potential business partners, despite his formal clothes. And it could make sense that if she was in the same ingroup as the other business partners, she would be more approachable.

Something clicked. "The business that Mia asked you about. It's legal?" She asked.

"Yeah."

What was it, what did he have his hands in? In the same way her fingers itched to play the piano as a kid (once she'd given in and started taking lessons) after she'd take a few days break she wanted to know.

"Everywhere is a potential business deal." She meant it as a question but it came out as a statement.

"You're getting it." His eyes lit up. "What's going down tomorrow, that's the major hustle this weekend. But keep your eyes open and you don't know what other propositions come up."

A businessman through and through. Of course she had known this already.

"So what did you want to talk about?" He asked.

She put her drink down and squared her shoulders. "The woman I told you I recognized. Karin. When I talked to her earlier tonight she told me she'd cover for me. Then she stopped me at the party."

"She wanna steal from me too?" Rio cocked his head, his tone surprisingly light. "You and your friends don't have a good track record with my money."

"She wants to talk with you. She said she had information about tomorrow's deal that you need to know."

His face clouded. "I knew it." He put his palms together and brought them to his face. "She has something on you. How do you find these women and drag me into it?" He shook his head.

She threw her hands out. "Why are you assuming this has anything to do with me?" His words weren't a complete lie, of course. But Karin was using it to get to something that had everything to do with him and this weekend's big hustle, in his words.

"You wouldn't be talking to me about this if she didn't know you."

"It sounded important. For you." Beth slowed her speech. If she learned anything from being a parent it was keeping an even tone when her buttons were being pushed. "She said she tried talking with you. If it means that your deal doesn't go through, don't you want to hear what she has to say?"

Rio shook his head. "I talked to her already," he said, surprising Beth. "I don't trust her. She's a freelancer. She's not loyal to nobody."

"She knows," Beth blurted out. "That I do business with you. She overheard my son talking with her kid about how we were doing better with money and she put two and two together-"

"She didn't think I was spoiling my girl?" He asked with a lilt of playfulness and it threw her off for a moment.

"No, she- no." Not to mention the whole married part, but that Karin had seemed to shrug off. "She took a deep breath. "She said if you didn't help her – she'd tell people we know."

"So tell me I'm right sweetheart. Don't lie to me." He took another step towards her. "That's what you care about?" His tone was severe again. "Your cover?"

She clasped her hands. "This can't get back home. Parents at my kids' schools knowing what's happening…" She didn't find sympathy in his eyes and she should've known better but desperation had taken hold. "All right, maybe that's something I need to deal with. But you can't ignore this if if this is about this deal you're running."

Rio tilted his chin up.

"You have a family too? Right?" Beth asked boldly, meeting his glare face on as she brought the forbidden word up. "You want the job in Paraguay. It sounds like you need to make sure that this deal goes through as much as I do."

He exhaled, looking away from her. She looked down.

"I do this, you ain't getting involved." He said. "You hear me? You don't talk to her about this no more."

"Sure," she agreed quickly.

"Elizabeth-"

"Yes."

"Just cause she's your friend there doesn't mean she's your friend here."

Beth hugged herself. "She's not really my friend. Our kids are friends."

He looked to the side and his lips crooked upwards. "You were paying attention to the conversation huh?" It was back, a note of a little teasing in his voice. The air crackled around them as something changed in the air.

She wasn't in the mood. "If you thought I'd just come here as eye candy-" She said crossly.

He barked a laugh. "Eye candy wouldn't have put me through the ringer like you have, darling."

"Not tonight, please." She waved her hand. "Can we take a break?"

She waited for a biting response but it didn't come. Neither did his expression soften or change. She hadn't expected him to drop it so quickly. A temporary detente, she was sure.

"Anyway," she said, wanting to fill the uncomfortable silence and fizzle the tension a little. "Of course I was listening. Christopher and you seemed to be a great fit. He keeps the conversation going and all you have to talk about is business."

He lifted his shoulders and dropped them. "Don't got to do much talking with him. It's like this." He put his palms together. "You share a little bit in business... You got to. But trust? That's for family."

Trust. The word was meant for her, she was sure. But while she heard that, her ears perked up at the mention of the word that'd come up during dinner. She was curious about this, thirsty to learn something more personal about the man outside his gang leader role, or business role. So she could use this, of course.

"You trust people who've proved themselves, ones you've known and seen them take hits for you. Even then..." His eyes started at the top of her head and traveled lower on her face. "This ain't the suburbs. I play smart. I trust almost no one."

"And me?" The question made its way out of her lips even though she knew she could predict his answer.

As she spoke he had brought his hand to her cheek, held it there and caressed a thumb over it softly. Tension showed in his face but there was softness in his touch that he couldn't mask. His fingers on her skin felt deceptively soothing and, perhaps at this point unsurprisingly, warmth spread from her stomach.

She rubbed her cheek gently against his palm before she caught herself and took half a step away. Rio met it. This wasn't what she wanted. Or, all right, even if that wasn't the complete truth, it wasn't what she needed. It wouldn't make any of this easier. And that recurring, real issue of trust. He talked about trusting her, but what of her trust in him? When could she stop needing to prove herself to him and when would he do something to have her trust him? She drew her face away more forcefully, her body nearly rebelling at the act, and he dropped his hand.

Still his eyes grew hotter and with each second she wanted to turn around, to step back. To walk out since the other two options would still leave him with her. He stepped closer, slowly leaning down. All she could do was look at him, close her eyes as he came closer, and breathe him in as he pressed his lips to her forehead. His smell was hypnotizing, thick with something she didn't recognize, but like wet, living earth she wanted to keep digging to get more of it.

"Especially not you." He mumbled into her skin as he breathed out before pulling away. She swallowed and found her mouth had gone dry. It had physically hurt a moment ago to pull herself away from him. That had never happened before. Her hand started reaching out to him, as if on their own accord, when his phone buzzed. She made her hands into fists and put them behind her back.

She was sure he had heard his phone but he didn't move. Finally he sighed deeply, stepped back, and grabbed his phone from his pocket, only looking away from her when he held it in front of him. She shifted her weight from one foot to the other as he typed.

"I'm gonna have breakfast at 7:30." He said and pocketed his phone. "I can't be there long. But if you don't wanna eat alone," his voice trailed off.

"Yeah." She stepped back. "Sure, I'll be there."

He seemed about to take a step towards her, changed his mind and headed towards the door.

"I guess I got one more stop to make," he said.

"Thank you."

"Yeah." He tilted his head upwards, giving her a once over, before leaving.

She sat down on the bed as the door closed. Her chest felt lighter now that that he was going to talk with Karin. Once that obstacle was done it would hopefully be a clear path to completing the deal which would help get her one step closer to working for him. Who knows, maybe she'd even be able to help him with the deal itself, though the likelihood of that was the same as her being happy at the car insurance sales job she'd applied for.

She got up, glanced at the glass on the desk, the one she'd given Rio. It was empty. Had their conversation stolen her attention to the point she didn't register him drinking? She refilled her glass and took out her toothbrush and toothpaste.

If she didn't have a choice and she ended up getting the sales job she knew she could use the experience she got tonight chatting up strangers. Like she hadn't had this experience ever before though… But frequently her mingling had centered around parent circles where at least having a child was a commonality. What if because of Karin the deal didn't go through? It may have had nothing to do her Beth but as she saw minutes ago she was an easy scapegoat.

Once night routines were done she padded back to bed, glancing at the door he left from. Could she be so optimistic that if he agreed to talk with Karin, at least it meant that if- when- she worked for him they wouldn't have to start back up from scratch? They already had some, if not tumultuous, foundation for a professional relationship. It was just a matter of getting back there.

But when he'd touched her. This thing between them. She rubbed her eyes. No. No, it was like a knuckle rasping through her insides. It left scorching marks behind but still she wanted more. Clearly she was losing her mind. He had just told her he didn't trust her and at least she had enough good sense not to trust him either. Then he had the audacity to expect her to earn his trust but from her he expected to get it blindly. And she didn't even throw it back in his face, she wanted to touch him after he'd gotten close to her – but she needed him more than he needed her at this point. That was the problem. She had more riding on this so she had to be careful.

At least she could console herself that what this, this pull to him was, that it wasn't wholly irrational, she. After all this was just attraction and that didn't need trust. Those passing, if a bit recurring, thoughts running through her head about him, the ones outside the actual reason of why she was here, they were about the allure of a mysterious man whose body she wanted. Years of solitude led to this, her husband's betrayals, to locking on a guy who had believed in her at some point. To fleetingly feel possessive over him, because now that she was alone she could admit to herself that for a couple of ludicrous seconds this was the unwelcome feeling that had gripped her. Over a man who looked at her like… No, she closed her eyes, best not to dwell on that. He believed in her before, and her stomach warmed at the memory, how she'd felt in those moments. He'd believe in her again. That was it. That was all she needed.

Even if she'd never felt that kind of pull before. The way her body responded each time he touched her. He only just gave her a peck a few hours ago and – She put her face in her hand. What was the point? Even if an impetuous part of her saw the turquoise pool in front of her and wanted to jump head first and give in to her attraction, in the best case scenario he'd be her boss again. She didn't need to add that to this difficult work.

It felt too soon, even for a fling, which is all this would be. All it could be. Again she had that nagging feeling, that if she was going to look for that kind of comfort, she didn't want to do that with him. And a relationship, if between her and Dean things didn't work out – if – well, as much as her heart or mind held no space for it now, an eventual one, was out of the question. She had nothing in common with him. Nothing in common.

"Family."

A/N

Guest: Here you are.