Chapter Six
The previous day seemed dreamlike and unreal to Olivia when she woke to a bright, hot morning and Rosie knocking on her door. The other girl waited while she dressed, then accompanied her to breakfast, chattering about all the things Olivia should do on her first day.
"I'm going snorkeling later," Olivia cut Rosie off, "but I'd really like to just take a walk around the resort this morning. Find my way around properly, really get familiar with the place."
"Absolutely." Rosie nodded her approval. "Reception has a good map of the island; stop there and grab one before you go. And don't forget a hat, and sunscreen!"
Olivia thanked Rosie for her advice, refraining from snapping that she already knew that. She hadn’t seen Cory this morning, at his cabin or in the staff dining room, and butterflies were beginning to flutter in her stomach. What did she really know about Cory, anyway? She'd met him less than a day ago, yet the previous night they'd got extremely hot and heavy together.
Determined to forget about Cory for the time being and get to work, she grabbed one of the maps from Reception and headed back to her cabin to put on sunscreen and find her hat and sunglasses. Ten minutes later she set off, a bag slung over her shoulder containing a bottle of water, a notebook, and a pen. In the absence of being able to take photos and make notes on her phone as she normally did, the notebook would have to do.
She kept a close eye on the time during her walk, mindful that she needed to get back to her cabin in time to change and then meet the boat at the dock at one. Lunch wasn't in her plan, since she had no desire to humiliate herself yet again in front of Cory by getting seasick on the boat. The transfer from Hamilton Island had been short enough yesterday that she hadn't worried about it, but bobbing about on a smaller boat for a couple of hours could well be a different story.
Returning to her cabin with a stack of notes to consider, she swiped another of Suzannah's sodas, thinking guiltily that she must find out where to buy more, before finding her bikini. She'd brought three, sure there would be plenty of opportunity for swimming, but no swimming shirt. Chewing on her lip, she shrugged and grabbed one of Rosie's T-shirts, an elderly-looking one. Floating facedown in the water for an hour or two, she was likely to end up with a burned back if she didn't cover up. She made sure to thickly cover every exposed inch of skin with the waterproof, high-factor sunscreen she'd bought in Sydney before putting her hat and flip-flops back on and heading for the dock.
The boat was bigger than she'd expected; not one of the big handsome cruisers that transferred tourists to and from the island, but a generously sized motor-yacht. Cory stood on the deck, talking to a couple of tourists who'd just boarded. Both were attractive young women, who stood close and gazed at him with undisguised admiration.
Cory's eyes slid towards Olivia and he smiled but made no effort to break off his conversation. She nodded at him in greeting and boarded the boat, walking past him and finding a seat on which to put her bag containing her towel and water bottle. She absolutely refused to show jealousy; quite apart from the fact that it would put Cory off her completely, she was pretty sure she didn't have anything to worry about.
Her decision was vindicated a couple of minutes later as Cory came over to greet her properly, an arm sliding around her waist as he bent to kiss her cheek and nuzzle lightly against her neck.
"Hello, beautiful."
"Hello yourself." Olivia wiggled as his fingers slid against her ribs and he found a ticklish spot. Laughing as she squeaked and danced away, Cory pulled her back closer and ducked beneath the brim of her hat to claim a proper kiss.
His lips were warm and sweet; Olivia lost herself in the kiss briefly, in the slide of the heat of his body through the thin layers of their clothing as he pulled her close.
A wolf-whistle made them pull apart. Color tinged Cory's cheeks as he made a face at the boat's driver. "Put a sock in it, Jodie."
The driver was an older woman with darkly tanned skin and white teeth flashing in her laughing face. Cory introduced Olivia, telling her, "Jodie's spent her whole life in the Whitsunday Islands. She knows all the best snorkel and dive spots, and nobody's better at finding the whales in whale-watching season."
"Which is when?" Olivia asked curiously.
"June to August is the best time. The whales give birth to their calves in the warm waters here; it's a natural nursery for them. We're not allowed to get too close, but sometimes they come close to us." Jodie smiled at her. "I've got some amazing photos and video we've taken off the boat; you can have whatever you like for marketing material."
"That's terrific!" Olivia said. Cory had remained at her side, his warm hand resting lightly on the small of her back. He moved away then with a murmured apology to go and greet some more tourists boarding the boat. Olivia barely noticed his departure, focused on her conversation with Jodie.
"That everyone, Cory?" Jodie called back after a couple of minutes. "Cast off, then!" she said when she got a reply in the affirmative.
"Do you need me to sit down?" Olivia asked uncertainly.
"No, you're fine there." Jodie expertly brought the boat's big engines up to a low rev, guiding the boat away from the dock with a deft touch. "You two look good together," she said unexpectedly.
"We only met yesterday," Olivia admitted, "but I feel like I'm falling head over heels."
"I've known that boy all his life." Jodie was wearing reflective sunglasses, so Olivia couldn't see her eyes, but her tone was friendly. "He's one of the few people I've ever met who's just as beautiful on the inside as the outside. Don't you break his heart, now."
"I'll try," Olivia promised, touched by Jodie's obvious fondness for Cory. Nobody seemed to have a bad word to say about him, except Jill who obviously had an ax to grind. "It'd be like kicking a puppy—how could you? I've got baggage, though. Maybe too much."
"Eh." Jodie shrugged, gunning the engines as they cleared the small harbor. "That's life for you. You'll do fine. You didn't look funny at him when those girls were all over him; that's the one thing Cory wouldn't be able to stand."
"Rosie warned me about that," Olivia admitted. They were having to speak more loudly to be heard over the engine noise, and she looked towards the back of the boat, hoping Cory wouldn't overhear. He was talking cheerfully to a young couple, though, helping them select snorkeling gear from a cabinet. "She told me about Jill."
"Did she now!" Jodie said nothing more, though, just concentrated on piloting the boat, and Olivia relaxed and turned her attention to the crystal blue waters they skimmed rapidly across.
"Hey." Cory came to join her a few minutes later, slipping into the empty seat beside her and putting his arm around her shoulders. "Want to come pick out some snorkeling gear? Everyone else has theirs."
"Sure." She followed him to the back of the boat, ignoring the two girls who'd been flirting with Cory and who were now staring at her and whispering to each other. They are no threat to me, she told herself and believed it. Even knowing Cory as little as she did, she was quite certain the chance of him getting involved with one of the resorts guests was pretty much zero.
"How long does the boat trip take?" she called to Cory over the engine noise, which was even louder at the back of the boat.
"About twenty minutes," he called back, picking up a set of flippers and holding them close to her feet, nodding that he thought they were about the right size. She chose a mask and snorkel.
"This'll do."
"Got sunscreen on?"
"All over. I don't need a burn on my first full day."
"Damn."
She looked a query at him; he laughed, hooked an arm around her waist, and pulled her close. "I was hoping to be able to offer to help you apply it."
"Lecher," Olivia accused, laughing back up at him.
"You're mad if you think I'd pass up a chance to put my hands all over this gorgeous body of yours." He bent his head to bring his lips to hers, but Olivia let him claim only a brief kiss before pulling back.
"You're working, Cory. And so am I. I want to talk to some of the guests about what they like best about Sunfish Island. Get some idea of what draws people here in the first place." She gave him an apologetic smile, and he let her go with no sign of reluctance.
"Damn, I love smart women who are right all the time."
She gave him a pert smile for that remark before whirling away, snorkeling gear in hand, to go and get started on her job. It would be easy to get carried away in her romance with Cory, but that wasn't why she was here. She was being given a chance to repair her ruined professional reputation, a chance she'd never get anywhere else, and she had no intention of throwing that away.
Olivia was sitting and chatting with a friendly middle-aged couple when the engines slowed to a gentle throb. Looking out the window beside her, she saw they had drawn up to a small pontoon, which was obviously moored in place. Cory was standing on it and tied off a rope before he gave Jodie a thumbs-up and the engines died altogether.
The sudden silence was almost overwhelming. Cory and Jodie leaped into action, urging everyone off the boat and onto the pontoon, where Cory gave a quick talk about safety, warning everyone not to touch the coral and to stay within sight of the pontoon.
"We're in a bay with very little current, but if you get into any difficulty, turn over onto your back and raise your hand in the air, and I'll come get you," he concluded.
"Aren't you coming in, Cory?" one of his admirers asked.
"Afraid not. Jodie and I are your lifeguards. We're responsible for every one of you, so we'll be staying right here, watching over you. Now has everyone got their sunscreen on? Don't want any red lobsters coming back out of this water!"
There was a general chorus of agreement, then Cory gave them the go-ahead to enter the water. Olivia went in eagerly, keen to see the world-famous reef, although of course she was only seeing a tiny, tiny corner of the World Heritage Site here.
Almost instantly she found herself swimming through a school of tiny, brightly colored fish darting in and out of the coral. A manta ray lifted up from a patch of sand not far away and flew majestically through the turquoise water, wings sweeping slowly up and down.
She saw a new wonder everywhere she looked. She was a strong swimmer, so she had no problem staying under for a good amount of time, blowing bubbles and swimming with long, smooth kicks of her fins to propel herself through the water. It would be easy to lose track of time down here, she thought with a start when she surfaced to get a few deep breaths, checked the time, and found that almost an hour had passed already. She'd swum quite some distance from the pontoon; looking back at it, she found Cory peering towards her. He gave her a wave and she waved back before popping her mouthpiece back in and going facedown in the water again, heading back towards the pontoon this time.
"Enjoying yourself?" Cory said with a grin down at her as she surfaced near his feet.
"This is incredible," Olivia gave him a glowing, happy smile, pulling her mask off. "I mean, I've seen pictures, but I always assumed they were the exception—selected highlights, you know. Not the norm. But it's just as perfect down there as in every picture I've ever seen."
"You really have to go diving with Bryce. The outer reefs have even more variety." Cory reached for a large cooler he'd brought from the boat. "Want to hop out and have a drink of water? We've got about another half hour."
She accepted his offer of a hand out and sat on the edge of the pontoon, dangling her feet in the water as she drained the bottle of water he gave her.
"Hand me the bottle," Cory requested as she finished. "Gotta make sure we take all our rubbish back with us."
"Of course."
"Going back in?" He'd stayed standing beside her, but he wasn’t looking at her, his eyes constantly scanning over the water checking on the other snorkelers instead. He took his job seriously, which Olivia genuinely appreciated. She wouldn't have wanted a man who flirted while he was supposed to be looking out for the safety of others.
She went back into the water for another swim and mainly floated along the surface this time, watching the schools of brightly colored fish darting among the coral and thinking that when she went into town to buy a new laptop, she'd have to have a look at waterproof cameras. An Instagram was just one of the ideas she planned to implement for Sunfish, and posting new photos from the Reef every day would be a big draw.