When Carter got the call that Nate Haverton and his family had arrived, he hurried down to the lobby to greet them. Nate was ten years older than him and had already made his mark in the business world, building his fortune from nothing. A year ago, he had married a single mom and given most of it up to spend more time with her and her son. Carter had a lot of respect for him and could only hope that someday he could find that kind of happiness. Today, he’d be glad if he could just get the seal of approval from Nate and see Addi make friends with their son. Her solitary nature worried him.
Nate stood in front of the reception desk wearing golf shorts, a polo, and sun glasses. Looking around, Carter saw a pretty woman with an obvious baby bump and a young boy checking out one of the palm trees that dominated the atrium.
“Hey, man. You made it,” he said, a wide smile on his face.
Nate turned and grinned as he reached his hand out to shake Carter’s. “Never doubt me. Charlotte and I have been looking forward to this. We’re here to see if your beaches are really better than what we have down in Tampa.”
“They’re the best I’ve ever seen, but I’m more interested in what you think of the resort. Be honest with me though. I want this place to be the best.”
Nate looked around, tipping up his head to the soaring heights of the atrium where a sky light let the sun in twenty stories up. “I will be, but I have to admit—it’s impressive so far.”
It was eleven o’clock, so after Nate and his family had time to settle into their condo, Carter treated them to lunch at one of the resort’s two restaurants, saving the five-star restaurant, Nautilus, for dinner that night. As they sat around afterwards, talking over the remains of their Mexican feast, Carter said, “I’d love it if you guys joined my daughter and me for a swim later on.”
Nate nodded. “Sure. Taylor here has been looking forward to swimming in the ocean for a while since he’s been land-locked in Alabama while school has been in.”
“I bet. The red flags are flying at the moment though.”
“We’d better not then,” Charlotte said. “The pool will be great. And we’re here for a few days, so there’s plenty of time to go down to the beach.”
Relieved that it worked out, Carter stepped away to call Hannah to see when they’d be back from the aquarium. Fortunately, they were already on their way back and traffic was fairly light since it was the middle of the day and early in the season.
“We can meet you out by the pools in about thirty minutes,” Hannah said.
“Perfect. See you then.” He was about to hang up when he heard her voice again.
“Are you wanting me to go too? I mean, I’m just not sure if I’m off duty for the day, or if you’ll still need me, or if I should wait upstairs.”
It surprised him that she’d even asked. Every time he’d thought about it all day, it had been with the thought that she would be there, and there was no denying that was definitely something he was looking forward to. But the fact that she’d had to ask made him realize that maybe he was thinking of her a little too much as a woman he wanted to spend time with and not enough like his employee. That didn’t matter right now though. “I’d like you to come, if you wouldn’t mind. I’m kind of taking a few hours off, but I’ll have to go back to work. Think you can stay later this evening?”
“That shouldn’t be a problem. Bye.”
After hanging up, Carter realized that he needed to change too. He went upstairs and changed into swim trunks and a t-shirt, then went outside to do a walk-through with the pool manager to make the best use of his time.
It was slightly longer than thirty minutes before Hannah and Addi came outside. Because there were only a few other families there, some of the condo owners and a few soft-launch guests, Hannah found them right away at the main pool with the waterfall island in the middle, which Nate and Taylor were exploring. Carter was sitting on the edge of the pool keeping Charlotte company while she relaxed in the shallow end soaking up the sun as they walked up. Addi came out wearing nothing but her blue swimsuit. Hannah however wore a sun dress, though he thought he could see swimsuit straps as well as the straps of the dress.
Carter got up and walked over to meet Addi. “Do you have sunscreen on?”
She rolled her eyes. “Of course I do. Hannah puts more on than Grandma does.”
Laughing, Carter patted her on the back. “Okay then, go jump in.”
She had no problem being obedient to that request, running over to the edge and jumping in feet first.
“Thanks for taking such good care of her,” Carter said. “Especially on the sunscreen.”
“No problem. The last thing I want is for her to get burned on my watch. Especially if your mother found out.”
“Are you going to swim?” he asked.
She seemed to hesitate. “I’d like to, if that’s okay.”
“Of course it’s okay. I’ll be glad to not be the only one keeping track of Addi.”
Hannah smiled then and seemed to relax. “As long as I’m still needed, that’s great.”
She pulled the straps of her sundress off her shoulders and wriggled out of it, revealing a dark blue one-piece swimsuit with white stripes. It was demure and modest, but all the more alluring because of it somehow. Carter threw up a wall to stop his thoughts mid-stream. They were not headed in an appropriate direction. And then she stood before him, lithe and willowy, but with no lack of feminine curves. Keeping his raging attraction in check was an impossible task. He needed a distraction. Pronto.
“Let me introduce you to someone,” he said, motioning to the pool. He led Hannah over to Charlotte. “This is Charlotte Haverton. It was her son Taylor I wanted to introduce to Addi.” Then turning to Charlotte, he said, “Hannah is Addi’s new nanny.”
Charlotte smiled warmly from her reclining position in the pool. “Nice to meet you. I love your suit. I’m kind of jealous because I’m going to be spending this summer with a big belly and can’t wear any of my cute suits.”
Hannah gasped. “But I love the one you’re wearing.”
And just like that, it seemed like Charlotte and Hannah were well on their way to friendship. He quickly realized that though he wanted to linger close to Hannah, he was definitely a third wheel. He chased after Addi and convinced her to go climb up and go down the water slide. Once they got to the top, they found Nate and Taylor there, enjoying the view of the gulf.
“You weren’t wrong, man,” Nate said. “That’s some decent surf for Florida.”
“Yeah, I think there’s a storm system coming in. It’s stirring up this whole area of coast line. From the looks of the radar though, it will pass by sometime tonight, so tomorrow should be a perfect beach day.”
Gesturing to the water slide, he said, “Well, this isn’t exactly a bad way to spend an afternoon. Is this your daughter?”
“Yeah, this is Addilynn.”
“Nice to meet you. This is Taylor.”
“Hey,” Taylor said, looking Addilynn over.
“Hello,” Addi said.
The two kids eyed each other for a minute. “So you live here, huh?” Taylor asked.
“I do now.” Addi said, nodding her head ever so slightly.
“Watch how fast I go down the slide.” With that, Taylor ran and launched himself down the water slide while Addi watched. She looked solemnly after him for a moment, then went down the slide after them. Carter watched them, so proud of his little girl for opening up, even that little bit. But then, he looked over to where Hannah had stretched out next to Charlotte. From so far away, she wouldn’t be able to tell what he was looking at, so he let his gaze linger on her. She sat in the shallows next to Charlotte, her long legs stretched out in front of her, leaning back on her elbows, her face turned to the sun.
“Nice view from up here,” Nate said, punching him in the shoulder. “And since I’m married to mine, I can look all I want.”
Carter stiffened, started to deny it, but then shrugged. “Do you ever wish you could go back in time and change things?”
“Sure. What would you change?”
“Hiring Hannah for one thing.”
“And for a second?”
“Inviting you down to witness my torment.”