FIVE
Cat’s senses started to reel the moment she heard a low, masculine voice in her ear, apologizing for bumping into her. At first, she behaved as she always would when a man was blatantly trying to get attention from her, barely giving the man the time.
But when she finally glanced over and saw his face her whole world began to melt. Though she did her best to act unaffected, it was difficult to pretend she didn’t find the tall, handsome man who had shown up just behind her anything less than devastating.
She didn’t get a really good look at Scott until they entered the dining hall and she was able to let go of his arm, stepping into the room and having a look around. Twenty tables were set at the center, and about ten booths ran along two of the walls, while the rest of the area was reserved for the serving tables currently laden with different foods.
“Boy, Kellen sure wasn’t kidding about the spread, was he?” she commented as her mouth began to water.
“It all looks great,” her companion agreed. “Why don’t you fix yourself a plate and we’ll take one of the booths? That one over in the corner seems cozy enough for two.”
Cat giggled. “Trying to get me alone already?”
“Of course not,” he lied. “I just thought it might be quieter over there.”
Smirking, Cat refrained from calling him out on it as she stepped over and grabbed a plate. Scott solicitously followed right after her with a plate of his own, pointing out the foods he thought she might like the most. He had her blushing and flustered the whole time, and then they headed for the corner booth.
Just as they arrived, though, a couple of the other divers, both grinning broadly, slid into their booth on one side, making it impossible for Cat to sit facing Scott as a result..
“Go on, sweetheart, sit next to the big guy,” one man teased. “You know you want to.”
“What are you two doing?” Scott grumbled, glaring at each of them as he set his plate down on the inside and scooted in so Cat could sit down too.
“Nothing, nothing at all,” said the other guy with a smug smirk. “Just thought we’d come help you enjoy the view. I mean, this is the prettiest woman in the room. You know how partial I am to redheads, don’t you?”
“Yeah, and I kind of like them too.”
“Come on, you guys,” Scott grumbled as he started to cut into the small steak he’d included along with all the pastas and vegetables he’d selected. This guy clearly loved his carbs—probably because of all those muscles he was so keen on talking about.
Cat hid a little smirk of her own. Divers—such a silly group of peacocks trying to flaunt their tail feathers. She said, “Oh, I don’t mind having them around. Hell, three pieces of eye candy is infinitely preferable to just one.”
“Hey, that’s not nice,” Scott protested, even though he was laughing. “You need to get it right though. These two are just lollipops. I’m a full course meal.”
“Hear that, Kevin? Scott thinks we’re a couple of suckers.”
“Shame on you, Scott,” Kevin scolded. “That’s not how you treat Bob and I when we’re over at the Reef Club. I’m hurt by your callous disregard for my feelings.”
“If my disregard for your feelings was actually callous, what makes you think I’d care if I’d just hurt them?” he pointed out.
Cat sat there enjoying her salad as she watched this exchange, trying not to laugh. “So, you guys are all local then?” she asked curiously.
“Well, not precisely local,” Bob shrugged. “Your boy Scott actually owns a house up in Miami, but he flies down here all the time. The Ocean Reef Club’s got a little airstrip for members, and he loves to make use of it almost every weekend.”
“Oh, I see,” said Cat, becoming more curious than ever about this guy. Clearly he must have a good income if he was a member of a club and he also liked to fly. So what was a guy with a PhD in ecology, membership to some club with a mini airport, and rights to fly his plane down and land on their airstrip, doing at a job fair to become a diving instructor? Something just didn’t seem to be adding up.
Scott glanced at her, biting at his lower lip as though he had something on his mind. “These guys love to exaggerate all the time,” he said finally. “Could I get out for another plate, if you don’t mind?”
“Sure,” she agreed, moving out of the way so he could get by.
“Good, now’s our chance to win a few brownie points,” Kevin called after him, his tone teasing. “There’s no guarantee she’ll be your date this Friday night!”
“Come on, you guys, you’re cramping my style big time,” he called back. “Have a heart, will you?”
“Well, actually, I’m quite full myself,” Cat said then. “I believe I’ll just go find my room and turn in for the night.”
“It’s barely after five,” Scott complained, turning back to them instead of continuing over to the food. “Are you sure?”
“Yeah, I think so,” she said, smiling apologetically. “But there’s no need to look so disappointed about it. You know this event is going on for a whole week. We’re bound to bump elbows again sometime.”
“Shall I help you find your room?” he asked hopefully.
“Uh—sure, I guess so.”
“I’ll see you two later,” he said to his friends, and there was a tinge of menace in his tone.
“Understood,” said Kevin, winking over at Bob. “We’ll be down by the water, as agreed upon. Don’t be late, buddy, okay?”
“Don’t worry, I won’t be.”
As they headed for the door, Scott said, “Sorry about those two. They’re a couple of troublemakers, for sure. But maybe you won’t have to deal with them a whole lot, though. Maybe they won’t even get hired.”
“Yeah, or maybe I won’t,” she pointed out.
For a moment, the idea left Scott looking startled, but then he said, “Oh, no, you shouldn’t need to worry about that, Cat. You’re a shoe-in, aren’t you? I mean, if anything, a girl who is trained in hospitality might even be overqualified. So, if you don’t mind my asking, what were your grades like?”
Cat grinned. “Me? I’m the class over-achiever. There’s nothing I like more than to make sure every room is spotless, and all the little touches have been observed. I’ve actually been supervising the staff at my father’s hotel down in Marathon for the past two years, and until the hurricane hit, the place was doing pretty well. I guess at the moment it’s down for the count, though. That’s why I’m even at this job fair.”
“So, once it’s fixed up you’ll probably go back down, huh?”
“Not if my dad can help it,” she scoffed. “He thinks I’m wasting all my talents there, and he wants me to spread my wings and fly. I think he just wants me out of the way so he can canoodle with his new girlfriend, if you ask me.”
“Canoodle?” he chuckled. “That’s one way of putting it, I suppose.”
“Anyway, that means a place like this would be ideal for me. It’s only an hour from my dad’s and a whole lot more upscale. I mean, look around you. Whitney must have spent a fortune on just the cabins alone.”
“Yeah, this place did come with a price tag attached,” he agreed.
“You say that as if you might already know,” Cat said as they headed for the steps up to the main building. “Do you already know Mr. Whitney somehow?”
“Well, yeah, I mean—well, of course I do,” Scott stammered, blushing. “I suppose you could say we are practically family.”
“So you’ve known him all your life, then? And you’re calling me the shoe-in? I’ll bet you probably won’t even have to be formally interviewed.”
“Well, no, I guess not,” Scott said with a shrug.
They stepped to a roster to one side of the desk which had a list of room assignments on it, and he slid his index finger down to find her room number. “Come on, I know just where you need to go.”