by Milly Taiden
She rolled her suitcase and matched his quick steps to the new Mercedes SUV he stopped at. Eyes wide with surprise, she stared at the vehicle and then at Mark. “Why would they send this just for me?”
He chuckled and shrugged. “Beats me. Grandma said you were VIP, and we needed to treat you as such.” He slipped one bag into the trunk and then turned to take the other from her hand. “Why are you so important? Are you the owner’s wife or something?”
“What? No!” She handed him the bag with confusion. “I have no idea why she feels I’m a VIP, I’m actually not. I’m the new PR Vice President, but I’m nobody that important.”
He watched her for a moment and then held the vehicle door open. “Well, you might not think you are all that important, but I was ordered to treat you like a VIP, and that’s what I shall do.” He grinned. “So please get in and let’s get going. There’s water and snacks ready for you.”
She slipped into the back seat and groaned at the cool leather. She swore her skin sizzled when it hit the cold air. The SUV was nice and comfortable, and as promised, chilled water bottles and snacks had been placed between the two back seats.
Too excited and nervous to eat, she instead drank from a bottle of water and looked out the window at the palm trees and the city as he drove them onto the highway.
“So how are you liking Fire Mountain?” she asked Mark, trying to make some conversation.
“It’s all right. My grandmother persuaded me to work here for the summer and see how I like it. I didn’t actually have any plans but wanted to make some money,” he said.
“Who’s your grandmother, exactly?”
“Isadora Kenlin. She’s a sweet old lady, but I don’t know that this job is for me. I know she wants me to spend time on the island, but we’ll see. I just met one of the guys there who seems pretty cool.” He shrugged.
She frowned. “Does the job not pay well enough?”
“It pays all right. But I’m looking for something that’ll make me rich quick. She just made it sound like I’d be making more money.”
He quoted his pay, and her jaw fell open. “You’re making that much?”
“Kind of low, right?”
“I’m not sure what type of pay you’re used to, but that is management-level pay you’re being given. What do they have you do?”
“The job is kind of boring. All I do is pick up people at the airport and take them to their section of the resort and whatever.”
“That’s it?” She blinked and couldn’t stop the surprise in her tone. The kid was making more than she made at most of her jobs and all he had to do was drive guests to the resort, and he wanted more money. He clearly had no idea of what people got paid in the real world.
“Yeah, why?” He met her gaze in the rearview mirror. “Should I be asking for more?”
“No. I,” she cleared her throat. “I think you should wait it out a little bit and see how you feel about the job. Maybe something else will open up that is more to your liking, but don’t quit because you feel you’re not making enough. I mean,” she blew out a breath, “you’re earning more than most hotel assistant managers. You should try to hold on to the job. Grow into the company.”
“Meh. We’ll see,” he said noncommittally.
She had to fight the urge to smack the kid upside the head. How could he even think he would make more money in any other job without any experience or education? He was only eighteen and being paid more than a bunch of the managers at the last hotel she’d worked at and he was only a driver. The boy had no idea how good he had it.
“So, how different are the sections of the resort?”
“Oh, they actually did some amazing things at Fire Mountain. There are overwater bungalows at the beach as well as couple and family sections. Someone really smart knew to keep newlyweds and couples away from loud kids.”
She agreed. That was probably one of the biggest issues she’d heard about every hotel she’d worked at. “My understanding is that there is a couples-only resort called Private Spark and then a family one called Open Blaze.”
“Right.” He agreed, “ So Private Spark has a private beach section that includes the over water bungalows. Then there are the forest cabins for the couples that are more into hiking and zip-lining. And the third is up close to the edge of the sugar beach, and that is a super private set of cabins that overlook the trees and volcano. Those guests have a private helipad and continuous use of the resort helicopter to take them into the village for shopping.”
Goodness. This had to be one of the most VIP hotels she’d ever heard of. She knew that the couples who stayed up at the edge of the beach were usually celebrities and those who could afford to spare no expense for a vacation. It wasn’t easy dishing out tens of thousands per night just to say you slept at a “five-star” cabin by a volcano.
“The forest cabins all have private golf carts, and beach bungalows get driven up to the mountain if they want to go hiking or on a private tour.” Mark continued.
She nodded. One of the first things she’d planned on doing was go on each of the tours offered by the resort to make sure she knew the ones she wanted to feature on social media, as well as hiring someone to handle the social media accounts of the resort. Each section needed its personal brand promotion, and she couldn’t do that all on her own.
“For someone who has only been here a week, you already memorized a lot of information,” she told him.
“It was easy. I’m pretty good at remembering things.”
They arrived at the staff offices, and he drove behind the building to a beach bungalow with a stunning view of the ocean. She frowned. He got out of the SUV and started taking out her luggage.
“Hey,” she climbed out and went to help him with her bags. “I’m supposed to be in the staff housing.”
He shook his head. “That’s for regular folks like me. You’re a VP, so you get your own bungalow. There’s only a handful of these, so you’re lucky you got one.” Then he motioned to the bungalow with his head. “If you don’t want it, I’ll take it. It’s really nice inside.”
She bit her lip and sighed. “I guess we should take my stuff inside.”
He handed her a key card and rolled her bags while she opened the door. The bungalow was gorgeous. It was bigger than her one-bedroom apartment back home.
“Grandma said for you to relax the rest of the day, and she’d call you to see if you wanted to have dinner later.” He met her gaze and curled his lip in distaste. “I don’t wanna have dinner with her. It’s embarrassing when the girls come in, you know? Not real manly. I have my own plans, so please go. This way she’ll stop bugging me.”
Manly at eighteen? The boy didn’t have a clue. Valentina blinked and pressed her lips together. “Thanks for bringing in my stuff, Mark.”
“You’re welcome,” he said. At the door, he turned to her. “I won’t hold you to a tip today since you just got here. You’ll get a jeep tomorrow when you do your tour of the resorts with Kristin, the Operations Director. Good night.”
She watched him run over to the SUV and take off. That was one troubled boy. He really had no idea about jobs and income. Get rich quick did not exist unless it was something underhanded. His grandmother had gotten him a great starting position, and he was already looking to find something better. It boggled Valentina’s mind.
Not wasting any time, she rolled her suitcases to her bedroom, loving the glass wall that allowed her full view of the beach. She quickly put her stuff away, she’d just thrown on a pair of shorts and a tank top when the phone by the bed rang.
Chapter Five
Valentina stared at the phone as it rang. Who would be calling her? Nobody had her number. Hell, even she didn’t have the number.
“Hello?”
“Hi, Valentina,” she recognized Isadora’s voice, “welcome to Fire Mountain! I’m so excited you’re here.”
Valentina blushed under the praise. “Thank you. This bungalow is beautiful, and
the view is spectacular. I don’t deserve all these privileges.”
“Nonsense!” Isadora chastised. “Of course you do. You’re our new PR head. I want you to feel both happy and welcomed here. I was wondering if you have any dinner plans? Or are you too tired and want to turn in early?”
“Surprisingly, no. I’m not tired and have no plans. I kind of expected to get to work right away, so my mind was already set that it would be a long day.”
“Oh, no. I couldn’t do that to you after such a long trip. We could go to Inferno, but I think we’ll save that for another day. Tonight, let’s have dinner at Sabrosura. It’s a Latin restaurant in the Private Spark resort.”
“Ooh, sounds great. I love food. All food. Speaking of, I’d like to go food shopping, and I’m not sure if there is a supermarket or someplace I can get the stuff I need?”
“Write out whatever you need, and I’ll have the chef pick it up tomorrow when he goes to the village market in the morning. He can drop it off at your bungalow when he returns.”
“Oh, that would be awesome. Okay, so dinner. What time do you want to meet up?”
“How is six for you? Too late or early?”
She glanced longingly out at the beach. “Nope, that’s perfect. I wanted to take a walk on the beach, and that allows me some time.”
She cleared her throat and picked up the card next to the flowers at her coffee table. They were from Isadora. She smiled at the sweet gesture. “Thank you so much for the flowers.”
“You’re very welcome. There’s a fruit platter in your fridge, along with some essentials. That’s why I had you send me that list of your favorites. Cereal, cookies, and the like. Didn’t want you to arrive with nothing in your cabinets and fridge.”
Valentina opened the freezer side of the fridge to a glorious sight. “Seriously? Did you actually put ice cream in my freezer?”
“Of course! I can’t welcome you to a Caribbean island without some good ice cream to eat while you watch the sunset.”
“You’re the best ever! Thank you so much! I don’t even know what to say. This whole job opportunity and your kindness with everything you’ve done for me. I don’t know how to thank you.”
“Nonsense. No need to thank me. I know how it is to go to a new job away from home and not have any of your favorite things available. I want you to feel right at home,” Isadora said softly.
“I do. I really do.”
“Great. I’ll pick you up at six then. And don’t worry. Your company car will be given to you tomorrow when Kristin takes you on a tour.”
“Yeah, Mark told me.”
“I hope he behaved,” Isadora asked, her voice full of concern.
“Yeah. He seems like a good kid, just has some unrealistic expectations,” she laughed.
“Oh God. Did he complain about his pay to you too? I don’t know what to do with that boy.”
“It might be a good idea to talk with him. I don’t think you’ll want others who do more work but make less than him getting upset over his higher pay.”
“That’s not possible. That is the entry pay for everyone at his job grade. He just doesn’t realize how lucky he is.”
Holy fuck. The resort must be doing amazing for entry levels to make that much. “That is very generous.”
“The owners like employees to feel welcomed. Costa Bonita wouldn’t be what it is, if not for them.”
“Speaking of the owners. I only found a corporation name when I tried to research the resort. Do you have any information I can read on the owners or something? I would like to have some details in case they ever show up.”
“Don’t worry about that. We’ll get to that in time. Right now, you settle in and focus on becoming acquainted with the resorts and the staff.”
Isadora was right. Valentina just liked being prepared, but no sense in taking on too much. Besides, owners usually made it known when they were visiting their hotels. The flashy Mercedes, expensive suits, watches, the staff getting freaked out beforehand.
After hanging up with Isadora, she went to the kitchen and opened the fridge. There was fruit, milk, juice, and salad fixings, along with cold cuts. There was fresh bread on the island, along with more fruit. Cereal, cookies, and other snacks in the pantry. Way too much stuff, which she probably wouldn’t eat, since she’d been told most of the staff living in the resort ate in the employee cafeterias and grills.
She took out an ice cream bar since she had a few hours before dinner, shut her door, and slipped her key card into her pocket. She left her sandals in front of her bungalow and walked barefoot to the beach. The cold ice cream bar was a great treat after her long travel day. The sand was cool, and she loved feeling it smush between her toes.
The stretch of sand between Private Spark and Open Blaze allowed the employees to have their own slice of paradise. She saw some people lying on towels, others on chairs, and a few walking like she was. She stopped to stare at the horizon. The water was beautiful. There was a gentle breeze that helped keep the heat to a tolerable level. She loved how many palm trees there were everywhere.
Thinking back to Gerri Wilder, and her crazy request that the matchmaker find her a man or two, she was glad she had asked Gerri to cancel that. Her focus should be on her career and not trying to find love. She was divorced, for crying out loud. She knew what it took to make a relationship work, and the truth was that a lot of people weren’t ready for that.
Her string of failed relationships and a massively failed marriage made her wonder if she was the problem. Maybe she’d expected too much? That thought reminded her of Victor, her ex-husband. He’d told her that a woman her size wasn’t supposed to make so many demands. How could she expect faithfulness when there were so many young, slim, beautiful women out there?
How could she think he would be happy with her long term, when she had let herself go, to the point that he was no longer attracted to her? And how could she think to compete with women that had charisma and outgoing personalities? She was too fat, shy and too much of a wallflower for any man. She still remembered. Word for word. Was Victor right?
What if she expected too much? What if men would only be faithful to slim, beautiful, sexy women that wanted to have sex all the time and never had problems with them being out late or hanging out all the time with their friends. She felt nauseous suddenly. If she was not one of the lucky women who could expect a man to treat her right, then maybe she was better off alone—
The jogger coming her way, whom she had ignored, ran into her shoulder, knocking her off her feet, but a strong pair of hands held her and pulled her close, stopping her fall onto the sand.
She screamed and grabbed onto the man, her gaze shooting up to meet a pair of blue eyes that left her breathless. Holy crap.
“I’m so sorry,” he said, his eyes filled with concern as he steadied her on her feet. “I wasn’t watching where I was going.”
Swiping her tongue over her lips, she sucked in a breath and let it out slowly. “I’m okay.” Maybe. Physically, she was fine. Her mind, on the other hand, was having a hard time dealing with this gorgeous, mostly naked man, holding her so close. “You can let go.”
He didn’t seem worried about how close they were. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
“Yes.” That’s it? Yes? But no other words came out of her lips. It was like she’d forgotten how to speak. The guy was huge, with a big buffed body, gorgeous suntanned skin, and blond hair, which made her want to slide her fingers through the wheat-colored strands.
“I’m very sorry,” he repeated. “Someone waved at me, and I got distracted,” he pressed his lips together. “I should have been paying more attention while running.”
“It’s fine,” she cleared her throat and pulled back a few steps, needing the distance so her brain could get back into working order. Come on girl. You’ve seen handsome men before. Sure, none ever really noticed you, but you’ve seen them.
“Are you new?”
She frowned t
hen remembered this was the employee beach. “Yes. I’m Valentina. Nice to meet you.”
There was a flash of something in his eyes, and then it was gone. A slow, predatory grin spread over his lips, and she almost fanned her face. “Beautiful name. I’m Smoke. Nice to meet you.”
The way he stared at her face made her feel weird. Men didn’t ever look at her in such a sexual manner. It made her want to cover up. His gaze scanned from her face down to her chest and continued farther until he did a full perusal of her body. Awareness grew in her chest, making her breath quicken. “Really, I’m okay. No injuries. You can continue your run.”
He glanced at her lips and then back at her eyes. His steady gaze bore into her eyes. “I’m done for today. Were you going somewhere specific?”
“No. Just wanted to take a walk. It’s my first day here, and I wanted to make sure I got to visit the beach a little bit before I begin working.”
“The beach at this time is great. Not too hot, and you get a great view of the sunset.”
He wasn’t leaving. Why wasn’t he leaving? Her hormones were already out of whack with the vicinity of his body and that dazzling smile.
“Yeah. I guess I’ll just keep walking. It was nice meeting you,” she told him and stepped away.
“Wait,” he said and moved quickly to her side, “do you mind if I join you on your walk?”
“Weren’t you just running?”
He chuckled, and her heart skipped a beat. “Yeah. But now that I’ve seen you, I’d like to walk with you.”
Uh. “Okay.”
They continued in the direction she was going. She was hyperaware of him being next to her. Her skin prickled, and her temperature rose. It was weird, and she couldn’t understand what was going on. She had to fight the overwhelming need to move closer to him.
“So, where are you from?”
She glanced out at the water. “I’m originally from New York but have been living in different places, working at various hotels and volunteering my time.”
Glancing at him from the corner of her eye, she tried not to be too obvious, but it was damn hard. Every person they passed waved at him. It seemed everyone knew Smoke.
