Can't Fight This Feeling (Indigo Royal Resort Book 1)

by Claire Hastings

  “Damn right!” Dalton hollered, inciting more laughs from everyone on board, Drea included. Kyle would know that laugh anywhere, and he loved that even over the wind and the water and the voices of the guests on the boat, hers was the one he was able to hear the clearest.

  Once they were clear of the marina and out in open water, he cut the engines and let them come to a slow float, bobbing up and down with the waves.

  “Alrighty, if you will please turn your attention to Dalton up front, he will go over some safety basics.”

  Dalton launched into his well-rehearsed routine, going over the basics of the boat, and just how snorkeling worked. Kyle made his way down to the main deck, headed toward Drea when he heard her giggle in response to a deep voice.

  “Convince your friends to get on the boat, huh?” the deep voice said. The voice belonged to some Jersey-shore wannabe who was leaning over the bar, looking at Drea like he’d like to eat her for lunch.

  “I’m sorry,” she answered. “I didn’t mean to lie, but it was a little too easy. But, it got you guys up, out of bed, and on the best tour we have to offer!”

  He laughed at her innocent act. “That it did, plus I get to spend time with you, and that doesn’t suck.” He winked.

  “Sir, we need you to please pay attention to the safety demo. Coast Guard requires it, after all,” Kyle said, cutting the meathead off before he could continue to crowd in on Drea. He gritted his teeth, forcing a smile so that the guest didn’t see the frustration rising inside him.

  “Yeah, cool,” he said acknowledging Kyle. Turning back to Drea he said, “then I’ll see you in a bit.”

  Drea looked over at Kyle with a quizzical look on her face before returning to organizing the safety waivers all the guests had turned in upon arrival at the boat.

  “Friend of yours?” Kyle asked, breaking the silence.

  “Not really, we met at the gym this morning.”

  “The gym? You hate the gym.” He stood there waiting for her to continue. She made her way through the papers, filing them when finished. “He doesn’t really seem your type.”

  “That guy? God, no. You know me better than that. But he hit on me this morning when I was on the treadmill, thinking I was a guest, and I couldn’t help but mess with him. Plus, I figured if it all worked and I got him and his buddies on the boat, they’d be good for some decent tips.”

  “Okay, well, if he continues to bother you…”

  “He wasn’t bothering me. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have some rum punch to mix up, to solidify those damn good tips.” She stuck her tongue out at him, as she grabbed the extra-large pitcher from underneath the bar. She already had the four types of juices set out on the bar, so she started to open them one by one with the can opener, pouring in rough estimates of the “right” amount in the pitcher. When she was satisfied with the juice level, she reached for the rum, but it was just out of reach at the far corner of the bar. Drea wasn’t short by any means—her curvy five-foot-six frame did place her on the taller side of average for a woman—but it didn’t make reaching things down the long bar, easy, especially when she had to lean over the counter at the corner. She stood on her toes, grasping for the bottle, just grazing it with her fingertips each time.

  “Wanna help?” she asked.

  “You don’t need my help, remember?”

  “Ugh,” she groaned, walking around the bar to grab the bottle. “You are such a pain.”

  “You love me!” he responded, making a heart with this hands. She stuck out her tongue at him again in response, and this time he returned the gesture.

  Drea finished pouring the rum in the pitcher just as Dalton was finishing up his well-rehearsed lesson on the finer points of snorkel gear.

  “And once you have your life jacket over your head, and the waist strap around your middle, this really long fellow goes...wait for it...between your legs! Just slip it through, clip it in front here, and tighten. Gentlemen, please do not tighten this while sitting down and then go to stand up. Just trust me, it’s not going to end well. Ladies, well, this is your vacation, so tighten it as much as you want!” Laughter rang out across the boat. Drea laughed too, because somehow this joke never got old, even though she’d heard Dalton say it at least once a day for the last three years.

  She watched as Dalton started to hand out the life vests, making his way around the boat, flirting with each woman as he went. She didn’t know how he did it, how his cheeks didn’t hurt by the end of the day. He was a walking fantasy, though, to most women—tall, well-defined muscles, with dirty-blonde hair, blue eyes, and a smile that Drea was sure had turned many a world upside down. But despite the fact that he looked a lot like Scott Eastwood’s twin, he never seemed to let it go to his head.

  Looking to her left, she caught a glimpse of Kyle watching Dalton as well. At least she hoped he was watching Dalton, and not the gaggle of skinny little blondes that were perched up by the netting at the front of the boat, already stripped down to just their bikinis.

  Their attention was fully on Dalton, but Drea was sure one smile from Kyle was all it would take and he’d have at least three of them hanging on his every word. At least, for Drea, all it took was that smile. His strong, broad-shouldered, six-foot frame, his square jaw and close-cropped dark hair didn’t hurt either. Oh, and those deep brown eyes. She’d loved looking at him from day one, and that feeling only magnified the closer they became while working together over the years. Her eyes followed as he started his ascent back to the captain's perch, wishing she could follow him up there.

  “Now that y’all are aware of how to be safe, let’s get this show on the road. Turtle Cove is about a twenty-five minute ride, so hold on to your hats, find a sunny spot, and let’s roll!”

  Once they got out to the cove, Drea and Dalton ushered the guests to the steps at the front of the boat where they could slowly descend into the water, or to the side, where they could jump in. Once they were all in, Drea shed her shorts and tank, righted the straps of her one-piece and grabbed her snorkel.

  “Does that snorkel in your hand mean you’re getting in?” dude-bro shouted at her from the water.

  “Yeah, for a bit,” she responded, bummed he had noticed. Think of the tips, think of the tips.

  Knowing she couldn’t keep him waiting, she put on her snorkel and hit the water. She swam past him, hoping to keep this one hundred percent professional. She was a snorkel guide and he was paying for this excursion. She saw him come up beside her and give her a thumbs-up, so she kept swimming in the direction of the biggest reef in the area, knowing that soon they could be distracted by a portion of the over five hundred different species of tropical fish, and dozen types of coral that were found in the Caribbean. This particular cove was also aptly named since they were pretty much guaranteed to see at least one sea turtle, if not three or four, hanging out around here.

  After about fifteen minutes of swimming around, she felt him tap her on the shoulder trying to get her attention. “This is pretty cool,” he said, removing his mouthpiece, as they came up for air.

  “Yeah,” she responded, removing her snorkel from her teeth. “It’s my favorite place on earth. You can’t help but be happy here.”

  “You come here a lot?”

  “Well, I mean, generally once a week for work,” she laughed. “But I’ve been visiting this cove since I was a little girl. My uncles own the resort, so I grew up here.”

  “That’s cool, you’re a native!”

  “I sure am, although—ahhh!” she shrieked, feeling arms grab her from behind. She turned around to see Kyle’s great big smile and heard him chuckle through his snorkel. “Jesus, Kyle, you scared me!”

  “Sorry...wait, no I’m not,” he laughed. Drea rolled her eyes.

  “Oh, sorry, where are my manners? Kyle, this is…” she trailed off, realizing she didn’t know dude-bro’s name.

  “Brig,” he answered, raising a hand in greeting.

  “Nice to meet you, Brig. D
rea, there is an older couple that is back closer to the boat. I wanna make sure they are doing okay, come with?”

  “Yeah. Brig, glad you came out today. I’ll see you back on the boat.”

  Brig gave a thumbs-up and stuck his face back in the water to go find his buddies. Drea splashed Kyle playfully before taking off toward the boat. They swam in companionable silence for a bit, circling the boat a couple of times before Drea realized there wasn’t anyone over this way. He totally made that up to make dude-bro go away, she thought. She enjoyed being with just him, even if they were surrounded by all sorts of other people. It’d been awhile since they’d been able to go off and play like this. Their tours had been so busy and popular that guests had required their full attention for the last couple of months.

  Kyle grabbed Drea’s hand and pointed to a large leatherback sea turtle. As her smile widened at the sight, she noticed his did as well. She loved that smile so much—it made her feel all sorts of things. Kyle in general made her feel all sorts of things. But it didn’t matter how much he made her feel, or how close they had become since he had moved to the island. Kyle was the ultimate professional; he was here focused on the job and sending money back to his mom in Florida. He also would never dream of taking up with the bosses’ niece. She was just going to have to keep dreaming from afar.

  Drea looked at her watch and pointed to it. “We better get back on the boat and start wrangling people in.”

  “I’m not sure I want to. What if I just want to stay here with you?” He pulled her close and wrapped his arms around her. Returning the gesture, she loosely wrapped her arms around his neck. She could see those deep brown eyes so clearly through his mask. She dreamed about those eyes, about getting lost in them, and seeing all the feelings she had for him returned in them. She wanted him to kiss her, to know if those lips that has just been wrapped around the snorkel were as soft as she imagined.

  “And let Dalton sail the boat back?” she asked, trying to break the moment before she got too caught up in it. Kyle simply laughed in response. “Besides, it’s Tuesday, so it’s bonfire night.”

  “Fine,” he relented. “Be the voice of reason.”

  They hopped back up onto the boat and she slipped her shorts back on, heading back to the bar to serve up rum punch. Once everyone was safely back on the boat, and they were on the way back toward the resort, she started handing out the punch. Guests were laughing and sharing some photos they got of the turtles, soaking up the last little bit of the excursion. When she got to Brig and his group, he stopped her.

  “So, whatcha doing after this?” he asked her.

  “Well, we have to clean up after you all and put the boat up for the night. Then it’s back to the resort.”

  “Do you live on site?”

  “I do. My uncles have this custom-made house that is basically three apartments all connected, which is where I grew up, but now I live in this little cottage across the way from them.”

  “So then I’ll see you around? Like, tonight at the bonfire?”

  “Um, maybe. I usually try to make a brief appearance.”

  “Good, looking forward to it.”

  Note to self, see if Kyle will skip the bonfire with me tonight, she thought.

  Chapter Three

  “So, what room is he in?” Leona asked, sitting at her desk in the Housekeeping office, primed and ready to type something into the computer.

  “Who?” Drea asked, looking up from the magazine she’d been flipping through, sitting on the little couch opposite the desk.

  “Gym bro!” Leona answered, looking at her like it should have been obvious.

  Drea just stared at her best friend in utter confusion. They had been best friends since Leona marched up to her during snack time in kindergarten and declared it so. Drea wouldn’t have required much convincing, though. She was growing up on the resort that, while it wasn’t explicitly stated as adults only, had no children’s program and was marketed as a “grown-up playground,” leaving Drea to often only have her toys and uncles for company.

  “Gym bro, I like that. I’d just been calling him dude-bro,” she laughed. “I have absolutely no idea what room he’s in. I didn’t exactly ask. Why?”

  “I was gonna schedule that floor for a later servicing, so you know, if you need to...make an exit.” She made a sweeping gesture with her hand, narrowing avoiding knocking over the nameplate on the desk reading ‘Leona Filipe’. “That way you could do so without Carmella or someone seeing you.” Leona had worked as a housekeeper starting in high school, when her mom had gotten it in her head that she needed a job to keep her out of trouble. She’d taken over as the head of housekeeping almost eighteen months ago when the lady who had held the job since the resort opened decided to retire.

  “Why would I need to ‘make an exit’? What are you...Leona! Oh my God, no, just no! I’m not going back to his room. I’m not even going to entertain the idea of anything that could lead to the idea of going back to his room.”

  “Fine, but if you change your mind, you just let me know and I’ll work some magic over here. Oh!” she exclaimed as she started typing away at the keyboard.

  “Yes?” Drea asked, interest slightly piqued that her refusal to sleep with a guest sparked an idea in her best friend.

  “I wonder if he’s in 1227. Isobel said there are like four or five guys staying in this one room, and they have like seven jumbo boxes of condoms.” Leona turned to look at her, eyes wide, an impish smile on her face. “So, they are either doing each other, or came here with plans.”

  Drea shook her head in exasperation, letting out a quiet laugh. “Well, that’s a hell of a visual, so thanks for that. But I have zero interest in him, other than making sure he remains a satisfied guest.”

  “Is he hot?”

  “He’s not bad-looking, especially if you’re really into that big muscly type. He kinda looks like he could be some evil villain's henchman, with his really dark hair and scowled facial features. But he’s not…” she trailed off and looked toward the office door that was open just a crack.

  “Kyle? He’s just not Kyle?”

  “Pretty much,” she sighed. “We had an amazing day today. The group was smaller, so he left Dalton alone on the boat and came swimming with me.”

  “I thought you went swimming with gym bro?”

  “I did, for a bit. But then Kyle came and stole me away. It would have been kinda cute and romantic if he hadn’t been simply trying to protect the bosses’ niece from the predatory frat boy.”

  “I’m sure that was not his only motivation.”

  “Maybe not,” she shrugged, dismissing the suggestion. “But enough about him. You promised you wouldn't let me drone on about him anymore. And goodness, after he held me while we were swimming today, I could probably talk about him forever.”

  “He held you?” Leona asked, raising an eyebrow in suspicion.

  “Right before it was time to get back in the boat. Pulled me into him and told me he didn’t want to stop swimming. It was nothing. It was just that we haven’t had a chance to go snorkeling, just us, in months, so it was a nice break from having to deal with guests all the time. It was a ‘you’re my best buddy’ kind of thing, not a ‘I’m secretly in love with you’ kind of thing.”

  “Still, that’s super sweet.”

  “It was, and it’s just enough to continue to fuel my happily ever after fantasies. But, really, enough about Kyle.”

  “Being around him all day isn’t going to help you stop thinking about it,” Leona said.

  “I know, but it is kinda my job.”

  “What about your big idea? Have you brought it up to your uncles yet?”

  “Ha, ha...no,” Drea answered her.

  “Why not? I think it would be so awesome! A spa is exactly what we need around here!”

  “I don’t want to stir the pot,” she said, sighing. “Everything is in the works for Uncle Gray to add in more adventure stuff and excursions, so me bringin
g up that I want to add on what would basically be an entire new department is not going to go over well.”

  “So maybe it’s not a now thing,” she suggested, “but a someday thing. I think you’re crazy for not telling them.”

  "Well, maybe someday I’ll bring it up, but for now, it remains a fantasy. Tucked up in there right next to Kyle,” she replied. “Oh my God, I did it again. I’m talking about him. Make me stop!”

  “Well, if it makes you feel better, you’re not the only one with a weird guest encounter today,” Leona said, thankfully changing the subject.

  “Do tell.”

  “So, you know how your Uncle Vaughn requires me to do those random room checks, so I’m basically secret shopping my housekeepers?” Drea nodded. “So, the best way I have found to truly randomly choose which rooms I hit up is to use one of those number generator things off the internet. I put in the range and let it kick out six or so numbers and then as long as I haven’t hit that room up in the last ninety days or so, I put it on the list. So on today’s list pops up 1122.”

  “That’s a fun number.”

  “Right? I kinda thought so too. So I’m making my rounds, checking up on things. I stopped to talk to Carmella at one point, and made my way to 1122. As is standard, I checked the indicator light above the door, and it doesn't show that the room is currently occupied. But you and I have both been around this stuff long enough to know that people don’t always put their keycards into the socket like they should, especially in the daytime when they don’t need the lights to turn on. So I knocked. I knocked, Drea, multiple times. Even did the stereotypical ‘housekeeping!’ call. Nothing, no response.”

  “Okay, so, I take it the room wasn’t empty?”

  “I walk in, pretty confident at this point that the room is vacant. I don’t actually check that when I pull numbers, because technically it doesn’t matter, right? So I walk in, and there, sitting on the edge of the bed, straddling the corner that faces the door, is this dude. Jacking off.”