The Best Goodbye (Rosemary Beach, #13)(33)

“No, he’s definitely into girls. He’s already checking Elle out,” Natalie grumbled.

“Because she’s flirting with him,” Daniel replied. “She’s either trying to make Captain jealous or mark her territory.”

“Captain’s not even paying attention. He’s looking this way,” Kyle said in a whisper. Then he turned to look at me and glanced back at Captain. “Or he’s looking at Rose. You do look dayum good without glasses.”

I smiled at Kyle. “Thank you.”

He swung his gaze back to the front of the room and nodded. “Yep. He’s checking out Rose.”

I didn’t want to look, but I was curious. Slowly, I turned my gaze to his, and our eyes locked immediately. He was watching me closely. A small smile tugged at the corners of his mouth, and I couldn’t keep myself from smiling back.

“That shit’s hot,” Kyle drawled, and I jerked my gaze away from Captain and stared at my feet. Kyle chuckled, and Natalie let out a low whistle.

“Wowee. Someone caught the bad boy’s attention. He’s scary and hot all at the same time,” Kyle said.

I ignored that. They didn’t know Captain. They didn’t know the boy he was or the life he had endured. But I didn’t know what he’d lived through over the past ten years. Maybe the dangerous vibe they all got was real. An image of him laughing with Franny over a story she told him came back to me, and I shook the thought away. He wasn’t dangerous. They just thought his slightly too long, sun-streaked hair pulled back in a man bun and the thick scruff on his face made him look dangerous. But I liked that scruff. I liked it a lot. It made me think about things. Things I hadn’t had in a very long time.

“Someone’s face is bright red. What did I miss?” Hillary asked as she stepped up beside me.

“Oh, just boss man up there, checking Rose out,” Kyle supplied.

“How do you know he’s not checking me out?” Hillary asked in a haughty tone.

“Because you just got here, and he’s been zeroed in on that one since she walked into the room,” Natalie replied, clearly enjoying herself. There was friction between them that I hadn’t noticed before.

“Well, short stuff needs to get in line. He’s mine next. Elle is moving to the new guy, it seems, and I want some of that badass up there. He’ll look elsewhere once I get him alone for five minutes,” Hillary said, then brushed past us with a sway in her hips, straight for Captain.

“She’s a bitch,” Natalie said in a disgusted tone.

“Most women are,” Kyle said, then winked our way. “Present company excluded.”

I wanted to continue to look at the floor or out the window. Anywhere but where my gaze was determined to go. I had to watch. I wasn’t sure why. So what if she flirted with him and he liked it? He was my daughter’s father. He was my past. I had no claim on him. But when she leaned in to whisper in his ear and his attention shifted from me to her, my heart cracked just a little. I couldn’t help it. Old habits die hard.

“God, I hope he’s smarter than that,” Natalie muttered.

“Oh, he’ll f*ck her. His kind always takes the hot, easy f*cks. They just don’t commit. That’s part of the sexy bad-boy thing that makes us all crazy,” Kyle said.

“That’s a shame,” Natalie whispered, sounding as let down as I felt.

Captain lowered his head and responded to Hillary, while she kept a flirty, pleased smile on her face. What were they doing? Making plans for later? My gut twisted, and I hated it. I hated it so bad.

“You’re dating Brad, aren’t you?” Daniel asked. I looked at him and hoped the inner turmoil I was experiencing wasn’t showing on my face.

“No, not really. We’re friends is all,” I corrected him. Brad flirted, but he didn’t do more than that. He didn’t call me or text me. We only talked at work, and he was a great guy, but I didn’t want more from him. I liked the easy friendship we had fallen into.

“Ah, he just looks at you a lot, so I figured there was something more there,” Daniel explained.

I didn’t say anything to that. I was unaware that Brad looked at me a lot. I rarely looked in his direction unless we were talking.

Captain cleared his throat to get the room’s attention. “OK, everyone. We’re all here, so it’s time to introduce you to your soon-to-be manager. Jamieson Tynes has been sent by Arthur Stout to take over in the next few weeks. While he’s here, you’re to make yourselves available for any questions. I’ll start taking off a few nights a week and letting Jamieson take over, so the decisions and orders will be coming from him. Jamieson, I’m going to let you take it from here. This is your serving staff. Get to know them.”

I looked at Jamieson, wondering if this bunch would eat him alive. He looked really young and naive.

“Oh, shit, here he comes,” Kyle whispered. I looked up and saw the group of servers part like the Red Sea.

Captain.

“He’s so determined. Sexy.” Kyle made a strange pleased sound under his breath.

I couldn’t look away this time. I watched wide-eyed as Captain came for me. There was a gleam in his eyes that excited me, but I wasn’t sure what it meant.

“Rose, come with me,” he said, loudly enough for the others to hear, although it was a soft demand.