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“That he does, hon,” Annie said. “But make no mistake about it, you’ve caught his eye.”
“He thinks I’m a kid.”
“I’d bet he doesn’t think that anymore. Anyone who saw you modeling that bikini tonight couldn’t possibly think you were a kid. You’re a grown woman, Catie. You’ve lived abroad. You’ve seen the world. You’ve still got a lot to learn, but no one can call you a kid anymore.”
“Chad can.”
“Chad’ll see the light of day. Don’t you worry.”
Catie rolled her eyes. “How can he see the light of day with Amber and her thong blocking his view?”
Annie laughed. “Haven’t you noticed?”
“Noticed what?”
“Amber and her thong may be hanging on his arm. And those other girls might be fetching his drinks, wiggling their boobs and their butts in his face, but his eyes haven’t left you since we got here.”
Catie’s heart lurched, and she looked behind her shoulder to Chad. Sure enough, she caught his gaze. He looked away.
“Maybe you ought to go offer to get him something.”
“And play those silly games? I’d rather be hung by my toenails from barbed wire.”
“Silly games they may be, but do you want some other woman to get her claws in your man?”
“My man?”
“Hell, yes, your man. Fight for him, hon. He wants you. He just doesn’t know it yet.”
Oh, he knows it, Catie thought. Physically, at least. Emotionally, though… That was the key. He needed to fall in love with her, as she had with him. And Annie did have a point. She was wasting a valuable opportunity to get close to him.
“All right, Annie. If you’ll excuse me.”
Catie turned and marched straight toward Chad McCray and his harem. So focused was her gaze, so focused her concentration, that she didn’t see the waiter wheeling a cart full of food perpendicular to her until it was too late. She lost her footing and landed in the hotel pool.
The scream lodged in her throat erupted just as the liquid covered her face, causing her to gulp in a mouthful of the chlorinated water. Instinctively, she breathed in through her nose, and though she had been a champion swimmer in high school, she found herself floundering in the five-feet-deep pool. What a clumsy idiot.
A strong hand steadied her. “You okay?” A deep voice said.
She coughed and looked into the handsome face of Joe Bradley, the town mechanic.
“Yeah, I think so,” she sputtered.
Joe’s gaze dropped to her chest. What? She looked down and gasped. Her bandeau bikini top was gone!
Why had she listened to Angie and gone strapless? Was it around her waist? No. A strip of sea green floated on the bottom of the pool, away from her.
This could only happen to Catie Bay. The girl who tripped over her own two feet daily. The girl who was brilliant on horseback, but a calamity on her own legs.
She crushed her arms around her chest.
“Get away from her, Bradley!” came Chad’s voice. He stood at the edge of the pool and stripped off his western shirt. His golden chest gleamed in the setting sun. “Come on, Catie,” he said. “I’ve got you.”
“Chad, I can’t.”
“Sure you can. Just come over here to the ladder and step out. I’ll get you covered. Don’t worry.”
Snickers and catcalls cut through the haze of Catie’s thoughts. She was waterlogged. She couldn’t see, couldn’t think. She tightened her arms around her chest. Her breasts weren’t huge, but they were big enough that her arms wouldn’t cover them all the way. A bronze nipple peeked out, pebbled from the cold water.
