Laura wasn’t surprised — it wouldn’t be much of a race between a pegasus and a peacock, but Mr. India looked lean and fit; she thought he might give Mr. Ireland some competition.
“The winner will be awarded the Mr. Speed trophy in the final awards ceremony, and there’s a ribbon or something for the second place. I don’t know, who cares.” Jessica fanned herself with her clipboard. “I’m bound by the insurance company to let you know that you are not covered for egregious injury due to special shifter riders, blah blah, don’t be a dumbass and step in a gopher hole. We’re not medivaccing you. Do they even have gophers here? Oh, let’s just get this started. I need some cheers, ladies.”
She fluffed her hair and pinched her cheeks, pasting on the most plastic smile that Laura had ever seen and gestured at the cameraman in the back of the poised Jeep.
“Welcome back to the World Mr. Shifter events!” she squealed. The girls gathered around Laura gave ear-splitting shrieks and applause, and the Mr. Shifter competitors stepped up their stretching and posing as the camera panned around.
Laura clapped half-heartedly.
“Oh, it’s such a shame Mr. Ireland is married,” one of the audience members near Laura lamented.
“I thought that being single was one of the criteria!” another protested.
“No, that’s the International Mr. Shifter competition, this is the World Mr. Shifter. These guys don’t even require that you have modeling experience. Mr. Ireland doesn’t.”
“What does he do?” The first woman was practically drooling.
“Firefighter, I heard.”
“Oh, he can put out my fires any day.”
“Show us your best cheeks, gentlemen!” Jessica was saying enthusiastically.
The Mr. Shifters lined up at the white chalk line that had been drawn on the road, pausing to flex and preen and dust invisible things off their shoulders.
This would have been a lot more fun with Jenny to snark with, Laura couldn’t help thinking. Or if she could stop imagining Tex as a contestant. He looked like he could make a steep, four mile jog without getting winded.
Probably carrying a tray of drinks.
In assless chaps.
Laura shook her head firmly, and turned around to walk back down into the resort before they finished the introductions and the starting gun was fired. Maybe this way she could beat the rush on the restaurant and get a good seat and a peaceful latte.
Chapter 10
The restaurant was one level above the bar, with an expanse of indoor seating and a spacious deck that looked down over the bar deck, the pool deck below, and the beach beyond that. Tex found that looking down over the uppermost deck gave an interesting perspective to the view that he usually enjoyed as he worked.
Tex usually closed the bar about midnight and wasn’t up this early, but when the sun rose at five and the birds came alive with the light, he gave up the pretense of trying to sleep and came to rustle breakfast from the kitchens. Chef, raising an eyebrow at him, didn’t question his early appearance or the circles under his eyes. He just gave him a plate with a fresh bun stuffed with an arcane egg and sausage scramble.
Marie had been helping in the kitchen, and gave him a long, plaintive look, but she didn’t attempt to stop him when he left.
Scarlet allowed the staff to eat anything they wanted from the kitchens or the buffet, but discouraged them from mingling with the guests to eat their food. Tex had every intention of heading back to the conference room with his culinary prize, or even retreating to the closed bar to eat it there.
But then he felt her. Jenny, he thought and everything was wrong about the way her name sounded in his head.
He hadn’t caught more than a glimpse of her the day before, desperately busy during the morning helping Travis piece together some questionable plumbing at one of the smaller cottages, and even busier at the bar after dinner until midnight. Celebrities, he found, came with more ridiculous demands for their drinks than any clientele he’d ever served. Never had so many olives been found unsatisfactory, or mixing methods been called into question.
He’d been grateful not to have the time to think about Jenny, because she came with such a pang of pain and confusion.
Now, though, she was here, at the same level he was, being seated at a table that completely blocked a subtle escape. He either had to walk within arms reach behind her, or walk out straight in front of her.
Frozen with indecision, Tex only watched her, doing what he suspected was a terrible job of camouflaging himself in the potted plants near the railing.
Even from here, she was so beautiful. Her dark hair was soft over her chocolate shoulders. Tex was mesmerized by the little motions she made with her hand as she ordered, and the flicker of a smile over her mouth at some joke of Breck’s.
He was shallowly glad when she responded coolly to the head waiter’s obvious flirtation, and irrationally angry when Breck was able to make her laugh with his pout.
Tex took another bite of Chef’s breakfast concoction and finally made the decision to try to creep behind Jenny. It was possible she wouldn’t notice him on that route, even if it would take more willpower to be that close to her and keep going.