"First off, let me apologize to both you and Mr. Swagger," he said to the two of us. “I want to extend my personal apologies to you about tonight's incident. Several witnesses have said they saw the young girl sitting at the table there intentionally trip you.”
“Her name is Tiffany," I said hollowly. "She's the one who's been strutting around in the green bikini the past few days and has been harassing me since I got here.”
“Miss Broward, I just want you to know that all three of them are going to be escorted off the island as soon as possible.”
I shook my head. “Look, I just want to go to my room."
Bennet nodded. "I understand. If you don't mind, could the two of you come by my office tomorrow morning?”
I nodded again and left, Cam right behind me, catching up with me on the stairs. "Melina, wait."
I turned, tears trickling down my face. "Cam, please."
He stopped, faltering. "I just wanted to say . . . I don't know what I can say. Just . . . I’m sorry."
"Me too. Listen, I know what we were going to do, but . . . not right now. I can't. I’m so not feeling sexy right now."
Cam looked at me directly in my eyes. "I understand. Listen, I know this is horrible timing, but I can't think of anyone I'd rather spend my time with here than you. Please don’t let this ruin the rest of your vacation.”
I nodded and turned away. "Good night, Cam."
Chapter 8
Cam
Watching Melina walk up the stairs, her hair hanging plastered around her skull and her shoulders slumped filled me with an anger that I hadn't felt in a long time. Feelings that I'd worked hard over the past few years to suppress broke free and thoughts that I hoped would never come back trickled into my brain.
I turned away and went back to Bennet’s office. "Mr. Swagger. What can I do for you?”
I shook my head. "Mr. Bennet, can I speak with you in private?"
He looked at the other man in his office, who pulled a fade and disappeared into the hallway. Bennet went over to the door and locked it. “Of course. What’s on your mind?”
"Tiffany's last name or room number," I said slowly. “Please.”
Bennet shook his head. “Now you know I can’t do that. I'm not having my resort falling into the craziness of people plotting revenge on each other. What sort of person do you think I am?"
I sat down and dangled my hands between my knees. I looked at him, and a bit of the old Cameron Swagger came through, I could tell. "Your name is Harrison Bennet. You're fifty-two years old, birthday December eleventh. You have a wife, Katherine who works at the resort part-time as a maid, which surprised me at first until I saw that she gave up her job as an accountant to come with you on this assignment. You have two kids in college, one at the University of Miami on the Forrester Hotel scholarship program, the other at Cambridge. You have a timeshare in Canada, and a retirement portfolio that is doing quite well for a man your age."
Bennet blanched as I continued. "Who are you?"
“You already know who I am, I’m Cameron Swagger. I’m not going to create trouble for you," I said. “I know you could lose your job for this, but if Melina and I make a stink over this you could be in hot water too. Mr. Bennet, I won’t hurt anyone on your property. But just kicking a few people out of your resort or maybe even banning them isn't going to do anything. This girl, she comes from money, and if she can't book a spot at The Cay, she'll go to Majorca next year, or maybe Tahiti, it doesn't really matter. So I'm going to give her a spanking that she will feel, and not a physical one. So please, what room is she in?”
"I can find out," Bennet said. “But on one condition."
"Which is?"
“No physical violence on this property. And you don’t come back to any Forrester Resort ever again."
I nodded. "I can agree to that."
Bennet sighed and nodded. He was a smart man, and could tell I meant business. "Come with me to the front desk."
We went up front, Bennet dismissing the one staff member on night duty. Taking over the computer, he looked up at me. "On the other side of the counter, please."
I waited patiently while he tapped away at the keyboard. He tapped his mouse twice more, handing me the sheet that spit out of the printer. "Thank you, Mr. Bennet."
"Be at my office ten in the morning tomorrow,” he said. "I'll have paperwork for you to sign. The less I can involve Mr. Forrester with this, the better."
I left him and went back up to my room, where I opened my computer. I wasn't planning on having to use it, but I brought it with me just in case. After all, with the secrets contained on this thing, I wasn’t about to leave it at home unattended during my stay. I opened it and typed my password.