“What is it,” he asked, his voice dropping in disappointment. "You need to break our dinner?"
I nearly dropped the phone I was so shocked. First, I'm not the sort of woman who breaks a date. Second, I damn sure would never break a date with a man like him. “Of course not," I said quickly before he could continue. "I just wanted to know what you were wearing. I've been sitting here in my room for the past half hour trying to figure out what to wear and I'm stuck."
Cam's sigh of relief combined with laughter was audible even over the phone line, and I had to chuckle in response. "Did you really think I was calling to break our date?"
“Maybe, who knows,” Cam said. "That, and I thought I'd look damn foolish going down to dinner in my best suit and tie. That isn't overdressed for you, is it?"
"No, it sounds great," I replied. "Actually, it makes my decision easy. I'll meet you down at the restaurant in fifteen minutes."
"Sounds great. See you out front," Cam said before he hung up. I set my phone down and quickly changed into my dress, zipping the side and pulling my sling backs on three minutes before six o'clock.
I was still nervous as I walked down the stairs to the restaurant. From what I'd read, this place had top quality food. Part of it was that as one of the smallest in the chain, the chef was able to put in more individual effort toward making a tighter menu. At least, that’s what the reviews said.
Cam was waiting for me just like he'd promised, wearing a pale gray suit, white shirt with a lime and blue striped tie that looked amazing on him. I couldn’t wait to find out who Cameron Swagger really was. At least I'd have plenty to talk about at dinner.
Cam's eyes lit up when he saw me coming down the hallway from the stairwell, and I swore that a hint of pink touched his cheeks as he watched me approach. "You look. . .” he began, then stuttered. “You look amazing."
"Why thank you, Mr. Swagger," I said, smiling naturally. "And you look dashing. Shall we?"
The host seated us at our table, where Cam took the gentlemanly step of actually holding my chair for me before he took a seat. I felt my own heat rise as he gracefully sat down, and I looked around. "Where are the menus?"
"The restaurant doesn't do printed menus for dinner service," Cam said. "Our server should tell us what's on for tonight."
"Oh. Sorry, first day here, and I'm not exactly used to this sort of place," I replied, taking my napkin and placing it in my lap. "In fact, this is the nicest vacation I've ever had."
“It’s a nice place,” Cam replied. “A little more extravagant that what I usually go for."
"Really? You look so at home. I figured you for one of the people who come to places like this all the time. What do you do? Banking? Doctor?"
He laughed hard, having to take a drink of his ice water before he could calm down. The server came by and took our orders, Cam adding in a bottle of wine that wasn't part of the normal menu but sounded great to go with our fish and saffron rice pilaf anyway. “Far from it actually, I'm nothing at all like that. I'm actually just a High School teacher."
"Shut up," I said with a laugh. "Really? How'd you get here then?"
Cam shrugged. "I had an uncle pass away six months ago, he left me a little bit. I figured why the heck not? I've always wanted to go to the Caribbean, and I’ve got two weeks before I have to go back for summer work. I help out with the JV basketball team at my school, and offseason lifting starts August first. What about you? You said this is your first time in a place like this, what do you do?"
I took a drink of my water, setting it down to shrug. I wasn’t quite buying his story, but hey, who knows. “I’m technically unemployed now. Up until a week ago I worked as the pharmacy manager for one of the major chains that I won't say because they're actually paying for this trip. My store manager gave me the employee of the year award right before corporate closed the branch down."
The server brought the bottle of wine, pouring us two glasses before leaving the bottle behind. Cam inhaled the aroma and then gave me another startling white grin. "Well then, here's to unemployment," he said, toasting me. "May your previous employer regret leaving such a valuable person behind."
"And to success for the JV basketball team," I replied, clinking glasses with him. "Where is this High School, by the way?"
Cam smirked and took a sip of his wine. I followed, impressed. It was just a bit fruity, but not overly so. If the fish was as good as I expected, it would be a great compliment. "I live in T or C."
"Where?" I asked, quirking an eyebrow. "I've heard of T and C, but that's a surf shop or something, isn't it?"
"T or C. Truth or Consequences, New Mexico," Cam said. "And yes, that's a real town, not just an old show or some place thought up for fictional stories. What about you? When you're not making this island all that much more beautiful, where do you call home?"