Daddy Plus One: A Single Dad Secret Baby Billionaire Romance

by Brooke Valentine

  “It’s spelled S-o-l, as in another name for the sun,” she corrected him.

  “Then I wonder why she called you Cat,” he teased. “Surely she should have called you Bast, don’t you think?”

  Cat cringed. “No way, I think not!” she protested. “God, could you imagine going to school with the other kids and having a name like that? They’d eat you alive.” She then looked down at his nametag, but since he had used his middle name, that was the one she found there. “Not like Scott, which is totally normal. It’s the kind of name that would allow someone to blend right into the woodwork.”

  “Yes, I suppose so,” he agreed. That was exactly why he was using it for his impromptu vacation from himself and his current personal troubles. Which he was emphatically not going to start thinking about right now. “Anyway, we both seem to be headed for the same building. Would you like to share the meal with me?”

  “Oh, I don’t know,” she said as they reached the door. “How do we know they didn’t divide up the seating arrangements in there by category as well?”

  Aiden snorted, knowing full well they hadn’t done anything of the sort, though he obviously couldn’t tell her so. Unlike Bob and Kevin, the two divers who knew him already, he was trying to keep everyone else in the dark about who he was until he’d sorted out which people he’d like to work with the most. And as beautiful as Cat Addison was, he wasn’t going to hire her just for her looks alone. He needed to get a look at her resume.

  “There’s only one way we’re going to find out,” he told her, offering her his arm. After hesitating for a moment, Cat tentatively wrapped her fingers around his upper arm, discovering the hard, bulging muscle that was hidden under his dress shirt, just as he wanted her to. The trouble was, he hadn’t expected the action to have quite the affect it did on his libido.

  He really liked this girl, and that was bad. Teasing and talking with someone to pass the time was one thing, but having thoughts of throwing her over his shoulder caveman style and hauling her off to his newly purchased, nearby condo was quite another. He needed to calm down.

  Maybe it was just the fact that Brynn had filed for the divorce. Before, he’d never given himself permission to move on, but the idea of his impending freedom might be fueling his sudden desire to find someone else. He suspected it was a great deal more involved than that, though, since there were something upwards of fifty women in the room at the moment, yet he’d only managed to notice one.

  They stepped companionably down the stairs and headed across the sandy lot. Aiden had felt it was much better to give the resort the appearance of a beach than to slather concreate all over the ground. Instead, circles of red brick dotted the landscape here and there, and reddish-brown benches sat beneath some of the palms. Other than that it had been covered over with sand he’d purchased from the nearby Everglades.

  The dining hut was set somewhat beyond the bar, nearer to the executive cabins, of which there were eight which almost completely surrounded a private pool. Another pool, which was slated for family use, was hidden behind the main hotel, but it wasn’t visible from there. Beyond all of that he’d placed an employee’s housing complex which could hold up to sixty people in total, not that he’d expect to fill it to capacity. Most of the people he intended to hire were locals, but it never hurt to be ready for any eventuality.

  For the week of the job fair, each of the seventy-six candidates had a room of their own. The divers and swimming instructors were being housed downstairs, which made it easier to access the long path that led down to the beach. People being considered for administrative, instructional, tour guide, or hospitality jobs were being housed either upstairs or in the executive cabins. Which meant that yes, Aiden actually had divided up the group in that regard as well. Miss Cat Addison was not far off the mark where his was concerned.

  As they entered the café he pointed inside and said, “Well, would you look at that? I guess Mr. Whitney isn’t completely OCD after all. Look, no labels on the tables!”

  “Will wonders never cease,” Cat chuckled. “Looks like I’m stuck dining with you after all, Scott.”

  FIVE

  Cat’s senses started to reel the moment she heard a low, masculine voice in her ear, apologizing for bumping into her. At first, she behaved as she always would when a man was blatantly trying to get attention from her, barely giving the man the time.

  But when she finally glanced over and saw his face her whole world began to melt. Though she did her best to act unaffected, it was difficult to pretend she didn’t find the tall, handsome man who had shown up just behind her anything less than devastating.

  She didn’t get a really good look at Scott until they entered the dining hall and she was able to let go of his arm, stepping into the room and having a look around. Twenty tables were set at the center, and about ten booths ran along two of the walls, while the rest of the area was reserved for the serving tables currently laden with different foods.

  “Boy, Kellen sure wasn’t kidding about the spread, was he?” she commented as her mouth began to water.

  “It all looks great,” her companion agreed. “Why don’t you fix yourself a plate and we’ll take one of the booths? That one over in the corner seems cozy enough for two.”

  Cat giggled. “Trying to get me alone already?”

  “Of course not,” he lied. “I just thought it might be quieter over there.”

  Smirking, Cat refrained from calling him out on it as she stepped over and grabbed a plate. Scott solicitously followed right after her with a plate of his own, pointing out the foods he thought she might like the most. He had her blushing and flustered the whole time, and then they headed for the corner booth.

  Just as they arrived, though, a couple of the other divers, both grinning broadly, slid into their booth on one side, making it impossible for Cat to sit facing Scott as a result..

  “Go on, sweetheart, sit next to the big guy,” one man teased. “You know you want to.”

  “What are you two doing?” Scott grumbled, glaring at each of them as he set his plate down on the inside and scooted in so Cat could sit down too.

  “Nothing, nothing at all,” said the other guy with a smug smirk. “Just thought we’d come help you enjoy the view. I mean, this is the prettiest woman in the room. You know how partial I am to redheads, don’t you?”

  “Yeah, and I kind of like them too.”

  “Come on, you guys,” Scott grumbled as he started to cut into the small steak he’d included along with all the pastas and vegetables he’d selected. This guy clearly loved his carbs—probably because of all those muscles he was so keen on talking about.

  Cat hid a little smirk of her own. Divers—such a silly group of peacocks trying to flaunt their tail feathers. She said, “Oh, I don’t mind having them around. Hell, three pieces of eye candy is infinitely preferable to just one.”

  “Hey, that’s not nice,” Scott protested, even though he was laughing. “You need to get it right though. These two are just lollipops. I’m a full course meal.”

  “Hear that, Kevin? Scott thinks we’re a couple of suckers.”

  “Shame on you, Scott,” Kevin scolded. “That’s not how you treat Bob and I when we’re over at the Reef Club. I’m hurt by your callous disregard for my feelings.”

  “If my disregard for your feelings was actually callous, what makes you think I’d care if I’d just hurt them?” he pointed out.

  Cat sat there enjoying her salad as she watched this exchange, trying not to laugh. “So, you guys are all local then?” she asked curiously.

  “Well, not precisely local,” Bob shrugged. “Your boy Scott actually owns a house up in Miami, but he flies down here all the time. The Ocean Reef Club’s got a little airstrip for members, and he loves to make use of it almost every weekend.”

  “Oh, I see,” said Cat, becoming more curious than ever about this guy. Clearly he must have a good income if he was a member of a club and he also liked to fly. So what
was a guy with a PhD in ecology, membership to some club with a mini airport, and rights to fly his plane down and land on their airstrip, doing at a job fair to become a diving instructor? Something just didn’t seem to be adding up.

  Scott glanced at her, biting at his lower lip as though he had something on his mind. “These guys love to exaggerate all the time,” he said finally. “Could I get out for another plate, if you don’t mind?”

  “Sure,” she agreed, moving out of the way so he could get by.

  “Good, now’s our chance to win a few brownie points,” Kevin called after him, his tone teasing. “There’s no guarantee she’ll be your date this Friday night!”

  “Come on, you guys, you’re cramping my style big time,” he called back. “Have a heart, will you?”

  “Well, actually, I’m quite full myself,” Cat said then. “I believe I’ll just go find my room and turn in for the night.”

  “It’s barely after five,” Scott complained, turning back to them instead of continuing over to the food. “Are you sure?”

  “Yeah, I think so,” she said, smiling apologetically. “But there’s no need to look so disappointed about it. You know this event is going on for a whole week. We’re bound to bump elbows again sometime.”

  “Shall I help you find your room?” he asked hopefully.

  “Uh—sure, I guess so.”

  “I’ll see you two later,” he said to his friends, and there was a tinge of menace in his tone.

  “Understood,” said Kevin, winking over at Bob. “We’ll be down by the water, as agreed upon. Don’t be late, buddy, okay?”

  “Don’t worry, I won’t be.”

  As they headed for the door, Scott said, “Sorry about those two. They’re a couple of troublemakers, for sure. But maybe you won’t have to deal with them a whole lot, though. Maybe they won’t even get hired.”

  “Yeah, or maybe I won’t,” she pointed out.

  For a moment, the idea left Scott looking startled, but then he said, “Oh, no, you shouldn’t need to worry about that, Cat. You’re a shoe-in, aren’t you? I mean, if anything, a girl who is trained in hospitality might even be overqualified. So, if you don’t mind my asking, what were your grades like?”

  Cat grinned. “Me? I’m the class over-achiever. There’s nothing I like more than to make sure every room is spotless, and all the little touches have been observed. I’ve actually been supervising the staff at my father’s hotel down in Marathon for the past two years, and until the hurricane hit, the place was doing pretty well. I guess at the moment it’s down for the count, though. That’s why I’m even at this job fair.”

  “So, once it’s fixed up you’ll probably go back down, huh?”

  “Not if my dad can help it,” she scoffed. “He thinks I’m wasting all my talents there, and he wants me to spread my wings and fly. I think he just wants me out of the way so he can canoodle with his new girlfriend, if you ask me.”

  “Canoodle?” he chuckled. “That’s one way of putting it, I suppose.”

  “Anyway, that means a place like this would be ideal for me. It’s only an hour from my dad’s and a whole lot more upscale. I mean, look around you. Whitney must have spent a fortune on just the cabins alone.”

  “Yeah, this place did come with a price tag attached,” he agreed.

  “You say that as if you might already know,” Cat said as they headed for the steps up to the main building. “Do you already know Mr. Whitney somehow?”

  “Well, yeah, I mean—well, of course I do,” Scott stammered, blushing. “I suppose you could say we are practically family.”

  “So you’ve known him all your life, then? And you’re calling me the shoe-in? I’ll bet you probably won’t even have to be formally interviewed.”

  “Well, no, I guess not,” Scott said with a shrug.

  They stepped to a roster to one side of the desk which had a list of room assignments on it, and he slid his index finger down to find her room number. “Come on, I know just where you need to go.”

  SIX

  Aiden and Cat stood outside the door to her room, which was up on the third floor. Cat was holding the key card in her hand, but she had yet to move toward the entrance and give it a slide. He gave her a little wink as they came to a full stop.

  “Well, this is the place,” he said, wishing she would ask him to come in but knowing full well that she wouldn’t. “You should enjoy the room, by the way. They each have a balcony that directly faces the ocean, and the breeze that will come from it should be quite wonderful. If I were you, I’d open the back door and air out the place. I’m sure it’s probably been closed up tight ever since the last visit from the building inspector.”

  He realized as soon as the words were out of his mouth that it was information that he shouldn’t know as Scott, the diver candidate. He’d come down to the resort thinking to blend in and find himself a bit of breathing room for a time, yet pretending to be someone else was already becoming a big waste of his time. The only reason he didn’t confess to his nonsense right then was the very real possibility that finding out she’d been literally rubbing elbows with the big boss all afternoon might just piss Cat off.

  Then too, it might piss her off if she didn’t find out until later. Either way, he supposed he was screwed. That was, unless he managed to impress her enough over the next week that by the time she did know the truth, she wouldn’t even care. Yeah, that wasn’t such a bad idea. Worked a lot better than getting a slap in his face right now.

  “So, tomorrow?” he asked with hopeful eyes. “We both have to eat sometime, don’t we? How about if we try eating together again?”

  “Yes, I suppose that could work,” she agreed, blushing. “Preferably without the peanut gallery though.”

  “Great, I’ll look for you there at dinner time,” he said, smiling as he turned to go.

  “I look forward to it,” she told him before she shut the door.

  Aiden headed back down the stairs feeling unaccountably excited. Because all that had just happened was that two potential employees of the Whitney Resort had agreed to eat a meal together tomorrow. He hadn’t arranged a date with the girl or anything, so why was he so on top of the world?

  Not bothering to change his clothes, Aiden headed straight for the docks, where he expected his two friends to be waiting for him. Sure enough, he found them both standing around and laughing about some joke, most likely one involving his interest in Cat.

  “Hey, Scott’s finally here,” said Bob, snickering when he spotted him. “Only twenty minutes? Must have been a quickie.”

  “Stop it, will you?” Kevin reminded him. “These jobs aren’t totally in the bag, remember?”

  “So, would you mind telling me what that was all about?” Aiden grumbled as he stepped up to them. “I thought I told you guys not to blow my cover with the potentials, and then here you go telling Cat things that are bound to give her a clue.”

  “Yeah,” Kevin chuckled. “She’s potential, all right. But I highly doubt hiring her to make the beds is the first thing on your mind.”

  “I sure wouldn’t mind if she helped to mess up mine,” Bob added with a lascivious grin plastered on his face. “She is quite the looker, I must say. But the real question here is, what gives? I thought you told me that you weren’t the kind of man who would cheat on his wife, even if things between you aren’t exactly right. And why are you down here early and pretending to be a potential hire? This whole situation is teeming with curious nuance.”

  “And the number of questions you’re asking cannot possibly be discussed out here in the open,” Aiden added. “However, it just so happens that I have a master key in my possession that will help us out. How would you gentlemen like to be the first to sample the new bar? It won’t be open for business during the job fair, but I’m pretty sure they’ve already received a large shipment of liquor.”

  “Well, now, Scott no-name, now you are talking our language,” said Bob, grinning. “By the way,
had you thought as far as what your last name is supposed to be, if you are indeed trying to be a potential employee?”

  “Of course he chose a last name, you idiot. Does he look like a moron?”

  “The truth is, I hadn’t thought much about the whole thing before I flew down,” Aiden admitted ruefully. “I just didn’t want to sit around waiting another week in Miami, and I didn’t want the complications that would arise if these people realized who I actually was. Can you imagine if I was forced to interview all seventy-five people to fill only fifty positions? I don’t even like the sound of that. Kellen is meant to weed through and deal with them all. That’s what he’s good out, you know? I want all of that taken care of so I can just swoop in and select my administration team.”

  “Oh, admin? Was that why you were so interested in the lovely Miss Cat?” Bob chuckled. “You just want her to work in the same office with you, side by side, day after day, and that’s it? Well, I could see how that might be an enjoyable pastime.”

  They had been walking together up the path, and now they were back in the main part of the compound. Since all of the rooms’ windows faced the ocean, and the hotel was behind them, Aiden had little concern that anyone would notice as he fit the key into the lock and let him and his friends into the bar. Naturally he closed and locked the door behind them.

  “Remember, boys, don’t get too drunk though,” he added. “Tomorrow, I’m taking you two out on a dive. If you’re hoping to work for me, you’re going to have to earn your stripes. I’m not going to play favorites, all right?”

  “No way, that’s not all right,” Bob scoffed. “Especially while you’re busy asking us to keep your secret for you. Details, man. I need details. And whiskey. Details and whiskey would really be nice.”

  “Fine, then you shall have both,” said Aiden as he rummaged around and produced a bottle. Drinks in hand, the three men each took a stool, with Aiden in the middle, and he began to explain the whole story.

  “Okay, so Brynn filed for a divorce,” Aiden sighed. “Which I don’t mind, except for some crazy reason she’s got it in her mind that she’s entitled to half of the assets despite signing that prenuptial. Something about the notion that once I turned those gyms into spas, she automatically became part owner. I don’t know. She texted it to my phone while I was flying down, and I was so pissed off I threw my cell right out the window.”