Page 56 of Room for Improvement

Earlier today he had placed his trust in the hands of two strong willed women, and they had come through for him. It made sense not to jeopardize his current run of good fortune. Even now he could hear Mia and Sheila ordering him to squeeze himself into the compact car and do everything that Vivian instructed. The night was his to either lose or claim.

“Thank you. I promise to tell the leader of my planet that you were a gracious host.”

She jangled the car keys at him. “Come on, it’s not far.”

A little further up the road, Vivian pulled into the open air parking lot of Gaido’s Seafood Restaurant. Bryce raised an eyebrow at the figure of a large blue crab which sat on the roof above the front door. The owners had clearly understood the saying ‘it pays to advertise’, as no one passing on the road outside could ever be mistaken for thinking this place didn’t serve seafood.

He followed her inside, and when the waitress attempted to show them to the table Vivian had apparently reserved at the front of the room, his dinner companion requested that they be moved to a table tucked away in a private corner of the restaurant, far away from other diners. Vivian’s peace offering wasn’t going to come without conditions. She didn’t want to be seen with him.

Menus were placed in front of them. Bryce’s eyes grew wide as he took in the extensive selection of amazing seafood offerings. As his mouth salivated, he made a mental note to have a word with Jordan and when things had settled in California, have him fly Tony out here to try the food. This was the sort of thing they should have on the menu at Laguna Beach, not just sixty five dollar ribeye. “I don’t know where to start.”

He glanced at Vivian, who sat with her menu resting on the table. She hadn’t even picked it up. “How hungry are you?”

There was a definite note of challenge in her words. He’d had two or three coffees for breakfast, he couldn’t remember exactly how many. Managed to steal half a sandwich from the office kitchen platter at Royal Resorts and then downed an apple on the plane. Added to that were the numerous other coffees he had mindlessly gulped down over the course of the rest of the day.

Bryce pondered the question. “I think if they tested my blood, they would find it close to ninety percent caffeine. So, in answer to your question, am I hungry? I am starving.”

For the first time since he had caught up with her on the beach, Vivian actually smiled. It set his heart dancing to a joyful beat of pitter patter. He wondered if she had a clue as to how far she had gotten under his skin. Of the elation he had felt the moment he’d set eyes on her on the beach.

He sat back in his seat listening intently as Vivian gave their order to the waitress. It was an impressive sounding amount of food for two people. When the woman went to step away, Bryce added, “Oh, and two bottles of Stella Artois, please.”

If they were going to have charcoal grilled oysters and the famous fried platter, they were going to drink pilsner beer. Vivian might well know Galveston, but Bryce knew his seafood.

When they were alone again, he ventured some small talk. “So how long are you in town, Ms. Holte?”

The waitress returned and set their drinks on the table. After she left, they clinked bottles. “Cheers. Here’s to you and interplanetary relations, Bryce Royal,” said Vivian.

Bryce’s cock twitched at the word relations. It so badly wanted intimate relations again with this young woman. To be sunk deep in her wet heat, and once again experience that moment of heady sexual release that being with her had brought.

Down boy. I know you had a wonderful time last time with Vivian’s pussy. But first let me see if I can dig myself out of this mess before you get your hopes up.

“I’m in town for a few days. Lionel wants me to update a couple of other entries for the global magazine site. The resort will of course get the main feature, but we like to have information about places for people to visit and experience in the surrounding area. Gaido’s has been here since nineteen hundred and eleven, so they have always had a listing on our site. And their food is the best.”

There was something about the way she spoke that had his deliberations shifting from those of what might just physically happen between them to wanting a deeper connection. Bryce was not giving up on something more than just a fling with Vivian. California had just been the beginning.

“I love the bond that food creates. Some of my most special memories are of times when I’ve shared a simple meal with family or friends. My therapist says I should dig deeper about this, but for me it’s…I don’t know.”

Vivian met his gaze. “Do you see your therapist often? I went to one when I was in my teens. My birth father died in a car accident when I was small, and my mom felt I should talk to someone. It helped me to put some things into perspective.”

Seeing a therapist wasn’t something he normally talked about. For many people it was a deeply personal thing. Bryce had only started going after Jordan had come out of rehab and encouraged him to work through his own private issues.

“I’ve been having sessions with one for a few years. I have a habit of catastrophizing things. Which is what I did with the review you wrote. I immediately thought the worst and didn’t stop to think it through before I acted. You could say I have some way to go in my personal development.”

Vivian’s raised eyebrow was enough to tell him she agreed with that last remark. Her words helped to soften the blow. “Nothing in this world is perfect Bryce, though the food in this place comes close.”

His thoughts moved to the enthusiasm she had for this restaurant. It was palpable. Captivating. Dare he say, infectious. He wanted the food to be as good as she claimed.

He leaned forward. “You really do love this job, don’t you? I can hear it in your voice.”

Vivian took a sip of her beer. “Yes. For me there is nothing better than finding a hotel or resort that makes their guests not only feel welcome, but special. You must have guests who return to your resorts year after year because of the wonderful memories they take home with them each time.”

“Yes, we do. And when they go home and tell friends and family about their magical holiday, their recommendations are better than anything our army of marketing people could ever create.”

This conversation went to the heart of all the things which the Laguna Beach resort had thus far failed to achieve. He could only hope that Jordan had taken his advice to heart, and was doing everything to make sure that by the time their father’s billion dollar investment officially opened all the teething problems would have been sorted.

“What are you going to title the review for the Silver Havens? Just interested. Royal Resorts isn’t in this part of the country, so we are not really their competition,” asked Bryce, running the tip of his finger down the side of his cold bottle of beer.

Vivian’s brow furrowed. “I had initially come up with,She Sparkles by the Seashore, but then again Lionel might find that a touch tacky. I have to come up with something that gives respect to the history of the place, but also tells prospective guests that the resort has invested in all the right things in order to meet their twenty first century travel needs.”

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