Seal With a Kiss (11 page)

The size of a full-grown seal now, the manatee
would grow to a thousand pounds or more and would
rarely swim faster than seven or eight miles an hour.
When it was returned to the brackish rivers of southern Florida-this one was lucky and would heal
enough to be released-its poor eyesight and lousy
hearing would combine to make it an accident waiting to happen for unwary motor boaters.

There weren't many left in their native Florida waters.

"Hopefully they'll find you a river that's off-limits
to boats, huh?" she said, and rubbed the broad forehead with her hand. The manatee's walrus-like whiskers tickled her palm, and the other two rescued
babies gently crowded her legs, vying for attention
in slow motion.

"We'll do our best."

Violet started, having not heard anyone come up
behind her. Then she relaxed, recognizing Chaz's
voice. He joined her on the edge of the manatee pool
and dipped his legs into the water beside hers.

She sighed and kept rubbing the manatees with her
feet. One rolled over so she could reach its tummy.
At least that's what she thought it intended. The maneuver took so long she couldn't quite tell, and their
backs and bellies looked pretty much the same.
"Sorry about dumping the bucket of fish in Jasper's
pool. I hope it didn't mess up his feedings for the
day."

She wasn't sure what had come over her-and she
was heartily embarrassed by the scene. It was one
thing for her and Smitty to squabble in front of Brody
and the interns. It was quite another for them to act
unprofessional in front of colleagues. But Smitty's
touch had startled her beyond words. Her reaction
had stemmed as much from the sudden blast of heat
that had followed his accidental grope as it had from
real offense.

Frankly, she'd snarled at Smitty because she'd
liked him touching her-and that was just what she was trying to avoid. They could be friends, but not
more.

The more was just too risky.

Chaz shrugged as though it didn't matter. "No
problem. It livened up our morning and Jasper is fine.
We were planning on keeping him a little hungry this
evening anyway because you're transporting him tomorrow. A big breakfast today is the least of his
worries."

Violet glanced over at his profile and remembered
when all the girls-and after the pain of Smitty's
marriage had dulled some, herself included-had
drooled over him during their Puget Sound days, just
as the grad students had chased both him and Brody
at U.C. Santa Cruz. Now Chaz was just Chaz, like
Brody was just Brody.

They were safe.

She smiled as the first manatee slowly pushed the
other two away so he could have her feet all to himself. "It's good to see you, Chaz. And I'm glad
you're involved with Seaquarium. It's an excellent
group."

"We've just gotten funding for two research boats
and a team. I'm hiring now," he said conversationally, but the tone in his voice had Violet sitting up.
He continued, "We'll run one boat part-time out to
open ocean to bring some of our in-house research
out into real life."

She couldn't stop herself from asking, "And the
rest of the time?"

Chaz quirked a smile. "Inland work. We'll send a
team into the estuaries, the mangroves, and the
brackish rivers to see what we can do to help these
guys." He scratched one of the baby manatees above
its tiny eye with his big toe. "Because God knows,
they need all the help they can get. Every year their
population drops lower. They need someone on their
side, Violet. You know that."

Violet nodded, heart racing. Then she blurted out,
"Are you saying what I think you're saying?"

"Well, I'm not looking to poach one of Brody's
best people." Chaz paused to let her know that's exactly what he wanted to do. "But I'm interviewing
team leaders right now."

He glanced as his dive watch and faked surprise.
"Will you look at the time? I've got to finish up for
the day before we head out for dinner." He gave her
arm a friendly squeeze. "See you later."

When he was gone, leaving her alone with the
manatees and her own thoughts, Violet slid into the
water, not caring that her tank top and shorts
wouldn't think much of the plan. Not caring that lettuce leaves were tangling in her hair and sticking to
her legs. She floated on her back, closed her eyes,
and felt the bump of soft gray-brown noses and the slide of rubbery hide as the manatees welcomed her
to their home.

She felt Smitty's nearness before she heard his approach, a sort of preternatural awareness she'd lately
labeled irritation, but had once called love.

"Thought I'd find you here," he said by way of
announcing his presence. "I remember you spent a
lot of time with the manatees when Dolphin Friendly
worked at Seaquarium before. You've always loved
these guys."

She opened her eyes and saw him standing at the
edge of the pool, leaning casually against an upright.
He'd showered and changed, though he hadn't
shaved. The reddish stubble glowed against his tan
and her fingers itched to touch it.

"Forgot my razor," he said, reading her mind like
he used to do.

"Sorry about the fish," she said.

He nodded. "Sorry about the butt grab. It was an
accident."

They were silent for a moment, then she said,
"Chaz offered me a team down here. Ocean parttime, manatees part-time." She wasn't sure what kind
of a reaction she was looking for from Smitty. Part
of her wanted him to drop to his knees and beg her
not to leave Dolphin Friendly. Part of her wanted him
to tell her it was a good career move and that she
should take it.

Either way, she was disappointed when he merely
raised an eyebrow and asked, "You gonna take it?"

She swam over to the side and hoisted herself out
of the manatee pool, shedding lettuce and carrots as
she emerged from the friendly water. Once she was
sitting on the side, she shrugged and said, "I don't
know. It's tempting, but ... I don't know."

Smitty didn't say a thing, just kept staring down
into the manatee's pool. But his fists were clenched.

Irritated, though not sure what she wanted from
him, Violet got to her feet, dripping. "Well, I've ruined that shower. I'm going to head back to the hotel
and get ready for dinner. See you in the lobby about
seven?"

He nodded and clenched his jaw. She waited for
a moment to see if she was going to get a better
response than that. When she didn't, she shook her
head and squished in the direction of the hotel.

She didn't turn around when he called her name.

But when she heard the sloppy thump of a head
of wet lettuce hitting the wall behind her, she smiled
and the tight band around her heart loosened a bit.

He cared. He just didn't know what to do about it
any more than she did.

Promptly at seven that evening, Violet stepped out
of the hotel elevators and Smitty felt the air back up
in his lungs. She was wearing a soft purple shirt and
a narrow black skirt that was slit high on her leg.
Her hair was perfect-as always-and he'd bet she'd
painted her nails to match the blouse.

He grinned as she joined the little party in the
lobby and a quick glance confirmed that not only
were her nails painted a glowing purple, they were
decorated with little winking stones.

"You look simply stunning, Violet." Smitty glared
at Chaz when the slick devil followed up his com pliment by kissing Violet on the cheek and offering
her his arm. "Shall we?"

"I was going to say that too," Smitty blurted out.
"That you look nice and all." He suddenly felt about
twelve years old.

Violet lifted an eyebrow. "Really?" She shrugged
and the purple blouse shimmered in the light of the
hotel chandelier. "Well, better late than never, I suppose."

And though that probably should have annoyed
him, Smitty found himself grinning at the bite in her
tone. Ever since they'd left Farewell it felt like they'd
been circling around each other awkwardly. Finally
she sounded like the Violet he knew and ... well, the
Violet he knew.

Which is why it irked him to see her walk out of
the hotel on Chaz's arm.

"Ready?"

Startled by the woman's voice, Smitty looked
down. He'd forgotten Candi had come along as his
"date," thanks to Chaz the Magnificent. Smitty forced
a grin and offered his arm. "Of course."

He didn't have anything against Candi-she
seemed like a perfectly lovely woman with perfectly
large-er, lovely features. And she worked at Seaquarium, so by definition she escaped the "I don't date non-marine biologists" vow he'd made the day
Ellen left him to marry a fellow farmer. But he was
in a sour mood-had been ever since Violet had announced that she was thinking of leaving Dolphin
Friendly to work down here with the manatees. With
Chaz.

Smitty's jaw started to ache and he realized he was
grinding his teeth. Again. If he didn't watch it, he'd
be down to nubs by the time they got home to Smugglers Cove.

Chaz drove to the restaurant with Violet beside
him, leaving Smitty and Candi to squeeze together
in the sports car's tiny backseat. By the time they
parked at the little fish place that Chaz insisted Violet
"would just love," Smitty was pretty sure he'd be
having nightmares for a week that would revolve
around Candi's cloying chocolate-scented perfume
and a big-busted blond octopus.

He scrambled out of the car and sucked in a big
lungful of clean, non-chocolaty air. Then he noticed
that Chaz had gallantly opened Violet's door for her
and was assisting her out of the low-slung car.
Ashamed, Smitty turned back and helped Candi, who
had somehow managed to get herself tangled in her
seat belt.

His mother had raised him right, Smitty thought,
even if he forgot about it now and then.

Resigned to the fact that Violet was enjoying the
other man's attention, Smitty escorted his own date
into the restaurant and tried not to think that it was
going to be a very long night.

Candi's annoying giggle rose above the sedate
rumble of the other diners' voices and Violet tried
not to glare when she looked over and saw Smitty
lean down to murmur something to the ultra-perky
blond. He was rewarded with another giggle and his
square, white teeth flashed when he nodded.

"Isn't that right, Violet?" Chaz's question startled
her, and she tried to remember what they'd been talking about. She sipped her soda and bought some time
by snagging another pink shrimp from the huge appetizer they'd ordered.

Luckily, Chaz answered for her, which would have
been irritating if she'd actually been paying attention.
"Of course it's right." And he went on with an enthusiastic description of the new online manatee population flowcharts he'd been creating.

The Seaquarium, in conjunction with other local
agencies, had developed a network of observers who
recorded manatee sightings in the rivers and estuaries
near their homes. Many of the animals were tagged,
and the colors and numbers of their tags helped identify them for the database, which tracked the animals'
movement over time.

Violet nodded and tried to ignore the fact that
Candi had just fed Smitty a shrimp. What was the
problem? Why couldn't she keep her mind on what
Chaz was saying? Normally, manatee conversation
would've had her fully involved and excited with the
prospect of helping the soft, slow-moving creatures.
But tonight she could barely concentrate as Chaz described the work he hoped to accomplish with his
new team.

All she was thinking about was reaching across the
table and yanking on a big handful of bottle-bleach
blond hair until the other woman squealed for mercy.

She was, Violet realized, completely and miserably jealous. The sight of Smitty enjoying himself
with another woman-a shorter, sweeter, younger,
blonder woman-was making her crazy. Because if
he was showing interest in Candi, that meant he'd
realized the same thing she had following Brody's
marriage-that it was time for the three original
members of Dolphin Friendly to think about growing
up, settling down, and pushing the organization in
new directions.

Miles away, she'd taken a moment to look back
on the last few months and acknowledge that that
realization was part of why she'd played trick after
trick on him in the months following their friends'
marriage. If she could keep Smitty acting young, act ing silly like he always had, then she could keep
things the way they'd always been.

Because if Smitty grew up and settled down,
where would that leave her?

Alone. Lonely. The odd man out.

"Vi? You okay?" She glanced up to find Smitty
looking at her with concern written on his dear, handsome face.

She smiled and nodded, hoping he wouldn't pick
that moment to read her mind. "Sure. Fine."

How would it feel if she didn't see him every day?
She glanced at Chaz, who'd engaged Candi in a spot
of in-house gossip about one of the vet techs, who
was apparently having a red-hot affair with the balding forty-something head administrator. She could
work with these people. It wouldn't be hard to fit in.