The production assistant broke in to his thoughts. “Senator Malone? Please follow me.”
He followed her, and a part of him wished he’d been following Victoria Madaris instead.
* * *
VICTORIA LEFT THE meeting she’d had with her boss to find several people—all women—gathered around one of the television monitors mounted on the wall. “What’s going on?” she asked Bronwyn Lewis, the producer of the evening news show.
“Take a look.”
She glanced up at the monitor. Senator Roman Malone was being interviewed by Norma Roadie, the person who’d replaced Victoria on the morning talk show, Hello, New Orleans. She liked Norma and was glad Mr. Richards had acted on her recommendation for Norma to replace her.
“That man is definitely good-looking,” one of the women said. “Hell, I would have voted for him just on looks alone.”
“Hey, don’t forget his body. He is so friggin’ built. Why is he still single?” another woman asked.
“You should have seen how he drank water straight from the bottle. It was such a turn-on,” Terica added. “He caught me staring.”
Victoria said nothing as she stared at the monitor like everyone else. They were right—Roman Malone was good-looking. She had noticed that right away, even before Terica had told her who he was. He had looked familiar, but she couldn’t place him at first. And just to think their families were close. Small world. How long had it been since she’d seen him? She was certain the last time she’d been in her teens and wearing braces.
“Don’t tell us he has you speechless, as well,” Roxanne Chambers said to her, grinning. “Too speechless to answer my question.”
Victoria turned her attention to Roxanne. “Sorry, what did you ask?”
“I wanted to know what you thought of his body?”
Victoria glanced back at the screen, as if she needed to check it out again in order to give her opinion. “It’s nice.”
“Nice? Is that all you have to say?”
“Yes, that’s about it.” She definitely didn’t want to say that in addition to how great he looked in his suit, the senator had smelled good, as well. Then they would want to know how she’d managed to get close enough to get a whiff of him.
“We know you don’t care for politicians, Victoria, but even you have to admit Senator Roman Malone is one handsome man. I wonder if he has a steady girl.”
Victoria ignored the conversation around her as she kept her attention on Senator Malone. Unlike the others, who were ogling his body and wondering about his love life, she was listening to the way he was handling the interview and what he was saying. He was definitely a charmer and was even answering questions that the last politician they’d had on this show had evaded. Roman had no problem stating his opinion on any subject Norma asked him about, regardless of whether his position was a popular one or not. She liked that. She also liked that most of his positions reflected hers.
She also liked that he looked directly at the person he was taking to. So many times, people would look at the camera, as if they wanted to make sure they were seen.
“Well, his interview is almost over,” Terica said, grinning. “I think I’ll just wait out here in the hall, just in case he needs something else.”
Victoria rolled her eyes. Sometimes it amused her how women could get carried away at the sight of a good-looking man. Looks were good but they weren’t everything. She much preferred a man who not only looked good, but was also good character-wise.
She had grown up surrounded by good-looking men. So much that in some cases their looks had gone to their heads. At least her brother Nolan was no longer out there, but she didn’t want to think of the number of other single Madaris men still left in her generation.
Deciding to leave the gathering and go to her office to get prepared for her noonday show, she said, “Well, I’ll be going to—”
“So the two of you do know each other.” Terica presented it as a statement rather than a question.
Victoria noticed it got quiet and all eyes were on her. Leave it to Terica to share that with everyone. “Yes, our families are close. My uncle and aunt are his godparents. However, I haven’t seen him in years, which is why I didn’t recognize him.”
“So you never had a crush on him or anything while growing up?” Monica, the meteorologist, asked.
“Nope. To be honest, while growing up, good-looking guys turned me off. I was surrounded by too many of them.”
They all nodded since they’d met her brothers and a few of her cousins when they had helped her move from New Orleans to Catalina Cove. “I’ll see you guys later. I need to get ready for the noon show.”
Before walking off, Victoria glanced back at the monitor. She was glad the others had returned their gazes to the screen, as well. Otherwise, they would have seen her drool when she caught sight of Senator Malone smiling. He had such a gorgeous smile and it matched the rest of him. The man was simply eye candy in a suit.
As she headed to her office, she found it strange that she felt a tingling sensation in her stomach when she thought about the senator. However, whenever she thought about Tanner Jamison, she felt nothing at all.
CHAPTER FOUR
TWO DAYS. THAT WAS all it took for Roman to conclude he was in paradise. There was no other way to describe Catalina Cove, the quaint shipping town located on the Gulf and surrounded by the Moulden River, Lafitte Harbor and other waterways in between. The August weather was beautiful—sunny through the days with a little breeze off the water in the evenings. Each morning, he awoke to see the sunrise over the Gulf, and then in the evenings, he had a front row seat for the sunset.
From the locals, he’d learned the parcel of land the cove sat on had been a gift from the US government to the notorious pirate Jean Lafitte for his help in the fight for independence from the British during the War of 1812. Some people didn’t believe Lafitte was buried at sea in the Gulf of Honduras like history claimed, but that he was buried somewhere in the waters surrounding Catalina Cove. Due to Lafitte’s influence, the cove had become a shipping town. It still was, which was evident by the number of fishing vessels that lined the piers in what was known as the shipping district. The Moulden River was full of trout, whiting, shrimp and oysters. Locals boasted that tourists would come from miles around to sample the town’s seafood, especially the oysters.
Mint had known exactly what he needed and had delivered. A gorgeous forty-foot yacht that was docked in the perfect location was his exclusively for three weeks. He took it out both days and appreciated that the weather had been great and the fishing even greater. He returned in the evening and discovered there was always something to do in the marina. There were numerous restaurants, game rooms, a coffee shop and a variety of other shops to patronize. The distance between each slip was ample, so each boater had the space and privacy they needed. That also made leaving and returning the boat to the pier easier.