Page 1 of Fighting Fate

CHAPTER ONE

“YOU look incredible, Rosie!”

Turning to admire her reflection in the mirror, Rosie smiled. “I do, don’t I?”

Privately, she thought she’d never looked so good. Wearing one of her glamorous friend Olivia’s designer gowns from her New York days, Rosie’s slightly-too-plump figure looked nothing short of fabulous, curves in all the right places. Her beauty therapist friend Shae had done her hair and makeup without asking why it was that Rosie wanted to look particularly special tonight, and she looked naturally fresh and beautiful, yet somehow sultry and sexy at the same time.

“It’s like magic,” Rosie mused, “clothes and makeup really can turn an ugly duckling into a swan.”

“Tell me you didn’t just call yourself an ugly duckling!” Her best friend Jill pushed off the door frame where she’d been leaning, admiring how Rosie looked, and came over to grab her shoulders. “You’re gorgeous, girl. Not just tonight, but every day. I keep telling you, I’d give anything for your cleavage.”

“You’d look ridiculous with my cleavage. Like a Barbie,” Rosie pointed out practically, and Jill laughed, not offended in the least. Chinese-Australian, Jill was slight of frame, almost Rosie’s polar opposite.

“Well, some of your cleavage, anyway.” Jill gave Rosie’s bosom, well-displayed by the clinging fabric of the dress, an envious gaze. “You’ll have all eyes on it tonight!”

Rosie didn’t care about all eyes, just one particular set, but that was a secret she held very close to her heart.

“Any particular set of eyes you’re hoping to catch?” Jill pressed lightly.

Rosie gave her a quelling look in the mirror.

“Fair enough, I won’t pry.” Jill held her hands up in surrender, backing towards the bathroom door. “I’ll just say good luck, eh? Have a good night!”

“Thanks,” Rosie said softly, but Jill was already gone. Rosie returned to checking her reflection, fluffing the soft waves Shae had coaxed her normally straight brown hair into, still amazed by her own transformation into the siren she saw in the mirror.

It doesn’t matter what I think, what anyone else thinks. Only what Luke thinks.

With a determined sigh, Rosie squared her shoulders and turned to exit the bathroom. She’d forgotten the spiky heels she was wearing, though, and skidded, having to catch herself against the door.

Phew, that was almost a disastrous start to the evening! She refused to take it as a bad omen, though, stepping more carefully as she exited her bedroom into the small living area of the cabin she and Jill shared in the private staff area of Sunfish Island Resort.

On duty that evening, Jill was already gone. Rosie left the cabin into the warm, fragrantly scented evening, pausing to pick a beautiful hot-pink frangipani flower from a tree and place it carefully behind her right ear, with a private little smile for the symbolism. Behind the right ear if seeking a relationship, behind the left ear if taken. It came from Hawaiian culture originally, and she wondered if Luke knew its meaning.

Probably, she thought as she walked the path towards one of the sprawling resort’s conference centres. She was pretty sure Luke Collyer, Sunfish Island’s general manager, had done a stint on Hawaii at some point in his career in hotel management. Maybe she’d ask him tonight, ask if he understood the symbolism of the flower. Could be a good way to lead up to what she’d been wanting to ask him for years now.

She could hear the music coming from the conference centre already, quickened her step. Tonight was the second of two staff parties for the Sunfish Island staff; because the resort never shut down, the party was split over two nights to ensure everyone was able to attend at least one of them, their role covered by other staff members for the evening.

There was a buffet and tables in one half of the big conference room, a disco going on in the other half. Rosie laughed as her friend Bryce the dive instructor waved her over to dance, and mimed eating first, pointing at the buffet. Bryce nodded with a grin and returned to dancing with his wife Lucy, a pretty marine biologist who worked at the resort’s environmental research centre.

Starving hungry since she’d skipped lunch, Rosie headed for the buffet and loaded a plate with finger food. Getting a glass of wine from the bar to go with it, she balanced it in one hand with her plate and paused at the side of the room, scanning the dance floor.

No Luke yet, she concluded. Undoubtedly he’d be making sure all was running smoothly around the resort before coming to the party. With a staff of several hundred and between two and five thousand guests on the island at any given time, Luke was never really off duty.

He works too hard. He needs someone to take care of him while he watches out for the rest of us. Rosie had worked at the resort almost four years now, and while she’d had a crush on Luke from day one, working in close proximity with him had only deepened her affection.

Nibbling on a tiny, delicious quiche filled with spinach and ricotta, Rosie watched the dancers and daydreamed of her boss, the way he looked in a suit, though more often than not he could be found with jacket and tie discarded, shirtsleeves rolled up as he dived in to assist his staff with whatever tasks needed doing.

“Looks good,” a voice said behind her, and Rosie choked on a crumb. Cross-eyed briefly, she coughed it discreetly into a napkin before turning and smiling.

“Hi, Luke.”

“Hey, sorry, didn’t mean to sneak up on you.” Luke smiled down at her, perfect teeth gleaming white in his tanned face, not a hair out of place. “You look nice, Rosie.”

“Thanks,” she said, but he’d already looked away after giving her little more than a cursory glance.

“Looks like everyone’s having a good time.” Luke nodded approvingly, taking a sip from the glass in his hand - which looked depressingly like sparkling water, Rosie thought gloomily. No chance of him loosening up with alcohol, then.

In which case, no time like the present.

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