by Kat Bastion
“Oh,” she glanced over her shoulder at the stack, understanding washing over her features.
The more I shared, the hotter the anger boiled in my gut. Families weren’t supposed to use their kids as pawns in political chess games. “They cut me off,” I grumped.
Her attention snapped back toward me. “Cut you off?”
“My inheritance. The trust fund.”
“Can they do that?” Her breaths grew choppy. “Isn’t the money yours?”
“My grandparents put the money there, but since they’ve died, my parents control it. In a few minutes, I’m sure they’ll transfer the money out and leave nothing.”
“But…” Worry creased her brow. “Will you be okay?”
“Hey, I’m a scrapper. Nothing beats me down.”
“No, seriously. Makani offered you that sponsorship money. I don’t need it.”
“Yeah, you do.”
“No, really, I don’—” Her protest faltered as she stared at the hand I’d just put over hers. Turned out my patience had a limit when it came to her.
“That’s your money, Leilani. I want you to have it. And I want you to keep working with me.” Because I want you. I need you.
She pulled her hand out from under mine, gripped the white blanket draping over the edge. “But you can’t afford it.”
“I’ll be okay.”
“How?”
Her concern made me smile. “You my accountant now?”
“Somebody has to be.”
Fine. No biggie. She wanted to know my financial status? I wanted her on my team. Disclosure wouldn’t be the end of the world. Maybe it needed to happen to start my new one. “When I turned eighteen, I was able to withdraw monthly amounts. I stashed it all away into a bank account.”
“Enough to live off of?”
I considered the obscene cost of living on Maui. Then I estimated the amount of bank I’d collected. “For a little while. Couple years, three maybe.” Then what would I do? Better to try and make it on my own before I drained it dry. “But I don’t think I’m gonna touch it.”
“What will you do?”
“After I finish remodeling my house, I’ll see if anyone else needs any construction work for decent pay. But…I’m thinking about learning more about herbs and studying to practice alternative medicine, like I’ve always wanted to do. Keep the chickens healthy with it…maybe work my way up to people.”
“Mase, I’m sorry. I’m so sorry I left you back in Philadelphia. You looked so happy with your friends and…your parents threatened to hurt you. I thought I was protecting you by stepping away.” Her eyes welled up with tears. “I didn’t want you to get hurt.”
Her gaze traveled over my battered body, and she pulled in a shaky breath.
“You can’t fight my battles for me. And I don’t want you to.”
“Mase…I…” Her fingers stretched out as if to touch me, but then she clenched her hand into a fist. “I can’t see you get hurt again. You could’ve died out there. What were you thinking?”
“That I’d rather die with you knowing that I loved you than pull in another breath with that ever in doubt.”
“How ’bout you don’t die at all?”
“You know there’re no guarantees.” I thought of Deke, of her mom. “We both know that. But if we’re not living life for the incredible moments, what are we living it for?”
“You can’t go back out there. My brothers, those kanaks, they’ll do the same thing…or worse.”
“We can’t live in fear of hate, Lani. We have to rise above it. If we don’t, how can they?”
“You’re starting to sound like Makani.”
“Wise man.” I stared hard at her. “Will you? Will you rise above it with me?”
“I want to. I just…I can’t lose you. I cannot love you with all my heart” —her breath caught— “then lose you.”
“I’m not going anywhere. I’m here with you—for us. All you have to decide is where you want to be with it all.”
Through all the fear she had, she gave me a nod. It wasn’t an agreement; I got that. From the moment I met her, she’d been struggling with all of it.
I only hoped that after she took whatever time she needed, that where she wanted to be—was with me.
Leilani…
Two weeks had passed since Mase had lain there all beat to hell in that hospital bed.
Two weeks more than I needed to know what I wanted.
But there were other things that had to be figured out. And arrangements had to be made before I could move forward—before I’d ever feel comfortable taking the risk.
When we pulled up to Ho‘okipa, I spotted Mase’s truck, Halia, backed into a space in the lower lot. We parked a few spaces down and walked up the sidewalk.
Mase had the tailgate down, was chillin’ in the back, watching the surfers in the lineup.
“Hey, howzit,” I called out to him, giving him fair warning as we approached.
He glanced our way, surprise registering on his face. His eyes widened when he looked over my shoulder, at the rest of the crew I’d brought.
“Hey.” Mase gave a chin-up, expression wary. “Howzit.”
“My guys have something they want to say to you.”
“Hey, brah.” Koa started. When he hesitated, I nudged him. “Leilani say she like you. An’ is gonna be wit’ choo. An’ say if we don’ like dat, we not her bruddahs no mo’. So…I guess, if yo’ good ’nuff fo’ her, yo’ good ’nuff fo’ me.”
Mase just stared at him.
“You guess?” I asked Koa, crossing my arms.
“Nah. Yo’ good ’nuff.” Koa sighed. “Sorry, brah. I nevah shoulda hit you. It’ll nevah happen again.”
I nodded. Damn right it wouldn’t.
Holokai stepped forward, offering Mase his hand. “Sorry, brah. Shit got outta hand. We got yo’ back now.”
Mase took a deep breath, then reached his left arm out, taking Holokai’s hand. I noticed his right arm tucked close to his side. His eyes still had dark purple bruising toward the outer bones but all the swelling had disappeared.
“Mahalo, guys. That means a lot.”
Proud of my brothers, how far they’d come, I nodded. “Makuakane would’ve been here, but he’s still coming around to the idea of you.”
Koa laughed. “He hate you, brah.”
Holokai punched Koa so hard, he stumbled sideways into the metal railing. “He hate what we did ta ya mo’.”
“Hey,” I nudged through my brothers. “My turn. You kanaks go. I’m fine.” I pushed them back down the sidewalk.
I glanced at Mase.
He had the oddest expression on his face. “You did that…for me?”
“Yeah.” I toed the back tire, then glanced back up at him. “For us. I need to protect you. Only way I can be with you.”
“I’m proud of you.”
The wind whipped my hair across my face, and I glanced down toward the beach. “Wanna go for a walk?”
“Sure.” He leaned his good hand on the tailgate, then stood, stepping onto the sidewalk.
I slipped my hand into his as we walked. He gave it a light squeeze, but said nothing.
When we hit the sand, I kicked off my slippahs, feeling the sand between my toes as the wind sprayed ocean mist over our faces. I took a deep breath, both excited and a little terrified. “Offer still open to work with you?”
He shot me a deadpan look. “I can’t believe you just asked that.”
“Right. Sooo…I definitely want to keep working with you.”
“Good.”
We walked ten more steps before I found my voice again. “I’m still scared to death that I’m going to lose you.”
He tugged at my hand, stopping.
Still holding tight to him, I turned to face him.
A gorgeous man stared back at me: messy blond hair, ice-blue eyes, rugged stubble covering a strong jawline. “In order to lose me, you have to have me first.”
�
�Yeah. I guess I do.”
His lips quirked up into a smirk. “So will you have me, Leilani Kealoha?”
“Ummm…right.” I took another deep breath. “Could we get everything out in the open before you decide?”
“Before I decide?”
“Yeah. On whether or not you’ll have me.”
“Okaaay…” He tilted his head, narrowing his eyes a little.
“Stop trying to figure me out. I’m telling you already.”
“All your secrets?”
“Two. Don’t push it, surfer boy. I’ve decided on two.”
He laughed. “Okay. I’m listening.”
“Remember how I owed Makani a favor? Why I had to go and recruit you in the first place?”
“Why do I feel like I owe Makani big for that?”
“You listenin’ or talkin’?”
“Sorry. Listening.”
“Yeah. So, after I went grad, we had a big beach party. The police came out. While they were busy keeping the peace, I kinda…went for a joy ride.”
“With one of their cars?”
“No…with one of their ATVs. Got it stuck down in a gulch and had to abandon it there.”
Mase fought a smile. “You are a little criminal.”
“Yeah. Not exactly. I called Makani. He knew Makuakane would kill me if he found out I’d done that. Then kill me all over again when he’d found out I’d done it drunk. So Makani came out and rescued me.”
“Wait. That police officer that came out to my house…”
I nodded. “Kanaloa.”
“Was he there?”
“Yeah. He drove up right as Makani was helping me hike up the steepest part, back onto the road. Makani immediately took the blame for it. But Kanaloa had been on the beach earlier and accused me, even though he had no proof. With Makani’s confession, he had no choice but to accept his statement and charge him for the theft and damage.”
“Ahhh…” Mase pulled me into his arms, wincing a little when I collided into his side. “You did owe him big. I was wondering what could possibly be enough to send you chasing me across the Pacific.”
“Yeah. But he’d have taken it to his grave anyway. He’s protective like that.”
“So that’s one secret. What’s the other?”
I tugged out of his hold, pulling him forward, walking down the beach again. “Remember when you were guessing on fishing lodges?”
“Yeah. Inuit…Viking…”
“Australian…”
He laughed. “I think that’s my favorite. I want an Australian fishing lodge.”
“So did I. When you said that, it made me not want to have the one I already own. I like your dreams. Never really fit in with the reality I’ve been born into.”
“I’m not following. What lodge do you already own?”
“The house in the jungle on the Big Island? That’s my house.”
“Your house.” His voice flattened.
“Yeah. The paces I counted off at the door to find the key? I’d done once with Tutu, when I was twelve. The only time I’d been there. Tutu’s my makuahine’s makuahine. But Tutu’s makuakane? Was British—the only haole blood in our family. And he was a lord with a vast amount of wealth. Other than Tutu, I’m his only remaining female descendant.”
“Sooo…what are you saying, Lani?”
“That I have a little haole blood too. And…that Tutu has lived a very good life off of her inheritance. But she’s already given me all she owns.”
“So you’ve got money?”
“Yeah.”
“Sooo…enough to live off of?”
I smiled. He’d thrown my question back at me. “Couple years, three maybe. Times a hundred…give or take.”
His eyes widened. “And you took my sponsorship money?”
I shrugged. “You insisted.”
“So I guess we only have one more obstacle.”
My gut clenched. Because making light of everything was easy. Reality was the hard part. “Right. Do we want to fight for us? Do we want to take on the challenges of your family, of mine, of everyone else who doesn’t approve of my skin color—”
He nodded. “—or mine.”
I stared out at the ocean, finding courage in the unknown, in the unexpected possibilities out there. “A very wise surfing magazine once said ‘Life begins at the end of your comfort zone’—”
“Which magazine?”
“SurfGirl, why?”
“I’m sending them a personal thank you note.”
“Why?”
“Because, that’s actually awesome.” He released my hand, then walked to the smooth hardened sand just inside of the high tide mark. He bent down, sank a finger into the sand, then dragged out a three-foot line toward the ocean. Standing back up, he dusted his hand over his thigh twice, knocking off damp clumps of grit. “I’ve heard that before. That’s where adventure lies too.”
I nodded toward his line. “What’s that?”
“The end of your comfort zone.”
The rugged mark, etched only an inch deep, would be washed away with the very first wave of the next high tide. Even now, the wind caught the tiny individual grains, eroding it.
“It’s all that stands between us.” Expression stone-cold serious, a hint of excitement sparked in his eyes. A dare, even.
Step across the line. The voice in my head wasn’t Makuahine’s. It was my own.
Without doubt, willing to fight for him, for us, no matter the risk, I took the step.
The last time he’d walked onto a beach, for me, he’d risked his life. And had almost lost it. To simply tell me he loved me.
I could do no less. Would forever do more. I gently slid my arms around his waist, gazing into his eyes with no more fear. “You are my adventure.”
He enfolded me in his embrace, happiness sparkling in his eyes. “Good. Because you are my life.”
Mase…
“Brrrr…” Leilani shivered. “Explain to me why I’m here again.”
The Columbia River Gorge sprawled below us, a wide waterway snaking through a pine-covered canyon that had been formed by millions of years of erosion through the Cascades in the northwestern United States. “You booked the trip. You tell me.”
“Adventure.”
“Exactly.” I pressed a soft kiss to her temple and stared toward the east as the breaking sunrise splashed gold across clouds that edged the horizon. “Where the whole world is waiting for us. Right outside of our comfort zone.” My new favorite place.
“Forty-five degrees is not my comfort zone.” With a belabored sigh, she curved her fingers around a steaming mug of coffee, huddling over it as if it were a campfire.
“Pffft. Try fifty-five.”
“No way. Not with that fifteen-mile-an-hour windchill,” she grumped.
“We’ve only been out here ten minutes.” Standing on the deck of a Craftsman-style bed-and-breakfast, we’d been the first guests to come down.
“Still.” She glared at me over the rim of her mug.
“Mmm-hmm.” Wrapping my arms around her, I pulled her away from the wood railing. “But are you having a good time?”
She nestled back against me. “Yeah…this place is pono.”
“Maybe we should get some sleep.” Because we hadn’t yet.
After flying into Redmond’s municipal airport early yesterday, then enjoying a picturesque breakfast on historic Mirror Pond, we’d wandered along Bend’s cobblestone sidewalks, exploring quaint shops and galleries. After a late lunch, we’d driven north, curving around a slightly snow-veined Mount Hood before winding our way down through the lush pastoral hills of the Hood River Valley. Both of us had had trouble keeping our eyes on the road ahead of us, amazed by endless rolling acres of apples and pears hanging from trees.
Darkness had fallen by the time we’d checked into the B-and-B for our first night, but we’d been too excited to sleep. So we’d stripped down, soaped up, rinsed off…then tumbled under the sheets, earning the
room’s DO NOT DISTURB sign all through the night.
Blowing out a measured breath, I grew lightheaded as images of Lani naked in various positions rushed too much blood southward again. “Sleep. C’mon.” I tugged her toward the french doors.
“No.” She spun free, put her mug on the railing with a clunk, then stepped back, eyes narrowing. “You’re just trying to get into my pants.”
“What did you just say?” She’d spoken identical words months ago, the afternoon we’d first met. And she’d been just as feisty then—what had drawn me to her in the first place.
A devious smirk curled one corner of her mouth up.
“No.”
“Say it again.” The moment hit me hard, feeling righter than I’d ever imagined, and I slipped my hand into the pocket of my sweatpants.
Amusement sparking in her eyes, she stared at me like I’d gone nuts. “No.”
“Say it again,” I teased, tone dropping soft and low as I pulled out a black velvet box.
“No,” she whispered with a heavy blink while I opened its lid.
A shaft of sunlight hit the one-and-a-half-carat round diamond, refracting brilliant rainbows onto the decking around us. Watching her eyes widen and her breaths quicken, I dropped to one knee, offering her the platinum solitaire…along with my heart and soul.
“I sure as hell hope that’s with a capital Y and a shitload of exclamation points.”
On a deep breath, she smiled. “There you go swearing again.”
“I’m willing to be reformed.”
Her expression fell into a confused frown. “You are?”
Tilting my head in thought, I gave a half-shrug. “Maybe a little.”
“No.” Brows furrowing, her voice developed a stern bite. “Don’t you change one damn thing about you, surfer boy.”
Relieved at her instant opinion on the matter, I let out a dramatic sigh and pulled the ring from the box. “I’m getting mixed signals down here. Do you want me for the rest of your life, or don’t you?” With a pointed look, I arched my brows at her.