Lou blinked up at him in amazement. At first, she thought he was kidding. Then he leaned down and kissed her cheek, and she realized he wasn’t going to invite her over.
She opened her mouth to ask what was wrong and then closed it and nodded. Maybe this was Paul’s way of trying to make sure Lou missed him.
Fine, she thought, playing along. It was better that way. She had to finish packing and wake up early the next day.
“See you,” she said, digging in her bag for her keys.
“Don’t forget about me,” Paul said, stepping back as she fit her key into the lock.
“I won’t,” Lou promised.
She got into her car and turned the key. Bertha roared to life without hesitation. Paul nodded and walked away.
Airport in Paradise
Honolulu Airport
January 21
* * *
Lou
* * *
Lou stood at the top of the stairs outside the airplane and took a deep breath. The Honolulu airport smelled like flowers and the ocean.
“Hurry up,” Penny said, poking Lou in the shoulder. “The rest of us want to see Hawaii, too.”
“I’m going,” she said.
Lou was wearing high-heeled espadrille sandals that laced around her ankles, and she could only move so fast down the stairs. When she got to the tarmac, she spun around in a circle, causing her skirt to flare around her knees. She tilted her head back at the impossibly blue sky, letting the sun kiss her face.
“I love it here already,” she said.
Penny linked arms with Lou as she joined her on the tarmac. “Me, too,” she said. “Let’s stay forever.”
“I don’t think Joe or Paul would like it if we stayed here.”
Penny’s boyfriend, Joe, was going to propose soon, or at least that’s what everyone thought. Penny and Joe had been dating as long as Lou and Paul. Both couples planned on getting married, and Lou and Penny were going to buy houses next to each other in Seward Park, the oldest and most beautiful waterfront neighborhood in the city.
“Forget Joe,” Penny said. “Maybe I’ll get married to a Hawaiian instead, and live in a grass shack for the rest of my life.”
“Surf all day and go to luau parties every night,” Lou said, joining in on the fantasy.
“I can give hula lessons,” Penny said, swiveling her hips.
“And I can take pictures of Hawaiian sunsets and sell them to tourists,” Lou said.
They laughed, strolling arm in arm across the tarmac. They were young and beautiful and had two weeks of nothing but sun and fun to look forward to. Most of the men and about half the women they passed turned to stare at them. Dressed in their colorful island attire, Lou and Penny made a striking pair.
Lou could already feel the pace of her vacation days settling in. No one seemed to be rushing. Unlike at home, no one seemed to care what time it was.
Lou glanced around at the tourists with their cameras held to their faces. They seemed to have all day to get their bags and find the nearest beach.
“It’s not a bad idea,” Lou said.
“Which part? The grass shack?”
“No, the pictures.” Lou stopped walking and unzipped her shoulder bag. “Let me find my camera.”
“Oh, for goodness’ sake, Lou. You’ll look like such a tourist.”
“We are tourists.”
“I know, but it doesn’t mean we have to look like them,” Penny said.
Lou ignored Penny and brought her camera to her face. She snapped a few pictures of the palm trees and then scanned the tarmac for another shot. She slowly panned her camera across the tourists walking into the airport, and then over the people waiting to pick up their loved ones. They stood in a line behind a rope, carrying flowers and colorful Hawaiian leis. Lou stopped to snap a picture of a little boy riding on his father’s shoulders, and then swept her camera over the other faces in the crowd. She froze on a tall, dark-haired man standing behind the rope.
Lou zoomed her lens closer on his face and gasped. He had a split lip and a gash on his forehead. Under the frame of his sunglasses, she could see a purple bruise marring his bronzed skin. His mouth moved into a crooked half smile, and Lou realized that he had caught her staring.
Her cheeks burned as she dropped her camera and hurried to catch up with Penny, who had stopped walking and was looking at the line of people behind the rope.
“Whoa,” Penny said. “Do you see that?”
Lou followed Penny’s gaze to see the man she had been looking at through her camera.
“They don’t make them like that in Seattle,” Penny said. “He’s the biggest man I’ve ever seen. I wonder if he’s that big all over?”
“Penny!” Lou said. “You’re terrible.”
The man wasn’t that big, only a little taller than average, a few inches over six feet at the most. He was dressed casually in a worn T-shirt that was fitted to his body and a pair of surf shorts. His dark hair looked wet, as if he’d just stepped off the beach. Lou stared at him, letting her vivid imagination take over. She could easily picture the man with a paddle in his hand, steering a canoe over the open water. Despite the bruises marking his skin, he had a noble appearance, like a prince dressed down for the day. There was something almost majestic about his lean muscular build. He reminded Lou of a sculpture.
“He’s enormous,” Penny said. “Look at his shoulders. They look like mountains.”
“What?” Lou asked. “They don’t look like mountains. They look perfectly normal,” Lou said, eyeing the man’s broad shoulders.
“Not him,” Penny said, following Lou’s gaze. “The other one.”
Lou tore her gaze away from the man in the sunglasses and looked at the man next to him. Her eyes widened. His shoulders did look like mountains. His neck was thick with muscles, and his arms were bigger than her waist. He looked like he could snap her in two without breaking a sweat. Except for his modern clothing, he could have been ripped from the pages of a book on Hawaiian warriors.
“Lou!” Penny said. “I think they’re here for us.”
“What?” Lou asked, feeling her throat go dry.
“Oh, geez,” Penny said as they got closer to the rope. She grabbed Lou’s hand and squeezed it hard enough to make Lou cry out in pain. “That’s me!”
Lou saw that the big man was holding a handwritten sign that said Penny Longchamp.
“Henry said he would send a friend if he couldn’t get off work,” Penny said, dragging Lou forward.
“Who are those guys?” Lou asked. “Are you sure they are Henry’s friends?”
Penny shook her head. “I don’t give a damn whose friends they are.”
“Penny,” Lou said, grabbing Penny’s arm to stop her. “That guy has bruises all over his face. He looks like he’s just been in a fight.”
“Bruises? Oh, you’re right. I hadn’t even gotten to his face yet. I got hung up on the rest of him.And the big one is mine.”
“Penny!”
“I’m just having a little fun, Lou. Don’t be such a prude. Joe will never know if I flirt a little.” She grabbed Lou’s arm and jerked her forward. “Neither will Paul.”
They halted in front of the two tall Hawaiians.
“I’m Penny Longchamp,” Penny said, pointing to the sign.
The huge man smiled. His face changed from warrior chief to boy next door. He had a small chip in his front tooth and a wide, genuine smile. His eyes were an unusual shade of gray, flecked with sparks of silver. They were warm and welcoming.
“Henry sent us,” he said. The words rolled off his tongue in an exotic lilt. “He told us to pick up the two prettiest girls who got offa the plane.” His eyes roamed over Penny from head to toe. “And that’s you.”
Penny blushed, smiling up at him. Lou realized that Penny was speechless. Penny was never speechless. Lou came to her rescue.
“It’s so beautiful here!” Lou said.
The taller man laughed and said, “T
his is the airport. Wait til you see the beaches, eh?” He offered Penny the lei he was carrying, and she bent to accept it. “I’m Bones Keaukalani,” he said. “An’ dis ugly guy right here is my cousin Keoni Makai.”
Lou glanced away from Bones to look at Keoni. His face was battered, but he didn’t seem menacing to Lou. Up close, he seemed even more like a sculpture. Despite his casual clothing, there was something refined in his stance. He seemed confident, but not arrogant. His features were bold and exotic.
Keoni Makai.
His name suited him. It had a nice ring to it, like somebody famous.
“Welcome to Hawaii,” Keoni said, offering Lou the colorful lei.
His accent called to mind the sultry beaches of the islands. Ha-vhy-ee.
Lou lowered her chin, and Keoni placed the lei around her neck. It was a surprisingly intimate gesture for something so common. Keoni’s fingers brushed her skin, and Lou felt her heart quicken.
She looked up at him and met her own reflection in the lenses of his dark sunglasses. Lou quickly dropped her eyes, and they settled on Keoni’s mouth. His bottom lip was swollen and split in the middle. The ghost of a smile played around his lips. His injured mouth should be ugly, but it lent him an air of vulnerability.
“What’s your name?” Keoni asked.
“Mary Lou,” she said. “My friends call me Lou.”
“Mary Lou,” he said. “Pretty.”
Lou raised an eyebrow at him. No one had ever told her that her name was pretty. She’d always thought it was old-fashioned. She’d never liked it. But coming from Keoni’s lips, her name sounded lovely.
“Thank you,” she said.
“Let’s get your bags,” he said, leading her into the airport.
Lou watched Penny and Bones walking ahead of them. Penny was very tall, nearly six feet. It was why her dance career had ultimately failed. She was too tall for all of her partners. But she wasn’t too tall for Bones. Even in her high heel shoes, Penny barely came to his shoulder.
“Is his name really Bones?” Lou asked Keoni in a low voice.
“Nah,” Keoni said, taking off his sunglasses and hooking them in the neck of his shirt.
Lou waited for Keoni to elaborate, but he never did. Without the sunglasses covering his face, she could see the full extent of the bruise covering his eye. It looked horrible. She’d never been hit in the eye, but she imagined a mark like that must be painful. The bruise covered his eye from brow to cheek in varying shades of purple and yellow.
“First trip to Hawaii?” Keoni asked.
“How can you tell?” she asked, looking up at him.
“Just a guess,” he said, looking pointedly at the camera around her neck.
“Oh. It’s the camera?” she asked. “I’m always taking pictures. I do this at home, too.”
“K’den,” Keoni said, looking at her curiously.
“It’s kind of a hobby of mine,” Lou said.
“K’den.”
Keoni placed a hand on Lou’s elbow, steering her around a large pot of flowers that seemed to have appeared out of nowhere.
“Thanks,” she said.
“No worries.”
Dropping her elbow, he continued on through the crowd. Lou followed him for a few steps, then stopped as she caught sight of a band playing on a small stage. She’d heard the music but had assumed it was prerecorded and being piped through speakers. Lou turned toward the music, listening to the high-pitch twang of the ukulele and the enchanting tone of the female singer.
“You want to listen?” Keoni asked.
“Yeah, that would be great,” Lou said. Lou raised her camera from the strap around her neck. “I’m going to get a little closer,” she said, starting toward the stage.
Keoni went with her, and they stopped to join a group of tourists watching the show. Lou raised her camera and focused on the band. There were four of them, including the drummer. With their dark hair and eyes, they looked similar enough to be family. Lou zoomed in on the singer. She was petite and curvy, with waist-length curling dark hair. She was holding the microphone with two hands and smiling as she sang. To Lou’s surprise, under the heavy makeup the woman was very young, early twenties at the most.
Lou snapped her picture and was about to move on to the drummer when the singer raised her hand to wave. Lou zoomed back in and saw that the singer was looking right at her. Lou lowered her camera and stared. The singer waved again, nodding at her. Lou glanced around to see if maybe she was talking to someone else, and saw Keoni standing right behind her, looking up at the stage and smiling. He shook his head and waved at the singer.
“Do you know her?” Lou asked, glancing between them.
“Sure,” Keoni said. “That’s Ryla.”
“Is she calling you up there?”
“Yeah, but…” Keoni said with a shrug.
The song ended, and the audience clapped.
“Thank you,” Ryla said into the microphone. “Ladies and gentlemen, we have for your pleasure—the fabulous Keoni Makai.” She waved at Keoni again, smiling broadly.
“Not today, Ryla,” Keoni said loud enough to be heard over the audience.
“Come on, Keoni,” Ryla said. “Don’t be shy.”
“I’m busy,” he said, taking Lou’s elbow and pulling her closer. “See?”
“Ah,” said Ryla. “Next time, then?”
“Yeah,” he said, waving goodbye.
Keoni tugged Lou’s elbow, leading her away from the band.
“Did she want you to sing?” Lou asked.
“Something li’dat,” he said.
“But you didn’t want to?”
“Nah,” Keoni said.
“I hope it wasn’t because of me,” Lou said. “I’m sorry for the inconvenience.”
“Nah, it’s not that.” Keoni raised an eyebrow and gestured to his face.
“Oh.” Lou looked at him, taking in the cut on his forehead, the bruise on his eye, and the split lip.
The bruises lent him an air of mystery, and she wondered how he’d gotten them. A man pressed into Lou from behind, nearly knocking her down. Keoni’s hand tightened at her elbow, his fingers warm against her bare skin.
“You okay?” he asked.
“I’m fine. Thank you,” Lou said. “It’s very busy today,” she said, glancing around the crowded airport.
“It’s always li’dis,” Keoni said.
He sounded more disappointed than disapproving. Lou imagined how she would feel if Seattle was bombarded by hundreds of thousands of tourists every year.
“You must hate all this,” she said.
“I’m used to it, but…” he said with a shrug. “That don’t mean I gotta like it.”
“How’d you get roped into coming to the airport to get us?” Lou asked.
“I didn’t have anything better to do,” he said.
Lou laughed. “That’s too bad for you,” she said. “I’m sure there are plenty of other things you’d rather be doing than playing chauffeur to a couple of tourists.”
“Nah,” he said.
Lou doubted it. “Are you from here?” she asked.
“I’m from Maui.”
“Maui?” Lou said, trying to pronounce it with the same lilt as Keoni. “Sounds beautiful,” she said.
“It is,” Keoni said. “There are a lot less tourists.” He froze as he realized what he’d said. “Sorry. I didn’t mean…”
“It’s okay,” Lou said.
Keoni stared at Lou’s cheek. His eyes came back to hers, and he smiled. Lou felt like it was the first genuine smile she’d gotten out of Keoni, and it was sweet enough to make her stomach flutter.
“Your hair is about a dozen different colors,” he said, reaching up to untangle a strand of hair that was caught in the lei near her cheek.
Lou laughed. She’d never paid much attention to her hair, other than twisting it up to get it out of the way. She thought of it as brown, but it had streaks of gold and strawberry blond as well.
“I guess so,” she said.
“It’s pretty,” Keoni said.
“Thanks,” Lou said, feeling her cheeks brighten with the compliment.
A tingle of warning raced down Lou’s spine as she looked up at Keoni. His smile was crookedly confident and sexy as hell. Lou couldn’t help smiling back.
Red Velvet Invitation
Lou
* * *
Bones’s station wagon had two giant surfboards strapped to the top. Lou stopped short when she saw it and raised her camera for a picture. She hoped to find a camera store on the island. At this rate, she was going to run out of film before the vacation was over.
Penny came up beside Lou and nudged her with her elbow. “What do you think?” she asked, nodding at the two men loading their suitcases into the trunk.
Bones and Keoni made a spectacular pair. Both were tall and handsome and fit. Lou and Penny weren’t the only girls staring at them.
Lou lowered her camera and glared at Penny. “Are you nuts?” she asked. “You just met him. And what about Joe?”
“Joe who?”
“Penny.”
“Lou.”
“Keoni?” a man’s voice called from a distance.
Keoni’s head snapped up, and his shoulders stiffened as he turned toward the sound of his name.
Lou looked from Keoni to the man who was striding down the sidewalk toward them. He had a confident walk that chewed up the sidewalk, wheat-blond hair, and a gorgeous white-toothed smile. He wore a navy blazer, white pants, and sockless Weejuns. Black-framed Wayfarer sunglasses covered his eyes.
Keoni walked stiffly across the sidewalk to greet him with a handshake.
“Look who’s back,” Bones said, coming up to join them.
There was an awkward moment of silence, and then the man took off his sunglasses and inspected Keoni’s face.
“What the hell happened to you?” he asked.
“Waimea Bay,” Keoni said.
“I thought maybe you got some girl pregnant again,” he said, laughing.
“That wasn’t me,” Keoni said, not laughing.
“I know, but…” he said. “You got your ass beat anyway.”
Try Easy: A Slow-Burn Vacation Fling Love Story (Aloha Series Book 1) Page 3