Cal chalked up the moment of stupidity to the long flight and the shocking news about Dan his brain still refused to compute. Just a heap of pent-up energy with nowhere to go. Yep. Nothing more than a near-miss brought on by low blood sugar…or something.
“Reaction.” One he insisted had more to do with the heat of the situation than the length of her legs.
“To what?” Those amber eyes narrowed.
“This,” he waved his hand back and forth. “Between us. That and the by-product of the gunfire. It’s not real.”
Her lips twisted into a look of disgust. “Did your head slam against the floor or something?”
Now she was ticking him off. “Give me a break. Are you trying to tell me this only goes one way?”
“Define this.” She mimicked his hand gesture by waving her hand back and forth between them.
“Interest.”
“In you?”
Now she sounded horrified. A guy could get a complex. “Do you see someone else here?”
“No, but I’m not the one who’s lost his mind. That seems to be you at the moment.”
“You’re trying to tell me—”
“Yes.”
“You felt nothing when—”
“Exactly.”
“At all?”
“Not even a twinge.” She topped the response with a smug smile.
Well, hell. Here he thought they both were fighting back a heavy-duty case of adrenaline-fueled lust. Looked like he stood alone on that score.
“You’re not my type. Sorry.” The smirk suggested she felt the exact opposite of apologetic.
“Right back at ya, sweetheart.”
Cassie’s mood sobered. “And then there’s the fact we’re standing in the middle of my dead brother’s house.”
At her reminder, the mental door Cal had slammed shut on that news burst open. He could not wrap his head around Dan dying in a crash. The idea he arrived on the island too late to help his old friend rumbled around in Cal’s gut. If he hoped to understand what happened and check out Cassie’s claims, he had no choice but to tuck the loss and need for revenge back behind that door. Grief would come later.
“Are you listening to me?” Cassie pinched his upper arm. Whether she meant to get his attention or tick him off, she managed both.
“Damn, woman. What are you doing?”
“Trying to get you back to the subject at hand.”
“Which is?” He rubbed the spot where she twisted his skin.
“Dan. His burglarized house. Your break-in. The gunshots. Pick any of those.”
“You ever heard of trying to get a guy’s attention without giving him a puncture wound?”
“You don’t have any fat on your arm.” Her gaze moved over his biceps with increasing interest.
The woman clearly had lost her mind. “So you pinched me?”
“I pinched you to get your mind back on helping me. The remark on your lack of body fat was just that. A comment.”
To the extent he needed proof that women, as a sex, were nuts, he just got it. “Anyone ever talk to you about the concept of sending mixed signals?”
“Don’t be ridiculous.” She tugged on the hem of her shirt to cover the thin line of skin open to his view. “I was only making an observation.”
“Which was?”
A pink blush stained her cheeks as her voice dropped. “You’re muscular.”
She was embarrassed. That worked for him a hell of a lot better than sad Cassie or fuming Cassie. He could work with embarrassed.
“Uh-huh.” He squatted on the floor, looking for evidence from the shooting.
“What are you doing now?”
“Taking a nap.”
“Are you always this much of a jackass? Let me know now because there’s a gun or two around here somewhere and I wouldn’t mind using them.”
When she started looking around the room Cal figured it was time to end the verbal sparring. “Cassie.”
“What?” The word was sharp.
“Let’s call a truce.”
She went still. “Can I shoot you as part of this deal?”
He sighed. “Look, I’m at a disadvantage here.”
“No kidding.”
“You know the turf. You know the facts. Right now, that makes you necessary.”
“Please, all this flattery will go to my head.”
“I’m serious.”
“We’re even then because I’m annoyed.”
That much was obvious. Her voice had risen to a near roar. All traces of the weepiness she showed when talking about Dan’s death had disappeared. And Cal could not be more grateful.
“I think we should join forces, share resources.” At least until he had the background he needed. After that he’d get her to a safe place. One a good distance away from flying bullets.
“Fine.”
“That was too easy.” Even knowing her for only about an hour, he expected more of a fight.
“I have two conditions to this truce of yours.”
The woman would make a monk turn violent. “No conditions.”
“Well, then. Good luck gathering that background on your own.” Cassie spun around and headed for the door, her head held high. “Remember that the police turned this over to the feds and aren’t talking. You won’t get any help in that direction.”
Cal swore, but relented. “Man, you’re prickly. What are your conditions?”
She leaned a shoulder against the doorway. “First, and this one is the most important condition, I’m in charge.”
Yeah, now they had a problem. “The rest of the sentence better be, ‘of getting lunch.’”
“Oh, so you’re a sexist pig.”
He had wanted her attention and he got it. Better to keep her feisty than let her mind wander. “Some women find me charming.”
“I doubt that. And I’m not waiting on you.” She lifted her eyebrows. “Ever.”
“You’re not bossing me around, either.”
“Right, then. You have a nice flight back to Florida.” She treated him to a little wave before reaching for the doorknob. “Sorry you had to come all this way for nothing.”
This is why some men preferred dumb women. “Wait.”
She turned around and shot him a superior smile. “That’s the deal.”
“Fine,” Cal said through clenched teeth. “You want to be in charge, you got it.”
“Why do I think you don’t mean that, flyboy?”
Because he didn’t. There was no way in hell he was going to let her lead, but better to pretend than get a proverbial kick in the balls. “You asked to be the leader. Lead.”
“That was only the first condition.”
“The second is?”
“A deal-breaker.”
“I can hardly wait to hear it.” He wondered if he should sit down.
“Simple. You aim that attraction thing of yours at someone else.”
Chapter Five
Cal still had not said a word a half hour later when he pulled the rental Jeep into a parking space behind the beige one-story police station.
Cassie noticed how he found the building without any directions from her. The concrete office in the middle of a paved parking lot was not the usual tourist destination. Not a lot of green or any surfing here. Just a slight ramp that led to glass doors at the back of a nondescript building.
“You’ve been here before?” She put a shaky hand on the dashboard as she tried to stop her body from swaying now that the car had stopped.
“It’s on the map I checked out at the airport.”
The guy had an answer for everything. “Do you always drive like that?”
He slammed the car into park. “Nothing wrong with the way I drive.”
“Not if you’re on a racetrack.”
“I wanted to get here at a decent hour.”
“It’s six in the morning.” Which explained the lack of people and cars in downtown Lihue.
The area did
not resemble Oahu’s Honolulu with its high-rise buildings and varied restaurant choices. The island of Kauai tended to the tourist trade like the rest of the Hawaiian Islands, but at heart, it remained an agricultural center and surfing haven.
Plush and green, with wide-open spaces, low-slung buildings, and a slower way of life, Kauai appealed to people looking for the Hawaii immortalized in postcards. Sun, surf, flowers, and land.
From the sweet scent in the air to the sweeping waterfalls of the Na Pali Coast that could only be seen by helicopter, boat, or on foot, Dan had loved this land. He retired from the military and returned to Hawaii, their home since their teens.
Whatever plagued Dan followed him here. Cassie vowed to figure it out and clear his name. To the extent Cal was the key, she’d drag him along for the ride.
“The way I see it,” the key in question said, “there’s no reason to wait to get our day started.”
Cassie disagreed. A shower, change of clothes, and a big cup of coffee sounded better than an early-morning drive around the island at a speed that defied nature. The sun just started coming up. A few more minutes in the car, and so would her granola bar.
“Kauai might not be Miami, but there are traffic laws here. I’m pretty sure the speed limit isn’t ninety.” Even though the car had stopped, her stomach continued to flop around.
“Panama City.” Cal turned off the engine, letting his keys dangle in the ignition.
“Are we throwing out the names of cities now? If so, I pick Minneapolis.”
He finally looked in her general direction. Or Cassie thought that was true. His dark sunglasses hid his eyes and any expression.
“I live in Panama City. Not Miami,” he said.
Probably a question she should have asked earlier. Not knowing anything about this guy except that he was the only person to ever take a good driver’s license photo lacked a certain level of safety.
“Mind telling me what you do back in Panama City?”
He flashed her a killer smile, showing off rows of perfectly aligned white teeth and an irresistible dimple in his left cheek. “Finally figured out you don’t know anything about me, huh?”
“Just answer the question.” Before she wised up and got nervous about being in a car with a perfect stranger.
“Yes, ma’am.” Cal pretended to snap to attention. Even shot her a half-salute. “Until a few months ago I was a lieutenant colonel in the Air Force with the Sixteenth Special Operations Wing out of Hulbert.”
“Hulbert?”
“Hulbert Field. Most recently, I’ve been training PJ recruits at the Combat Dive Course, which is why I’m in Panama City.”
She tapped her fingers on the console between their seats. “What did you do a few months ago that caused the switch?”
A warm, rich laugh escaped him. “You assuming I did something wrong?”
“Actually, yes.”
Cal rested his hand over the steering wheel, letting his long lean fingers hang down through the opening. “You sure know how to kick a man’s ego.”
A tiny spark of guilt flared at the edge of her mind. He had not given her any reason to expect the best in him except the fact he hadn’t shoved her in a closet and left her there after she turned the gun on him earlier.
Still…“Feel free to answer.”
“For the record, I didn’t do anything bad. I retired from active duty. Now I’m a consultant.”
“Military life not exciting enough for you?” She stopped tapping and wrapped her hand around the gearshift instead.
“Don’t touch that.”
“The car is off.”
“And your gun wasn’t loaded.” That dimple grew more prominent. “Yeah, I checked.”
She peeked in the side of his glasses and watched him track two officers as they walked out of the station and slid into a patrol car.
Not much action at this time of the morning. No horns honking. Just a few cars passing by and the light rustle of the warm breeze through the palm trees. Must not be much crime, either, if no one bothered to notice a car sitting just outside the back door of the building.
“So, you’re not going to tell me the real reason you’re a former military guy?” she asked.
“Let’s just say I was ready to move on to another, more exciting, challenge.”
Now there was a mentality she despised. Always seeking something faster, a thrill more dangerous, a better-looking woman. Typical.
“Once a flyboy, always a flyboy,” she mumbled in the direction of the window.
“I sense you’re not big on pilots.”
“I prefer grown-up men to little boys who dream of owning the skies.”
“Ahhh.” He drew out the sound to four syllables.
“Having a problem talking in complete sentences?”
“Nuh-uh.”
The guy should do a comedy show. “Any chance of you elaborating for those of us who prefer English?”
“I get the problem here.”
Since he was her main problem at the moment, she decided to ask. “Do tell.”
“It’s obvious.” He waited a beat. “A pilot dumped you.”
“You’re an idiot.” And far too clever for her taste.
Cassie had not only been dumped. She had been cheated on, humiliated, put down, and then dumped. Dating Han Rodman, pilot extraordinaire, had been the worst three months of her life. Escaping him with a piece of her self-esteem intact qualified as her best day ever.
Instead of taking the hint, Cal droned on, annoying her with every word. “Not every woman can handle a military man. Don’t be hard on yourself.”
Now he was being cocky. Part of the breed. An annoying part.
“So, why did we drive all over the island before I’m even awake?” she asked.
“Technically, you haven’t slept yet.”
“Believe me, I know.” A few more minutes and she’d be eating the steering wheel then curling up on top of it for a nap. “Are you ever going to tell me what we’re doing?”
“Just trying to follow your directions, boss.”
Funny how she forgot the part where she ordered him to drive in circles until she threw up. “My plan would have included coffee and probably a doughnut or two.”
“We need to report last night’s incident to the police.”
“You mean your break-in?” She chuckled, proud of her joke.
But nothing in his frown suggested he found the situation funny. “I’m serious, Cassie. Getting shot at is nothing to play with. The police need to know what happened at Dan’s house.”
That killed her brief good mood. “This is a waste of time. The acting police chief—”
“Acting?”
“The real one is Kane Travers. Good reputation, well-liked, and all that. He’s also on some sort of extended honeymoon and hasn’t been around for weeks.”
“That’s helpful.”
“Either way. The police moved on. They think I’m…”
Cal’s eyebrow lifted over the frame of his glasses. “Yeah?”
If only she could back out of this conversation. “Hysterical.”
“I assume you don’t mean really funny.”
“More like crazy. Insane. Whatever word you want to use. The police think I’m too stricken with grief to be rational and accept Dan’s accident for what it was.”
Cal took off his glasses. “I can think of a lot of ways to describe you. Hysterical isn’t one of them.”
“That sounded suspiciously like a compliment.”
“You sure seemed in control of your emotions when you aimed that gun at my head.”
“Ah, yes. That. Where is my gun, by the way?”
His sunglasses slipped right back into place. “I’ll hold it for you.”
“I thought I was the boss.”
“One incident of assault with a deadly weapon is enough for today. Thanks.”
Chapter Six
Cal pushed open the glass door to the police station with Cassie
close at his heels. He took the minute of quiet to glance around and get a feel for the place.
The small building consisted of two distinct areas. The first was an informal common room with a few fake leather chairs and racks of pamphlets about various issues and government services. A long wooden counter separated the welcome area from the closed portion of the office. Except for a small window, there was no way to see into the back.
Cal pressed the buzzer on the counter to get someone’s attention. When a woman in her late fifties and a brightly colored Hawaiian dress popped up from out of nowhere, he nearly shit.
“Damn,” he said under his breath, along with a few more curses. “Didn’t see you there.”
The woman treated him to a broad smile. “What can I do for you?”
“We need to talk with Ted Greene.”
The woman glanced at Cassie and her smile faded. “You’re back.”
Cassie reacted to the woman’s flat tone with one of her own. “Yes.”
Cal tried to remember when he’d ever heard two women less happy about running into each other. Couldn’t think of one. “I take it you two know each other.”
“We thought you went back to Oahu,” the woman said.
Whatever welcoming aloha spirit the older woman felt earlier had disappeared. Cal was beginning to think Cassie had that effect on most people.
Cassie drummed her fingers on the countertop loud enough to give him a headache. “I brought a friend this time.”
Is that what he was?
The woman’s gaze traveled between Cal and Cassie before landing on Cal. “Do you have an appointment?”
“No.” Cassie jumped in before he could answer.
Cal ignored her. Even angled his body so that he half stood in front of her. “Could you check, please?”
The woman shook her head. “Then I don’t think—”
He tried again. “It’s important.”
“Fine,” she said with a sigh. “I’ll see if he’s here.”
And she sure did take her time about it. She straightened up the paperwork in the metal bin in front of her. Moved the phone from one side of the desk to the other. Even plumped up her hair in the back. It took another two minutes before she slipped out of sight.
Once they were alone, Cal leaned against the counter. “You could use some work on your how-to-win-friends-and-influence-people skills.”
It’s Hotter in Hawaii Page 3