by Jeny Heckman
“You’re going to think I’m a total shit for doin’ this,” he murmured, kissing the other side of her neck, “but I can’t ask you to stay over tonight.” He kissed her temple then settled his gaze to look at her directly. When the panicked look of not measuring up crossed her face, he continued quickly, “It’s just I have an extremely early get-up.”
“On a Sunday?”
He pulled away and turned to the chair, retrieving the skimpy floral print dress she’d worn earlier that night. Handing it to her and kissing her cheek, he turned and grabbed his jeans.
“I’m meeting my research team out at Hanapepe Bay,” he said, sliding the worn denim over his hips and leaving them unbuttoned.
Finn could always tell the ones that had romantic notions of being curled up in bed all morning to giggle over the morning paper and plan the life they’d have together. Those girls tended to hang on and hover, so he determined he was dodging a bullet with this one and needed to move her on her way.
“Oh, okay.”
“Fantastic night though.” His lips quirked up into a sexy smile as she flushed with warmth. Finn paused a couple of moments more so his next line would ring with some sincerity. “God, you are so incredibly beautiful.”
“Aw, thank you,” she said in a lowered tone, aimed at seductive. “I like you too.”
She dressed, and he watched as she descended the stairs to her car and exited his life. Taking a deep breath that puffed out his cheeks, he exhaled through pursed lips and lowered his head in relief. You are so incredibly beautiful. It was all he had to say to make up for leaving and never calling again. You are so incredibly beautiful meant it’s not you, it’s me. His smile dropped when it tickled on the edge of his consciousness that it was true; it was him.
Finn brushed his teeth, removed the jeans, and slipped into bed once more, laying one hand on his chest and the other on his well-worked johnson. He did have to be to the beach in the morning, maybe not as early as he’d said, but early enough. The issue was he never enjoyed staying over with a woman, not at his place or hers. It was too personal, sharing breath and space. He liked things the way he wanted them. It was more honest to end the night quickly, to his way of thinking. He didn’t have to fabricate intimacy or lose all feeling in his arm because some woman had slept on it.
Most men envied his good looks, healthy body, and good charismatic nature, but that nature could also turn on a whim. His alpha type personality didn’t tolerate anyone working outside of his plan. Men witnessed his prowess with women often enough. They would have guffawed at his brilliant ability to kick one out of bed after sex without recourse. However, it wasn’t like Finn to tell them such things. He wasn’t cruel. He just wanted things his way, and intimacy wasn’t a part of it.
****
Six hours later, Finn pulled into the small parking lot at SeaHunt Researchers on his 2012 chopper.
“Great day, boss!” announced Jake, one his junior researchers.
“Absolutely.” Finn turned, looking at the sky. “Should be all day. You guys ready down there?”
“Yeah, probably in fifteen.”
“A’ight, get it done. I wanna get going in no more than ten.”
The smell of sunscreen preceded Holly and Dawson, his two female researchers, walking down from the admin building with coffees and the daily directives. Holly, a petite, girl with a cheerleader’s body, gave Finn a sly smile and looked up at him through long dark lashes. He gave her a wink, knowing she’d float on it all day. Generally, he didn’t go for his researchers because they were primarily students—over age, but students nonetheless, which tended to create baggage. However, this one was stacked, reasonably intelligent, wanted him, and wasn't shy about letting him know it.
“What do we got?” he asked as they approached and took one of their coffees without asking.
“Ah, Dr. Bowman wants us to go to Waimea and look at…”
“No,” Finn said, grabbing the sheets of paper. He walked toward the building to have a word with his boss and called over his shoulder, “Gear up for Honopū Beach.”
“Honopū Beach?” Dawson queried, turning to her classmate. “I didn’t think we went out that far.”
“I don’t think Finn gives a shit.” Holly retorted, appreciatively watching him walk away.
“Damn, he’s got a nice ass.”
“I know, right,” giggled Dawson, tapping down on the brim of her well-worn baseball hat. “Come on, might as well keep him in a good mood and get our shit done.”
They walked down the pier, toward the water. Hearing every word, Finn grinned as he entered the admin building.
“Hey, boss,” he yelled.
When he received no response, he walked directly back to Dr. Bowman’s office. Five years his elder, Nate sat behind his desk, the picture of a man not able to do what he truly wanted to do for a living. He obtained his position when promoted from within SeaHunt. It was the only facility on Kaua’i explicitly created for the research of the endangered Hawaiian monk seal.
Finn came to the position as a foremost expert on the species. Nate stepped out of the field and became not only the younger man’s boss but one of his closest friends.
“What d’ya want, Taylor?”
“What crawled up your ass?”
“Tanner was up all night throwing up. Annie was throwing up this morning, and I wanna throw up just thinking about it,” Nate informed him, continuing to write on some forms.
“Shit, stay the fuck away from me.”
“Sorry, just wiped out. Whatcha got?”
“I wanna let you know I’m heading to Nā Pali instead of Waimea.”
“Fine, I…wait…what?” Nate looked up, exasperated, from his papers. “Why?”
“’Cause today’s the day I become a father Nate, and I’m not gonna miss it.”
“Alaula’s not due for a couple of weeks yet, and she was late last time.” Nate nodded at a picture of Finn’s pride and joy.
“She’s about forty-two weeks, and it’s gonna be today.” Finn looked at his watch. “Shit, she’s probably in labor right now.”
Nate looked blankly at Finn. Exhausted, he extended a thumb and forefinger across both his reddened eyelids, under his small rectangular glasses, before perching them back on his broad nose. He knew his favorite marine biologist had a sixth sense when it came to his animals.
“Fine, whatever, Alaula it is.”
“Light of dawn, baby,” Finn said, referring to the meaning of the seal’s name. He turned his back, giving a hang-loose sign, leather bracelets sliding with the action. “She’ll live up to her name plus about six.” He pushed open the door and strode outside to the sunshine.
“How the hell does he know that shit?” Nate muttered, then shook his head as he heard the volume on the boat’s radio increase and someone belting out they’d been thunderstruck.
Finn rode hard across the water, researchers trying to hold on, while the wind blew riotously through his hair. Mirrored sunglasses reflected the water rocketing past, as he pursed his lips into a smile, then grinned, bouncing his head slightly to the beat of the music.
Chapter 3
“What have I got to lose?” Raven looked derisively around her bedroom.
An explosion of clothes, jewelry, makeup, shoes, guitars, and sheet music decorated every surface. There was nothing more to lose. It lay all around her in plain sight.
She formally requested all papers and contracts pertaining to her professional life from Fortner Talent and Publicity. The one saving grace about her situation was that Wyatt had insisted an independent lawyer draw up their prenuptial agreement. At the time, it caused a major rift between them, and Donovan almost talked her out of it. However, shared blood and experience reminded her that no one, not even her new husband, wanted better for her than her brother.
After two weeks of soul searching and another two to cancel all her tour dates, dissolve the staff Donovan had employed and settle accounts, Raven rented a bungalow
and was down to packing for her trip to Kaua’i. From there, she would make decisions regarding all the people she interviewed and whether or not they would join her team. Professionals, like an attorney, an accountant, and a publicist. She would retain her old personal assistant of nine years, Jason Dell, as her new manager.
Raven decided this trip would be a starting point for change. The over-the-top, highly technical, synthesized sound with pulsating beats and lights that Donovan always demanded would be gone. Raven knew it needed to be something different but what, she’d yet to discern. The only decision she was sure of was that something needed to change.
Now sitting cross-legged in her room, hair once more in her natural, buttery-golden waves, she was surrounded by what seemed to be the entire contents of her condo.
What in the hell was she doing? This kind of thing required bravery. To go to a foreign place, knowing no one, being a shy, nervous introvert, with no direction, no man, and no life. Hot, greasy licks of panic slid around in her belly. She looked out her bedroom doorway onto the common areas of the condo. This space had never felt like her home, but she was still afraid to leave it. And tomorrow she would do just that for three full months.
“Argh, focus,” she demanded of herself.
Decisions on which clothes, toiletries, guitars, and projects she wanted to bring, needed to be made. After spending the rest of the night packing and cleaning up her place, she could finally slide into the soft, cool sheets. Luckily, sleep came quickly.
Raven stood, shackled to the stage with lights flashing, and people screaming and cheering her name. Donovan was in one of his bad moods with eyes glowing hot. She tried to yell that she was bound, but he patently ignored her and turned his attention to another black-haired beauty. Suddenly the crowds began to scream and part. Confused, she looked into the distance and saw a great wave hurtling toward her without breaking. Raven turned to Donovan and screamed for him to release her, but he was now running too, running with the new woman, to a new life. Music, reckless and wild, simmered in her blood, moving painfully throughout her body and fire burned in her belly, as hot as the sun. It seemed to liquefy her bonds. Now free, would she cower, run, or stand her ground?
At the moment between deciding and being conscious of it, she jerked awake. For a split second an unknown face and strange, breath-taking eyes, reflected off her own. There were people there she felt she should know in a misty landscape, and then they were gone.
****
Que, her seven-year-old Abby, and Wyatt drove Raven to SeaTac airport around five the next morning. Her brother embraced her hard and kissed the top of her head before grabbing her by both shoulders and squatting to eye level.
“You can do this. Just go and enjoy yourself.” He tilted her head up when she lowered it and peered into her eyes. “Meet people. If I can get away and come out there, I will, but I wanna meet some new people, okay? Preferably blondes, with big…” She hit his stomach. “Ow!” He pulled her into a hug and said softly, “Forget him.”
“I’ll try.” Giving a nod of approval, he stepped aside to make way for Que and Abby.
“You’re gonna have so much fun.” Abby giggled.
“But who am I gonna play with?” Raven whined. Abby pursed her lips and wrinkled her nose, thinking.
“We can read to each other over the phone.”
“That will definitely work.” She hugged the little girl close and felt her eyes sting as Abby ran over to Wyatt. He swung her onto his shoulders and began singing the newest kids’ craze.
“See the light at sea and something with me,” Wyatt sang.
“No, no,” Abby said, disgusted. “See the light as it shimmers on the sea, as if just for me.”
“Oh,” the man said, chastened. “Well, excuse me.”
Que shook her head, sighed out a laugh, and turned to her best friend.
“A’ight, go have some fun, snap some pictures, swim with a dolphin, have sweaty sex with a smokin’-hot beach dude, that says ‘tubular’ or ‘totally awesome,’ a lot.”
Rolling his eyes and pretending not to hear, Wyatt turned back to Abby as the two women embraced.
“Call us when you land, okay?”
“Okay. I love you guys,” Raven called, trying to hold back tears.
Smiling, she hitched her guitar case higher on her shoulder and started for the door. She turned at the last moment to look at her brother for strength. Love you, he mouthed, then patted his chest and grinned. She grinned back and was gone.
****
Six hours and twenty-seven minutes later, Raven stepped off the plane at Lihue Airport after an exhausting flight. She'd been seated in first class, next to a man, who in his words was, ‘her biggest fan,’ and spoke endlessly of everything she ever did. If that wasn’t enough, a teething baby, having a hard time adjusting to the altitude, cried for most of the flight. Sleep, therefore, was impossible.
Relieved to be on solid ground again, Raven smiled at the large photos of graceful hula dancers on the wall. The small open-air baggage claim smelled of exhaust, dirt, and humidity if one could smell such a thing.
She retrieved her rental car and soon was traveling down the Kaumuali’i highway, warm wind blowing through her hair. Glancing up at the heavens, she wondered if she could get to Po’ipū beach without being rained on by the one dark cloud bruising the sky.
Within two hours she had obtained her keys, picked up some groceries, and pulled everything out of her suitcases. However, looking toward the window and the ocean beyond it, she resolved to leave the clothes in favor of sitting on the lanai with a glass of chilled chardonnay.
A beatific smile slid onto Ravens’ face as she held her gold pendant. It was mesmerizing as she swung it like a pendulum on its chain around her neck. She’d inherited the pendant, medallion really, from her mother. Wyatt had its twin on a thong around his own neck. Each depicted a kind of harp, not unlike the instrument her mother had played for the Missouri Metropolitan Theater. They were the most treasured possessions the siblings owned, and the one thing they had to tie them to their parents.
Her intention upon arrival had been to unpack and get settled in right away. However, that was before travel, lack of sleep, and the warm wind blowing through her hair came to seduce her. Now, all she needed was the buttery notes of her chardonnay and some quiet. A song about single ladies sang out as her cell phone rang. She rolled her eyes at Que’s choice of ringtone and thought about not answering it. However, a rude realization occurred to her that she’d forgotten to check in with her friend or Wyatt. Knowing it would probably be one of them, she extended a leg and hooked a foot around the strap of her purse before dragging it across the floor to retrieve the phone.
“Hello?”
“Hey, thanks for the call to say you’re safe.”
“I’m safe, Que.” Raven lazily smiled. “I’m getting drunk on chardonnay in paradise, and it’s only ten-thirty in the morning. How’s the weather there?”
“Oh, same goes here.” Que looked out the window at the dark gray clouds and the torrential downpour overflowing her gutters. “Flight good?”
“No. I’m gonna take a nap, maybe then I can try to comprehend an original thought. Hey, you got a date tonight. Ya nervous?”
“What? Oh, no, I’m not goin’.”
“Why not?”
“Ab isn’t feeling too hot.”
“Really?” Raven opened her eyes. “Does she have a temperature? Maybe she’s low on vitamin D again?”
“I’m not sure that’s it.”
“I shouldn’t have had you guys come out so early this morning.”
“No, I don’t think it’s that either. She’s just been so tired lately, kind of short of breath. I’m wondering if it could be asthma or allergies or something. Probably only growing pains. I just made an appointment for her.”
“Wait, what time is it there?”
“One-thirty.” Her friend looked at the clock. “You’re three hours behind, right?”
“Um, yes.” Raven quickly calculated the time.
“Yeah, so I left a message and asked for a callback.”
“Aw, poor baby. Hug her for me.” There was a knock on her door. “Que, someone’s here. You wanna hold on a sec?”
“Naw, go on ahead and get settled in. We’ll talk tomorrow.”
“Okay, love you. If you talk to him, tell Wy I’ll call him later okay? Kiss Ab.”
Raven ran to the door and a man, already weary from the day, stood there clad in a brown uniform.
“Hello. I’ve got some boxes for a Ms. Hunter?” He looked up at her. “This the right place?”
“Yep.” She looked past him at three large boxes on a trolley and groaned audibly. Ugh, more unpacking.
She resolutely signed for the lot. After dragging each into the bungalow and scanning the battlefield, she tried to develop a strategy for success. However, she only skimmed over the melee until her gaze settled on the upright piano she had secured with the house.
Walking over the top of the clutter, Raven sat down and began playing the ringtone from her cell phone. Frustrated with herself, she stopped midway through and began to play a famous cartoon medley, until the vibrations of the chords mellowed out to supreme silence. Spontaneously, she started to play a rendition of Canon in D, moving her head to the rhythm of how she interpreted the music.
It was hours later when Raven finally opened her eyes again. Energy hummed deep in her blood, leaving her feeling centered in a way she hadn’t in a very long time. Glancing at the shadows that had shifted around the house, she turned to the clock and noticed with a jolt that it was late afternoon. She decided if she didn’t get organized, she’d have to wake up and spend the next day indoors with the clutter, thereby wasting another day. So, organizing room by room, she found homes for all her things. By the time sunset beckoned, she was ready to see her first on Kaua’i. Grabbing her keys, she slipped lily-white arms into a light lemon cardigan and ran down Po’ipū Road toward the beach. She saw several other people moving in the same direction.