Nothing Personal: A Standalone Romantic Comedy

by Karina Halle

  “Baby soup,” he says. “I want to put it on and go swimming.”

  “You mean…bathing suit?” I guess and Hunter nods.

  “Yeah I want to swim and you swim in a baby soup.”

  “Do you know how to swim?”

  He shakes his head. “No. Will you teach me?”

  “I could but I think that’s your daddy’s job.”

  “We could go to the beach though,” Loan says, looking at me for approval, as if I’m Kessler’s partner now.

  I shrug. “Sure. I’m sure that would be great. I guess I’m stranded here today.”

  “You need to rest,” Loan says. “You are very loud when you throw up.”

  I wince. “Sorry.” I sigh. “Maybe I should call an Uber and go to work.” Even though now the mention of Uber has my mind going back to Harold and oh god, what had I said in front of Kessler? I didn’t say anything embarrassing last night, did I?

  “You stay here,” she says. “Mr. Rocha said for me to take care of you.”

  “Of course he did.” So he could look like Mr. Big Shot at work.

  I have half a mind to call him up again and yell at him, but then my head starts to pound, and the soup is wonderfully distracting and before I know it, Loan and I have packed up a beach bag and we’ve walked the four blocks to Kaiaka Bay Beach Park.

  I have to say, even though I feel rotten and I’m still seething over Kessler and having to miss work like this, I’ve had worse days. It’s nice to talk to Loan, and the longer I’m around her, the more she opens up, particularly about her life in Hanoi with her family.

  “You don’t have a man in your life?” she asks me, rather bluntly I might add, as she slathers more baby sunblock on Hunter’s arm and ties his little straw hat on tighter.

  “You know, I’m glad you’re talking more but jeez…” I say with a chuckle, brushing stray sand off my towel.

  “No man because of Mr. Rocha,” she says, letting Hunter go so he can continue to make lumpy sandcastles beside us, the sand going everywhere, including back on my towel.

  “Mr. Rocha has nothing to do with it,” I tell her, giving her a steady look over my sunglasses.

  “Mmmhmm,” she says stone-faced. “I would say otherwise. There was something going on between you once.”

  “Why do you say that? Let me guess, he looks at me a certain way,” I say wryly.

  “No.”

  “Oh.” I’m strangely deflated.

  “You look at him a certain way.”

  I sit up straighter, propped on my elbows. “How so?”

  “Like you hate him.”

  I shrug. “Well, you’re not too far off with that one.”

  “Because you love him.”

  “Whoa, whoa, whoa.” Now I’m fully sitting up, my bikini top nearly coming off and I have to quickly retie the string around my neck. “That’s just not true.”

  She nods. “It is. I see things. I know things.”

  “You know nothing, Miss Loan.”

  There’s a small quirk to her lips. “I know things,” she says again, “because that’s my job. I’ve worked for many families and I know the signs when one of them is cheating on the other and I know the signs when someone is falling out of love and I also know the signs when someone is still in love, and you are still in love. It’s the truth, Miss Nova.”

  I shake my head, glad that Hunter has taken no interest in what we’re talking about. I can’t imagine how confusing it must be so far for him, having his mother for the first three years of his life, then having her go away, replaced with a father he never knew, then moving over here to Hawaii where he’s now with us. Kessler was right when he said he was adaptable.

  “Okay,” I admit. “So maybe I was in love with Kessler once. But that went away when we broke up.”

  “What ends can start again.”

  “He annoys the,” I glance at Hunter, “heck out of me.”

  “As I said, you only hate him because you still love him.”

  “I don’t want to talk about this anymore,” I say quickly, my headache coming back. “I’m going for a dip.”

  “Suit yourself,” Loan says, as I get up and walk toward the surf, hoping a quick swim in the ocean will set me right.

  “Baby soup!” Hunter cries out.

  CHAPTER NINE

  KESSLER

  I KNOW Nova is mad at me even before I set foot in her house.

  I know because I saw a bunch of missed calls from her all day but no messages.

  No texts either.

  I know when she gets really mad, she saves herself for a big argument, like she’s conserving her anger in a giant reservoir, waiting for the right time to open the dam. Errant messages and texts don’t cut it with her, they merely take away from the big explosion

  I have a feeling I’m going to be a victim of that big explosion the moment I go inside.

  Which is why I’m sitting in my car in her driveway and staring at the house.

  Even though she was right in that arguing with her does turn me on, sometimes she can be downright frightening. She used to love my dick but you often hurt the things you love and I have no doubt she thinks a lot of problems can be solved with a kick to the groin.

  Eventually Hunter spots me as he appears at the screen door and yells, “Daddy!”

  I have to say, it gives me strength.

  The other night when he first called me Daddy, I felt like a motherfucking king on top of the world, higher than cloud nine. That was hot on the heels of the fact that I just kissed Nova and her lips felt even more amazing than I had remembered. I didn’t even care that I had to clean up Hunter’s shit on the floor because two of the most important things in my life were both happening at once.

  “Hey, Hunter,” I call out to him as I get out of the car, remembering to grab the stuffed sea turtle I picked up for him at the gas station along the way.

  I go up the steps, slowly, smiling for Hunter but I feel like my back is being used for target practice, like Nova might appear at any moment.

  I open the door and step inside, scooping my son up into my arms and giving him a squeeze. “How was your day, buddy? I brought you a friend.” I show him the turtle which he eagerly grabs.

  “Crush,” he says. “He was in Finding Nemo.”

  “That’s right, it’s totally Crush,” I tell him, even though it’s a rather cheap knockoff, but that’s what you get when you go shopping for gifts at Exxon.

  I walk down the hall and look in the kitchen where Loan is at the stove cooking something in a giant pot, gently placing Hunter back on his feet.

  “Hi, Mr. Rocha,” she says without glancing at me. “You’re home early. Dinner won’t be ready for another hour.”

  “That’s fine with me,” I tell her, as Hunter runs off with Crush. “Where’s, uh, Nova?” I ask, warily looking around, as if I’m about to ambushed.

  “She went for a walk.”

  “Did she look mad?”

  “She always looks mad.”

  “Yeah, I suppose you’re right.”

  “Moving day tomorrow, right?” Loan asks.

  “Unless the exterminator calls before then, yes.”

  “I like this house. Maybe we can stay here with Miss Nova. Tell that Mr. Mike we don’t want to stay in his house. Cockroaches can live a month without their head.”

  I both sigh and shudder at once. I’ve been thinking about it because, even though I’m sure the cockroaches will be gone, I’ve gotten used to this blue house on the North Shore, with the town of colorful houses around the corner. But I would never impose on Nova that way. She has her life here and after her drunken confessions the other night, it’s apparent that she really doesn’t want me messing it up.

  “I don’t think Miss Nova would approve,” I tell her.

  “Hmmm maybe,” she says. “I’ll miss her though. You should bring her around to the house then.”

  “We’ll see,” I tell her even though I highly doubt Nova will ever com
e over.

  “You’ll miss her too,” she says.

  “I’ll still see her at work every weekday,” I remind her, even though, yes, I actually will miss her in this context, away from the office walls. Surrounded by geckos.

  And even though I know she’s mad at me because I let her sleep in and she missed work, I decide that it’s my last night here and perhaps I should welcome the fight.

  “I’m going to go for a walk, see if I bump into her,” I tell Loan.

  “I thought you would,” Loan says under her breath.

  “What was that?”

  “Be back in one hour,” she commands.

  I have no idea where Nova might go but even so I walk around the block, taking in the evening. The sun is starting to set and a lot of people are either just getting home from work or hanging out in their yard, drinking beer and BBQing. Nearly every person I see raises their hand in greeting and says “Good evening” or “Hey” or “Aloha.” They’re all in good spirits, happy to be outside in the fresh warm air, enjoying life.

  I’m starting to get it now, this Aloha spirit. It’s still far too hot and humid for me and I flinch at every chicken I see thinking it’s that motherfucking chicken. I only recently discovered there’s a place called Ice Palace Hawaii with an adult hockey league starting up in January, but I’m not sure if that will be enough for me. My idea killed it at today’s meeting with the big bosses but I can’t guarantee this job will turn out to be more than temporary.

  Yet Hunter seems to be thriving here and it’s already brought us closer together, plus Loan seems like a great fit for our mini family. And even with the heat and humidity, there’s something both primal and purifying about the sweat, about living in a land this lush and wild that makes you want to strip all your inhibitions away and run around naked in the jungle.

  Of course there’s only one person I want to do that with.

  And there she is, wading into the surf, the faded remains of a golden red sunset coloring the water.

  Right now, she’s a Supernova.

  “Hey,” I call out to her.

  I’m at the beach closest to the house. I should have figured to check here first.

  She’s in the water up to her waist, her back to me, her shapely curves setting fire to the waves around her.

  She glances at me over her shoulder but her face is in shadows. I’m going to assume she’s not happy to see me.

  “How are you feeling?” I ask, kicking off my shoes and socks on the grass before stepping into the soft sand.

  “Seems the salt water is the only thing healing me today,” she says in a low voice, the sound nearly swallowed by the lapping waves. I can tell she doesn’t want to talk and I should probably turn around and go back to the house, spend time with Hunter, help Loan with dinner, do something.

  But like a Supernova, she’s caught me in her pull and I’m too stupid to leave.

  “The last time I saw you that drunk I think it was New Year’s Eve, back in the day.”

  I can tell she’s glaring at me. “Why are you here, to tell me what an idiot I was last night, or to tell me everything I missed at work?”

  “I just wanted to see you,” I admit, stepping back as the waves chase my toes.

  “And why the hell do you think I want to see you?”

  Feisty, feisty. Just a few more pokes and she’ll unleash that reservoir.

  “Maybe you needed some eye candy.”

  “Oh, fuck you.”

  “Wow, I thought the water would be cooling you off.”

  “I was fine until you got here.”

  “Do you always go swimming at night? Don’t you worry about sharks?”

  “The only shark I see is standing on the shore.”

  “Zing. You know, I thought maybe you’d be, I don’t know, grateful.”

  I can see her eyes flash in the shadows. “Grateful?”

  I shove my hands into my pockets. “Not many people would let their employee have the day off because they have a hangover.”

  “That wasn’t your choice to make!” she hisses at me, coming forward a few steps until her body is positively glistening in the last light. She looks amazing in her tiny bikini, the strings look so fragile I imagine it wouldn’t take much to undo them.

  And there I go, getting hard again.

  I clear my throat. “I’m an executive and I made an executive decision to let you sleep it off. I pride myself on being a kind and just boss.”

  “You’re a conniving asshole, that’s what you are. You didn’t do that because you felt sorry for me, you did that so you could sabotage me!”

  “Sabotage you?” I frown. “What the hell are you talking about?”

  “You knew I had an important meeting today,” she says. “It was a meeting we both should have been there for, not just you.”

  “How is that sabotage?”

  “Because you know that your job is temporary and that if anyone is going to take it from you, it’s me. So why not make me look bad?”

  “Why would I make you look bad?” She’s really lost it now.

  She grumbles something and starts heading deeper into the water, trying to escape me.

  Without thinking, I quickly take off my shirt and undo my pants until I’m in my boxer briefs. It’s dark enough now that it looks like I could be in swim trunks, and there’s only a few people on the beach anyway, hanging out at the other end and drinking.

  I hate being in water for many reasons, so I’m not taking this lightly that I’m going in after her, in the motherfucking ocean of all places. But by the time I’m splashing in up to my chest and my feet are still firmly on the bottom, I’ve grabbed her arm and I’m pulling her back to shore with me.

  “What the hell are you doing?” she says, and tries to swim away but even in water, I’m stronger and my legs are firmly rooted.

  “I need to get one thing straight with you,” I tell her, pulling her toward me, her breasts pressed up against my chest, her lips mesmerizingly close to mine. “I am not your enemy. Okay? You can go on thinking that all you want but it’s not true. I am not your enemy. I’m barely even your boss. I am your equal and you are mine.”

  “I am not yours,” she says but her words falter.

  “You very much are,” I murmur, my voice growing rough as the rest of me burns with impatience.

  The other night was only a taste.

  I’m starving for the rest of her.

  Before she can protest, before she can duck out of the way and swim from me, I grab her face in my hands and kiss her, hard. There is no softness here, the only silk comes from the bracing ocean waves as they roll through us. This kiss is fast and powerful and bruising, my mouth pressed against hers until she’s kissing me back, our lips, teeth, tongue tangling.

  If this is the explosion I was looking for, I’ve got it.

  She’s moaning into my mouth, her hands around my neck, legs wrapping around my waist as her tongue continues to dance with mine. She’s gone wild and I’m fueling her flames, one hand pushing her bikini top aside until her gorgeously perky breasts are free. My mouth dips into the water, tasting the salt, sucking her nipple into my mouth until she lets out a sharp cry, her head going back into the waves, her neck exposed as the water runs down it.

  Nova has never looked sexier. No woman ever has. I have a combustible star in my grasp and I know I’m playing with fire and I don’t care if she takes both of us out. I want her, I need her, just like this, unleashed like the waves.

  “Kessler,” she whispers, and her hand is sliding down the lines of my abs all the way to my dick. She pulls it out of the band of the boxer briefs, gives me a hard stroke from root to tip and now I’m groaning with a mad sort of lust, like if I don’t come inside her right now I’m going to die.

  “Fuck me,” she whispers, her mouth at my neck, tasting and sucking and biting as she strokes me harder and tighter with her fist, the water all friction.

  I manage to pull myself together and no
t blow my load right there. It would be so easy, everything about this is so perfect, especially as the moon is rising and the twilight is fading to a narrow, electric blue strip at the horizon. I’m not even thinking about the fact that I’m in the ocean at night, all I’m thinking about is getting her off.

  “I’d fuck you all night long,” I tell her, sucking her lower lip into my mouth with a grunt. “But I don’t have a condom here and it’s not up on the shore either. That won’t stop you from coming though.”

  I shove my hand down the front of her bikini bottoms and her legs spread wider around me, hanging on for balance and to give me easier access. We’re still about chest high in the water and if the people at the end of the beach looked over here, there’s no question it looks like we’re getting it on.

  I don’t care. Nova doesn’t care either. In fact, whenever she looks over my shoulder at them, she gets this wicked, almost decadent look in her eyes, like it would bring this to another level if they were watching us.

  Yes. This is the Nova I remember.

  And yet this Nova now is so much more, on so many levels.

  She’s my equal and she’s mine, that’s all there is to it.

  With a heated grin I slip my finger along the lushness of her clit and then thrust it inside her.

  She gasps, her nostrils flaring as her grip at the back of my neck stiffens. She’s tight, so fucking tight and the lack of lube from the water doesn’t help. Luckily I know how to get her wet in a second.

  I take her earlobe between my teeth and tug at it, sucking hot and wet in my mouth, while stroking my thumb around her clit in a quick circle. The combination has her moaning my name, her legs falling even more open to let me in.

  Yes, let me in.

  Let me in deeper.

  Let me see all of you.

  My gorgeous fucking universe.

  I slide my finger out, slowly, teasingly, then plunge two back inside her. Then three.

  “Kess,” she murmurs, eyes pinched shut as she tightens around me. “Don’t stop, don’t stop.”

  “I wouldn’t fucking dream of it,” I tell her. I grunt as I start working her harder, tapping her swollen G-spot, knowing if I keep at it she’ll be coming on my hand in no time.