by J. K Harper
She'd somehow played right into their greedy hands.
Gabi poured the lemonades for herself and abuela, brought them back out to the living room, then returned to the quiet, dull motions of her morning. The repairman arrived. He fixed the air conditioning, charmingly flirted in Spanish with her grandmother, who seemed to love it, and cut them a deal because, as he said, her grandmother was the prettiest lady he'd seen all year, which caused more blushing. Gabi couldn't help but smile at that, even as she had her worry spike again when after the man left her grandmother went to an enormous coughing fit that she clearly had been holding in the whole time he was there. Hiding her fear, Gabi simply brought some water and re-fluffed the pillows behind abuela's back rather than saying anything more.
She knew her grandmother didn't want to focus on inevitabilities. She was far too practical a woman for that sort of nonsense.
The remainder of the morning droned on like a horrible, yawning space that flattened Gabi more and more each minute. This was going to be the rest of her life.
Her precious grandmother was going to die because they lived in a poorly-managed healthcare system and no one in the family had enough money to help save her.
Gabi was going to be unemployable unless she completely changed fields, which would only further break her heart.
And of course there was one more thing. She was going to die an old, unloved maid because she'd betrayed the only man in the world she realized she truly wanted: Kai Long. The man of her dreams she'd never known she needed, who was etched so deeply on her heart she knew without a doubt that all the stories of love at first sight were undeniably true.
Gabi's cell buzzed, and with it her stupid heart leapt into her throat. Every single time her phone made the slightest noise, a tiny piece of her heart pounded with the foolish hope that it was Kai.
It wasn't him. Despite her usual wave of disappointment at that, she still felt a small bit of gratitude as instead she saw the name of her one remaining best friend flash across the screen. You hanging in there? Lacey texted.
Gabi managed a smile. She'd finally gotten ahold of Lacey a few days after her final disgrace. Her bestie had indeed hooked up with her hottie billionaire boss, as Gabi had long suspected she would. Gabi was overjoyed for her and almost didn't tell her everything of her own stupid, sorry tale, but they always talked about everything. So she did—except, of course, the part about Kai being a dragon shifter. She'd have to ease into that. She'd simply told Lacey that the gold on the ship belonged to Kai's family, which was why he felt so betrayed by her. That part was quite true.
Lacey trusted Gabi and believed in her. It was a simple blessing that she had at least one friend who still championed her. Shane—well, Shane was maybe not quite as ready to string her up anymore. Goldgate, which Shane had eventually taken to calling the whole sordid affair in his multiple texts and phone calls to her. Each of his contacts ran the gamut from still being incredibly furious at her, to worrying about her after she was fired, to finally telling her what was going on with the team and the wreck. He hadn't forgiven her yet, but he finally, grudgingly, acknowledged that he understood the reasons behind what she had done, even if he didn't agree that she had been right to do it. He thought that eventually, Everson and the rest of the team wouldn't be quite so stunned and hurt, either. But it was going to be a long, hard road to get to that point. Like Lacey, who had oddly seemed to understand and forgive right from the start, Shane would come around eventually. Their friendship was too strong to permanently break. Even if he would perhaps never quite trust her implicitly again.
Unlike Kai. Who would neither come around, nor trust her even one whit. Who was one day, sooner than he should, going to die due to her part in the loss of his essential gold hoard.
Ruthlessly smashing down the hot flash of agony in her chest, she texted Lacey back.
Doing okay. With abuela now.
Lacey's answering text shot right back. Got some good news for you!
Gabi sighed to herself. I need good news. Hit me.
Lacey's next words had Gabi's eyes widening.
Sebastian said you have a job at the Center if you want. I told him everything. Vouched for you. He says he's always wanted to fund some underwater research. He vetted you, thinks you'd be the perfect person to get it going. Tell you more details later, but you in?
Gabi stared at the screen in disbelief—and wild hope. The Bernal Center, the brainchild of billionaire—and Lacey's new fiance, apparently—Sebastian Bernal, was a world-class museum and research center here in Los Angeles, famed for its devotion to proper antiquities care and display. Lacey worked there. Gabi had always thought it would be cool to work there, too, except that there was no underwater archaeology department.
She belonged in the sea. Maybe she had ruined her chances everywhere else, but if this was a shot at the life she loved, she wasn't about to say no.
What?!?!?! Details schmetails, she confused her phone into trying to autocorrect. You must be magic in the sack for him to have agreed to this, bestie. I owe you bigtime!!!
Lacey sent a smilie emoticon, then said, Gabs, you are a good person. You deserve another chance. Just want to see you happy.
There was a long pause as Gabi chewed on her lower lip. Slowly, she typed back. Thanks. Don't think I'll be really happy ever again, but this will help me feel a lot better. I really fell for him.
Lacey answered immediately, again stealing Gabi's breath.
Gabs. Kai will forgive you. I promise he will. Sebastian knows him, they talked earlier today. Can't tell you more right now but trust me. Kai will forgive you. He didn't know everything.
This time, Gabi's heart threatened to bolt out of her chest. Sebastian knew Kai? And Lacey had some intel about Kai that Gabi didn't know? She quickly shot back a ??? in response, but Lacey didn't answer. After several long, quiet moments passed, she knew that was all Lacey would share for right now. Despite her burning curiosity and thumping heart just at seeing Kai's name on the screen, she finally tossed the phone back down on the table in mild frustration.
At least there was one piece of crazy good news she could share with her grandmother right now.
“Abuela,” she said, looking up from where she sat at the table in the living room, her tablet still open to the document page where she kept tweaking cover letters for job applications. Allowing cautious excitement to bubble up in her, she firmly turned the tablet face down. “Abuela, you'll never guess what just happened!”
The next five minutes were filled with commotion, joy, and speculation, her grandmother laughing in delight with Gabi. Then the main house phone rang. Abuela's eyes lit up even more at that, since it most likely was one of her many friends calling as usual to check up on her and chat for a time. But abuela's startled voice brought Gabi up short, causing her to sharply look over.
"Yes, this is she. Who is this, please?" Her grandmother glanced at Gabi with an odd expression as she spoke on the phone, then looked away. “I see. Yes. Tell me more.”
The annoyingly one-sided phone conversation included a series of yeses, noes, one I understand, and long pauses during which she intently listened to whatever was being said on the other line. Then she finally said a quietly dignified, “Thank you. We will see you shortly," before hanging up.
Gabi raised her eyebrows. Still very calm, abuela looked back at her. "We need to get ready," her grandmother said. She sat up and swung her feet to the floor beside the couch. Pausing for a second, going slightly pale, she shook her head even as Gabi jumped up to go to her. "No, I can certainly make it to my room to put on going-out clothes. I only need your help down to the car."
Bewildered, Gabi repeated, "To the car? Where are we going?"
With a deep breath, her abuela stood up, smiling as she managed to stand without swaying. With a decisive nod, she fixed her granddaughter with a firm, almost regal look. "We are going to see your dragon man. Right now. Oh," she added. “Bring that gold piece with you."
> ~~~
Kai's heart thumped so hard as he paced along the huge ferry dock that he wondered if it would stomp its way right out of his chest. He glanced back down at his phone. There had been a brief flurry of What's going on? and How did you get my grandmother's phone number? texts from Gabi after he'd called her grandmother. And finally, a heartbreakingly simple, I'm so sorry, Kai. The messages finally stopped when he didn't answer, presumably because she was driving herself and her grandmother to the ferry.
He would also bet, he thought with a slight grin, her grandmother had noticed what she was doing and probably had told her granddaughter to stop questioning and get going. He'd never met the woman, but from what Gabi had said about her and from his own conversation on the phone with Valentina Santos earlier, he got the sense that sick or not, she was still very much in charge of the Santos family.
When the ferry appeared in the distance, he finally managed to stop pacing and simply stand waiting for it. As Gabi and her grandmother finally appeared, his dragon roared inside him, mightily beating his wings against Kai's mind. Desperate to see Gabi. To be close to her.
To be with his mate.
Kai took several deep breaths. First things first. When the car rolled off the ferry, he stepped forward, silently handed Gabi his residence pass to put on her rearview mirror, and simply opened the door so he could slide into the backseat. "It's very nice to meet you, Mrs. Santos," he said, nodding at Gabi's grandmother as she half turned from her seat in the front to stare at him for a long moment. He saw some tears pooling in her eyes as she gazed at him, but didn't embarrass her by mentioning it.
Instead, he merely observed, "I can see where Gabi gets her fire."
Gabi's grandmother managed to smile broadly at that, then turned around to face front again. Despite all her texts earlier, Gabi now sat frozen in the front seat, not looking at him. Struggling to keep himself calm and controlled for the moment, Kai merely gave her directions to his house on the island, which she followed without a word. The only noise she made was when they turned up the driveway to what even he knew was a mansion. "Wow," was all she said, jaw dropped as she stared out the windshield. Her grandmother, however, merely smiled and nodded, as if she expected it. The look on her face was wistful.
When Gabi cut the engine in the circular driveway by the large front doors, she finally looked at Kai. He almost cracked right then from the expression on her face. The luminous cinnamon-brown eyes studied him with a mixture of enormous regret, longing, and confusion. What hurt him most of all, though, was the slightly beaten-down expression she wore. Again silently swearing at himself for being a blind fool ten times over, Kai just got out of the car and walked around to the passenger door to let her grandmother out.
As Gabi exited the vehicle and walked around to join Kai and her grandmother, he couldn't help but notice her miles of long, strong legs extending out from the ends of her white shorts. A pretty blue tank top, fitted and hugging her curves closely, outlined the beautiful breasts he longed to touch. Sternly reminding himself to be dignified, because for crying out loud her grandmother was standing here too, Kai tore his gaze away in time to notice Gabi noticing him noticing her. Yet her expression didn't change from the cautiously curious one she'd been wearing ever since the ferry pulled up. Instead, she took a deep breath and finally spoke.
"Will one of you tell me what's going on, please? Why are we here? Is this your house, Kai?" Gabi looked up again at the sprawling white building nestled into the edge of the hillside.
Kai nodded as he extended his arm to Valentina and slowly began walking with her up the winding ramp that paralleled the stairs. She seemed to be doing pretty well, but this close to her, he could sense the illness deep inside her. Hoping against hope he hadn't waited too long, Kai answered Gabi. "Yes. It's been in my family for a few generations now. It actually belonged to a relative I never met. No one else in the family wanted it after he died, so it sat empty for a long time." He shrugged. "I traveled back and forth between Hawaii and here so often for the family business, though, that I took on this place. Seemed fitting. I've always loved this island."
Taking a chance, he casually added, "I have to admit Hawaii is pretty awesome too, though. You should see it one day, Gabi. I think you would like it there."
She looked at him but didn't say anything. They went through the grand front doors, which Kai had always thought were a little over-the-top but they came with the house, so he'd simply left them as is. As they entered, Gabi stopped dead, looking around.
"Holy—wow," she said again.
Kai wasn't sure from her tone if she was impressed, overwhelmed, or simply avoiding the real topic of conversation.
As Gabi stood still, her grandmother very gently extricated herself from Kai's grasp.
"It is still very beautiful here," she murmured as she moved into the center of the huge great room. He could sense the flood of emotions from her as she looked around. He turned and looked back at Gabi, who still stood motionless in the doorway. She'd definitely caught what her grandmother said, however.
"Still very beautiful?" Gabi's voice finally had some of the sass he longed to hear. Just the sound of her voice made him ridiculously happy. He had missed this beautiful woman so much over the last few weeks, once his misplaced rage at the loss of his gold had been redirected to the truth.
He and Eli, along with other family members and the help of an old family acquaintance, the very powerful dragon shifter Sebastian Bernal, had found Kai's stolen gold hoard in northern California. Sebastian, who had been called for any help possible by one of Kai's other siblings on the hunt to find it, had known instantly who had taken it. There was a large network of evil dragons up there who specialized in large-scale thievery, antiquities theft, and outright mafia-type tactics to get what they wanted without working for it themselves. While their leader had recently been killed, the network still existed, unfortunately enough. Yet the current disarray in their organization had allowed the Long family to successfully battle to retrieve Kai's treasure.
Being finally reunited with his gold had been a powerful moment for Kai, as he felt its full strength flow through him with a delirious force once he was able to actually handle it again. But even that thrilling experience had paled in the face of his one true desire: to go to his mate, shuck his idiotic pride, apologize to her—and then keep her by his side forever.
If, that is, she wanted that, too.
Before he could say anything, though, Gabi planted her hands on her hips, shoved her sunglasses up on top of her head to reveal her narrowed eyes, and demanded in a fiery tone, "You'd better tell me right now what's going on. Why are we here? Did you just call me out of the blue for—for what?” Her vexation apparently back in spades, she threw her arms out to the sides. “Tell me. Right now," she warned, her voice dropping a notch as she glared at him.
Kai couldn't help the slow grin that broke out on his face at that. His beautiful, fiery spitfire was back. There still was a chance for the both of them.
Chapter Eighteen
Gabi stood in the doorway of one of the most palatial homes she'd ever stepped foot into, staring from Kai's insufferably gorgeous presence to her grandmother, who was slowly walking around the huge room as if she wandered an art gallery filled with fabulous paintings.
Whatever was going on here, Gabi was confused as hell. She didn't like being in the dark. Kai didn't seem to be outraged at her. Her grandmother had told her he was the one who called, and he wanted them to come to the island, and yes, yes, she was absolutely fine and could make it, but Gabi of course had to drive. Gabi had seesawed from wild elation to terrible guilt to utter confusion back to wild elation the entire time it took for them to get here. Then, finally catching sight of his tall, strong shape waiting for them when they pulled up on the ferry had shaken her heart. Kai. Just seeing him again after the weeks of emptiness had enormously brightened her day, although it had also suddenly made her so ridiculously nervous that she couldn't
even look at him during the brief drive to his crazy huge house.
To her surprise, her abuela answered her demands. "Gabriela, this young man has something he wants to show you. He is going to help me at the same time."
Her grandmother turned in the middle of the room to look back at Gabi. Her eyes gleamed with tears. All of Gabi's ire abruptly vanished. Rushing past Kai, she went straight to abuela. "What's wrong?"
Her grandmother gently shook her head, waving Gabi off. With a peaceful smile, she turned to Kai. "You have kept the house much the way he had it when he lived here," she whispered. "With just a few modern touches now, of course."
Completely floundering, Gabi stared from her grandmother to Kai and back again. "When who lived here?"
In answer, Kai strode by her, his spicy male scent enveloping her and threatening to render her slightly dizzy. He went to her grandmother, smiled at her, and gestured down a hallway. "This way, ladies. It's here now. Back home with me. Truly safe forever."
With that, he moved down the hallway. To her surprise, her grandmother followed him without question. Gabi started to protest, but abuela flapped a shushing hand behind her and kept walking.
Despite how huge the house was, it wasn't ostentatious. It didn't scream an exaggeration of wealth. Instead, it was open, airy, comfortable. Floor-to-ceiling windows seemed to be in nearly every room they passed as they went down the hallway. Bright sunlight poured into each room. The ocean-side rooms had gorgeous vistas of the sea. The hallway gently curved, and suddenly widened into an enormous, round room that was filled with light.