Island for Two: Hawaii MagicFiji Fantasy

by Beverly Jenkins

  Connie held up a hand to stop her. “It’s okay, Annie.” She made a small snorting sound. “At least that explains where he was all that time he kept disappearing. I thought he had started smoking again and was sneaking out for smoke breaks.”

  Her snort turned into a full chuckle as she realized something wonderfully amazing. Hearing about her ex-husband’s infidelity didn’t hurt. Not even a little bit. It was like listening to the events of someone else’s life. She had carried the pain and disappointment of her failed marriage around in her heart for so long, she’d forgotten how it felt to be free of that burden. But, now she was free again and it felt great.

  Meanwhile, Brian had placed his hands over his face and was shaking his head in denial. “This is not happening, this is not happening!”

  Connie could imagine what he was feeling, discovering that his best friend, his former brother-in-law, was not the man he had thought he was. That instead of being the righteous man of God he had pretended to be with most people, he was in fact, a lying hypocrite…with a mean streak.

  Annie cupped his face in her hands. “I’m only telling you now to make you understand that despite what you think, you don’t know everything.”

  “I never claimed to know everything!”

  The couple’s attention was completely trained on each other and the conversation was sounding more and more like a private one between husband and wife. Connie was wondering if she could creep out of the room without interrupting them.

  “Sometimes you do.” She lowered her head, and her voice. “Especially when it comes to Connie.”

  Connie felt a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. The last thing she wanted was for the focus of their argument to turn to her.

  Brian looked at Connie. “I just want what’s best for you. You understand that, right?” For a moment, Connie caught of glimpse of the loving brother she had known all her life reflected in his eyes.

  “Then trust me to know what’s best for me.” She lifted her hands in a defeated gesture. “Thirty years of my life are gone, and I have nothing to show for it. I feel like a failure, Brian. I tried to make you happy, and I feel like I even failed at that.”

  “What are you talking about?” He frowned in genuine confusion.

  “I’m thirty years old and I’ve never even had my own place. I’ve been married and divorced and only now, for the first time, am I experiencing love. Real love.” She nodded determinedly. “I’m not going to give that up, not even for you.”

  He rubbed his head, and Connie had no doubt that the women in his life were indeed giving him a headache. “I don’t want to take that away from you. I just want you to be decent about it.”

  Her eyebrow arched in irritation. “Decent? Your kind of decent? Like your good and decent friend, Nath—”

  His hand slashed through the air in anger. “Don’t worry about Nathan!” His eyes narrowed on some faraway sight. “I’ll deal with him later.” Absently, Connie watched him take Annie’s hand in his. “You should’ve told me sooner,” he muttered.

  Annie shrugged in indifference, but Connie could see the relief in her eyes.

  “This taking secret trips, getting involved with a strange man… It’s just not like you.”

  Connie laughed, feeling lighter suddenly. “Actually, it’s very much like me—the real me. The me Michael loves.” She winked at her brother. “You just haven’t gotten to know that me, yet. But I hope you’ll be willing to.”

  The brother and sister stood watching each other for several long seconds before he gave a slight nod of agreement. Deciding that they had let out enough skeletons for one afternoon, she turned and headed for her room. “I’m going to pack, I’ll say goodbye before I leave.”

  “I’m sorry,” Brian called from behind her. “I lashed out in anger. You don’t have to go.”

  She smiled at her brother, believing for the first time that, maybe in the end, they would remain close. “No, you’re right. It’s better that I move out. Should’ve done this a long, long time ago. Only cowardice held me back.”

  As she reached the doorway, she turned again to the couple still standing by the couch, embraced in a hug. Annie was smiling at her over Brian’s shoulder.

  “Thank you.” Connie mouthed the words.

  Only the slightest nod of Annie’s head indicated she’d heard.

  * * *

  A short time later, Connie piled the bags and boxes containing most of her personal possessions into the back of her small car and just stood there staring down at it for several moments as it dawned on her that this was the sum of her life until this point.

  She had no home of her own, she owned nothing except her car and these things. How had this happened? This was never the life she’d imagined for herself. This was never the plan, but somehow she’d ended up thirty years old living in her brother’s spare room.

  With a sigh, she closed the trunk and climbed into the driver’s seat. With one final glance at the small picturesque home where she’d spent almost her whole life until now, she started the engine and pulled away.

  Strangely enough, she wasn’t nearly as upset as she would’ve imagined, given all that had happened that afternoon. Instead, she felt this indefinable sense of excitement swelling up in her. A completely unaccounted for feeling of euphoria.

  This wasn’t the end of something, it was the beginning. She had no doubt that given time and space, she and Brian would eventually mend any fences that had been torn down between them. But more importantly, now she could begin to live. Really live.

  The life she’d always imagined: full of love and passion and freedom. That was it. She felt truly free, more free than she’d ever felt before and it was all because of Michael. His love gave her the courage to express herself as she had never known. He was the only person who really knew her, because he was the only person she’d ever felt free enough with to show her real self to. And like a reflection in a mirror, she was able to see herself through his eyes…and she loved what she saw there. She loved the way she felt with him, the way she was with him, and most of all she loved him. And she had every intention of spending the rest of her life showing him just how much his love meant to her.

  A blob of water hit her windshield, followed by another and then another and before long, it was coming down in a steady stream. She turned on the wipers and smiled to herself, cracked the window and took a deep breath.

  She had always loved the way it smelled when it rained. She took another deep breath and sighed in satisfaction. For the first time in a long time, she felt like she could breathe.

  * * *

  After Connie left, Michael had spent the rest of the afternoon at home reviewing the blueprints for a new plane design. He’d become so engrossed in reading and making notes on the various components that hours passed without him realizing it.

  When his cell phone rang, it startled him and he glanced up at the clock and then out the window of his penthouse. The sun was just beginning to set, and at some point it had started raining.

  He reached across the table and grabbed his phone. “Hello?”

  “Hi, I’m downstairs and need your help with my bags.”

  Michael sat straight up in his chair. “Your bags? Does this mean…?”

  “For now—can you come help me?”

  “Did you go see your brother? What’d he say?”

  “Long story.”

  “What happened?”

  “He kicked me out.”

  “What?”

  “Michael, this conversation would be much better sitting on your couch sipping a glass of wine. Instead of standing in the pouring rain.”

  “Sorry, I’ll be right down.”

  Forty-five minutes later, her bags were stacked high on the floor of the master suite, and they were indeed sn
uggled up together on the couch, sipping red wine.

  Michael kissed the top of her head where it was nestled beneath his chin. “Okay, start at the beginning.”

  Connie sighed in contentment, truly not wanting to ruin the perfect moment rehashing the argument with her brother. “Not much to tell. He asked me to move and I agreed. Although, in all fairness, he did take it back in the end. But I decided my moving out wasn’t such a bad idea after all. And so, here I am.”

  “Well, since I got a sexy new roommate out of the bargain, I shouldn’t complain. But the idea of him throwing you out makes me want to go over there and beat his ass.”

  “I told you he took it back in the end.”

  “Still…”

  “Shh.” She reached up and gave him a quick kiss. “I’m happy. Don’t mess it up.”

  Michael smiled. “Your wish is my command.”

  They lay on the couch in quiet contentment for several minutes. Connie was sorting through all the ways she had changed since meeting Michael, but then decided she hadn’t actually changed. No, being with Michael had simply allowed her to be herself. And since she’d never felt free enough to be herself before, that self seemed somehow different, somehow changed. When in fact she had been there all along, buried deep inside her miserable fake self. And the courage to fulfill one of her dreams had led her to the man who would fulfill all of her dreams. But despite all that, there was still more to be uncovered, more self to be discovered.

  “Michael?”

  “Hmm.”

  “I want you to know, my living here, this is temporary.”

  He shifted his body so he could look directly at her, a small frown creased his brow. “What are you saying?”

  “I think I want to get my own place.”

  “Why? There is plenty of room here. More than enough.”

  She sat up, and took a deep breath. “I know. It’s just I want to try living on my own for a while.”

  Michael opened his mouth to argue and closed it suddenly. He stared into her eyes for several long moments before a small smile came across his face.

  “All right.” He nodded and returned to his comfortable position. “Okay, get your own place, I understand.”

  As she settled back against his chest once more, Connie smiled to herself knowing that he did. Because he understood her, better than anyone ever had.

  She yawned, feeling warm and contented, and realized she was slowly dozing off to sleep when Michael spoke from over her head.

  “Connie?”

  “Yes?”

  “I know you said you don’t want to rush into marriage, but how about you say yes now, and we just have a really long engagement?”

  Connie laughed. “How long are we talking?”

  She felt him shrug around her. “As long as you want, or need.” He kissed her on the top of her head again. “I just want to get you off the dance floor before some other man grabs your attention.”

  She grinned up at him. “You don’t have to worry about anyone else grabbing my attention. You have no competition.”

  “So you think.” He huffed. “That’s because you don’t know what you look like when you dance.”

  She chuckled, silently wondering at the miracle that had caused their lives to intersect.

  “Well?” he asked when she did not answer the question.

  “Well…what?” she teased.

  “Don’t play coy. Will you marry me…eventually?”

  She turned and wrapped her arms around his neck. “Yes, my beautiful island lover. Yes.”

  * * * * *

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  ISBN: 9781459230507

  Copyright © 2012 by Harlequin Books S.A.

  The publisher acknowledges the copyright holders of the individual works as follows:

  HAWAII MAGIC

  Copyright © 2012 by Beverly Jenkins

  FIJI FANTASY

  Copyright © 2012 by Elaine Overton

  All rights reserved. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher, Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 225 Duncan Mill Road, Don Mills, Ontario, Canada M3B 3K9.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental. This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.

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