And, of course, those hands doing the mussing were hers.
He reached up to remove the hat, allowing it to dangle in his big hands as he turned to her. At that same moment heat completely engulfed her.
Piercing blue eyes seemed to stare a hole directly into her soul.
She felt her cheeks warm and was thankful for both her brown skin complexion and the sun’s dying rays that hid it from his piercing gaze.
Thick and unruly, his hair fell in discordant silk waves over his head. Although he kept his hair short it was long enough to show that if he allowed it to grow longer, the silken waves would turn to curls.
As if she needed to see that. She thanked God for small favors.
His piercing eyes were the first thing that caught her attention. His skin, a light olive tone due to his Hawaiian heritage, was deepened to golden with the long hours spent in the Hawaiian sun, made for an uncommonly handsome face. The perfection of his features could have been carved from marble they were so precise.
Thick dark lashes framed emerald-blue eyes, and a long nose and sensual lips all completed the picture of a near masculine perfection. A bump on the bridge of his nose, which gave his nose a slightly crooked appearance, prevented his face from being perfect.
But even imperfection made him that much more appealing to her, giving him a more rugged appearance. When one of the women had remarked upon their blue eyes, she’d seen Nick shrug it off with a grin in place, reminding the woman that his and his brother’s mother had been half Hawaiian and half white. Although her eyes had been brown, someone, somewhere, had been blue-eyed. DNA had a way of sneaky way of showing up in everyone’s family tree.
As Sonia stared up at him, his heritage didn’t matter. She only saw the man in front of her. And besides, his DNA made up for a man who was sinfully handsome.
His wide shoulders blocked out the horizon and the setting sun.
Rugged man. That summed up Mr. Keanu Kealoha to a T.
“I’m waiting...Sonia.”
Her startled gaze met his. It was the first time in six months of correspondence and three months they’d been filming the show at the ranch and working together that he’d called her by her first name. For nine months he’d called her Ms. Brandon.
He obviously caught her surprise. A slow grin split his face, transforming the normally austere but handsome face into one so breathtaking Sonia feared she would be in serious trouble if he knew his effect on her.
“Sonia?” she asked, putting on a fake careless, teasing smile. “You’re sure you can handle calling me by first name?” She could tell her teasing threw him off guard, but he played it well.
He lifted a shoulder. “I figured if you agree, it was about time we called each other by our first names, as we get to know each other better,” he said, and brought his hand out for her to shake.
* * *
Sonia was looking at his hand as if it was a damn rattlesnake, Key thought, irritated by her reaction. He refrained from his natural inclination to pull back after her obvious distrust, her reaction one he should have expected.
He was not going to allow one small woman to think he couldn’t handle her. He kept his hand extended, calmly waiting for her to shake it.
It was way past time that he actually sat down with the woman, got to know her. She was no different than any other woman he’d had to do business...or pleasure with. Although with her, he’d keep it to business.
Despite the way his cock jumped in response whenever she was within “sniffin’ distance,” as his twin called it. It wasn’t as if he was new to dealing with the opposite sex. Whenever he needed an itch scratched, there had never been a shortage of women willing to do the scratching for him.
But that’s all he’d ever indulged in. Although his needs ran high, sexually, he made sure any woman he indulged in any...scratching...with knew the score. He did not want a relationship.
Growing up on the ranch had taught him a few things. One was that ranching and the long hours involved to see the ranch a success didn’t always work well with trying to have a relationship. But with this woman, he would continue to keep it business as usual.
He glanced down at the sexy producer, who was studiously avoiding his gaze. And something about the woman staring out at this land told him she wasn’t the type to get it and quit it, as his brother called Key’s infrequent and short-term affairs.
She chose that moment to glance up at him, and Key felt poleaxed.
It was her eyes.
She was beautiful, sophisticated, intelligent and, from the rare times he’d seen her with her guard down, she had a smile that lit up the room. Not that she showed it much around him.
Key felt his jaw tighten. It was his fault. He’d kept a distance between them, he knew, purposefully. But now he needed for her to trust him, needed to keep her close. He’d already agreed to allow them to finish the last few episodes, and with that, the decision to start filming a second season was one he had promised, both to her and his father and brother.
It was a decision he knew would allow him to keep a watchful eye on her so the skeletons in his family’s closet didn’t find their way on-screen, live and in living color for the whole world to see.
He needed to keep her and her crew around long enough to insure they didn’t know his family’s secret and use it in some ratings scheme. He had enough on his hands without airing his family’s dirty laundry publicly. Especially as he hadn’t confronted his father about it, nor told his brother.
He knew time wasn’t exactly his friend. He would have to act quickly and earn her trust.
“Does this mean what I think it does, Mr. Kealoha?” she asked, a light entering her beautiful eyes. For a fraction of a moment, Key felt a pang of guilt for his deception. He pushed it to the side. He would protect his family at all cost.
He allowed a slow grin to lift the corners of his mouth. “Yes. I will definitely consider allowing the show to continue—” His last words were swallowed within her embrace as she leaped up and grabbed him, hugging him to her body.
The feel of her small body wrapped around him eradicated every thought from his mind. The reason for the deceit, the very fact that he was deceiving her and had no intention of allowing the show to continue...everything wiped out. Clean.
Hell, he would have a hard time remembering his own name he was so stunned by her reaction.
Without conscious thought or will he drew back and lifted her face, forcing her chin up and forcing her to look at him.
“And I think it’s time we drop the formality. My name is Keanu. Friends call me Key,” he said and, brushing a finger beneath her chin, he tilted her face farther up so that he could see her eyes.
He saw her throat constrict as she swallowed, biting her lower lip in obvious nervousness, a gesture he’d seen her do on more than one occasion. His eyes followed the trail of her small tongue.
“And can we be that?” she said, her voice husky. “Friends?”
“Yes,” he said, hearing the huskiness in his own voice but not giving a damn. “I think we can be that. At the very least,” he finished, his eyes locked on hers.
Her startled gaze was centered on him, and as he leaned down and brought their faces together, bringing their mouths into alignment, he slanted his mouth over hers.
Chapter 5
When his lips met hers, shock prevented Sonia from reacting initially. Besides balling her hands into fists placed on his chest, she was helpless to do anything else.
Shock soon turned into temporary pliancy when the sweetness of his lips registered in her consciousness, and for a brief moment she gave into the kiss.
“Hmm.” Her soft sigh escaped from behind her lips as he gently laid siege to her mouth.
His lips were hard, unyielding and yet soft on hers. Easy. Inqui
sitive, yes, but not demanding.
Her fisted hands relaxed and flattened on the granite-hard walls of his chest. She gathered the worn and soft faded work shirt between her fingers and kneaded the material softly. She drew in a moan around his lips and allowed him to bring her closer.
“Hmm.” Again, her soft moan whispered between them. Just for one moment more...
When she felt the tip of his tongue feather back and forth, seesawing against the inseam of her mouth, she drew in a hissing breath, which seemed to be the invitation he was both waiting for and needed. Deftly he slipped his tongue between her lips, forging inside to stake his claim.
From there the kiss changed, his hold on her became tighter, more demanding. Even as she tried to shut out that voice of reason pinging away at her brain, she moaned, melting into his embrace, his hot kiss.
When she felt his hands drop from her shoulders, and curve around her backside, the whiny voice in her mind would no longer be denied.
What in hell... Why in hell was she allowing this? She felt like screaming as the internal fight made the deliciousness of what was going on, the hot spur-of-the-moment kiss, dissipate and reality rear its ugly head.
Damn reality, she mentally grumbled.
Sighing, she pushed away from him, creating space between them.
“Keanu, stop,” she pleaded, nearly breathless.
She knew the minute reality crashed in on him, as well. No sooner had she shoved away from him, nearly stumbling as she did so, than she caught the string of emotions cross his handsome face. He closed his eyes briefly before running a hand through his dark hair.
“God, I am sorry for that. I don’t know what in hell came over me to do something like that,” he began, taking a step toward her, one hand extended.
Sonia didn’t know whether to be happy, sad or mad at his exclamation. Or what to make of the look of disgust that crossed his face. Was her kiss that awful?
She knew the minute he caught her reaction. Usually she considered herself a good poker player, but as much as she tried to hold her cards close, she feared her true feelings showed. God, can a hole just open up and swallow me? she wondered, wanting to run as far away as possible, quickly, in order to get it together. The simple kiss had been as devastating as it was short, too short.
Oh, God, I need help, she thought, feeling the heat threaten to burn her face completely up. Even now she yearned to feel his mouth on hers again.
She took a deep breath and stepped back, away, trying to hide her face, knowing the message desperate woman had to be blazing across her forehead.
She did what any woman in her shoes would do: she put a mask over her emotions.
She pursed her lips, frowning, with a look she hoped passed as offense plastered on her face, in an effort to save face. After a moment she knew her faux look had been read and interpreted as she’d wanted.
“What was that all about?” she asked tightly.
A sense of relief mixed with regret when he quickly brought his hand down. For a brief moment, she thought she saw disappointment in his eyes.
She kept a tight lock on her face, her body, forcing herself not to go to him, explain that she didn’t mean what she’d said.
She stopped herself, barely. He turned away, his big shoulders hunching down. It was long moments before he spoke, but she waited, knowing that the ball was in his court, as she’d volleyed it back to him.
“I’m sorry,” he murmured in his deep baritone voice. “That wasn’t supposed to happen.”
Sonia waited for him to say more. Yes, she knew she could have gone to him, breached the small gap, turned him around and told him it was okay, he hadn’t really done anything to her that she didn’t want. He hadn’t done anything to her that she hadn’t been yearning for, for weeks. She could have laughed and shrugged it off as a heat-of-the-moment kind of thing.
Yet she held back, some inner voice telling her it wasn’t the way to go. Let him think what he wanted. It was the best thing.
It was bad enough how this guy made her feel, plunging her back to her adolescence as thoughts of him plagued her night and day like some lovesick kid, without him knowing how badly he affected her. Best thing to do was get this over with, play it off, laugh it off, whatever....
He turned to face her. The fake smile slipped and she put it firmly back in place, brightly keeping all feelings firmly on lockdown. When he moved as though to walk closer, she held out a restraining hand. “Look, no need for any more apologies,” she said, a breathless laugh tumbling from her lips. “No biggie, we both just got caught up in the moment.”
A frown marked his nearly perfect features. “Look, Ms. Brandon, I—”
“Ms. Brandon? Come on, I thought we already agreed...first names.” She maintained the bright smile and, with her next words, drove in the nail.
“Hey, after a kiss like that, I’m pretty sure we’re on a first-name basis.” Before the smile could slip she leaned down and grabbed her messenger bag and lifted it over her shoulder. “It’s going to be a busy day tomorrow. I’d better go. I’ll make sure Patricia gets the new contract for you, your family and your lawyers to look over for the new season.”
With that, she quickly spun around, thankful she didn’t fall in her haste and finish the night off with a bang to complete the task of making an utter ass of herself. Because it wasn’t as if she had done that at all tonight.
Holding back the crazy, embarrassed tears and with as much dignity as she could muster, barely a looking over her shoulder, she all but ran away from him. Deciding to forgo heading to her trailer, hoping Patricia had locked up, she lifted the keys from her bag and, before she was even in range of the remote, started jabbing at the little unlock symbol. She couldn’t get out of there fast enough.
She hopped inside her rental and, before the car was barely turned on, reversed out of the driveway and was making her way out of the Kealoha Ranch as though the devil himself was after her.
God only knows, after the oddness of the evening and the way the night had turned out, he probably was.
Chapter 6
“Oh, my God...is it true?”
She frowned as her assistant burst into her trailer, a huge grin on the woman’s lined face as she approached Sonia’s desk. Patricia stopped in front of the desk and clasped her hands together.
Is what true? Sonia mouthed, frowning as she nudged her Bluetooth away from her mouth. Then she made a pointing motion with her finger, indicating she was on the phone.
Patricia’s mouth formed an O. She grimaced and held up her hands in apology.
“I’ll make coffee!” she whispered excitedly, and turned, briskly walking toward the minute area Sonia had designated as her reception area in the small trailer.
Sonia was in the middle of a conference call with Marty Shop, one of the executive producers for the show. Sonia held back a sigh, wondering how Patricia had found out the news. The only thing she could be referring to was the news that the Kealohas had agreed to do the show.
She hadn’t told any of the staff yet, wanting to speak to the execs at the station first before she alerted her staff.
Then there was the matter of actually getting the family to sign the contract for the new show.
She felt confident that would happen. The nagging voice in the back of her head, pinging at her, reminded her that she hadn’t actually gotten anything beyond a vague agreement of a second season from the one family member whom she knew to be the only dissenter.
But what a dissenter he was...without his assent, a second season wasn’t going to happen, as she knew neither his father nor brother would agree to it without Keanu’s approval.
Sonia brushed aside the inner voice. It had to happen, she knew it would. Despite what had occurred between the two of them. A blush stole across her face. Not that s
he was using him in any way, as she’d never resorted to that way of doing business. Besides, he’d been the one to initiate the kiss, not her.
“Sonia, we have all the confidence in the world in the show and, most important, in you. From the beginning you’ve bought something different...unique, to the show. Your vision has been one of the main components of the show’s success. Just keep me abreast of what’s been going on and let me know when you need the money!”
Sonia laughed along with Marty Shop. It was no secret that Marty, along with his partner, Sheldon Harris, partners in business as well as life, were two of the most influential, i.e. richest executive producers in the industry.
She and Martin Von Shoppe, which he had shortened and changed to just Marty Shop, had worked together previously, and although he ran a tight ship in the area of finances, when he backed a project, he went all the way. In the industry, having a man like Marty on her side went a long way toward building not only her reputation but also her career.
“Will do, Marty,” she replied warmly.
“I’m sure they aren’t going for the boilerplate contract they signed the first time, so as soon as you get the details of what they want, send it to legal and we’ll start the new contract. But let’s not vacillate on this one. They’re a hot commodity, honey,” he drawled. “We don’t want someone else sweeping them off their feet before we get the contracts written and signed!” he finished before disconnecting the line.
She sighed, tapping the end button on her Bluetooth before withdrawing it from her ear. She rubbed at her ear; the pressure from the bud always caused her ear to throb.
She hated to wear the darn things and only did so when she was on important business calls as it enabled her to be hands-free. She had a tendency to nervously walk around while on the phone, something she did when she was either excited or nervous. Both were the case when she was speaking to Marty about the show.
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