“Thank you for agreeing to meet me.” His tone sounded polite, humble even. But his posture was tense, as if he were ready to pounce if she dared try to escape.
She wasn’t sure she’d mind being captured.
What kind of crazy thought was that? She was an independent woman, answerable to no one but herself. “I did it for Kris.”
Liar.
His beautiful lips flattened. “I realize the last time we talked I made some assumptions. And I insulted you. I apologize.”
She raised her brows, keeping her expression bland, even though her heart was racing. “Okay.”
His fists clenched on the table and so did his jaw. The dimples, which she’d fallen head over heels for the first time she saw him, appeared.
Amy had taken one look at Kekoa and nearly turned both ankles. Beautiful was too lame a word for the man. His short-cropped black hair set off the smooth mahogany skin of his jaw. And there probably wasn’t one ounce of fat on the man.
“Okay? That’s all you have to say?”
“I—I don’t know what else to say.”
He leaned forward and took her hand across the table. “Don’t play games with me. I still desire you. I think only of you. Do you feel the same?”
Ice water. She needed a glass of ice water. So she could dump it over her head. She pulled her hand away from his and drew in a ragged breath. “It’s not that simple.”
“Why not?”
“You said it was your duty to—how did you put it?—‘make an alliance’ with someone appropriate. How has that changed?”
He frowned. “It hasn’t.”
“So, I’d be your girlfriend on the side?”
He straightened. “No! I wouldn’t dishonor my wife so. But we aren’t even engaged yet. And I want you now—”
“Hold on.” She lifted her hand palm up. “What do you mean, you aren’t engaged yet? So you already have someone lined up to be Mrs. Kekoa?”
“Well.” He sat back. “As I said. Nothing has been decided officially.”
Good grief, he was unofficially engaged? “Look. I know I was…willing before. More than willing. But that was before I realized how inappropriate I am for you.”
His eyes flared. “I have apologized for—”
“Let me finish. The truth is, I wouldn’t mind…continuing what we started.”
He grinned and his dimples broke out in full force. It was almost her undoing. “I knew—”
“And it’s not that I want any kind of commitment from you, God forbid.”
“Why do you say it like that?” He scowled. “God forbid I was committed to you? Why is that a bad thing?”
“It’s just an expression. It means I don’t want to be married ever again.”
His eyes widened and he tucked in his chin. “You were married?”
She raised her brows. “Is that so hard to believe?”
“That’s not what I meant. But, you don’t wish to be married again, then what’s to stop us from being together now?”
Amy sighed, long and loud. “It’s just that…” Nothing but brutal honesty would do at this moment. “No matter how attracted I am, I won’t be with someone who considers me below them.” She mumbled under her breath, “Not again.”
“What?”
“I guess what I’m saying is…” She scooted back her chair and got to her feet. When he also stood she looked him in the eye. “I don’t forgive you.” She wound her way around tables and chairs and marched out the door.
AS UNPLEASANT AS HER CHAT with Kekoa had been, Amy got the feeling Kristen’s night with Luke had been disastrous.
The fact that Kristen looked as if she’d spent the day pouring lemon juice in her eyes was the first clue. The second was that Kristen wouldn’t talk about it. Not even on their break. As Amy waited for an order of drinks at the bar, Kristen walked up with an order for the bartender.
Amy gave her a pointed glare. “I guess I’m going to have to feed Captain Mysterious’s man parts to the sharks, after all.”
Not only did Kristen not smile, but she actually flinched and squeezed her eyes closed.
“Oh, no. Kris, I’m so sorry.” She put an arm around her friend. “I thought a little joke would cheer you up. Are you going to be all right?”
Kristen swiped at her cheeks and nodded. She lifted a quivering chin and took a deep breath. “What about your meeting with Kekoa? What did he have to say?”
Collecting her cocktails from the bartender and setting them quickly on her tray, Amy shrugged. “He asked me out again, I turned him down again.”
“Did he insult you again?” Kristen stacked her customers’ drinks on a tray.
“No, he apologized.” Amy spun and headed slowly toward her section.
Kristen followed. “He did? Then why—”
Amy stopped and faced her friend. “He has a fiancée.”
Halted in her tracks, Kristen stared with her mouth hung open. Then her eyes narrowed and her mouth tightened. “Men.” She headed off to her section and Amy left for hers.
A few seconds later, Amy heard a loud crash of breaking glass. She looked up in time to see Kristen with her hands over her mouth and one of her customers standing, wiping liquid off his pants. Kristen seemed frozen at first, but then raced to the bathroom. Amy grabbed a couple of towels and headed to Kristen’s table to help clean up, and Frank appeared to mollify the gentleman and offer free drinks for the table.
As soon as she’d dropped the drink order off at the bar, Amy darted into the bathroom.
Kristen was sitting on the counter, red-eyed and sniffling. “Frank stuck his head in the door and told me to go home,” she said with a stuffed-up nose.
“Oh, hon.” Amy gave her a hug. “You probably should’ve just called in sick.”
“I didn’t want to leave you shorthanded.”
“We’ll be fine.” She hoisted herself onto the counter beside Kristen. “So much for your wild island fling, huh?” She nudged her shoulder.
Kristen snorted. “Yeah.”
“Well, you still have another week. I say you go out there, find a hottie with a body, take him back to your place and—”
“Yeah, ’cause that worked so well for you.” Kristen managed to look disapproving even while wiping her nose with a handful of tissue.
Amy chuckled and draped her arm around her friend. “Well, if I can’t feed his man parts to the sharks, then what can I do to help?”
Kristen giggled and shook her head. “Nothing. You can’t blame the guy. He has a perfectly legitimate fear. I could get cancer again anytime, and it’s not fair to ask anyone to go through that with me.”
Amy’s heart squeezed at the thought of Kristen getting sick again. She was such a strong person. To go through what she’d gone through… “Is that what he said?”
“No. Um, not exactly. But it doesn’t matter. I’ll be fine.” Then she straightened her spine, drew back her shoulders and lifted her chin. “As a matter of fact, I’m going to be more than fine. I decided the day I got the all clear from the doc that I wasn’t going to live the rest of my life in fear. I was going to spend each day celebrating life and living it to the fullest.”
“Good for you!” Amy cheered for her friend, but Kristen’s words socked her in the gut. Hadn’t she decided something similar when she’d escaped her abusive ex? No more living her life in fear. She’d wanted a fresh start, a new life. And she’d made one for herself here. But now, it seemed she was letting old fears prevent her from doing what she really wanted.
So what if Kekoa got married in a few weeks or months? He was single now. And what they’d had together, well, she knew enough to know that kind of sizzle didn’t come along every day.
And if she were really honest with herself, she had to admit she was afraid of that passion. She lost herself when she was that attracted to someone. And Kekoa was just the kind of dominant male she was obviously attracted to. He’d swallow her up and spit her back out when he was done with her
. But he could only take whatever she was willing to give over to him.
Could she have a passionate affair and not lose herself in the process?
She gave a mental shrug and returned her focus to Kristen. “So, shall we go do something wild and crazy tomorrow? Forget about Kekoa and the Captain and do something girly?”
Kristen was eyeing her speculatively, the light finally coming back to shine in her baby blues. “Not sure about girly, but…how about something gnarly?”
9
KRISTEN DRAGGED HER NEWLY rented surfboard down the sloping sand to the spot on the beach where Amy had chosen to set up her chair and umbrella. “Are you sure you don’t mind me leaving you alone for a bit?” She couldn’t wait to feel the thrill of riding the waves. If she were going to leave fear behind and forget about her vacation-fling-gone-bad, this was the way to do it.
“Are you kidding? You think I want the competition of you tanning next to me?” She grinned and plunked a huge hat on her head.
No way could Kristen compete with Amy’s long legs and big boobs. Especially not in that hot-pink bikini. Of course, Kristen would have to actually wear a bikini....
One fear at a time. For now her wet suit would be better protection for surfing anyway.
She and Amy had taken the day off from work and driven north along the coast forty-five minutes to Lahaina. Kristen had painted her toenails on the dashboard of Amy’s old Toyota as they’d sung along to old favorites. Later they were planning on checking out the bars around the beach resorts for lunch and Margaritas, and then they were signed up for hula-dancing lessons. All things Kristen had wanted to do before she had to go home.
It wasn’t even noon and Amy had slathered on sunscreen in addition to bringing the umbrella.
“Don’t you want to get any sun at all?”
Amy tugged her sunglasses down her nose and glared at Kristen over the rims. “You’ve obviously never seen what happens when a redhead tries to tan. Trust me, it’s not pretty.”
Kristen giggled. It felt good to laugh again.
“Now shoo.” Amy waved her away. “You’re blocking my view.” She turned a brilliant smile toward three young muscled guys walking past. They ogled. She ogled. It was fun to watch. For about half a second. The waves were calling to Kristen stronger than any men ogling.
There was a coral reef at Napili Bay that kept waves from getting too big and since she wasn’t as experienced at surfing that suited her fine. The wave report at the rental shop had announced a storm brewing that might hit shore later in the afternoon and bring a few ten-footers with it. She’d be done by then.
As soon as she’d paddled out past the breakers, she heard a very distant rumble of thunder, but she barely registered it as she saw an excellent wave heading her way. She jumped to her feet to catch the curl, but crashed about halfway in. She controlled the fall once she realized she’d lost her balance, and found her board thankfully still attached by the Velcro anklet.
A half hour later she’d caught three more decent waves. One she’d been able to ride all the way to shore, which earned her high fives from several of the other surfers. Man, that felt great!
But she still hadn’t caught a really big one. And the waves were getting higher. The sky was also getting darker. Probably best to make this her last ride.
She waved to Amy, who casually waved back while busy flirting with a couple of older gentlemen in a golf cart with the Napili Bay Resort logo on the back. Then Kristen paddled far out to where the large waves were breaking. She sat up, straddling her board, and paddled around, dodging some nice but not quite right waves, waiting for the perfect ride.
While she waited, it started spitting rain, just a sprinkle here and there, but it made her look up and what she saw worried her. Thick, dark clouds hung low right above the surf. A loud crack of thunder boomed so close it made her jump. She scanned the shore and saw Amy, a tiny figure in the distance waving frantically for her to come in. A lifeguard stood next to her, also motioning her in.
Waves were huge now and rolling in right on top of each other. Well, if she was going to catch a massive one, it was now or never. Oh, geez! The mother of all waves was coming right at her. She paddled hard to position herself, jumped to her feet and rode the break for what seemed like minutes, but was probably only seconds when the wave seemed to swell like a monster opening its mouth.
The current sucked her under and she flipped off, head over heels into the cold, salty water. The undertow sucked her out and kept her under. Her only hope was the board still attached to her ankle.
She swam up, and up some more, struggling just to reach the surface before she ran out of air. Finally, she broke through the choppy water and gasped in air. As she searched for her board, the rough waves slammed into her and her head exploded in pain.
THE DOG WHINED AGAIN and stuck his cold, wet nose under Luke’s hand, nudging him to get his attention. It was almost noon. He’d been up most of the night, and taken the dog with him on his 6:00 a.m. run.
“All right, you needy, flea-bitten, walking hulk of shedding hair.” Luke pushed himself out of the recliner and stalked to the bedroom for a shirt.
The dog went haywire the second Luke got up, barking, racing back and forth between the bedroom and front door.
“Yeah, yeah, I’m coming.” Yanking a shirt over his head and shoving it down over his stomach, Luke grabbed the leash off the table by the front door and hooked it onto the dog’s collar. He reached into his jeans pocket, pulled out a dog treat and fed it to the tan mutt. Hunkering down, he rubbed him behind his black ears and patted his back. “You know I’d keep you if I could, don’t you?”
He rubbed the dog’s sides and down his back a little more and then straightened, wondering where that sentiment had come from. He couldn’t care for a dog any better than he could a girlfriend with cancer.
As he’d been doing for the past two days, he forced himself to be realistic, to be practical. He couldn’t bring a dog from Hawaii to the mainland, and he couldn’t keep seeing a girl who needed a guy who could be there for her through thick and thin. Kristen would only be dragged down by someone like him. After what he’d done to her the other night? Yeah, he was a real catch.
He took the dog for a long walk, thinking how he’d miss the dumb animal. Not only was the mutt company, but he’d forced Luke to get outside into fresh air, like a certain petite blonde had. He realized he thought about things while he walked the dog. Whether that was a good thing or not…
Because, mostly, he thought about Kristen. And if she was okay after things had gone to hell the night before last. She was better off without him, for sure. Any good he might have done by helping her see that her scars were nothing compared to the beauty she radiated just by smiling, was obliterated by how he’d handled the rest of the night.
What an ass he’d been. How could he have done that to her?
Damn it, didn’t he have other things he could think about? He’d gotten emails from his mom and one sister. Mom had finally gotten a hearing aid. His nephew was starting Little League in a couple of weeks, and wanted to use Luke’s old mitt. Hard to believe his younger sisters already had kids in grade school.
He used to want kids. Now? He wasn’t so sure.
He stopped in his tracks, the dog yanking on the leash. When had he changed so much? Sure, he was going through a rough period, but…
The dog yanked again and Luke turned to head toward the condo. Confiscating an empty box from behind the Quick-Mart, he led the dog back to the condo, made sure he drank plenty of water and then packed up the dog bowls and food, and all the other dog paraphernalia he’d acquired over the past couple of weeks.
The mutt’s scrapes had all healed. The vet had given him the basic shots he needed. It was time to find someone else to take care of him.
Luke clipped the leash back on the dog and led him out to the rented Jeep.
The directions to the animal shelter were on a sticky note attached to the bag
of the dog’s favorite treats. He dug the bag out of the box of dog stuff, gave the dog another treat and set out for the shelter. As he drove, it seemed as if he could feel the dog’s eyes on him. He glanced over at a light and sure enough, the mutt was staring at him.
“Aw, now, don’t look at me like that. This is for your own good.”
The dog whined and turned his back to Luke, curling up in the seat.
Damn it.
He pulled up outside the shelter and got the dog out. Luke’s chest tightened. And once he got inside and heard the barks and whines of the other animals in the shelter, he looked down at the mutt, his tongue lolling out the side of his mouth, gazing up at him with such trust. Then he looked back up to the busy girl standing behind the counter waiting for him to fill out the paperwork.
He couldn’t do it. How did he know the dog would get adopted? Cute puppies always went first. Then purebreds. But a mutt like his dog? No. He’d have to find someone he knew would really care for the mutt.
Twenty minutes later he was back at the condo, throwing his keys on the table and unpacking the dog’s bowls.
He needed to find a good home for the mutt. The only people he knew who lived on the island were Kristen’s boat driver and her friend, Amy. Maybe one of them would know someone. But in order to talk to them he’d have to call Kristen. Or he could drop by Tradewinds when Amy was there.
Where the waitstaff or regular patrons might recognize him from that night he’d resuscitated the old man. He didn’t want that kind of attention.
It was the lesser of two evils then. The longer he put off getting rid of the dog, the harder it would be to give him up. And wasn’t it ironic that he felt the same way about Kristen?
But when he dialed her cell, it wasn’t her voice that answered.
“Luke?” It was a high shaky female voice that sounded as if she’d been crying. Why was Amy answering Kristen’s phone?
Luke’s stomach squeezed. “What’s wrong? Where’s Kristen?”
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