by Anna Lowe
Her lips moved. Her feet shuffled. And before she knew it, she was right in front of him. She tipped her chin up — way up, because being that close emphasized their height difference — and cupped his cheek.
“You look nice,” he whispered, gazing into her eyes.
“So do you,” she mumbled.
His arms slid around her waist like that was the most natural thing in the world to do, and they stood silently gaping at each other.
“Not bad for a start,” Kai muttered from somewhere behind them.
Ella barely heard, because it wasn’t an act. It was the real thing.
“Now, kiss,” Lily hissed in sotto voce that half the airport could hear. “Kiss.”
Ella should have stomped away and refused, but most of her brain had turned off, so…
She leaned closer, closed her eyes, and met Jake halfway for a kiss. The second their lips met, she clutched his shirt because, wow, what a kiss.
That kiss made breathing secondary and pushed away the outside world until she was in a tunnel of blindingly bright light, filled with honest, earthy flavors that went from new to her absolute favorite in an instant. It was the kind of kiss that filled her mind with a whirlwind of wild ideas, like hanging on to that marriage certificate forever and making this real.
But it wasn’t real, and her eyelids fluttered, blinking back tears.
Jake stayed lost in the kiss a few seconds longer than she did, and when he opened his eyes, his chest rose with a deep breath.
Ella bit her lip. Whatever happened in the next few days, she vowed to never, ever hurt him. No more silent treatment like she’d tried over the past few days. No snippy comebacks, no single-syllable responses. She would give Jake all the warmth and respect he deserved, and somehow, she would make him understand how impossible the idea of being together was.
Her fox wailed inside. I want to be together. Forever.
She swallowed hard. Forever wasn’t in the cards for her and Jake. But a week she never thought she’d get? She could pack a lifetime of love and living into that time. The only trick would be finding the strength to let him go at the end.
“Not bad,” Kai chuckled.
Ella ignored her almost-big-brother and hugged Jake fiercely. She might not be able to explain her secret vow to him, but she could show him she cared. Jake seemed intent on the same thing, because he held her tightly, stroking her hair just as he’d done on that magical night they’d shared a long time ago.
“Time to check in,” Kai said.
Slowly, gently, Ella eased away from Jake, trying to focus on her next steps.
Lily poked her arm. “Don’t forget to keep holding hands.”
Funny, Ella didn’t need a reminder that time.
When Kai pushed the luggage cart and led them to a counter, Jake looked up in surprise.
“Business class?”
Kai grinned. “When Silas does something, he does it in style. Besides, we’re treating this as a hardship post.” His eyes twinkled. Had he caught on that that might not be the case?
Lily beamed at the airline agent. “They’re honeymooners! Isn’t that wonderful?”
“That is wonderful,” the man behind the counter agreed, checking their IDs. “Mr. McBride and Mrs…” He frowned. “Ms. Kitt?”
“She’s keeping her name,” Jake growled in a distinct, You got a problem with that? tone.
He’d make a great shifter, her fox cooed as the agent shrank back.
Ella tightened her grip around Jake’s hand. He had always accepted her as she was, letting her be herself. A prince of a man, and she was supposed to give him up? How?
She looked around the concourse. Businessmen bustled by, and couples walked hand in hand. A child ran from her mother into an older couple’s arms, crying, “Grandma! Grandpa!” A group of fresh arrivals bustled toward their bus, eager to leave the humdrum of daily life behind and explore a new place.
Ella’s chest rose and fell. Maybe that’s what she and Jake needed — to let go of the past. To step away from the roles they had both grown accustomed to and to explore. Maybe even to reinvent themselves and find something other than rock-hard soldier inside.
“That will be gate fifty-six,” the man at the counter said. “Have a nice flight.”
Lily beamed her thanks. “Mahalo.”
Kai and Lily walked them most of the way to the security check.
“You good to go?” Kai asked.
“Good to go.” Jake nodded, waiting for Ella to nod before taking her hand.
“Roger,” she said, trying to sound businesslike instead of breathy — and failing miserably. Was there anything not to love about Jake?
Kai grinned and waved toward the gate. “Well, then. Have fun, kids.”
Chapter Six
Oh, we’ll have fun, all right, Ella’s fox murmured.
She took a deep breath. God, this was going to be torture.
The best kind of torture.
“Have a great honeymoon.” Lily clucked over Ella and Jake and waved them off with a tear in her eye. Almost as if it was a real honeymoon, and Lily was the bride’s mom.
Ella’s eyes grew misty as she thought back to Georgia Mae, the kind owl shifter who had given her, Hunter, and Kai a stable, loving home after her mother died of grief. Over the years, Ella had often thought of Georgia Mae’s generosity, but she had never really stopped to consider what Georgia Mae would feel as her charges grew up and hit major landmarks. Like this one – marriage. Even if it was a sham, it made Ella think. Would Georgia Mae approve of Jake and this whole crazy venture?
Ella wove her fingers between Jake’s as they walked through security, finally on their own. In some ways, it was a lot like the military — even on a mission assigned by higher-ups, once a team struck out, the mission became their own. Other than a scribbled list of instructions Lily had given her – yes, instructions, as if Ella needed to be told how a woman in love should behave – she and Jake were on their own.
On our own and nothing is forbidden, her fox whispered in her mind.
She tried shaking the thought out of her head. Some things had to remain forbidden. But as long as she could refrain from a mating bite, she could get through the coming week, right?
Maybe even enjoy a moment or two, her fox added with a sultry swipe of her tail.
“Ever flown business before?” Jake murmured.
“Nope,” she said, counting rows until she located their seats. Once they were settled in, she pulled out Lily’s notes.
“What’s that?” Jake asked in that smooth, low voice that made her toes curl.
“Orders.” She stabbed the first item on the list with her index finger. “Number one. Cute, cuddly behavior on the plane and in public at all times.” She frowned at the way Lily had penciled over and underlined at all times. “You think you’re capable of cute and cuddly?”
The corners of Jake’s mouth curled up. “Not sure we got that in Ranger training.”
Definitely not. Ella shook her head, which somehow turned into resting her cheek comfortably on Jake’s shoulder. He slid an arm around her and let his fingers play lightly over the fabric of her sundress.
“It is a nice dress,” he murmured. A second later, he added, “Honey.”
She stuck her elbow into his ribs, and he chuckled at her halfhearted protest.
The flight was too short to give the flight attendant much time to lavish attention on them, thank goodness, so it was just complimentary champagne — in real glasses, no less — and an embarrassing round of applause from all the passengers on the plane.
“Happy honeymoon,” everyone cheered.
Ella took a deep breath before clinking her glass to Jake’s.
“To us,” Jake murmured in a low, even tone.
“To us,” she breathed, telling herself she was just playing a part.
Jake nodded toward the paper. “What else is on that list?”
She went over the next couple of lines in an uncertain
whisper. “Moonlight walk on the beach.”
“That doesn’t sound so hard,” Jake said.
It sounded far too easy, in fact.
“Two straws in one cocktail.”
“Another easy one,” he said.
Lying in the sand with your head in his lap was also on the list, followed by lounging by the poolside holding hands. Ella looked up from the list. “Listen, Jake. We need to talk about th—”
He cut her off with a gentle finger to the lips, glancing around in a hint that they could be overheard. “I know. We have to talk about a lot of things. But not here. Not now.” Then he spoke in a louder voice. “Wow. I can’t believe we’re really going to Maui.”
“Me neither,” she chimed in, playing the game as best she could. She wasn’t one to giggle or flip her hair as Lily’s list suggested, but she might be able to pull this off, after all.
She looked out the window. They definitely had to talk. But for now…
As the plane rose, she gazed out at the ocean. She had flown to Maui to help out at Koa Point on various occasions over the past months, but she tried looking at the view with honeymooner eyes this time. Jake looked too, leaning into her space, smelling incredibly good. Like leather and spruce and a tiny hint of lavender.
So good, her fox sighed.
Then she caught herself. This was work, not a honeymoon, and she’d better remember that.
She lowered her voice again. “What did Kai tell you?”
Jake pulled a paper from his pocket and unfolded the tight wad. Ella hid a smile. That was one of Jake’s little idiosyncrasies, one she remembered the guys poking fun of at a desert camp one night.
He unfolded the paper and tilted it toward her.
“Now that’s different,” she murmured.
Kai’s list was the opposite of Lily’s, with points like check for weaknesses in perimeter, calculate distances to possible sniper positions, and background checks on all guests.
Jake nodded and put the paper away. “I figure, for tonight, we can focus on Lily’s list.” A second later, he hastened to add, “I mean, while we’re in public.”
He blushed, and her cheeks heated at the suggestion of what a newly wedded couple would get up to in the honeymoon suite on their first night of holy matrimony.
Ella puffed a breath upward, trying to cool off. “In public. Of course.”
Which they did a surprisingly good job with throughout the short flight to Maui and as they waited for their outlandish number of bags on the other end. Ella made a face as the first few rolled out. Not one could be strapped to her back or attached to her thigh as she was used to from missions behind enemy lines. None of the contents would fit in the draining pockets of her cargo pants. Which, she supposed, was a good thing, considering those pants were buried deep in that luggage somewhere.
“Hey, I can get it,” she muttered as Jake plucked the biggest suitcase off the belt with one hand. “Wait a second.” She shoved her hands to her hips as he loaded it onto their trolley. “You didn’t pull that I’m a gentleman helping a lady bullshit in the army. Why now?”
He shrugged and beat her to yet another bag. “Because doing it then could have affected how the other guys saw you.” He placed the suitcase beside the others and motioned around. “Now, no one’s watching — judging — what a girl can and can’t do.” He put air quotes around girl. “But now, I figure I’m allowed to do like my mom taught me.” He finished with a wry smile. “Well, she tried. I’m not sure she succeeded.”
Oh, she’d succeeded, all right, and Ella’s heart just about melted. It had been an ongoing struggle to prove herself as one of the guys — not so much to the elite, all-shifter unit she’d belonged to, but to other soldiers they had come into contact with. Some of those men had gone out of their way to make her miserable, while others had naïvely offered help, which had only accomplished the opposite. Yet Jake had understood and respected that without ever saying a word.
“You want to push the trolley?” he offered.
She laughed and shoved him. “You push it, McBride.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
He grinned all the way through the arrivals building then waved to a burly Hawaiian who held a sign that had to have been prepared by Lily. Mr. and Mrs. McBride. Happy Honeymoon! it screamed in huge letters surrounded by little pink hearts.
“Mr. and Mrs. McBride?” the big kanaka asked.
Jake gave a friendly but firm shake of his head — not quite a yes, not quite a no. “Mr. McBride and Ms. Kitt.”
The driver laughed and waggled his hand in a hang-loose sign. “Aloha i Maui.”
He led them to a ridiculously overstretched limo and started loading up their luggage. Jake helped, and Ella did too, grabbing the biggest suitcase before anyone else could.
“You got a hell of a lot of power for such a little thing,” the driver chuckled.
Ella was about to retort when Jake growled, “She’s not little.”
The driver stuck his hands up in the air and backed off with a laugh. “Not complaining, brah. She can load all the luggage she wants.”
So she did, damn it, and minutes later, they were rolling across central Maui, heading back over the road they had driven that morning. But instead of continuing to the end of Honoapi’ilani Highway to Koa Point, the driver turned left at the imposing gates of the Kapa’akea Resort.
Jake let out a low whistle as they passed the polo grounds and golf course, and Ella swiveled her head in every direction when they entered the lavishly decorated lobby, starting her surveillance right away. She counted entrances, people, and stairways, making mental notes to explore every twisting hallway. Two men lounged by the windows, one reading a newspaper, the other checking his laptop. The restaurant was to the right, check-in to the left. A waiter hurried toward the bar with a tray loaded with drinks and—
She winced as he tripped over a fold in the rug. The ear-splitting noise of a dozen shattering glasses filled the room, and everyone looked up.
“Hey,” Ella yelped as a heavy weight shoved her toward the floor. “What the—”
She cut herself off, finding herself in Jake’s arms, a foot away from actually hitting the carpet. “Jake…”
He had caught himself just short of pulling her to the ground for cover. His eyes were wide, as if that had been incoming enemy fire and not a tray of glasses. The vein in his neck pulsed. And, shit. Now that everyone had looked away from the waiter, they were staring at her and Jake.
“Oh, gosh, these heels,” she said, making a show of examining her shoes. “Thanks for grabbing me, honey.”
The other guests turned away, smiling indulgently at the cute couple in love — which sure beat pitying looks of What the hell is wrong with that guy?
“I’m such a klutz,” she went on, clutching his arm. Straightening, she squeezed his hand and whispered out of the side of her mouth. “It’s okay. I know how it is.”
Jake’s blue eyes were dull with shame but grateful too, and she hurried to the check-in desk to put the awkward moment behind them.
“We’re so happy to welcome another pair of happy honeymooners here,” the receptionist gushed.
Ella stroked Jake’s arm, wishing she could send her thoughts straight into his mind. Something like, Everything is okay. Everything is all right.
Jake stood stiff and still, but as they went through the check-in formalities, his tension slowly eased.
Just like I said, her fox murmured. Our mate needs us.
Ella took a deep breath. She’d witnessed Tessa calm Kai down in a similar way and watched Dawn chase the haunted look out of Hunter’s eyes. It was amazing, the effect a destined mate had on her partner.
She bit her lip as the crux of the problem hit her all over again. Tessa and Dawn hadn’t risked killing the men they loved when they’d completed the mating ritual. But Jake…
“You’ll find a complimentary bottle of champagne chilling in your room.” The receptionist’s eyes twinkled.
Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea, after all.
“On behalf of everyone here at the Kapa’akea Resort, we wish you a wonderful honeymoon. If there’s anything we can do to make your stay more comfortable, please let us know.”
Ella glanced at the exit, but, shit. Too late to rethink this insane plan.
Jake took the key when she didn’t. “Thanks.”
The receptionist motioned a bellhop over. “Toby, the bags, please.”
Toby looked to be one of those just out of college, not quite sure what I’m doing with my life guys who’d never hefted a weapon or looked a deadly enemy in the eye. But it was hard to resent his eager, puppy dog innocence, and his mile-a-minute chatter helped dispel the last of Jake’s uneasiness.
“I’m actually a valet, but I’m moonlighting as a bellhop,” Toby said as the elevator dinged through one floor after another. “So I’m moving up in the world.” He laughed. “You get it?”
Ella winced at the pun. “Got it.”
“So, you’re honeymooners, huh? We get a lot of weddings here. You should’ve seen the one we had not too long ago. Regina Vanderpelt. You’ve heard of her, right?”
Ella sighed. She’d heard the stories, all right.
“Craziest wedding ever, especially since the bride called it off at the last minute. The cool part was I got to ride in a Rolls-Royce!”
The elevator dinged and came to a stop on the second-to-last floor.
“Here we are.” Toby motioned to a gold-fringed door at the end of the hall, swiped a keycard over the touchpad, and pushed the door open with a flourish.
“Welcome to the honeymoon suite. Have a great time!”
Ella edged in then froze. The suite was amazing, but what made her pulse rush was the sight of the bed in the room to the right.
King-size. Ivory-colored silk sheets strewn with rose petals. Yep. That definitely screamed Sex!
