by Mimi Barbour
“Most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard!” He sneezed to emphasize his exclamation.
“Bless you. And it isn’t ridiculous at all. I have no doubt we all have some habits and character traits that aren’t very popular, but I’d say most men and women just want to make a decent life, have friends and a family who care about them, and work hard so they can look forward to a reward.”
His hand sliced through the air. “Bullsh—”
Clearing her throat cut off his swearing.
“Fine! I’ll clean up my language, but you’re still being naive. Most people are out for what they can get, and if they can screw over anyone else in their path, all well and good. I work in an industry that sees it all the time. I will admit it wasn’t always that way. When I was younger, many of our tourists were happy to see the Hawaii we grew up in. They were happy with any attention given to them and made working in the industry a good place to be. In the last while, many people who come to the islands demand better and always want more. They never seem to be satisfied.”
Because she was always a toucher, Leilani lifted his hand, placed it in hers, and patted it with her other. “Don’t concentrate on the few who ruin it. Look at the others who love your island and want to enjoy its beauty. For every rotten jerk, there are so many good folks who’ve saved their pennies to come here. You don’t notice them because they’re the quiet people.”
“They’re quiet because the loudmouth buffoons make it impossible for them to be heard.”
“Actually, the loudest are the ones who need affirmation the most. I see many of those poor people. I’m a nurse in a cancer clinic, and I’ve always found that the complainers are the sad souls who are in need of the gentlest care.” She could see that her reply shocked him so she asked, “Do you want to hear my theory?”
“Do I have a choice?”
His teasing note dimmed her delight in sharing. “Not really. If I don’t keep talking, I might start screaming. Panic, you see. Small places can do that to some people.”
“Then by all means, tell me why whiners make the saddest patients. I can’t wait to hear your reasoning.”
First, she settled back against her suitcase and crossed her leg over the other, while still holding on to his hand. “I believe as babies and wee children, a lot of those folks were ignored by their parents. Being that their particular personalities needed this interest desperately, they ended up whining and demanding it. In fact the more they carried on, the better it worked… didn’t matter if it was a negative reaction, any reaction would do as long as they were acknowledged. Children whose parents or siblings doted on them in their youth tend to be much less insecure and in need of attention.”
“I see. And what about those people who don’t want folks bothering them with petty complaints and silly grievances?”
“Then those people shouldn’t be working in the hospitality industry, should they?”
“Not everyone has a choice, Miss….”
So now, he wanted to know her name. Took him long enough to ask. Of course, it was a two-way street. She could have asked him first. However, wasn’t it up to the male to make that move? Leilani wished she had more experience with men. Between the energy her mom had demanded each day, her jobs to pay for her nursing, and the time-consuming studying it took her to get her degree, dating had been low on her priority totem pole.
“He repeated his request, this time a little louder. Miss…?”
“Leilani Taylor. And you?”
Chapter Six
“My name is Kale. You’ve given me a lot to think about, Leilani.” Her still holding his hand and rubbing it as if he needed to be soothed also had him thinking—and feeling. Adrenalin began pumping so hard through his body; he knew he should break the contact, except there wasn’t enough money in the world to make him stop the wonder of her touch. Even his body loved her soft caresses, and hardened with pleasure.
When it came to his libido, he’d always had incredible control. Or he had, before this little minx had fallen into his world. Nothing he tried would stop the urge that had attacked him. The urge to pull her onto his lap, and kiss her quiet.
Not that her mellow voice irritated. In fact, he could listen to her talk all night. Considering how much he hated it when his previous girlfriends had nattered on about their inconsequential nothings, this alone perplexed the hell out of him.
Finally, he noticed that Leilani had indeed stopped chatting. Perversely, he wanted her to continue. Seems he liked the sound of her voice. Who knew how long they’d have to wait for the repairs on the elevator? He might as well get to know this doll-like creature better. Undoubtedly, Kale figured he’d eventually find out she was the same kind of female as all the others he’d had the misfortune to date.
He broke into the silence. “Okay, I’ve given your theory consideration, and I believe there is some merit to what you say. My perspective has become cynical over the years.”
“It wouldn’t if you loved what you do.”
“I don’t hate it. I’m just exhausted and it’s coming out in my attitude. But I feel much better now having spent this time with you.”
“Kale, tiredness can’t explain your inner feelings. Isn’t there something else you could do that you love?”
Kale thought about the project he’d begun working on, before being called away to attend to his hotels. How he’d hated being forced to leave. “I guess there is, but it’s only a hobby. I have a responsibility to my staff and the investors who rely on me. Don’t worry about me; I’m a big boy. Tell me about your mother and where you have to take her ashes.”
The girl looked at him when she realized that he was now returning her handclasp, that he’d become a participant in the hand-holding she’d so unconsciously started. As if he’d known it would be difficult for her to answer his question, and he wanted to be encouraging, he lightly squeezed her fingers.
“My mother was a very difficult woman. Most of her life was filled with regret and anger. She demanded a lot from… uhh people, and then withheld approval even after she’d get her own way. My father couldn’t live with her, and left when I was quite young. I tried to be the daughter she wanted, even became a nurse to help her through her disability, but I’m sure there were many days she regretted being a mother.”
“What kind of disability?”
“She was a paraplegic and confined to a wheelchair.”
“Living with her must have been demoralizing.”
“Not at all. I just told myself to treat her like a little girl who didn’t know any better. Most days the treatment worked, and she’d try harder. I honestly feel there’s an answer for her deep unhappiness, and that I’ll find it here on the island where she came from.”
“You’re a better person than I am. I would have left.”
“No, you wouldn’t. You can’t even leave a job you dislike, because of the people depending on you. So how could you think you’d have left a woman who only had one thing to live for?”
Shame coursed through Kale when he’d blurted out the company line most people would say instead of giving her the courtesy of speaking from the heart. She’d seen right through him. “If you put it like that, I suppose you’re right. At least she did love you.”
“That was never in doubt. If only she’d loved herself.”
Leilani gave his hand one last squeeze and stood up in a graceful and ladylike way. His muscles ached from sitting in one place for so long and the cheeks of his ass were almost numb. No way could he copy her style. So first, he rolled to his knees and then grabbed a hold of the railing to balance in case his legs let him down. Tiredness had washed over him, from being so relaxed beside Leilani.
She arched her back, which thrust out her well-endowed chest and then she bent forward to touch the floor. A curtain of the softest black mass cascaded over her shoulders and brushed the carpeting.
She’s incredible!
Unconsciously, she worked her body using a yoga style that Kal
e recognized from the gym he worked out in every morning.
“Are you hungry?” Her words forced his attention away from her delectable body and back to her equally delectable face. Her lips were full. Pink and wet, they invited an attack in the most innocent of ways that didn’t diffuse their enticement.
He felt his body start to lean into hers, move into her personal space, and before he could place his mouth over hers, she stuck a Mars bar in his face.
Suddenly the elevator began to hum, and a Christmas song could be heard through the intercom system—’You’re all I want for Christmas.’
“I think they have it working now.” She beamed at him, and he silently prayed for the damn thing to break down again.
No such luck. They stopped on the seventh floor. He grabbed his suit jacket, her wonky suitcase, then put his unexpected passion back into retirement and stepped aside so she could exit first.
“You don’t have to follow me Kale; I know everything will work fine now. My third bad thing has already happened today.”
He grinned at her silliness. “I’ve got to hear about number one and two.”
At her door, she turned and answered. “First of all my girlfriend didn’t get her passport and phoned me this morning with the news I’d be travelling alone. Then the fellow passenger who occupied the seat next to me had a few too many scotch and used my shoulder as his pillow, which wouldn’t have been so bad, if he didn’t have a bad snoring habit. Finally the hostess made him move to another seat between two rather large fellows and found me a lovely grandmother to share with.”
“So what was number three?” He fully expected her to say having the elevator breaking down.
“Why, the wheel on my suitcase giving out of course.” Her contagious smile started his stomach rolling, which in turn had all his innards acting as if he were on a fairground freefall ride. Since she drew him like fluff to a dark wool jacket, he stood closer and waited.
While he felt his heart being pulled apart and reconstructed, she’d finally found the card to get into her room. With a ping, the door opened, and she gathered her bags and set them inside. Then she turned to get her suitcase. “Thank you kind sir. If I had to be incarcerated, I couldn’t have picked a better partner. Oh and Kale, don’t be too hard on the hotel staff about what happened.”
“Don’t fret, Leilani; I’ll deal directly with the owner.”
“You know him?”
“Intimately. Good night.”
Chapter Seven
Leilani rolled over in her lavish bed and checked the time on the digital clock. She lay for a few moments, staring at the luxury around her, at the kind of hotel room she’d only seen in magazines. Even the artwork on the walls, large photographs of Hawaiian scenes, screamed huge dollars.
Sunlight, streaming through the patio, beckoned to her and she lunged out of the cocoon of white bedding and ran to the open French doors. Wicker patio furniture, with plump yellow and white flowered pillows, was arranged artfully interspersed with planters overflowing with tropical greenery. The setting brought Leilani to a halt as she peered around her private little Heaven.
The sound of the waves tempted her to step closer to the wrought-iron railing. The incredible scene below caught at her imagination and made her laugh with happiness. It was the Hawaii of her dreams. White sand that became lost under the cerulean crashing waves, palm trees dotting the horizon on each side of the land, and happy tourists placing their lounge chairs along the roped off area where they intended to spend their day in the sun.
Exactly what the many pamphlets she’d collected promised—a fantastic sun-filled vacation. As Leilani gazed around, sadness slowly invaded and her heart dropped. She wasn’t here on a holiday. She needed to find her Aunt, who had prompted her to come on the trip weeks earlier than she’d originally planned.
She went to her beach bag and reached into the interior where a turquoise plastic folder held her travel documents. Reaching inside, she extracted a letter and perched cross-legged on the bed to read the message for the millionth time in the last few days.
Dearest Lani,
I know I have asked you before to come home, and you’ve always had excuses. This time I’m begging. As you know, my daughter Kaimi is gone now and I am alone with no other family to turn to. My health has been failing and it won’t be long before I’ll be joining her, but before I can take my last breath, I need your promise that you’ll look after my precious Tears stains, whether from her aunt or her mother, obliterated the next few lines. Then further down the letter continued.
Don’t let me down, Lani. Not now! I don’t know how much longer I can hold on.
Your loving sister,
Mele
Leilani remembered the shock she felt when she first read this letter. Her mother had it clutched in her hands on the day Leilani had come home from to work to find her in her chair, lifeless, due to a massive heart attack.
It wasn’t until some time after the ambulance had arrived and she’d returned from Emerge that she’d remembered the letter and searched it out from under the wheelchair.
Much to her surprise, she’d learned that she had an aunt still living, and one who needed her. She quickly wrote an answer to the letter and dispatched it special delivery.
The next few hectic days had been spent organizing a quick funeral, searching the house for more information about her mother’s past, and begging her friend Shana to arrange for her passport, so Leilani wouldn’t have to face this trauma alone.
Plans and more plans, and nothing had worked out. All those letters over the years that she’d seen her mother re-act to so strangely were missing, no sign of them. It was as if her mother had a need to wipe her history out completely. Thank goodness, she hadn’t had the time to destroy this letter or Leilani would have never known about her family living in Hawaii.
Shana hadn’t been able to get her travel documents organized at such late notice, which meant, of course, that a nervous Leilani would be travelling for the first time on her own.
In addition, the funeral, not surprisingly, had been the unhappiest day of her life. When she’d looked around the parlor, at the people who’d filled the seats, not one of the sad faces belonged to a person there specifically for her mother. They’d all been Leilani’s friends, every single one of them. Her mother had had only one person crying for her that day—her daughter.
Shaking off the blues, Leilani organized her clothes and belongings and then chose what she wanted to wear. Today she’d meet the woman her mother had kept hidden. Hopefully, Leilani could be of some assistance, in lieu of her mom. After all, she was family.
Chapter Eight
A quick breakfast of macadamia nut biscuits and papaya, better than any she’d ever tasted, set Leilani up while she waited for Pi. The smell from the open-sided restaurant within the hotel grounds had promised a treat from the moment she’d stepped from the elevator… and it had delivered.
When she’d noticed the “out-of-order” sign placed in front of the car she and Kale had taken the night before, a smile escaped. Goodness, she hoped he hadn’t been too hard on the hotel staff about their defective machinery. After all, she’d counted it as a blessing last night as she lay awake in bed remembering her handsome partner and the way he’d made her feel.
When he’d leaned his shoulder onto hers and clasped her hand, it was all she could do not to simper like a maiden from times gone by, and faint at his feet. Instead of swallowing her tongue, she jumped up and began doing exercises right there on the elevator to save her sanity.
Speak of the devil, there he was now! Leilani watched as Kale sauntered over to the reception desk, and then moved behind it, as if he had the right to be there. The male clerk jumped up, and she watched his ingratiating manner as he carried on a conversation with Kale.
Peeking from under her eyelashes, she smoothed her loose hair back into the intricate weave she’d fashioned on the nape of her neck; with her other hand, she swiped at any possib
le crumbs that could be decorating her ruffled blouse and shorts. Her habit of leaving trails of food on her clothes was ammunition for her friends to tease, but had always upset her terribly. No matter how careful she was or how slowly she ate, somehow she’d manage to drip, drop or spill something.
Yearning to see close range if he was indeed the dreamer she’d fantasized, she sent a silent message hoping it would draw him to her. Quit kidding yourself, he has no interest in you. She chastised herself for her silly fantasies and gave a little shake. Then she reached to get the last sip from her delicious coffee and darned if she didn’t tip the cup accidentally and then watch in horror as the brown stain spread across the glass-top table, sending tentacles of liquid to reach the placemats.
Oh for heaven’s sake! Quickly, she grabbed the napkins and wiped up her mess, then froze when a well-known voice spoke.
“Leilani, has it spilled on you? Are you burnt?”
How did he get here so fast? She took a calming breath, added a sigh and finally glimpsed up into the most beautiful set of eyes she’d ever seen. Last night, the lights had been dim, but in the morning sunshine, the magical amber tones were perfectly visible and sexier than anything she could have imagined. With his dark skin, black hair, and slanted beauties, the man could make a fortune as a male model.
“No, I’m fine, Kale. It was my fault. I’m clumsy, one of my worst quirks I’m afraid.”
“That’s intriguing. How many quirks do you have?”
“More than you need to know about. I hope you weren’t being too hard on the poor man at the desk just now.”
He sat near her and waited until the waitress had cleared away the mess, then he ordered two more coffees. Today he wore a white Hawaiian short-sleeved shirt and black slacks that fit his body in a way they should, while screaming casual elegance.
