“A bigger apartment in Maui...now, that’s a hard one. I can’t afford anything like that on the west side of the island. And if I move any farther east, the commute will be awful.”
Real estate in Maui really was ridiculous. He tried not to think about how much he’d paid for the land his hotel sat on. There were so many zeroes in that check that he had a hard time signing it and he had the money. He couldn’t imagine trying to live here on an average income. Lana made good money, but she didn’t make beachfront condo money.
He’d forgotten her old apartment was so small. She’d noted how big the hotel suite was when she moved in, so he should’ve considered that. It felt tiny to him now that he was living in such a huge house. Huge house...that was a thought.
“What about moving in with me?” He spat the words out before really thinking them through.
Lana looked at him, narrowing her almond-shaped eyes. “That would help a lot, actually. Are you sure, though? It’s going to be a major cramp on your bachelorhood to have me and a baby in the house.”
Kal shrugged that off. He rarely had time for anything aside from work this time of year. Plus, if Lana was in the house with the baby, he wouldn’t miss out on his time with her. He’d never admit to his selfish motivations, however. “I’ve got three extra bedrooms just sitting empty. If it will help, I’m happy to do what I can.”
Lana beamed at him. “I’m actually really glad you said that, because I was just about to get to the crazy part of my plan.”
Kal swallowed hard. She had something in mind that was crazier than moving in together with a baby?
Just then Lana slid off of her chair and onto one knee in front of him. She took his hand and held it as he frowned down at her. “What are you doing?” he asked as his chest grew tight and he struggled to breathe. His hand was suddenly burning up where she held him in hers, the contact lighting his every nerve on fire. He wanted to pull away and regain control of himself, but he knew he couldn’t. This was just the calm before the storm.
Lana took a deep breath and looked up at him with a hopeful smile. “I’m asking you to marry me.”
* * *
Lana looked up at Kal and anxiously waited for his answer. The idea had just come to her and she acted on it before she lost her nerve. It was crazy, she knew that, but she was willing to do whatever it took to get guardianship of Akela. So now here she was, on one knee, proposing marriage to her best friend, who had no interest in ever marrying.
Judging by the panic-stricken expression on Kal’s face, this wasn’t what he was expecting and he didn’t want to say yes. She clutched his hand tighter in hers, noting that his touch strengthened her even when he’d much rather pull away. He was her support, her ideal, her everything. This could work. It had to.
“I’m sorry I don’t have a diamond ring for you,” she started rambling in the hopes of breaking the tension in the room. “I wasn’t planning on getting engaged today.”
Kal didn’t laugh. His eyes just grew wider as he subtly shook his head in disbelief. “Are you serious?” he asked.
“Dead serious. You just said you were happy to do whatever you could to help me get Akela. If we’re married and living together in your big house when we go into court on Wednesday, there’s no way the judge will turn down the request.”
Kal leaned forward and squeezed her hands. “You know I would do anything for you. But married? I never... I mean...that’s kind of a big deal.”
The fact that Kal hadn’t flat-out said no to this whole thing made her love him even more. “It doesn’t have to be a big deal,” she argued. “Listen, I know how you feel about marriage, and I get it. I’m not asking you to stay with me forever or fall madly in love with me. We’re not going to sleep together or anything. That would be crazy talk. I just want this marriage to be for show. We spend so much time together that no one would find it suspect that we’ve quietly fallen in love and eloped. It’s the perfect cover. We get married, stay married as long as we need to to make the judge and Child Services happy. Then we annul it or divorce or whatever when it’s all done. At most, you’ll have to kiss me a couple times in public. That shouldn’t be too horrible, right?”
A flicker of what looked like disappointment crossed Kal’s face for a moment. Lana wasn’t sure what that was about. It wasn’t possible that he might relish the idea of them being man and wife. The thought alone sent a thrill through Lana that she refused to acknowledge, but it was all obligation on his part, she was certain.
After a moment, he took a deep breath and then he nodded. “So we get married, move you into my place and play the happy couple for the general public until Akela can safely return to her parents. That’s it?”
Lana nodded. “That’s it, I promise. If you so much as try anything more than that, I’ll be sure to give you a good slap to remind you who you’re dealing with.”
That, finally, brought a smile to Kal’s face. She breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that he was going to go along with her harebrained plan even though it involved a major life milestone that he never expected to achieve with the kind of woman he’d never lower himself to love.
“So, Kalani Bishop, would you do me the honor of being my fake husband?” she asked again, since he hadn’t truly responded the first time.
He pressed his lips together for a moment, and then he finally nodded. “I guess so.”
“Yay!” Lana leaped into his arms and hugged him close. She buried her nose in his neck, drawing in the scent of his cologne. The familiar musk of her best friend drew a decidedly physical response from deep inside her that she wasn’t expecting with everything else that was going on. Her heart started racing in her chest as she held his spicy male scent in her lungs and enjoyed his arms wrapped tightly around her. No one held her like he did, and there was no one she wanted to hold her more than Kal.
Then she felt him stiffen awkwardly against her. She pulled herself out of the romantic fog she’d let herself accidentally slip into. This wasn’t the reaction of someone who was comfortable with his decision. She drew back and looked at the lines on his face that reflected conflict and shame instead of excitement and confidence. Lana needed to remember that this was all for show. It might be her innermost secret fantasy coming to life, but he was only doing this for her because it was important and they were friends, not for any other reason. She needed to save her physical reactions to him for public consumption or she’d scare him off.
“Are you really okay with this?” she asked.
“No,” he said, ever honest, “but I’m going to do it anyway. For you.”
His words nearly brought tears to her eyes. She leaned in to hug him again and spoke softly into his ear. “Thank you for being the best friend a girl could ever have. I owe you big-time.”
Kal chuckled, a low rumble that vibrated against her chest and made her want to snuggle closer to him. “Oh, you have no idea.”
The door of the room opened again and Lana pulled away from Kal to turn to Dexter. “We’re getting married,” she announced before he could change his mind.
Dexter looked at Lana, then curiously at Kal and his pained expression. “Excellent. Shall I draw up a prenup? I presume that assets won’t comingle, and everyone keeps what they have going into the union?”
“Sure,” Lana said. Part of her thought that Kal might balk at the idea of a prenuptial agreement, but she wanted him to have that protection. She didn’t want any of his stuff and she wanted to make sure he knew it. “I don’t want him getting his hands on my old-school hi-fi system.”
Kal turned to look at her. “Your what?”
“It has a turntable. Records are cool again.”
He just shook his head. “Draw something up and we’ll come back to sign it in the morning. We’ll get married tomorrow afternoon assuming the wedding pavilion at the hotel isn’t booked. That should be good enough for the judge, right?”
“The two of you married and living in that big new house...oh yeah.”
Dexter nodded enthusiastically. “Then you’ll just have to put on a good show for Child Services when they come for home visits. If you can pull this off, it will make my job ten times easier.”
“Okay,” Kal said, pushing up from his seat. “We’ll see you in the morning, then.” He reached out for Lana’s hand, something he’d never done before. “Come on, honey. We’ve got a lot of plans to make if we’re going to get married tomorrow afternoon.”
Lana twisted her lips in amusement. The stiff way he said the words was proof enough that he was really uncomfortable with the situation but was too good of a friend to say no. She didn’t say anything, though. Instead she took his hand and they walked out of the attorney’s office together.
They were silent until they got back to the car. Kal had parked his F-type Jaguar convertible in the shade on the far side of the parking lot. Lana had always loved Kal’s car. It was the kind of vehicle that motor-heads fantasized about. Lana drove an old Jeep without doors, so this felt superluxurious. As she climbed in beside him and looked around this time, however, she realized they had an issue.
“Kal?”
“Yeah?” he asked as he started the engine and it roared to life.
“You drive a two-seater convertible and I drive a Jeep Wrangler without doors or a roof.”
Kal pulled the car out of the parking lot and onto the main highway. “And?”
“And...I don’t think we can put a car seat in either of those.”
“Hmm,” he said thoughtfully as they went down the highway. “You’re probably right. It’s never something that’s mattered before. I’ll have someone bring a car over. I’ll lease one for as long as we have Akela. What do you think is responsible enough? A minivan? An SUV with all the airbags? Or would you rather have a sedan of some kind?”
She hadn’t really thought that far ahead, as evidenced by this predicament. “Not a minivan. That’s all I ask. Other than that, as long as it has a backseat I can put a car seat in and will protect her from the elements, I think I’m good. Thank you.”
“No problem.” Kal looked past her toward the shopping center they were coming up on. “Since we’re discussing the ways we’re completely unprepared for marriage and parenthood, I think we need to make a pit stop.”
Lana held on as he whipped the car into the parking lot and came to a stop outside a baby supercenter. She’d only set foot in it once, to buy a baby shower gift for Mele. “I don’t know what we need yet. I’ve got to go by Mele’s apartment and see what she has.”
Kal shook his head and turned off the car. “No, you don’t. We’re getting all new stuff. Come on.”
Lana leaped out of the car and jogged to catch up with him. “Are you serious? I can’t afford to buy all new baby things.”
Kal pulled his dark sunglasses down his nose to look at her with an expression that could’ve melted a woman’s panties right off. Lana had learned early on that when he looked at her that way, it wasn’t smoldering, it was irritation.
“You’re not buying it. I am.”
She suspected he might say that. “This is too much, Kal,” she complained. He simply ignored her, going into the store ahead of her. “Kal!” she finally shouted with her hands planted on her hips.
He stopped and turned around to look at her. “What is the problem?”
She narrowed her gaze at him. Women she’d had as friends over the years had asked her how she could be friends with a man as hot at Kal and not want more. While she convinced herself she didn’t want more, she used this as exhibit number one: he was stubborn as an ox. “It’s too much.”
“We’re already getting married and moving in together to pull this off. What is too much, exactly?”
She knew he was right. “I don’t want you to buy a ton of things. We might only have her for a few weeks.”
“Or we might have her for years. Either way, she needs a place to sleep, food, clothes, diapers... If it makes you happy, I’ll donate everything to charity when we’re done. It won’t go to waste, okay?”
Lana bit at her bottom lip but knew she’d lost this battle before it started. Kal wasn’t about to decorate the baby’s nursery with the thrift store finds they collected from Mele’s apartment. “Fine.”
Inside the store, Kal waved his finger at the manager standing behind the customer service desk. “We’re going to need some assistance.”
The woman came forward, polite, but curious about his forwardness. “What can I help you with, sir?”
“With everything. We’re buying it all, so I need someone to jot down what we choose as we go through the store and have it delivered to my home.”
The manager seemed flustered but grabbed a clipboard and the registry scanner and went straight to leading him up and down the aisles. Lana tried not to roll her eyes. Why Kal couldn’t just get a cart and shop like a normal person, she didn’t know.
She figured it out soon, however. There wasn’t a cart big enough. He hadn’t been exaggerating when he said he was going to buy everything. It took about two hours to go through the entire store. They bought a complete bedroom suite with a crib, changing table, dresser, lamp and rocking chair. They got bedding, a mobile, a car seat, a high chair, a stroller and a swing. Diaper bags, bottles, cases of baby food and diapers, medicine, shampoo...you name it. They even bought about twenty outfits and pajamas.
It was exhausting, but Lana had to admit Kal had good taste. Everything he selected was beautiful. The furniture for the nursery was a soft gray color that complemented the star and moon bedding set. It was enchanting for a baby’s room. Hopefully Akela would love all her new things as much as Lana did. She was so young, she probably couldn’t appreciate most of it, but the toys Kal purchased last would be a big hit with the baby at least.
As they finished selecting the last few things, Lana took a step back and counted her blessings. There was no way she could make any of this happen without Kal. He was an amazing friend and person. Not just for agreeing to marry her, but for all of it.
She really didn’t understand why Kal was determined to stay single. He insisted he was too busy for that sort of thing, but she didn’t believe it. He was the kind of man who could make any dream into reality. If he wanted a family, all he had to do was snap his fingers and women would line up to volunteer for the job. He was tall and muscular with a build they would clamor to run their hands over. His hair was dark and wavy, and his skin was golden brown. His smile could melt her defenses. Honestly, when he was wearing one of his expensive suits and marching around the hotel like a man on a mission, she had a hard time figuring out why she didn’t just throw herself at him.
She joked about what a pain he could be, how stubborn he was, what a playboy he was to go through women the way he did. The truth was far different. She loved Kal. He was the best thing in her life, where she didn’t have much outside of her job and her friendship with him to rave about. If she really let herself think about it, she probably would want him. It was just a ridiculous thought, so she never let herself have it.
Kal was simply too good for her. He was educated, rich, cultured and from an important family. Yes, they could be friends and even fake husband and wife, but a real relationship with a woman like her? Even if he was open to marriage, he wouldn’t choose her. She was really surprised he agreed to fake marry her considering her sister was in jail and her family was such a mess. Their friendship made it possible and she would cling to that for dear life. It was better than any romantic relationship, anyway.
It sure made dating hard, though. Where would she find a man to measure up to Kal? It was impossible, and she’d certainly tried. Over the last few years, she’d gone through a steady stream of losers. None even came close to Kal. Not only was he handsome and ridiculously rich, but he was funny, kind, thoughtful... She couldn’t have chosen a better best friend. And come tomorrow, a better husband, even if just for show. All she’d expected him to do was sign on the dotted line, hold her hand in court and act like a loving
husband in public. Instead he was paying a small fortune, fully committing to making this work. All to make Lana happy.
Lana didn’t know why Kal was single, but it was easy to see why she couldn’t commit to someone else.
Three
Kal straightened the bow tie of his white tuxedo and looked himself over in the mirror. He certainly looked like a groom. He was as nervous as he imagined a groom would be. But that spark of excitement was missing. It just all felt awkward. Backward. Definitely not how he’d intended to spend his Tuesday.
Marriage hadn’t always been an alien concept to Kal. When he was younger it was something he knew he would do someday, but reality intruded. When he was twenty, a car accident claimed the lives of his parents and left his brother blind. Kal realized then that no one was invincible, including him. He’d grown up so sheltered and privileged that he almost thought nothing bad could ever happen to him. Then, in an instant, he’d lost the most important people in his life. No warnings, no goodbyes, just gone forever.
Suddenly he had more responsibilities piled on him than most kids his age. His grandparents helped with the hotel while Kal finished college and Mano adjusted to his disability, but Kal eventually stepped up to lead the family when he graduated. That was enough family and responsibility for him. Marriage was not in the cards for Kal. He wasn’t sure he could go through something like that again—getting attached to someone else just to lose her...or to leave a family behind to pick up the pieces after his death. It seemed like too much risk for the potential reward.
So why, then, was he pinning an orchid to his lapel and heading out the door to the Mau Loa’s wedding pavilion? Well, because he just couldn’t say no to Lana.
When she’d looked up at him, her dark brown eyes pleading with him to say yes...there was no question that he would do whatever she asked of him. He just wanted to make sure she was serious and set boundaries for this “marriage.”
It wasn’t that Lana wasn’t beautiful. She was exactly his type. Therein lay the problem. The day they met, Kal knew she could very easily be the one to make him throw caution to the wind and fall in love. Since they had such different priorities for their futures, he knew better than to let that happen. Instead he’d placed her in the friend bucket. It was the smartest thing to do considering how important their friendship was to him and that she was technically his employee.
The Baby Proposal Page 3
