Denver doesn’t say anything in response but pulls me into his chest and wraps his arms tightly around me. I feel the heaviness of his cheek rest on the top of my head. “You’re a special woman, Kai. I knew it the moment I tried to bug you.” I snicker, recalling his ridiculous attempt at flirting. “I’m not good enough for you.”
I reluctantly pull away from his embrace, looking up to his eyes, the orange glow from the sun filling the white and light specks of blues and greens. “Don’t say that. That isn’t what I meant by any of this.”
“I’ve got baggage, Kai. It’s baggage you don’t deserve to have to put up with after what you have already been through.”
I wrap my hands around his biceps, only covering about half of the circumference with my small grip. “I’m sure you’re not referring to Aya as baggage, so what else could you mean?”
He smiles, a straight line across his chiseled jaw. “I’ve been through combat. I’ve seen shit I wish I could forget, and I packed it away in a box in the back of my head. I keep it there, but it has redesigned my personality and who I am. I’m not the man I once was.”
“I don’t know the man you once were, Denver, but so far, I like the person you are today. You seem like a good guy with a heart of gold, and that little girl of yours is beyond lucky. We all have memories and nightmares on varying levels, but it’s how we deal with them that matters. Life molds us into who we are—who we’re meant to be, you know?”
Denver throws his head back and stifles a laugh. “Wait, so you’re telling me I was meant to be a waiter at Man Buns? Because seriously … I had higher goals for myself.”
I roll my eyes and sigh. “I wasn’t specifically referring to the choice of your current job, but hey, I mean, if you got it, you might as well flaunt it, right?” That sounded as fake as it felt saying it.
“Right, I wholeheartedly believe those words coming from you.”
“I’m past the point of judging you for what you do to earn money. I’m a lifeguard. It’s nothing to brag about. I’m wearing a similar uniform, if you think about it.”
“Um, no offense, but if you were wearing a similar uniform, you’d probably be in jail for public indecency. Though, I wouldn’t necessarily complain.”
I slap his arm. “Shut up.”
“Look, my job is not a forever thing, okay? It’s not my big dream in life. I’m just hanging onto it until I can find some desk work. I was recruiting for the last four years, so I should be able to find something in an office somewhere. I just need to make enough to support Aya’s expensive taste.”
“Good luck with that,” I tell him.
“Thanks,” he huffs. “Come on, let’s head down the mountain before it’s completely dark. I don’t want to drive off a cliff or anything.” He takes my hand and leads us back to his truck, and I feel certain I really ruined what could have been the best moment of my life.
“Thanks for driving,” I tell him as I hop out of the truck. “Do you live far from here?” I realize I didn’t ask him how the new house was.
“Um,” he says. He removes his keys from the ignition and steps out of the truck. “Yeah, I’m still a resident of the hotel until I find a new place to live. I’ve seen a few options, but I’m trying to decide which is going to be a better place for Aya according to the nearby schools.”
“Wait, what happened to the place you were originally supposed to move into?”
“Didn’t work out.”
“I thought Noa had set that up for you. That’s too bad,” I tell him.
“Yeah, he did.” I will keep my thoughts to myself. Noa is trying his hardest to prove his worth to me, but he still doesn’t always make the brightest decisions. I’m hoping that will change over time as he gets older, but I’m not holding my breath there.
“You must be paying an arm and a leg to stay at the hotel. It’s been a week now.”
“It’s cool. They’re giving me a military discount, so it hasn’t been horrible.”
“Good,” I tell him.
We continue walking side by side toward the entrance of the hotel. “Are you going back to work tonight?” He asks me, probably wondering why I’m walking back into the hotel instead of to my car.
“No, I was going to go sit on the beach for a bit. Don’t think I’m weird … I just like to stargaze. I can’t really do that in my neighborhood because there are too many street lights.”
“Why would I think that’s weird?”
“I don’t know. The life of a loner. It’s not the most common habit to sit on the beach alone at night.”
“Stargazing isn’t just for loners,” he corrects me. “I grew up in Texas. We did that a lot.”
As we walk past the elevators, I stop to thank him. “I appreciate you asking me out tonight. I had fun.”
“Did you?” he asks.
“Of course, I did.”
He shakes his head. “You’re lying. That wasn’t fun. You grew up here, you’ve already seen the peak of the mountain, and we spent half the time talking about our baggage. I think it was a pretty lame date.”
Denver’s appraisal of our date sends discomfort reeling through me. Not knowing how to respond, I wrap my hair behind my ear and look away from him. “It wasn’t lame, Denver. Don’t be silly.”
“I need another chance,” he says.
He’s acting like I said I wouldn’t see him again. I didn’t mean to make it sound that way. “When were you thinking?”
“Now.” He takes my hand and jogs toward the back exit of the hotel.
“Where are we going?” I ask with laughter, surprised at his spontaneity.
“I don’t know,” he says. “Let’s just go.”
We end up outside in the botanical gardens that lead to the pool. “Two dates in one night?” I ask.
“Are we breaking records here?” he asks.
“I guess so.” I pull him ahead toward the other end of the pools, where I don’t usually spend much time. I guard the main pool, but we also have a lazy river that flows through waterfalls and between boulders covered in flowers.
“I spent some time in those floats this week. I don’t remember the last time I’ve spent so many consecutive hours relaxing. I think I’m lucky Aya enjoyed the floats as much as I did.”
“Did you see any action in the lover’s nook?” I ask him. It’s a joke, but the staff refers to it as lover’s nook because the flow of the river spits people out into this small area with a light waterfall. People think if they hide behind the streaming water, no one can see them. It can be entertaining.
“Lover’s nook?” he questions.
“Yeah, it’s right over here.” I step through the faux grass to lean over the edge, so I can show him. It’s nestled in between two of the boulders. “See it?”
“People don’t think they can be seen in there?” he asks, laughing.
“I guess not. We’ve all witnessed eye-burning sights at some point in time. I’ll just say that.”
“Hey, you better be careful leaning over the side like that. You’ve already had one mishap today,” he tells me.
“Thanks for the reminder,” I groan and run my finger over the butterfly bandage on my forehead. I almost forgot it was there.
I turn back around to move away from the edge, and my foot catches between two small rocks. When I pull my foot out, I slip backward, falling right into the water for a second time today. At least this time I didn’t hit my head. “Dammit. You jinxed me!” I shout as I get my head above water.
“Are you kidding me, Kai?” Denver asks with a look of shock. “Damn, girl. You’re going to make my hair turn gray before Aya has the chance to.”
“I’m fine,” I tell him. The words are just a repeat of what I was saying earlier when I had to be pulled out of the water.
I swim to the edge and wrap my hands around the side to pull myself up, but as I’m pushing off the wall, a cannonball-sized splash blinds me. “What are you doing?” I ask, gasping from the shock.
> “Who cares,” he says, pulling me away from the wall. My heart is pounding so hard I’m having trouble catching my breath, but it isn’t because I swallowed water this time. “Close your eyes and hold your breath.” I don’t have a moment to argue as he drags me beneath the waterfall. I open my eyes when the pounding water eases into a fine mist. “This is why people think they’re hidden.”
“I can’t see a thing,” I tell him quietly. “It makes sense.”
“Everything makes sense,” he says, wrapping his arms around me and pushing my back against the wall. “Say okay, first.”
“Okay,” I exhale.
He lowers his head, meeting my gaze, then quirks his lips to one side. “Are you sure?”
I nod in agreement because I can’t speak. I can’t do anything except imagine what’s to come. He cups his hands around my cheeks and presses his forehead gently against mine, then softly brushes the side of my nose to his. Denver’s breath tickles my lips, and I loop my arms around his neck, squeezing tightly, needing to hold on like I’m about to freefall off the side of a cliff. His lips touch mine lightly as if testing the water, but with the pressure of his hands on my cheeks, the same sensation occurs between our mouths too. His lips part, taking mine hostage. I know now, kissing is a natural human instinct. It isn’t something learned, it’s something that happens when there’s a magnetizing force of nature pushing two people together into an unbreakable bond. I lose all sense of life around us, the mist from the waterfall disappears, and the light breeze is mixed with the heat of his body against mine.
It’s like a frenzy of escalating feelings and wants. I don’t want to be lonely or miss out on this anymore. I want to feel this over and over until I break down every wall I’ve built around my life.
The kiss is innocent, yet full of heat, and everything I never even imagined a kiss could be. I’m losing my breath, and he must be too as our mouths part. “That was life-changing,” he says.
I’m still holding onto his neck as if my life depends on him. “I don’t have words to describe what I’m feeling,” I tell him.
“I hope I didn’t let you down,” he says.
I look into his eyes, fighting the smile growing across my lips because it’s going to be hard to kiss again while I’m smiling, but I reach up and wrap my legs around his waist, feeling the falling water pound against my knees. I kiss him this time, inhaling his breath then holding it inside my lungs as if it would give me a high. I press my fingertips through his wet hair, and when I need air, I pull away shyly. I don’t know what came over me.
“You just skipped so many parts of the kissing game, I don’t even know what just happened,” he says.
“There’s a game?” I ask quietly.
“No, but I wasn’t expecting you to be so frisky.” His words mildly embarrass me, but I’m not ashamed. I obviously can’t control myself with him. I feel like he popped a cork that’s been holding in a lot of carbonation and angst. There’s no stopping whatever happens next. I’m already giving in and throwing my hands up with defeat.
“I’m going to need to keep you at an arm’s reach, aren’t I?”
“Why would you do that?” I ask.
“You’re a wild woman. I need to pace this, or you’ll be barefoot and pregnant in a month.”
I cock my head to the side, giving him a look I’m sure he can clearly understand. “Right. I have self-control, Denver. Don’t you worry.”
“Do you?” he asks, placing a kiss beneath my ear. The sensation from his warm, wet lips forces an electrifying sensation down through the center of my body.
“Yes!” I shriek.
“Mmhm,” he says. “I don’t know about you, but I need a cold shower right now.”
I think I suddenly understand the meaning of a cold shower and why it can be helpful.
Chapter Fifteen
Denver
“Today’s the day, kiddo.”
“I like it here,” Aya whines. “It has a pretty pool, and Kai is here. Can’t we just stay a little longer?”
“Aya, you know how we’ve talked about money and how things cost a lot sometimes, and we can’t just keep spending because our money doesn’t grow on trees?” It’s just thrown at my ass now.
“Yeah, but what’s the difference between paying for this place and paying for the new house that’s not this place?”
“About four thousand dollars a month,” I tell her, knowing that probably doesn’t make a difference in her mind.
“Hmm,” she says. “You should start working harder.”
I control myself from snapping back at that comment because it sounds like something her mother would say, but I’ll chalk it up to a typical little girl comment, spoken out of innocence. Plus, I’m already working my buns off ... oh, why am I the only one who is ever around to hear my own jokes?
“I had your room painted,” I tell her. “It’s purple like you wanted.”
“Really? Like, unicorn purple?” What the hell is unicorn purple?
“Yup!”
“Thank you, Daddy!”
Daddy.
She only says that when I’ve done something to earn the extra sweetness lately.
“Okay, hop in.” As I boost her into the truck, I feel kind of bummed about leaving the hotel. For me, whenever I stay somewhere longer than a week, it feels like a residence. I’ve moved around so much, it just happens naturally now.
“I invited Kai over for dinner tonight,” Aya says naturally. “You don’t have to work. Remember?”
“I do have to work tonight, actually. I don’t have to work tomorrow night, though, and don’t forget, I promised you we could go to the luau at the hotel if you behave.”
“Well, I guess it’s just Kai and me tonight then.”
“I don’t think so,” I tell her, closing the back door.
As I slide into the driver’s seat, Aya sighs. “Dad, I have it under control, okay?”
“I don’t even know what you’re talking about.” Aya rambles and makes up stories a lot, so I try to pepper in my “Oh yea’s” and “That’s so cool’s.” Otherwise, she’d know I was only half paying attention and then quiz me after. I love that little girl to pieces, but the talking never stops. There’s only so much information I can take in on unicorns in one day.
Surprisingly, Aya remains quiet for most of the car ride to the new house and seems excited when we arrive. I have a much better feeling this time since I picked it out. It’s a little more than I wanted to spend, but with the income from Man Buns, I decided to splurge for an ocean view.
“Kai is going to love this,” Aya says as she unclips her seatbelt.
I haven’t given Aya many details about my “friendship” with Kai in fear of her knowing too much too soon, which means I haven’t told Aya that I’ve fallen for Kai in the past week. She doesn’t know that we went on one date and have had alternating work scheduling conflicts over the past few days, preventing us from spending time together. Aya and I talk about most things together, so I’ve felt a bit guilty keeping this from her, but she’s a child, and it’s not appropriate to get her feelings wrapped up with Kai until I’m sure things will work out. I don’t want to get her hopes up. The truth is, I’m not even positive Kai wants to spend time with me. When she’s guarding the pool, she’s all work and little play. I get her smiles and passing comments, but I need to spend more time with her. I want to spend more time with her. I’ve been thinking about her way more than I probably should be, yet I don’t even have her phone number because I’m a jackass and can’t remember to ask her for it when I’m around her. There’s even a chance she thinks I don’t want it. I can never tell with women. They all pretend like they want one thing when they’re just playing with your mind. I’d like to think Kai is different, but I really don’t know.
I unlock the front door and wave Aya into the beaming sunlight shining in from the wall-to-wall windows on the opposite side of the house. I like the large space and openness. It’s comforting,
so this felt like home from the second I spotted it.
“What do you think?” I ask Aya.
“It’s so pretty and white!”
“That it is.”
“Can I have your phone for a minute?”
I figure she wants to snap pictures since that’s the only reason she typically asks for my phone, but I’m a bit surprised when I see her pull a piece of paper out of her pocket and dial a number. “What are you doing?”
She places her finger up to her lips. “Shh, I’m on the phone.”
“Aya!”
“Dad, please.”
“Aya this isn’t funny. Who are you calling?”
“Hi, Kai,” she says. Oh my God.
“You’re not funny,” I tell her.
“Are we still on for tonight?” Aya looks at me and winks. “Oh sure, hold on. Dad, what’s the address?”
My head falls to the side, playing into her little game. “Six Hai Street.”
“Six Hai Street,” Aya repeats. “Oh, yay! I can’t wait to see you. Five, right?” Aya is smiling like a cheeseball at me. “Okay, see you then.”
“Very funny,” I tell her.
“Here, she wants to talk to you,” Aya says, handing me the phone.
“Hi, pretend Kai,” I say in a goofy voice.
“Hey.” Shit. She’s seriously on the phone.
“Uh,” I clear my throat from the goofy impression. “Sorry. I didn’t realize Aya was seriously calling you, or that she even had your phone number.” Aya looks so damn proud of herself right this minute. I’d like to tell her to go to her room, but she doesn’t know which one is hers yet.
“She asked me for my number this morning while you were at the pool and asked me to write it down. She also asked me if I could come over tonight. I know you have to work, but—”
“I am so sorry about that,” I tell her.
“But,” she continues. “I have nothing to do tonight, and Aya may have mentioned that Mrs. Hale is boring, so I have no problem hanging out with her tonight until you get home from work.”
Man Buns Page 12
