by Kaylea Cross
“I don’t know about you guys, but I’m freaking starving,” Colebrook announced as they started back up the beach toward the building they’d vacated earlier.
“I’m more thirsty than anything else,” Freeman answered, shooting Kai an evil grin. “After that swim, I figure I can put away a dozen beers, easy.”
Kai mentally winced at the damage that was about to be done to his credit card, but smiled. As the others went on ahead, he dialed his grandmother’s number and brought the phone to his ear.
“Hey, Tutu, it’s me,” he said in Hawaiian. “Just calling to let you know I’ll be there in time for dinner on Tuesday. And I’m thinking of bringing a friend over on Wednesday night, too.”
Except he hoped Abby would be far more than that by the end of their time on Maui together. Which meant he had just over a week to change her mind and make her his.
****
Shown up in front of the whole team by a damn jarhead.
Malcolm Freeman mentally shook his head at himself as he reached for his first beer from Maka. “Thanks.” Man, he must be getting old. It was the only explanation. When he’d been in the Teams, no one could touch him in the water.
His teammate pulled the beer out of range, raised a black eyebrow. “No hard feelings?”
“Not if you gimme the damn beer.”
“Cool.” Maka handed it over and sat his huge frame down on the stool next to Mal’s, helping himself to a mouthful of peanuts from a dish on the bar. Guy had a monster appetite, seemed to always be stuffing his face with something, and it usually wasn’t all that nutritious. “Did you train in the islands much when you were in the Teams?”
“Not as often as we would have liked.” He took a sip, the cold, crisp brew sliding down his throat. “You must miss being here. Pretty great place to call home.”
“Yeah. Funny how I didn’t appreciate it until after I left.”
“That’s how it goes.” People never appreciated what they had until it was gone. He knew that better than some.
Maka nodded, opened his mouth to say something else then paused as his phone chimed. He checked the screen, grinned, and began typing back a response.
Maka had a fish on the line. And Mal was pretty sure he knew what kind. “So who’s this girl? Your old neighbor, the blonde?”
“Abby. It’s no big deal. She’s coming to Maui for a work conference this week. She’s a pharmaceutical rep.”
No big deal, huh? Mal had known him for a long while now, and couldn’t remember seeing his teammate so amped up about seeing a woman before. Mal had met Abby once, when he’d gone to help Maka move last month. She seemed nice and was a hard worker, ready to help without any expectation of something in return. And sure as hell, Maka deserved someone nice after the shit show he’d stuck through with Shelley for so long.
“I liked her,” he said. Not that his opinion mattered, but he wanted Maka to know.
“She’s awesome. Been a really great friend to me.”
Seemed like Maka was way more into her than he was letting on. Mal hoped it worked out for them. Their job as FAST operators took a toll on them and the people they were close to. And it was a damn lonely life when you had no one special to share it with and continually came back to an empty house when the team was back in Virginia.
Leaving his teammate to his texting, Mal turned his attention to the TV above the bar showing a baseball game back on the mainland, except now his thoughts were on something else entirely. A beautiful face from his past that still haunted his dreams.
Hamilton slid onto the stool on Mal’s right, wearing one of his Captain America T-shirts that had earned him the nickname Cap. The rest of the team settled around them, taking up two sides of the bar. “You two friends again, or what?” the team leader asked.
“For now,” Mal said with a wry grin. But if Maka shot any more Nerf darts at him, the truce was off.
“Is there still food available, or did Maka empty the kitchen already?”
“You’re safe,” Maka answered. “Haven’t placed my order yet.”
“Thank God for that,” Hamilton muttered, perusing the menu. “I need to get mine in before you do.”
Mal ordered a steak sandwich with fries. Maka ordered two double cheeseburgers with a salad on the side. As if that meager serving of veggies was gonna do anything to save his colon.
Hamilton gave the waitress his order, then took a phone call. A few seconds later, he groaned and sat up straighter. “It’s only been a few weeks. She’s been through hell, it’s no wonder she’s refusing to testify against those bastards right now. She needs more time.”
Mal hid a wince and tried not to listen in, but it was hard not to with Hamilton sounding so frustrated and borderline angry. Their team leader was as steady and levelheaded as they came. Whatever had him upset must be pretty big.
Hamilton hung up a few minutes later and let out a harsh sigh. “They’re pressuring Victoria Gomez to testify against Ruiz and his crew,” he said.
The investigative reporter who had been held captive by the former Veneno lieutenant Carlos Ruiz. Hamilton and two others had found her in the woods the night they’d gone in to rescue her. Naked, beaten and bleeding, after being held and abused in every possible way for weeks. In the nick of time to save her from being sold into a human trafficking ring.
Hamilton had spent quite a bit of time with her in the past few weeks, sitting in on interviews and other debriefings she was involved with. “They know her testimony would bury them,” Mal said.
Hamilton nodded. “She knows it too. But Jesus Christ, give her a minute. She’s not even healed up yet.”
Physically, he meant. Mentally and emotionally, Miss Gomez would never be the same. God, it made Mal sick to think of a woman being treated that way. The Venenos were freaking rabid animals, not men. And they needed to be exterminated, because that was the only way to stop it. Otherwise they would just keep doing the same damn fucked-up shit over and over.
Hamilton straightened and turned toward him slightly. “Hey, don’t you know someone who works for the D.C. U.S. Attorney’s office?”
Mal’s fingers froze around the beer bottle and he looked away from those steel gray eyes. Hamilton’s timing on the subject was damn spooky. “Used to.”
“So you’re not in touch anymore?”
“No. Not for a few years now.” Not by his choice. But it was what it was, so he’d respected her wishes and stayed away from her. He still thought about her all the time, though.
“Do they still work there?”
“Yes.” She was an Assistant U.S. Attorney now. On track to follow in her hallowed father’s footsteps and become the U.S. Attorney.
Suddenly the beer tasted sickeningly bitter in his mouth. Mal set the bottle down in front of him.
Hamilton turned back to face the bar. “Might need to have you introduce us so I can get a meeting. They need to back off with Victoria. She’s a fighter, and she’s motivated. When she’s ready, she’ll take the stand and nail those assholes to the wall for what they did to her and the others. But if they keep pushing her like this…” He shook his head, jaw set.
“Sure,” Mal answered, even as dread coiled like a snake in the pit of his stomach. Even after all this time, reaching out to Rowan would be like ripping the bandages off the half-healed wound in his heart. She probably didn’t even think about him anymore. He wished he could say the same about her.
Some things, a man just didn’t get over. Like finally working up the courage to risk his heart on a woman who was way out of his league, only to have her slam the door in his face.
Chapter Seven
As the minutes dragged by, Abby resisted the urge to check her watch and tried to concentrate on what the speaker on the panel was saying. It was only day one of the conference but her focus was shot to hell already, and had been for the past two hours.
Time was crawling along, torturing her with its slow passage when all she wanted was to get out of here a
nd meet Kai. He was picking her up here at the Grand Wailea Hotel as soon as she finished up. She couldn’t wait.
The speaker was droning on about the latest research on prescription opioids here in Hawaii contributing to the opioid crisis, as compared to the mainland. Information she was well versed in because of her position within the company, so she’d heard it all a hundred times before.
Anytime now, guys. Wrap it up.
The past nine days had been a total blur, and in her precious downtime all she could think about was Kai. Would trying a relationship with him be a huge mistake? That kiss sure as hell hadn’t felt like a mistake. No, it had felt like everything she’d been missing.
Every time she thought about it, her body lit up all over again. No man had ever affected her like that with a single kiss. He was also a good man, with a good heart. Dependable. Fun. Dedicated. Nothing like the men she’d been with before.
After what she’d been through, Abby wouldn’t tolerate cheating, or any kind of abuse. Not ever again. As far as she could tell she didn’t have to worry about those things with Kai, but because of her history she would be wary in the beginning. But he was loyal to his teammates, and he’d hung in there with Shelley for way longer than he should have.
She yanked her attention back to the presentation as the conference organizer stepped up to the microphone at the center of the stage.
“If anyone would like to make a donation in Doctor Bradshaw’s honor, the family would prefer that in lieu of flowers. I have a list of charities the family has specified here if you are so inclined at the end of the panel discussion.”
It was a sober reminder, and made her feel even worse for letting her mind wander. Dr. Bradshaw was a pain management specialist, and was supposed to have led the panel discussion. But he’d been murdered a few days ago, his body found next to his car at his medical clinic after someone had shot him repeatedly at point blank range.
It had been all over the papers and news here, the conference giving the awful story even more visibility. He’d been a church and family man, well-liked and respected, with lots of volunteer work within the community. Everyone seemed shocked at his murder. So far the police had no suspects, and no motive for the killing. Rumors she’d heard today at lunch suggested Bradshaw’s colleagues blamed a junkie looking for opioids.
Incredibly sad and ironic, considering this panel was about the impact of opiate addiction, the root causes and the epidemic it had become around the world. Here in Hawaii, most of the synthetic “designer” drugs came from Asia, while most of the cocaine and heroin was supplied by the lethal Veneno cartel.
Abby hated those bastards with a passion. They were ruthless monsters, had no qualms about who they targeted or killed, even kidnapping the daughter of Kai’s teammate and selling women into sexual slavery.
The hotel and conference staff had added extra security, just in case the attack wasn’t random. All the heavy hitters from the pharmaceutical world were here, and a good chunk of the world’s leading pain specialists.
As soon as the panel wrapped up, she texted Kai and made a donation to one of the charities Dr. Bradshaw had volunteered at. She hurried up to her room to change and freshen up, then made her way down to the lobby to wait for Kai, fighting the nervous flutters in her stomach. They liked and trusted one another. But was that enough, to warrant risking their friendship on this? There were still so many things she didn’t know about him.
Based on the way he’d kissed her, and her reaction to it, things were going to move fast if she went ahead with this. She was afraid of losing him if this didn’t work out, and told herself she was stupid to consider it given he was only a few weeks out of his relationship with Shelley.
Yet even all that wasn’t enough to kill the hope and excitement inside her. Her mind was made up. She would see how things went, talk to him early on and make sure he was on board with maintaining their friendship if this didn’t pan out. That was key for her before she was willing to agree to anything else.
A warm, tropical breeze bathed her when she stepped outside into the night, rustling the fronds of the palm trees overhead. The smell here was incredible, and she’d noticed it when she’d stepped off the plane at the airport. Green. Lush.
Tiki torches flickered around the entrance, and the scent of gardenias filled the balmy air. Lord, it really was paradise here. She couldn’t wait to see more of it with Kai.
Moments later, a cherry red convertible Mustang pulled up. Her heart skipped when she saw Kai at the wheel. He broke into a wide grin when he saw her, and heat pooled low in her belly.
Smiling, she hitched the strap of her purse up higher onto her shoulder and hurried to the car. He climbed out and came around to meet her, six-foot-four of powerful, sexy man that made her heart trip all over itself.
“Aloha,” she laughed as she got close to him.
“Aloha, shortcake,” he murmured, and pulled her into a big bear hug.
Abby barely stifled a groan as her entire body went haywire. Oh, his voice. A deep, velvet rumble. All that strength and warmth wrapped around her like a protective blanket…it turned her to mush. And he smelled amazing, something soapy and spicy and all man.
Every last one of her pragmatic thoughts about their friendship being paramount to anything else went poof at the feel of his arms around her. “Good to see you.”
“Good to see you too.” He eased up on the hug and leaned his head back to look down at her, the warm light from the tiki torches reflecting off his bronze skin. One hand stroked over her hair, the side of her face as he stared into her eyes. “You look gorgeous.”
Her cheeks heated but she didn’t even have time to utter a thank you before he bent his head and claimed her lips with his. Abby leaned into him, her palms flattened against his broad chest. The kiss was slow and firm, screaming of possession and ending with a slight nip to her lower lip.
A slow smile curved his mouth as he pulled away, watching her. “So, you hungry?”
Famished. And not necessarily for food. She just wasn’t sure how fast she was willing to move with this, even if her skin was suddenly hypersensitive and her nipples were hard. “Yes.”
“Good. My grandma’s been cooking up a feast all day.”
She blinked at him. “Your grandma?”
He nodded. “I already committed to dinner with her tonight, and promised I’d bring you along. I want you to meet her. That okay?”
Well… Meeting his family seemed like a lot of pressure considering they weren’t even in a relationship yet. She’d envisioned spending time just the two of them tonight, so she could get a feel of what was happening and talk about what they both wanted.
On the other hand, it felt good to know he was comfortable introducing her to the woman who’d raised him. And maybe it was a blessing that they wouldn’t be alone, so their chemistry couldn’t get in the way and cloud her judgment.
“Sure.” She couldn’t help but smile as he took her hand and led her to the Mustang. He opened her door for her, waited for her to settle into the plush leather bucket seat before closing the door and rounding the hood.
Once he was inside he did up his seatbelt, paused in the act of reaching for the keys in the ignition, and instead lifted a hand to cradle the side of her face, bringing her gaze to his. He must have had the seat pushed all the way back to accommodate his long legs, but he still looked crammed into the car. “I’m really glad you’re here,” he murmured.
Oh, man. There was no way she could stay just friends with him. “Me too.”
Kai grinned, kissed her softly, then started the car and pulled out of the hotel parking lot. “How’s the conference going so far?” he asked as he turned onto a wide street lined with lush monkeypod trees, their huge, leafy canopies spreading out overhead like giant green umbrellas.
“Pretty good.” She drew in a deep breath of the fresh, tropical-scented air and told him about Dr. Bradshaw and the extra security.
“Yeah, it’s been al
l over the news. You okay?”
“Yes, fine. What about you, how was your week with the team?”
“Helluva lot of fun, actually. We worked long days, but we had fun too.”
“That’s good.” She paused. “What is it you do, exactly? I’ve been dying to ask you. Can you tell me?”
“Wish I could. I want to, and I trust you, but for security reasons I can’t. Yet.”
“Yet?” As in, he would once they’d been together for a certain amount of time?
“Yeah.”
She decided to let that drop because she wasn’t ready to look too far ahead and just wanted to take things one day at a time with him. He drove her up the west coast of the island, through Kehei and then north across Maui’s “neck” toward the airport. But before reaching it, Kai turned south, heading inland toward the heart of the island.
“This is the upcountry,” he told her. “My tutu moved up here to Pukalani after I joined the Marines. It’s quieter up here. She loves it.”
“Oh, where did you grow up?”
“Wailuku. West of where the airport is.”
Out here there were no towns, only farms and ranches and houses dotted along the foothills of the ancient mountains. The road was a twisting black ribbon as they climbed into the hills in the darkness, lit only by the Mustang’s headlights.
Kai pointed out sugarcane and pineapple plantations along the way, told her ancient Hawaiian legends about how the island of Maui was formed, when Maui pulled it from the depths of the ocean with his magical fishhook.
“Here we are,” he said, turning down a long driveway. It was too dark out to see much, but the land sloped gently away from the tidy little yellow house set in the middle of the lot.
A tiny, thin woman with deep bronze skin and a head of thick white hair appeared at the door, her wrinkled face lighting up when she saw them. “Aloha.”
“Aloha, Tutu,” Kai said, stepping forward to embrace her. Abby loved that he was so openly affectionate with his grandmother. He turned toward her. “This is Abby.”
