by Anna Lowe
He cleared his throat and watched her eyes flutter open. The sky-blue color intensified as she took him in.
“Hi. Oh, wow.” Her eyebrows jumped up, and she scrambled to compose herself. “I mean, you look nice. Special occasion?”
He grinned and held out a hand. “Yep.”
The moment Hailey slipped her hand into his, he warmed, and he had to work hard not to pull her into a hug. When he tucked the flower behind her ear, she smiled, and his bear chuffed at her trust.
“And the occasion is…?” she asked.
“You okay with a surprise?”
She laughed. “As long as it doesn’t include a wedding or a visit from someone I don’t want to see.”
He shook his head immediately. “No weddings. No visits. Just me.”
He hadn’t intended for the last two words to come out so husky, but they did, and that energized, crackling feeling set into the air again. That whisper from the depths of the mountains, telling him she was the one.
Hailey caught her bottom lip with her teeth and leaned closer. Her gaze fell to his lips, and when she spoke, her voice was husky too.
“Sounds like a good surprise.”
He nodded. “I promise.”
Which was a little scary, because how could he be sure she’d like what he had planned?
Her eyes drifted up and down his body, taking their time. “Is there a dress code for this surprise?”
He shook his head. “Nope. You’re perfect just the way you are.”
Yes, he meant that in more ways than one. And yes, watching her blush made his blood rush.
He took a deep breath, because this was it. “Okay, then. Ready to taste freedom?”
Hailey’s smile stretched, and her eyes shone. “You bet I am.”
Chapter Sixteen
Tim led Hailey to the barn and motioned around, pretending he was as cool on the inside as on the outside.
“So, lady’s choice. Do you prefer the stylish comfort of the Toyota…” He pointed to the battered old pickup he shared with the other guys. “Or the — what’s the word? — exhilaration of the motorcycle?”
Hailey didn’t hesitate. “If we’re talking freedom, it’s gotta be the motorcycle.”
A little shot of adrenaline went through him. He couldn’t agree more, plus riding the bike meant he got to keep Hailey nice and close.
“Perfect,” he said, pulling two jackets from hooks on the wall.
The Harley was one of Connor’s few splurges, and whenever he and Jenna weren’t going for a joyride, the others were welcome to use it.
“I bet Joey loves this thing,” Hailey said.
He laughed. “Cynthia hates it, but she did let Dell take Joey for a ride around the grounds. They were going like five miles an hour — barely fast enough to stay upright — but Cynthia was still white as a sheet. Joey was thrilled, though.”
“Lucky kid.” Hailey winked.
Well, yes and no, but it wasn’t the time to elaborate. Tim handed Hailey his leather jacket and took Connor’s for himself. No way was he going to allow another man’s scent to envelop Hailey all evening, even if it was his happily mated brother’s.
The satisfaction he got from watching her nonchalantly zip it up gave his bear all kinds of dangerous ideas.
Keep her. Tell her. Make her ours, it growled.
He ignored it, busying himself with folding extra sweaters and a blanket into the saddlebags.
“Whoa. We are staying on Maui, right?” she joked.
He grinned. “Yep. But it gets cold where we’re going. Or so I’ve heard.”
“You’ve never been there?” He shook his head, which seemed to make her even happier. “Cool. So it’s kind of a surprise for both of us,” Hailey decided.
Laughing had never come easier to him than it did around Hailey. “You can say that.”
When he handed her a helmet, she only hesitated to remove the flower tucked behind her ear and place it on a shelf on the wall.
He pulled on a helmet, threw a leg over the seat, and kicked the engine to life. Then he did his best James Dean and nodded Hailey onto the back. “Hop on.”
“Yes, sir.”
Hailey laughed and slid smoothly into place like they went for joyrides every day. The ride to meet her mother had been all about business, but this…
It really was a joy, cruising up the highway with her, even if the speed limit kept him to a mere forty-five. All those scents rushing his bear nose at once — scents he could pick apart and enjoy since they weren’t riding off to another confrontation for a change. The earthy smell of the mountains mixed with the sweet fragrance of gardenia. The spicy smell of ginger, and the duller scent of the tall grasses growing on the mountain slopes. The motion was enjoyable too, like riding a horse. He leaned into each curve, and Hailey did too, both of them moving in perfect harmony. Even on the straightaways, she kept her hands firmly around his waist.
He could have whooped with joy — and that was just the first part of their evening out.
Hailey tensed when they zipped past the turnoff to the Kapa’akea Resort, but by the time they slowed to cruise through Lahaina, she was swiveling her head left and right. It was almost a shame to pull over, but they had a lot of riding yet to come, so he rolled into a parking spot and turned off the engine.
“Are we there?” Hailey asked, leaning over his shoulder.
Tim fought off the temptation to turn and kiss her. “This is just our first stop.” He motioned around the historic town.
It was midweek, and not a cruise ship day, which made the streets quieter than usual. Still, parking would have been a nightmare if they hadn’t come on the bike, and it was a good thing he’d told Hailey to bring her cap, too. With the bill pulled low and her hair mussed from the helmet, the likelihood of anyone recognizing her was slim.
She chuckled, running her hands along the hat’s bill. “This is turning out to be even handier than I thought.”
He laughed. It was the pink cap he’d bought for her back on that fateful day in Waikiki.
Fate, his bear murmured. You know it is.
Yes, it was, but some things weren’t meant to be.
“You okay?” Hailey asked, touching his arm.
He faked a smile and motioned down the street. “Yep. Right this way.”
As they walked, he scanned the streets, checking for any sign of trouble — and for his backup team. Within a block, he caught sight of Dell, shadowing them from across the street. Chase appeared a few steps ahead of them on the sidewalk, slowing whenever Hailey did to check out a shop’s T-shirts or wood carvings.
“This is great,” she gushed, motioning around.
He took her hand. It was great, and not just for the centuries-old, whaling port feel of the place with its swinging store signs and long, covered balconies overhead.
“Oh.” She stopped, noticing Chase for the first time. “Look. Let’s say hi.”
Hi and bye, Tim nearly grumbled, grateful for his brother’s support but greedy enough to want to keep Hailey to himself.
Chase waved, making a pretty good show of pretending he just happened to be there. A small miracle in itself, because Chase still hadn’t mastered all the nuances of human behavior, not even years after coming in from the wild.
Dell ambled up, all cheery and innocent, like he just had happened to stumble along.
All clear? Tim grunted into his friend’s mind.
Dell nodded. Roger. Not an enemy shifter within miles, and I mean within miles of Maui, not just Lahaina. You can enjoy your date.
Not a date, Tim protested. It was just a nice night out for Hailey’s sake.
Dell raised one fair eyebrow. You sure about that?
Tim scowled, but hell. It did feel like a date. Hailey stood nice and close, warming his side, and her hand felt so right in his. The sun was slowly sinking toward the horizon, and the sound of a street musician drifted down the block.
“Hi, Chase. Oh, Dell. You’re here too,�
� Hailey said.
Chase gave his usual shy smile, while Dell swooped right in to kiss Hailey on both cheeks, ignoring Tim’s growl of warning.
“Hey! Good to see you. Enjoying town?”
“Sure am.” She nodded and pressed back into Tim’s side.
He smirked at Dell. See? Mine.
Dell smirked back. All too evident, buddy. Just remember not to fall too deep.
Like Tim needed a reminder.
“You guys on the way to work?” Tim asked as if he didn’t know.
“Yep. Right over there. The Lucky Devil.” Dell pointed out the bar to Hailey.
“We’re making one stop first,” Chase added, sounding more insistent than usual.
Dell rolled his eyes. “Of course. Because we really need a drink before going to work at a bar.”
But it didn’t turn out to be that kind of drink, as Tim discovered when Chase led them another two blocks to a truck standing at the edge of the seaside park. Chase’s steps grew faster and his face more hopeful with every step.
What’s this all about? Tim asked Dell.
Dell grinned. I’ll let you see for yourself.
“Best smoothies in town,” Chase said by way of explanation.
Tim stared. “Smoothies?”
Chase was a wolf shifter — a carnivore to the core. A guy who salivated over steaks and burgers while shunning just about everything else.
“I love smoothies,” Hailey chirped, reading the menu.
Two tourists stepped away from the ordering window of the food truck, and Chase stepped up, bright and shiny as a kid at his first circus. “Hi.”
Chase had never been much of a talker, but he didn’t need to, not with his body language filling in the rest. He was as excited as a golden retriever. Tim could practically see his inner wolf wag its tail.
“Hi,” the brunette in the smoothie truck breathed.
For a long minute, nothing happened except those two staring at each other.
“Hi,” Chase murmured again.
Behold, Dell chuckled into Tim’s mind. A wolf in love.
Tim blinked a few times. Chase was in love with the woman in the smoothie truck?
“Can I get you the usual?” she whispered to Chase in a tone more suited for something like, Would you like to go out with me tonight?
Not that she would ask him that outright. The woman seemed just as shy as Chase and just as quiet. A cute bookworm type with her hair done up in two simple braids.
Chase nodded eagerly. “Yes, please.”
“Make it four,” Dell said then looked at Hailey. “Okay with you?”
“Okay with me,” she said cheerily.
The smoothie girl blinked a few times, noticing the others for the first time. “Oh. Right. Four.”
“We’ll just wait here,” Dell said loudly, motioning Tim and Hailey off to the park.
“How long has that been going on?” Tim whispered.
Dell sighed. “A couple of weeks now. She’s new in town.”
Puppy love or the real thing? Tim threw the question directly into Dell’s mind.
Dell laughed. Pun intended?
Hailey smiled, peeking back. Chase hadn’t budged, watching the woman’s every move. “They’re cute.”
Dell rolled his eyes. “Yeah. Cute. It’s sickening.”
Tim shot Hailey an apologetic look. “Dell isn’t exactly a romantic.”
“Of course I am,” Dell protested. “Candlelight dinners by the water. Slow dancing. Champagne — the works. I just don’t drag things out past their expiration dates.”
Hailey chuckled, nestling closer to Tim, making him stand straighter, prouder. “I guess that works for some people.” Just not for me, her tone said.
Me neither, Tim nearly said.
“Yeesh. Look at them,” Dell muttered. The smoothie girl had handed Chase the first two cups, but they’d gotten stuck staring into each other’s eyes all over again, each of them holding the cup as if that almost-contact was the highlight of their day. “I’ll go pay, or we’ll never get anywhere.”
He headed over, leaving Tim and Hailey on their own.
“They are cute,” Hailey insisted. “But that’s kind of sad.” She motioned to a man lying on a scrap of cardboard in the park.
Tim laughed. “He’s not homeless. Just taking a siesta. It’s an islander thing.” He hadn’t been in Maui that long, but he knew that much. “See?”
As he spoke, a woman in a flowing muumuu walked by. She arranged another square of cardboard on the grass and settled down on it, looking out over the ocean.
“Like a beach towel?” Hailey asked.
He nodded. And before he knew it, Hailey was skipping off toward a trash can.
“What are you doing?” he called.
“Tasting freedom.” Hailey laughed, taking the sheet of cardboard propped beside the trash can. Left for that very purpose, Tim supposed. She dragged it over to the seawall, plonked down, and patted the space beside her. “Come on.”
His cheeks stretched enough to hurt, out of practice after what had seemed like weeks of tension.
“My mother would be shocked,” she murmured happily. “I might even try surfing.”
He laughed and scooted a little closer until they were hip-to-hip. “That might have to wait. Red flag day tomorrow, according to Jenna. Dangerous waves, in other words.”
She waved a hand breezily. “Horseback riding, then. Or maybe skateboarding.”
He laughed outright at that one, and she laughed too. Even her eyes laughed as they locked with his, and his body warmed.
He dragged his eyes over to the ocean, and Hailey did too. Another quiet minute ticked by before either of them spoke.
“So, explain to me about your brothers,” she murmured.
“Connor and I grew up on the Utah-Idaho border. Chase is our half brother from my dad’s side.”
He decided not to go into details about his deadbeat dad, a myriad shifter who could take any form he wanted. That explained why Tim was a bear shifter, like his mother, while Connor was a dragon, and Chase a wolf born to an all-wolf mother. Where their father was these days, Tim had no idea.
“We enlisted right after I graduated high school and re-upped a few times. All of us together. And then, we came here.”
He looked out over the glittering ocean. Maui. His new home?
Hailey let a second skip by before asking in a hushed voice, “Is it hard?”
He looked over. “Is what hard?”
She made a vague gesture. “Transitioning back. Coming home.”
The palm trees along the waterfront cast long shadows, and Tim stared off into the distance. Honestly, he hadn’t given the subject much thought. Coming to Maui had been a lot like taking up a new post in the military. A much looser branch of the military, granted. He lived with the core of his old unit — his brothers and Dell, though his heart still ached for the buddy they’d lost in the last days of their service.
He yanked his mind away from that dark, slippery path and focused on the present. With the security work — not to mention Cynthia’s strict leadership style — it didn’t feel that different from the military, really.
“Not that hard,” he murmured.
His bear snorted.
Okay, so he had done a good job of locking his emotions away for a long time. So long, he’d started to forget what many of them felt like. And anyway, it made more sense to keep himself removed. Logic worked. Logic got the job done without all the doubts and heartache that came from getting overly involved. And if he’d had that inner armor engaged for a little too long – nothing wrong with that, right?
But it feels good, his bear whispered. Feeling feels good.
He frowned, pulling up a few blades of grass. Feelings were fine as long as the emotions were good ones. But bad usually followed on the heels of good, and that was better avoided altogether.
Something warm and soft touched his shoulder, and the tension that had crept into his muscl
es eased away again. He glanced up to find Hailey touching him.
Nothing happened for the next minute. Well, nothing on the outside. But on the inside, he went all warm and mushy. His breathing slowed, and his pulse evened out. The sound of the surf filled his ears, and his heart swelled.
Mate, his bear sighed. She’s my mate.
He took a deep breath, not wanting to believe it. But what other than a destined mate could calm his inner bear like that?
Hailey drew her hand back slowly, glancing at her fingers with an awed look, like maybe they were tingling or something. He sure was.
“Now, who’s cute?” Dell teased, coming up with their smoothies.
Tim whipped around and growled. “Don’t you have to get to work?”
Dell laughed. “Touché, my dear bear — er, buddy.” He covered up with a laugh and turned away, dragging a reluctant Chase with him. “Have a nice evening.”
“See you soon?” the smoothie lady called to Chase.
“See you soon,” Chase said, as earnest as a knight taking a vow on one knee.
Someday, Tim would have to figure out who that woman was and how serious Chase was about her. But he could barely guard his own heart right now, let alone his brother’s.
“Bye,” Hailey said. Then she took a long, slurpy sip of her smoothie and smacked her lips. “Wow. That is good. And you know what?” she murmured, nice and close to Tim’s ear.
He leaned in, determined to enjoy every second he had with her.
“I’m already having a nice evening,” she whispered.
He smiled. “That was the plan. And it’s not over yet.”
Hailey looked about as excited as Joey had been at the prospect of shaving. “It’s not?”
Tim sipped from his smoothie, shaking his head. “Nope.” Then he ticked a list off his fingers. “So — being normal, doing normal things — check. Meeting normal people…” He faked a frown. “I’m not sure Dell and Chase count as normal—”
Hailey stuck an elbow in his ribs. “They’re very sweet.”
“Right. Sweet.” Tim thought some more. “We’ve covered window-shopping too, which leaves dinner and stars, right?”
