by Annie O'Neil
“Are they your rules or your brothers’ rules?” asked Kenji, aka Ken the Fin.
“I make up my own rules,” Lulu retorted, unwillingly drawn into a conversational vortex she very much did not want to be in.
Everyone but Zach laughed.
Stewart took a swig of water and nodded at Zach. “Have you met the Kahales?”
He shook his head.
They all laughed again, shaking their heads and murmuring variants on, “Oh, this I gotta see!” And, “I hope someone’s got a camera when that happens!” Or, “When’s the Oahu tug-of-war again?”
“Will you guys shut up?” Lulu snapped. And then, to Zach, “Not you.”
They laughed even harder.
Lulu saw red. “Oh, my God, you guys! Can it! If he was the last person on earth I wouldn’t go out with Zach Murphy—all right?”
Too late, Lulu realized she’d screamed her little announcement aloud, and not in her head like a smart person would’ve done.
The team barely bothered hiding their snorts and guffaws behind their fists. Casey pretended to look slightly apologetic, but didn’t really. And Zach looked bemused rather than hurt, which was even more irritating than the guys laughing.
Didn’t he think she was worth dating? She knew she wasn’t exactly bachelorette of the year, but it wasn’t like she was grotesque. There’d been something between them just a few minutes ago. Enough to make him wink at her, anyway.
“Right. That’s settled, then,” Casey said, with a hand-wiping gesture that indicated the matter was closed to discussion. “We can all get back to work now, secure in the knowledge that Lulu and Zach will never, ever go on a date.”
And just like that it was the only thing Lulu wanted to do.
* * *
Zach kept his gaze neutral, but he was wishing like hell he’d opted for the phone call version of this meeting with his boss instead of a video conference.
“You what, now?” he asked, instead of swearing.
“We’d like you and Lulu Kahale to represent the company at the Intra-Island Search and Rescue Games. Work out any problem points the two of you might have in advance.”
“In advance of what?” he asked, instead of tearing the actual hair out of his head.
“The nationals,” his boss said, as if it were obvious. “Of course there are also the International Search and Rescue Games to aim for, but we thought we’d start local.”
What the actual—
“Sorry. I’m not following. You want me to play games with Lulu?”
He grimaced. That had come out all kinds of wrong.
His boss gave an easy laugh. The kind of laugh a man who delegated on a regular basis gave when asking someone to move a pyramid from one side of the desert to the other by the end of the week.
“It’s a thing between the Coast Guard and the police force rescue squads. We thought we’d enter you all this year, to get some more visibility for the squad. See if we can attract some more investors. Long story short—you two have to win. No pressure.”
If he could’ve volunteered to move a pyramid instead he would’ve done it, but Zach forced himself to smile and nod as his boss explained that the games would be held on the Big Island, where he and Lulu would stay in a hotel. Together. The games would take place over a long weekend in two weeks’ time and would require the pair of them to work together “like a newly serviced sports car.”
Zach only just managed to bite back a comment about how sports cars had a reputation for breaking down. Instead he smiled and nodded. He had never considered himself a yes-man, but two more months to go on his probation meant he wasn’t in a position to say no.
He could, however, offer alternative suggestions. “Wouldn’t someone who’s been on the team a bit longer be better?”
“Nah,” his boss replied, without bothering to think about it. “We’ve already done some research on the optics and the two of you make a good fit.”
An image of Lulu that only belonged in the privacy of his bedroom cracked Zach’s brain in half.
He shifted in his chair, trying to stem the images, while his boss rattled off a few ideas, then said he’d put it all in an email and zap it over so he and Lulu could hold a “blue sky meeting” about it.
“What? You want us to come up with ideas?”
“No. We want you to train together. Day and night. Let the rest of the crew put you through your paces. In two weeks’ time you two must be on the same page—the Oahu Search and Rescue are the winners page. We want you to make one hell of an impression, if you get my meaning.”
Zach did. They had to win. If they didn’t, that probation threat hung in the air like a guillotine.
Thanking his boss for the “opportunity to promote the team” and, of course, health and safety in Hawaii, he ended the call and dropped his forehead into his hands with a groan.
How on earth was he going to achieve synchronicity with Lulu when they currently repelled one another?
He’d thought he’d fixed things between them on that first day, but about a week in there had been that weird conversation with the crew talking about her brothers and dating. Zach’s one big takeaway was that Lulu Kahale was not on the market for a boyfriend. And if she was she definitely wouldn’t be knocking on his door.
A knock sounded and the office door opened.
Lulu.
He sucked in a sharp breath.
She bristled.
He tensed.
Their eyes met and sparks of flinty heat sprayed everywhere they shouldn’t have.
“You got a minute, boss?”
She’d taken to calling him “boss”—which for some reason felt like an insult coming from her. A challenge.
“Absolutely. Come on in.”
His desk was shoved up against the wall of the small office. The only other chair was right next to his. He held out his hand, gesturing for her to take a seat, just as she reached out to grab the back of it. Their fingers brushed. He felt as if he’d just stuck his hand in a candle flame. As tempting as it was dangerous.
She took the chair and pulled it a couple of feet away from him before she sat down, dropping her staff backpack between them.
Subtle.
Neither of them said anything for a minute, as if each of them was braced for round twenty-seven, or whatever it was, of the weird hate-tinged game of I respect you but only as far as I can throw you they’d been engaged in for the past few weeks.
“How’d the hiker from this morning get on at the hospital?” he finally asked.
Lulu tilted her chin up. She’d been the one to belay down from the helicopter to get the twentysomething hiker onto a stretcher. “Good. A bit shaken up. Fractured wrist and a few scrapes and cuts.”
“Did you manage to figure out how he’d ended up on that outcrop?”
She shrugged casually, as if novice hikers were always falling off the sides of mountains and needing rescuing. “Bird-watching through binoculars. Wasn’t looking where he was going.” She sniggered. “He was more annoyed that he hadn’t been able to figure out what type of bird it was than anything else. Oahu Elepaio.”
“What’s that?”
“The bird.”
“Oh! You saw it?”
“Nah. Heard it.”
He nodded, impressed. Athletic, competitive, beautiful—and able to identify birdsong. What other hidden talents lay beneath Lulu’s implacable surface?
He silently made the question rhetorical. He didn’t want to know.
They sat and stared at one another for a moment, the conversation drying up as it often did on the rare occasions they were alone.
“So!” He clapped his hands together too loudly, not quite ready to tell her about his call with the boss. “What can I help you with?”
“Nothing,” she said, her eyes
darting round the office that had once been hers.
He hadn’t changed it much. Not at all, really—except for making it a bit tidier. Maybe that was what this was. A power play. A dethroned lioness prowling round the new leader of the pride.
The word struck a chord. She was a lot of things, but above them all she was a proud woman. This wasn’t some false bravura or macho grandstanding. It was pride. And he liked that about her.
He liked a lot of things about her.
That long, thick braid that swung between her shoulder blades. That nook between her jaw and her neck. The way her tooth dug into her lip when she was biting back something she clearly wanted to say. But they were colleagues. End of.
After the ticking of the clock grew too loud to tolerate, he tried again. “So...did you come in here to point that out, or is this your way of saying you’ll get the paperwork from this morning to me later?”
A wash of guilt and then delight rippled across her features. A look of triumph took purchase as she pulled her backpack off the floor and presented him with a clipboard thick with completed forms.
“Here you are.”
He flicked through the papers. “Looks like it’s all here.”
“Should be. I went over it twice.”
He looked up and met her eyes in time to catch a hint of vulnerability. A desire to please. And it felt personal.
This time he was the one to push his chair back.
“Is Harry around this weekend?” Lulu asked.
“Yes,” Zach answered cautiously. “Why?”
“I wanted to take him out surfing.”
Before Zach could explain the number of reasons why that was an insane idea, she continued.
“I thought since he likes the turtles so much he could see what it feels like—you know, to fly on water. Not that turtles fly.”
She rolled her eyes at herself. Small streaks of red were beginning to color her cheeks, as if she were silently willing herself to stop talking. But she didn’t.
“I work for this charity. Well...not work. My brother and I volunteer there sometimes. We take special-needs kids out when we know the surf is going to be mellow. We’ve got special supports for kids with big physical hurdles, but I think Harry’d be good going out with me...so long as we slather him in sunblock. That kid is pale!”
Zach stared at her, then said, “He’s not great at swimming.”
“He doesn’t have to be. We’ve got wetsuits, float vests, buoyancy aids. Everything he’ll need.” Her eyes flicked to his, the liquid amber irises a deep burnished gold. “He’ll be safe with me.”
Zach didn’t know why, but he believed her. Which was huge. He’d never felt Harry would be safe when his ex-wife took him out. Especially when their outings were “visitations.” Which was insane, because she was his mother, but...
A twist of acid stung his throat. Harry’s cerebral palsy had closed something off in her—something he’d thought all mothers felt for their children, no matter what. An unbreakable, protective love.
“You can come, too.” Lulu said, her eyes leaving his when he said nothing. “I mean, you have to, really, because I’ll be taking other kids out, too. But...” She held her hands out in a The choice is yours gesture.
The invitation hung between them, and just as he saw her begin to adjust her posture, ready to take it back, he said, “Sounds great. We’d love to.”
Her face broke into a broad grin. “Really? Awesome. Because I’ve already signed him up and your parents think it’s a great idea.”
“My parents?”
“Yeah, I—” Her expression turned hesitant. “I dropped by their condo the other day and talked to them about it. Floated the idea.”
“You went to my parents’ condo and talked to them about taking my son surfing?”
Lulu nodded slowly, tensing her body as if waiting for him to blow up. “Yes. Was that a bad thing to do? I was bringing them the addresses for some food trucks I thought they’d like.”
Zach gave his head a double-handed scrub, then laughed. Properly laughed. He’d thought she hated him. People who hated someone didn’t drop by their parents’ house with top tips for taco trucks and offers to take their disabled son surfing.
Maybe he’d been looking at it all wrong. Lulu was a strong, proud, hard-working woman. She’d wanted his job. She’d wanted his house. He’d unwittingly swanned in and taken both. So she was regrouping. Figuring out how to let go of her plans for the future and move on.
“What? Why is that funny?”
“No. Lulu. Please... Sorry, I just—” Zach held his hand out, gesturing for her to take her seat again, which she did. Reluctantly. “Your offer is an amazing one. Generous. Kind. Yes, please. I’m sure Harry would love it. And I—” A knot of emotion suddenly rose and jammed in his throat as he pictured the scene. The beach, the sea, his boy on a surfboard... “I’d love for Harry to have that experience.”
There were a thousand other things he’d love to see Harry enjoy, but this would be a damn good start.
Lulu rose, her smile more cautious this time, but still a smile. “That’s great. So... I’ll pick you both up at six on Saturday.”
“On the motorcycle?”
She snorted. “I think you’ll find the Highway Code doesn’t allow three people on the back of a motorcycle.”
He tapped the side of his nose. “Good to know.”
He enjoyed her smile. Not smug from being right, but satisfied to have proved she knew the rules as well as he did.
“I have a Jeep,” she said.
He nodded. It suited her. As much as the bike did. “So, that’s six a.m., then?”
She rolled her eyes good-naturedly. “We’re not going night surfing, boss.”
“Zach,” he corrected. If he was going to trust her to take his son out into the ocean, he wanted to be on a first-name basis with her.
She scrunched her nose for a second and didn’t repeat his name. Just nodded. She backed up to the door frame, as if turning her back on him would make her too vulnerable. And as she left, with that soft smile of hers and an over-the-shoulder wave, he suddenly saw the invitation for what it truly was. An olive branch.
She’d gone before he remembered the Intra-Island Search and Rescue Games.
He should run after her and explain it all, but the moment they’d just shared had felt like a fresh start. A chance for a genuine friendship.
Something deep in his gut told him friendship with Lulu was hard-earned and precious. And he didn’t want to do a single thing to compromise it.
CHAPTER SIX
LULU’S HEART WAS hammering in her chest. She couldn’t believe she was doing this. Bringing Zach and Harry to the Superstars Surf Club. Her brother was going to be there. She didn’t want Makoa to see her with Zach. He knew her tells. Her blushes. Her hair flicks. The way she covered all of it up with an extra splash of I don’t care what anyone thinks of me.
But what was even bigger was the fact that Zach had agreed to come. The tension between them might have relaxed a bit, but she knew he still thought of her as a wild card. Someone to keep an extra eye on.
And now Zach was going to trust her with his son?
He’s not Zach, she silently corrected herself. He’s your boss.
Calling him Zach felt like entering a completely different, touchy-feely universe. Ultrapersonal. The kind of personal that would give oxygen to the feelings that had all but consumed her since Casey had forced her to scream about not wanting to date him.
It was like she’d been cursed. Zach Murphy was in her brain nearly every second of every minute of every single shift they worked together. And pretty much all of the other minutes of the day since he’d walked out onto that pier and she’d tumbled headlong into those blue eyes of his. It was as if they’d swallowed her whole then spat her back out. She was someo
ne she didn’t recognize. Stupidly hungry to impress, strangely coquettish and ruled by a tummy filled with overactive butterflies that didn’t seem to know when enough was enough.
These were teenage-girl-crush feelings. And now she was inviting him on one of her favorite days of the month to one of her favorite places on earth, where her brother would see her blushing like an idiot every time Zach Murphy laid eyes on her.
She pulled into the drive, not resenting the familiarity of the approach to the house as much as she had that first time she’d yanked her motorcycle onto the private little lane that led to Turtle Hideaway.
Knowing Harry was down here, tucked behind the palms and loving the little beach cove almost as much as she did, was an unexpected salve. Knowing the same about Zach was... Well, he hadn’t yet announced any plans to knock the house down and replace it with some sort of chrome and steel number, like a lot of other mainlanders did to the traditional beach houses. That was something.
To her surprise they were already outside and waiting for her—rolled-up towels under their arms, board shorts on, smiles on their faces. What she could see of them, anyway. Both Zach and Harry were wearing snorkels and masks.
She’d barely brought her open-topped Jeep to a halt before Harry was doing his high-speed tiptoe running toward her. Her instinct was to get him to put the brakes on before he slammed into the side of the Jeep, but she’d hung around enough special-needs kids to know cushioning all the blows was worse than a few cuts and bruises.
Zach jogged behind him, tugging off his mask. Their eyes connected with a glint of mutual understanding that unleashed a warm glow of satisfaction in her chest.
Mahalo, he mouthed. Thank you.
He might as well have said I want you from the response it elicited. Her entire body was having a hot, tingly, glitter party. She’d never felt her clothes touch her body the way they were touching her now. Her T-shirt was brushing against her breasts, her cut-off jeans were brushing the tops of her thighs. Even her flip-flops brushed against the bottoms of her feet as if she were receiving her very first erotic foot rub.
