by Eden Butler
Kai nodded, a little disappointed by how small the pineapples were, but still offered the man an appreciative grin when he paid him. “Thanks. This will work.”
“You gonna grill them?”
“I might. If they’re not juicy enough. But it’s a little hot to stay outside longer than I have to.” He looked around the vendor’s selection, spotting the vats upon vats of strawberries. There were hundreds, so many that strawberries seemed to have taken over the man’s booth. “What’s the deal with the berries?”
“Beg pardon?” the man said, blinking at Kai like he was just a little slow. “What you mean?”
“I don’t get it,” he admitted, picking up one berry to sniff it. “Are strawberries a big deal here?”
Two old women standing next to Kai jerked their gazes right to him, another clicked her tongue to the roof of her mouth, shaking her head while she muttered, “bless his heart,” before she walked away.
“Louisiana strawberries,” Kai heard someone say behind him, followed by the long, slender arm that weaved around his arm to pluck the berry from his hand, “specifically Ponchatoula strawberries, are the best thing you’re likely to ever put in your mouth.”
He repressed a groan, loving the sound of Gia’s voice so close to him and that sweet smell of her perfume as it hit his senses. Kai turned, taking back his berry, his stare centered on her full lips as they stretched into a smile. Then all thought left him as he spotted what she wore. He’d only seen so much of Gia’s skin in Summerland’s Mardi Gras night, but this was better. It was daylight. He had a better view and fuck did he like it.
Kai blinked, recovering from seeing her in that romper, putting a grin back on his face before he muttered, “I can think of…other things that would probably taste better in my…”
“Do not finish that sentence,” she told him, grabbing the berry back to hand it over to the old man. “How’s your day going, Mr. Blanchard?”
“I’m good, darlin’. How’s our boys looking?”
“Oh, everyone’s great. Except this one lineman,” she said, winking at the old man. “He’s a pain in my ass.”
“They usually are.” Blanchard picked up a canvas bag already full of strawberries and handed it over to Gia. “We’re lucky with this late harvest and all the rain this year. Never had berries so long in the season.” He grinned. “Oh, and we got a new crop of squash coming in about a month or two. And my wife told me she’s sending you that soup recipe.”
“It’ll be great if this heat ever leaves us,” Gia said, handing over a twenty. She glanced at Kai, then back to the old man. “Give him just a teaser. Don’t want him making himself sick with all those pineapples and strawberries. Besides, I need him fit for the opening game next weekend.”
The old man laughed, stuffing two green containers of strawberries into a smaller canvas bag before he passed it over to Kai. “Don’t eat them all at once.”
“No worries,” he told the old man. “If I run out, I’ll just steal hers.”
“You will not,” Gia said, pulling her bag away from Kai when he reached for it. “Thanks, Mr. Blanchard.”
The old man waved them off and Kai followed behind the GM, unable to keep his attention from her small waist and impossibly long legs. He’d never seen her dressed down before and decided he liked her this way, looking comfortable in all that glorious skin, wearing that thin, spaghetti strapped blue romper with a V-neck like it was made for her. Some women might feel self-conscious walking around with that much leg and cleavage showing, but Gia carried herself with confidence and oozed elegance. If people took second glances at her it was because she was beautiful, not because she was sporting a lot of skin.
“Are you going to ogle me, Pukui, or are you going to walk me back to our building?”
“Wasn’t ogling,” he lied, moving to her side, his attention ahead of them. “But I gotta say, in the most professional way possible…”
“Here it comes…”
“You look fucking beautiful.” From the corner of his eye, he caught the quick movement of her head as she jerked her attention to him, and he glanced down at her, smiling at the surprise moving her eyebrows up. “I call it like it is.”
“Well, thanks.” She rolled her eyes, pulling on the gold necklace she wore, fiddling with the fleur de lis charm as she held it between her fingers.
“Anytime.” He grinned, convinced there might be a blush on her face, knowing he was probably wrong. “It was good running into you here.”
“I don’t like buying fruit or veggies at the grocery store.”
“Oh?” He nodded to a few of the vendors he recognized from all the times he’d visited the Market himself. “Something wrong with store bought stuff?”
“Plenty,” she said, glancing up at him. “But I’m not some kind of organic foods junkie.” Gia moved her shoulders, messing with her necklace again. “My mom just always kept a small garden in the back of our place. I can taste a difference between store bought and fresh.”
Kai moved his eyebrows together, head shaking. “I thought you were from New York.”
Gia laughed, her expression amused when she shot him a look. “You shouldn’t believe everything you see in movies. Not everyone that lives in the city has a fourth floor walkup and a fire escape.” She muttered something he couldn’t hear, waving off an older Asian man trying to get her to check out the silver jewelry he had on display at his booth. “My parents own a townhouse in Cedarhurst that they bought forever ago. Two stories, three bedrooms and a nice little backyard. They’d never give it up.”
“Sounds nice,” he told her, liking how her face softened when she spoke about her family.
“It was,” she said. “Just really crowded.”
Kai could understand that. All the foster homes he came up in never had enough room, certainly not enough for him, big as he was. The thought made him frown, and he looked away from Gia’s sweet face, straightening when he spotted a kid twenty feet in front of them on a skateboard, weaving through the crowd like he didn’t have the good sense God gave a rutting pig. Kai stepped in front of Gia, holding out his arm when she tried moving around him.
She looked over his shoulder, stepping back when the kid moved right for them. The kid stopped short, jumping off his board, stepping on it to make the thing fly into the air.
Kai caught it in his free hand, holding it out of reach of the kid who didn’t look more than fifteen or sixteen. He felt Gia squeezing on his arm, giving him a silent command not to make an issue of this, but Kai wouldn’t let the punk off that easily.
“There are women, kids, and old people all around the Market.”
The boy stared at him, his gaze shooting up Kai’s frame, growing wider as though he couldn’t quite believe how big the man was.
“Hey, look around you,” he told the boy, and the kid did, his attention shooting to the scowls and glares he caught from the vendors and the women dragging their children away from where the boy had been skating. “Have a little respect or maybe next time somebody really damn scary will stop you.”
“Yeah…yes, sir,” the boy said, wiping the sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand. “I’m sorry…” He glanced around Kai, looking like he tried to catch Gia’s attention, “I’m really sorry.”
“Just be careful,” she told him. “You could hurt yourself too.”
Gia nudge Kai and he handed back the skateboard, head shaking when the kid grabbed it and walked the rest of the way out of the Market. “Little idiot.”
“He’s just a kid, Kai.”
“No excuse.” Then, Gia distracted him with the strawberry she shoved into his mouth. He jerked back, away from the intrusion, then held onto it when some of the juice hit his tongue. “Damn,” he said, turning to face her. He chewed the rest of the berry, tossing the leafy top into the trash as they moved out of the busy Market, his taste buds firing with contentment. The texture was perfect, the juice so sweet. Gia had been right. That was almost the swe
etest thing he’d had in his mouth.
“Well?” she asked, digging in her bag for a berry. “Best thing, right?”
He nodded, not trusting himself to keep the admissions at minimum. The sun hit them when they moved through the crowd, and Kai was struck a little stupid by the way Gia reacted to the heat and the mild breeze. She started talking about Ponchatoula, how Cat had brought her to a strawberry festival there back in April. Kai only half listened.
Gia moved through the crowd like a queen, people watching her as she walked, her face animated at she told some story about drinking too many strawberry daiquiris and Cat getting stuck at the top of a Ferris wheel with some kid called Davey Michaels. Then they stopped at an intersection, waiting for the crosswalk light to flash green and Gia used the brief pause to wrangle her long, thick hair into both hands, twisting it together to bunch it in a knot that stayed in a messy bun at the top of her head. Small wisps of wavy hair dusted around her face and along the back of her neck and Kai fought the urge to lean down and kiss her there.
“So the crowded house. That why you left New York?” Kai dug a berry from his bag, eyes closing when the sweet juice hit his tongue.
“Partly. But I’ve always wanted to run an NFL team.” She glanced at him, her mouth relaxed. “My uncle ran the CPU Blue Devils and promised to get me discounted tuition and an introduction into one of the team jobs.”
“That was generous.”
“It was hard work.” She adjusted the canvas bag, staring out into the crowd. “I never got anything without giving something up.”
Kai had heard rumors, mostly bullshit, about what a hardass Gia was. How she never backed down. How she could stand up to any man, and had, during a negotiation. But he’d also heard about her being in New Orleans. Something about a first love she never quite shook.
“You…didn’t finish at CPU?” he asked, not looking at her, meaning to sound casual, but he felt her watching him. Kai nodded to the ring on her right hand, a pressed gold coin signet she wore on her pinky. “Bruins. That’s UCLA, right?”
Gia grinned, nodding before she crossed her arms. “You’re perceptive.”
“No doubt.” Kai didn’t like the frown she wore, or how quiet she got when he mentioned her leaving New Orleans, but he was curious about why she’d abandoned the opportunity her uncle opened for her. He’d tread lightly; as lightly as his mammoth feet would allow. “Let’s see…I’m gonna take a guess.”
“About?”
“How UCLA ended up with the illustrious Miss Jilani.” Her smiled lowered but didn’t vanish. “You…pledged a sorority that required skinny dipping in the chancellor’s pool, and they caught you. Instead of bringing shame to your poor uncle and your family honor…you transferred.”
“Never pledged a sorority, junior.” She brushed a flyaway wisp of hair from her eye, glancing at him. “Try again.”
“Hmm,” Kai began, standing next to Gia when they came to an intersection, his eyes closing when he caught the delicious scent of beignets from Café Du Monde behind them. “Well, granny,” he dodged her elbow before continuing, “oh, I know! You had an illicit affair with the Chancellor, that’s why you were naked in his pool! And his wife found out. Cue all that noise about shaming the family honor, etc., and you were off to become a Bruin.”
“I’m sensing a pattern here,” Gia said, head shaking. “You seem to think I was naked a lot in college.”
“Be a shame if you weren’t.” Again, Gia laughed, but the sound wasn’t loud, and her smile wasn’t as wide. “Maybe,” Kai went on, “there was just freshman Gia who got mixed up with some asshat and needed to a new start.” She opened her mouth, that smile completely gone now and he regretted saying anything to begin with. Kai would have done anything in that moment to get that lost expression off her face, but he knew he just wasn’t that good. Gia sighed, seemingly like there was answer ready for, but she closed her mouth when Kai shook his head. “Whoever he was, I’m sure he’s kicking himself now, nani. My gut tells me you’re not the kind of woman anyone gets over easily.”
She held his stare until the crowd moved around them, then nodded him forward, breaking the small spell that had Kai mesmerized until he caught up with her.
“What about you?” she asked, pulling out another berry.
“Never had some asshat break my heart.”
“But you were the asshat?”
He shook his head, one side of his mouth moving up as s flash of Keeana as a bossy teenager ran through his head. “Not that I know of,” he told her, pulling out his cell. He got to his gallery, stopping on an image of Kee and their girl from the week before, offering it to Gia. “Keeana was my high school sweetheart. The first real family I ever had.”
“She’s beautiful,” Gia said, moving her fingers over the screen to enlarge the image. He liked the way her gaze seemed to soak up the details of those faces, how she seemed genuinely interested in them. “And your daughter…my God, she’s gorgeous.”
“Thanks,” he told her, his chest constricting with pride. “Keola is almost nine.” He pushed his cell back into his pocket.
“But you weren’t an asshat to her?”
“Never,” he said immediately, looking down to catch Gia’s gaze. “She pretty much kicked me out of Maui after college, told me I needed to make my way in the world. It’s what I wanted. She was happy being there. Her whole world is always going to be as big as that island, and she’s fine with that. We both knew it.” Kai nodded to a group of older men, a couple sporting Steamers caps who stopped to stare at him as they passed him. “Three months into my first contract she calls to tell me she’s pregnant.” He laughed, remember falling bare assed on the locker room floor with his fellow Panthers looking at him like he’d grown antlers. “Had to be that last goodbye send-off booty.” Kai shrugged, wiping his hand on his jeans. “I’ve never been sorry about it. Keola’s my whole world. And Keeana is still my best friend.”
“That’s good,” Gia said, her smile warm, like she enjoyed hearing his story. “You two should teach lessons on co-parenting.”
“Well, it helps when neither one of you are assholes.” She made a face, like she wasn’t a hundred percent sure she’d agree with that, then laughed at Kai’s mock insult as he released an exaggerated gasp. “How dare you!”
Gia laughed, hand against her chest as she looked down the sidewalk, that smile stretching. “Oh!” she said, grabbing Kai’s hand as she seemed to spot something that got her excited. “These are my boys.”
Gia dragged him to a large group of street performers, and the crowd surrounding them. They were all decked out in matching red T-shirts with yellow lightning bolts across the front and each kid wore black jeans or shorts and black sneakers with spoons attached to the soles that clicked against the pavement when they danced. Kai had seen them perform before but had never taken the time to stop for the entire act. Gia, though, knew all the jokes, laughed at the right moments, nodded and pointed at spots for Kai to watch when certain acrobatic elements were particularly impressive.
“That little one is Donovan,” she said, motioning to a kid who couldn’t have been more than fourteen. His limbs were stunted, shorter than his torso, as were his legs, as though they hadn’t caught up to the rest of his body. But his face looked older and there was a small patch of hair growing from his upper lip and around his cheeks, as though he might have some sort of growth disorder, but he still kept up with the other performers in his troupe, flipping and dancing, doing handstands and twirls right alongside them. “He proposes to me every time I tip them.”
“Probably because you tip him.”
“No doubt. Never remembers my name either, the little capitalist.”
“If he was a real capitalist, he’d make a point to remember your name, nani.”
She turned, looking over her shoulder at him. “You do know I’m familiar with a few Hawaiian words, right?”
Kai tilted his head, not sure if he believed her. “So, when I call you
nani…”
“I already know you think I’m beautiful, but I’m sure you use that word a lot.”
“I don’t. When I call you that, I mean it.” He leaned forward, resting his arm behind her on the stone half wall that ran along the steps where most of the crowd had congregated. “And if I said ‘Kala’?”
Gia snorted, immediately shaking her head. “I’ve never been anyone’s princess.”
“No, ma’am. You strike me more as a queen.” Kai liked how she grinned at him, how that pleased smile became wider, as though she liked the compliment he’d given her, though she’d likely never admit it. He thought of another word, equally ridiculous just to see if he could get a rise out of her. “What about, pua?”
She made a face, rolling her eyes, he guessed for emphasis. “No, not a flower either.”
“No one’s princess, no one’s flower, but beautiful.” Kai exhaled, pretending to give the matter a lot of thought. He knew what he wanted to call her, what had come to his mind over and over again during the past several months anytime he thought of her, but referring to Gia as any of those things—things that he’d only say to her when he knew she wanted to hear them—would unravel what he hoped he’d been slowly building with her. But he still had to make some small strides. “I’d call you ku'uipo, but I think you’d hate that too.”
“I…don’t think I’ve heard that one.”
“Wow, something the great GM doesn’t know.” Kai leaned closer, holding his weight on his elbows and those small wisps of Gia’s hair tickled the side of his face. “It means ‘sweetheart.’ That’s not really something I’ve ever said much to anyone. Just a personal preference.”
Gia glanced away from him, seeming as though she was disinterested in the direction of the conversation, bringing her attention back to the dancers, but she still moved her face toward him. “So, if you ever say it to me…”
“Then you know I mean it, Gia.”
Kai would have given anything to read her thoughts when she looked at him then. There was something behind the shifting gleam in her eyes, in how her gaze wandered over his face, moving across his cheeks, landing on his mouth, staying there like she forgot all the times she’d promised him there could never be anything between them.
