by Eden Butler
“Motherfucker,” she muttered, head falling back as the lights in the cityscape below began to grow brighter. Two weeks and not a word. It was good, she’d told herself. It was for the best. So why had she found it impossible to get a decent night’s sleep in her new cottage?
Why had she spent three hours every night for a week watching Kai’s film like a stalker, just to bring back the image of his face, to remind herself what it had been like to kiss him, to have him over her, inside her?
Gia jumped, the loud, shrieking ring of her phone scaring her. The number on the screen came from the familiar mid-city number and accompanied Les McAddams’ pink, chubby face on her screen. She didn’t let more than two rings sound before she answered.
“Les, how’s it going?” she asked, walking to the bar next to her bookcase. Even a small conversation with this man would require a drink.
“Gia, I’m glad I caught you,” he said, his voice breathy. “Looky here, my cousin Lenny been talking to Coach Noble from Duke…”
“Okay…” she said, waiting for the punch line as she poured two fingers of bourbon.
“Turns out, Coach heard that Denver is gunning for his placekicker. You hear anything about that?”
She sipped her drink, hitting the speaker button before she rested her cell on the window seat next to her as she sat. “Reese mentioned her father has been working with a couple…”
“Now, Gia, don’t bullshit me,” Les said, laughing, though Gia knew better than to believe he found anything funny. “You know damn good and well the Broncos are trying to steal our thunder. They are trying to pick Coach’s new girl…that Reynolds girl.”
Many of the old guard, Les among them, had made such a stink when Gia had brought in Reese to try out. Now here he was implying that Reese was some sort of prized unicorn he didn’t want anyone else to have. “You saying you want me to replace Reese Noble?”
“Hell no,” Les said. His voice sounded so thick Gia could almost see both of his chins moving when he spoke. “I’m saying I want you to get Reese up there to the Draft and have her announce that pick.”
She leaned against the window, drinking long and slow. “We have no say so in who…”
“I got it worked out. Buck Milken is organizing the announcements in the commissioner’s office. I want Noble announcing Reynolds.” She saluted him, giving her eyes a roll before she began to down the last of her drink. “And I think we should get Wilson and Pukui in there to make some announcements too. Let the media see a firm footing from the Steamers.” He cleared his throat. “You know, sad thing with Pukui’s girl…might be good to get him out in front of the cameras, show him off a little. He’s a good lookin’ one, and that Wilson is always good at grabbing the spotlight.” Gia choked on her bourbon, the cough racking through her chest as Les cleared his throat. “You alright?”
“Yeah…yes…” she said through a loud gasp. A few more coughs and Gia swallowed, grabbing a bottle of water from the mini-fridge to drink before she continued. “I really don’t think having our players there would send the right message about…”
“‘Course it would, sugar. It’s a done deal. You get Noble, Wilson and Pukui, and I’ll make the arrangements. Night, Gia.”
“Shit…shit,” she told the empty room, staring out at the New Orleans skyline wondering how the hell she’d come up with the nerve to face Kai and convince him her visit was anything other than professional…or convince herself she could stand looking at him and not believe he meant nothing to her.
21.
GIA
THE NFL DRAFT
Reese Noble was a force of nature. The lights around the stage flickered with pink and purple flashes, hitting against the placekicker’s face like a sunset. Gia was proud to see her standing so straight, looking so confident. She supposed Les hadn’t been completely wrong. A strong showing of the first woman in the NFL ushering in the next one was monumental. It wasn’t a changing of the guard, but it felt like a sisterhood that no one but she and Reese and the woman waiting in the crowd for her name to be called would ever understand.
Gia stood next to the Commissioner, nodding when he flashed a smile at her, ignoring the idiot when he continued to mutter, “this is great, just so awesome,” like a drunk frat boy on pledge night. Gia didn’t care. Her attention was on Reese and the smile she flashed to the crowd as she spoke.
“With the eighteenth pick in the first round, the Denver Broncos select the placekicker from Duke University…Grace Reynolds!”
The crowd went wild—some Broncos fans stomping and yelling with face splitting smiles accompanying their cheerful shouts, others booing, still not caught up to the fractures Gia and Reese had made in that thick glass ceiling.
When Reynolds joined Reese on the stage, Gia retreated, letting the women have their moment and the picture with the red-faced frat boy commissioner and she moved from the stage, and headed toward the water fountain, her gaze shooting for half a second to Kai as he stood next to the exit talking to a man whose features she couldn’t quite make out.
Until he looked to his left, nodding at two running backs from Atlanta Ricks had traded two seasons ago. That profile hadn’t changed much. The nose was still straight, still long. The cheeks were still broad and defined and he still had a cleft in the center of his chin. But there were a few faint lines crowding the corners of Kona Hale’s eyes and the faintest smattering of gray had started to appear around the temples of his black hair.
“God,” Gia muttered under her breath, stepping back, retreating to the modest safety of the curtains near the stage. Her stomach coiled and burned as flashes moved through her head, a thousand images she’d tried to bury. Moments she promised herself she’d never relive with anyone else because of what she’d had with Kona’s twin brother.
Luka. It always came back to him. A part of him, the smallest, remotest part of him, stood twenty feet away from her talking to Kai…talking to the man who professed to love her.
Gia felt her chest constrict and a vicious tremor rush through her hands that she didn’t seem able to steady. She hated the weakness she felt. She hated more that just seeing Kona reminded her that she’d been too scared in the past to even speak to him. He was no stranger to her. Despite what she told Keola, she’d more than just met Kona Hale. They were friendly. The man had warned her not to pursue his twin. He didn’t think Luka was ready for what she’d wanted from him. Kona had been wrong, but he’d never known it. He’d never known about Luka loving Gia. Or what losing him had done to her.
She’d stayed away from him for years. There had been chances to see him before. He was a champion, the darling of the NFL. He’d almost landed on the Steamers’ roster. If that had happened, she would have turned down the owner’s offer for her position. Gia had never been able to face him. Not once. The last time she saw Kona was at the Blue Devil’s team house. She’d yelled at him for blackening Luka’s eye. Not long after that, they were both gone and Gia had never said goodbye to either of them.
“Gia?” she heard, shutting her eyes at the pitch of Reese’s voice, how it carried over the noise of the crowd, how Kai and Kona both turned to see who’d called her.
Then her placekicker stood next to her, elbowing her a little, her mouth dropping open when she spotted Kona. The big man gave Reese a once over, his lips moving in a half-grin as he nodded to her, a clear gesture that he knew her and approved, before he moved his gaze to Gia.
Kona’s eyes were so similar to Luka’s. The shape was identical, the color, a shade darker, the irises moving over her face, the lids rounding as though he only just recognized her.
“Jilani?” Kona said, dropping his mouth open as he walked toward her.
“You know Gia?” Kai asked Kona, following the bigger man to greet them.
At her right, Reese touched Gia’s arm and she could make out the kicker’s worried expression in her peripheral vision. “Gia…” Reese started, “you alright? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
Kona lost his smile, seeming to hear Reese’s words and register them instantly as he watched Gia, his head in a slow nod. “Well,” he said, his face bunching up quick, like he didn’t care for the thoughts that moved around in his head. “I guess she has.”
There was a lot that passed between them just then. Gia wondered if Kona thought about that last night in the team house. She wondered if Kona knew it was her Luka left behind when Keira called to go save his twin. God, she wanted to go back to that room and be with Luka, standing in just her bra and panties as he talked to Keira on the phone. There’d been no fear on his face. The expression he’d worn had been pure and sweet and told Gia everything she needed to know about Luka Hale…about how much he loved her.
Gia let the frown on her face stay for a half a second too long; long enough that when Kai spotted it, when he looked at Kona reaching his hand toward her, she had to make a point of forcing herself to smile. Gia realized she’d have to wear her game face. She’d have to don the professional persona that had gotten her through so many confrontations in her career.
“Gia Jilani,” Kona finally said, sounding amazed. “Twenty years is a long, long time.”
It was yesterday, she thought. It was a lifetime ago.
He’d changed so much. Then again, considering all she’d heard about him the past couple of years—him and Keira finding each other again, Kona discovering he had a son with her, them marrying and having more babies, him retiring from the NFL and taking a coaching position with CPU—it all somehow fit. It made sense to her.
“Congratulations, Kona,” she told him, hoping the waver in her voice was only in her imagination. She could do this, handle herself around him. “I’m so happy for all the good you’ve had lately. You deserve it.”
She meant it. Gia liked to think Luka would be so happy for his twin. The man seemed to have such a beautiful life.
“I’m blessed,” he told her, but Gia was only half listening. Kai watched her, his gaze penetrating, fierce and she wondered if he was figuring it out, if her reaction to Kona, if his to hers made everything obvious now. Did he know now who’d made her heartsick? “Very blessed,” Kona continued, his smile growing. “But then so are you.” Then, Kona slipped his attention to Kai, glancing at Reese when she stepped closer. “It’s awesome what you’ve done and my cousin Puk here…”
“Cousin?”
That couldn’t be…there was no way.
Cat had researched. The pendant. They’d looked everywhere. They’d dug in Kai’s family history. They’d tried to make the connections between his background and the Hale family and came up with nothing. But if Kona was saying they were cousins…
She watched Kai’s expression, getting the confirmation she didn’t expect when he threw Kona a glare. Gia shut her eyes, trying to push back the dread she felt. “I…I had no idea.”
“Not something I advertise,” he admitted. He watched Gia close and she understood that look—the searching squint of his eyes, the assumption he made but wouldn’t voice. “I get by on my own,” he explained.
“You do,” Kona agreed, slapping Kai’s back. “Wouldn’t let me call in a single scout when he was in college or even make any introductions.” He smiled wide, giving Kai such a look of pride that Gia’s throat tightened.
Kai stared at Kona, his expression mixed. There was a smile there, something Gia recognized as his clear admiration, but there was something more. Something she remembered seeing years before when Luka would look at Kona; when Kona would have the attention of a crowd and Luka became background. He never seemed jealous of his twin, but there was a resignation that seemed to come over him, like he knew that Kona would always be center stage. Kai wore a similar expression now, watching Kona brag about him, watching as the man looked at Gia like he knew her, like there was something he wanted to say but couldn’t find the words.
The air around Gia felt thick, and she knew whatever she said would sound stupid and forced. But there’d be no way to make any sense of this awkwardness right now. There was too much attention on all of them. There were too many questions that needed to be answered.
“Well,” she started, putting on the GM mask again, “it seems talent runs in your family.” Next to her, Reese shifted, reminding Gia why they’d made the trip to Philly in the first place and she blessed the woman for the distraction she gave her. “Kona, have you met Reese Noble?”
“No, I haven’t,” he started, offering a hand to the woman. “You got quite a leg on you.”
“Thanks. Got a second one to match. They come in twos, apparently.”
Gia managed to pretend to laugh, joining with Kona and Reese as Kai went on frowning. He used the distraction of their laughter to move behind them, coming to stand at Gia’s side, doing nothing to ease her already frazzled mood.
Kona’s smile was warm, soothing when he turned to face her, head tilting in such a reminiscent way that Gia squeezed her eyes shut to keep the flash of that nearly twenty-year memory out of her head.
“Gia, let me take you two out, please.” He motioned between her and Kai, then nodded at Reese. “You, too, Noble. I’d love to find out how you’re liking my hometown, maybe see if you wouldn’t want to come by CPU and talk to our team.”
He went on speaking to Gia’s placekicker, mentioning his team at CPU and Gia thought she heard him talking about his son. She wasn’t sure. The only thing she could focus on was the look Kai gave her as he stood next to her, his focus on her profile. His expression was solemn, worried, a look that made his mouth hard and pinched his features.
The flight together had been awkward, punctuated by infrequent brushes of his hand against her leg and his breath on her neck when he moved to the side to let Wilson into his seat. But Kai hadn’t spoken much to her. He hadn’t done much but look at her, give Gia the indication that he still waited for her to shake the hesitation and fear that kept them apart.
The looks had been all heat, passion, a longing Gia hadn’t felt for many years—something that reminded her of a hungry man willing to wait, just a little longer, for the decadent meal he knew was coming.
Now though, the look had changed. Now there was worry. Now there was confusion.
Now there was hurt.
“So?” Kona said, looking back at Kai and Gia. “Dinner?”
“Sure, brah,” Kai answered his cousin, nudging Gia who gave them both a flippant nod.
“I’d love to, Kona, but I have plans tonight,” Reese answered, and Gia understood immediately the grin she couldn’t keep off her face. Noble wasn’t remotely smooth. Gia knew that Ryder was waiting for her back at the hotel.
“I gotcha,” Kona said, offering Reese his hand to shake again. Gia returned the nod Reese sent her way, but she didn’t move much more than that. Not when Kai touched her back, pausing like he was waiting on her to tell her placekicker goodbye before he led her toward the door. Behind her, she heard Kona telling Reese to get in touch with him.
Noble paused, her expression lowering into concern when she caught Gia’s gaze. She’d become her friend. By now Reese seemed to know when Gia had something bothering her—like the prospect of having dinner with your dead boyfriend’s twin and his cousin…who you’ve been sleeping with. But, she couldn’t say that.
“Breakfast,” she told Reese, nodding to Kona when he gestured ahead of him and Kai. She offered Reese a wave, wanting to explain everything. The woman had missed a lot. She doubted Cat had even had a chance to give her an update on the situation with Wilson, but Reese and Ryder had been busy. Life did that when you made plans—it moved onward. Now Gia had to follow behind Kona and Kai and figure out how she’d make the same confession to two different men and explain why hers never had.
22.
GIA
KONA HALE was not a man who shied away from a good meal. Not, he admitted, when he worked out. Not when he traveled and not, it seemed, when he tried to impress his family.
Gia was not his family. She was a bystander—a w
itness to the show he seemed eager to put on as he smiled at the wait staff and ordered appetizers and entrees.
“Keira and I came here a few months back. Hawthorne was playing a charity show at The Liberty. She’s friends with Lager’s new daughter-in-law. She got to meet the man and I thought she’d pass out.” He nodded to a tray of warm rolls when the waif-like waitress set it in front of Kona. “Brah,” he told Kai, “cinnamon butter. You have to taste this.”
Gia had abandoned her game face. Kai’s mood had shifted, and a cloud of worry pulsed between them, something thick and heavy that neither of them seemed able to shake. But Kona, ever the diplomat, ever the celebrity, hadn’t seemed to notice. He led them right through the lobby of the restaurant, a place that boasted authentic old-world meals and atmosphere. It seemed to measure up to the claim.
They were seated in a private room at the back of the building, the double doors closed as they sat around a small round table made of hand scraped oak fitted together with dove-tailed joints. There was a fire blazing in the open stove behind them and wine was served from large decanters of thick pressed glass. Everything felt old and archaic but homey.
If Gia had visited any other day, she would have loved it.
But Kai had not let the frown and worry move from his features and she could not keep her performance going indefinitely. By the time the waitress poured her third glass of wine, Gia gave up the pretense that everything was fine.
“So, Gia,” Kona said, wiping his fingers on the linen napkin in his lap. “Your Uncle Mike still coaching at Purdue?”
“Retired last season,” she told him, nodding when Kona dropped his shoulders. “I know. He hated to do it, but it was time.” She cleared her throat, brushing off the stare Kai gave her. “Said he wanted to sail Corsica again while he can still remember which direction to guide his boat.”
