Kalea stared at me unimpressed. “You’re not helping your case. To be honest, the only reason I kept him around was because he’s a neat freak. I swear, my house hasn’t looked so clean since the day we moved in. The guy’s like a shark, finding every speck of dust in that house.”
I chuckled. Wrapping an arm around her waist, I led her towards the path down to the beach. “Why do you think we call him ‘Mako’?”
Although usually his powers were used to find blood stains to ensure we didn’t leave any trace evidence behind at a scene of a crime.
“It’s uncanny,” Kalea laughed as we stepped onto the sand. I took hold of Pualani so Kalea could remove her slippahs. “Honestly, I’ve been thinking of pitching a,” she lifted her hands to cover Pua’s ears, “porn scene to Aloiki,” she whispered before lowering her hands. “Put him in a French maid outfit and have him clean before his mistress comes home.”
I laughed so loud that it turned some heads, but I ignoredthem as I smiled down at Kalea.Thiswas the Kalea I knew and loved, the woman who was both grossed out and impressed by the porn empire her brother had built. I handed Pualani back to her, still chuckling. “I’ll be sure to mention it to him.”
If Aloiki ever spoke to me again. Yet another thing I had to fix.
But today was not about me and my mistakes. Today was about Lu finally making an honest-ish man out of Aloiki, a feat none of us thought possible. Once I got Pualani and Kalea to their seats, I had to go find Lu. Not only was I standing up with Aloiki today, but I was also walking Lu down the sandy aisle in hermakuakane’sstead after her parents refused to attend because of their religious beliefs and wanting Lu to be married in a church.
We were partly down the aisle, the beach filled with hardened bikers in leather cuts, when a brunette head of curls caught my eye. She could have easily been mistaken for a child amongst the giant, muscular men in attendance.
“Tangy!” was shouted over the chatter of voices, and sprinting through the throng of adults and chairs in the sand, came a little girl in a pink frilly dress.
My heart immediately shattered at the sight. There was no way on this fucking planet that I wasn’t going down on one knee to catch her flying leap into my arms. Fucking hell, I wasn’t going to survive only watching this little girl from a far. The pain I’d been suppressing for the past three weeks hit me like a coconut to my solar plexus. For a moment, as she clung to my neck, I couldn’t breathe.
I looked at the pictures Caroline still added to our shared album, but they did not do her beauty justice. That smile, the way she laughed, hearing her call me “Tangy”, the overwhelming pride I felt when she learned something new… That wasn’t something a picture could capture. But what the hell choice did I have but to leave her again? I couldn’t be trusted around her mother. I wasn’t just caught between a rock and hard place, but two impossible decisions.
Samantha pulled away from me first, her cheeks red and her eyes alight with glee. “Where have you been?Hahasaid you had to go away for work.” Her words were slow, almost jilted, but clearly she’d been improving her English. “When are you coming home?”
I didn’t want to mess up her pretty hairdo. Someone had braided a ribbon of hibiscuses through her hair and then added little butterfly and dragonfly clips to the top of her head. So instead, I dusted off her dress of non-existent sand. “I’m not sure,Kealoha. But I will do my best to visit more. You have my word.”
I had to find some medium, some way I could keep Samantha in my life while also keeping my distance from Caroline as I promised her I would do.
Samantha’s smile was breathtaking. “And we can go for ice cream?”
I matched her enthusiasm. “Absolutely.”
A beautiful satin dress and bare feet appeared behind Samantha. I looked up—not very far up, but still up—into Caroline’s sea-green eyes. The eyes that had haunted me since I spotted them in a hidden basement all those months ago. How foolish had I been to have called myself an eternal bachelor only the day before I had met her?
Standing, I brought Samantha up with me and settled her on my hip. “Aloha,” I told Caroline, meaning the word in the purest definition. She was beyond incredible, her hair pulled up in a fancy bun and a light purple formal dress. I couldn’t look away.
“I got your voicemail.” Her eyes did not stray from mine, which was unusual for her. Had her confidence grown that much in the month I’d been gone? Did that only prove it was better to keep away? “Can we talk?”
“I’m not sure that’s for the best,” I told her honestly.
“I have something to tell you that cannot wait four years.” Hervoice was steady, but there was something else in it. Guilt, maybe? Worry? I prayed it wasn’t fear. I never wanted her to be afraid of me.
Since Aloiki planned on consummating his marriage at the reception in view of witnesses, Caroline, Samantha, and Pualani were restricted to the ceremony. They were the only under-eighteen invitees, too. And since Kalea was Aloiki’s sister and had no desire to see her brother fuck his new wife on a stage, she also had not planned on attending. If it wasn’t for the fact that I was the best man, I probably wouldn’t attend either.
I hadn’t exactly been in a sex-mood since a certain shower a month ago.
“How about I call you tomorrow?” I offered. That way there was no risk of anything inappropriate happening.
But Caroline shook her head. “In person. We can take Samantha somewhere public if it makes you feel more comfortable than talking in our bedroom.”
Fuck. She said “our bedroom”. Why the hell did that have to sound so fuckinggood? “Pick the place,” I told her before I could stop myself. “I’ll be there at eleven to get you.”
I shouldn’t—I really, really, shouldn’t—but I also couldn’t say “no”.
Lucifer stepped forward to encourage everyone to take their seats, and I caught sight of Aloiki down by the water speaking with Capone, the President of the Los Angeles Chapter. Shit, I still had to go find Lu.
I quickly passed Samantha off to Caroline. “I need to go. Do you have seats?” I glanced up to see Saga standing toward the front of the line of chairs. At my signal, he started towards us. To Caroline, I left it with a rushed, “I’ll see you tomorrow.” I tickled Samantha’s chin, savoring that little girl laugh, and then turned—only to find Kalea standing behind me with Pualani on her hip.
Shit. Fuck. I’d completely forgotten about her.