Читать книгу Island Promises: Hawaiian Holiday / Hawaiian Reunion / Hawaiian Retreat - Leanne Banks, RaeAnne Thayne - Страница 14

CHAPTER FIVE

HER BREATH CAUGHT and she froze, his lips warm and delicious on hers. Oh, it had been so long. She had really, really missed kissing, the slide of mouth against mouth, skin against skin, the wild flutter in her stomach.

The breeze swirled around them and the ocean whispered and she didn’t want this lovely moment to ever end.

She kissed him back, her hands curled into the cotton of his T-shirt. Since her divorce, she had focused only on being a good mother, a good nurse. The unleashed heat of Shane’s mouth and tongue and hands reminded her she’d lost something along the way. She had forgotten that, at her core, she was still a woman, with needs and desires she’d worked hard to suppress.

He eased away from her a little, breath ragged and blue eyes glazed with hunger.

“Yeah. Nick is definitely crazy,” he said, his voice gruff. He leaned in for another kiss, his arms around her, pulling her against his hard chest.

They kissed for a long time, while the sun rose higher in the sky. She didn’t want to stop, but a muffled cough from the monitor in her pocket acted like a cold splash of water.

Oh.

What was she doing here, wrapped around Shane Russell like some kind of tropical vine?

This close, she could see his irises, speckled glints of silver in the blue. She could also see a certain light reflected there that looked suspiciously...tender.

An answering emotion flooded through her. Yes. She could fall in love with him very easily. She thought of his help and care on the long flight, and how sweet he was to rent boogie boards for her and her daughters.

He could break her heart like the tide washing over a sand castle.

Hearing a sleepy little huff from the monitor, she gathered all her strength and wrenched away from him, her heart pounding.

“I...need to go,” she said, feeling flustered and off balance, rocked to her core by the kiss. “The girls will be up, and I don’t want them to wonder where I am.”

“Right.” His voice was still rough, his expression dazed. She supposed it was small consolation that he’d been just as affected by their kiss.

“I’ll see you later.”

She fled back to her cabana before he could say anything else.

* * *

SHANE WATCHED MEGAN hurry into her little house as if she were being chased by reef sharks.

His head still swam from the dizzying shift in emotions, but one clear thought rose above the rest.

He shouldn’t have kissed her.

He was intensely attracted to her. Something about those big green eyes, her delicate features, that small, curvy body just did it for him.

Not only that, but he greatly admired her caring and concern for her daughters. She obviously loved them deeply. It showed in everything she did, from her attention to their comfort on the flight over, to her delight last night playing in the water with them, to the video monitor in her pocket this morning.

He couldn’t even imagine the guts she must have needed to drag her twins across the ocean for their father’s wedding to another woman. He couldn’t help but respect that.

Yeah, he liked her—way too much. He gazed out at the endless rows of breakers. Despite his attraction, both physical and emotional, he knew she wasn’t for him.

He’d made a vow a long time ago, after years of seeing the chaos his parents created in his life and Cara’s, that he wouldn’t drag other children through that kind of turmoil. Kids had a rough enough time making their way in the world. They didn’t need new people moving in and out of their lives, the stress of separate visitations, the drama of being forced to adjust to a different family dynamic.

He had a strict no-kids policy and he intended to stick to that.

No matter how difficult it was.

* * *

“TELL ME THE truth. Is this uncomfortable for you?”

Megan glanced over at Cara, stretched out on a beach towel next to her in a cute blue bikini, soaking up sun.

“Uncomfortable? No. Unfair, absolutely. We’re roughly the same age and you look tanned and buff while I look like a pasty-white cream puff.”

“Spray tan is a truly wonderful invention. But you know that’s not what I mean. I’m talking about this whole destination wedding thing. While I was dreaming and making plans, I should have thought things through and realized how difficult it would be for you to haul Grace and Sarah all the way out here.”

“They’re having the time of their lives. Look at them.”

Cara and Megan both shifted to watch Nick haul a giggling Grace around on the boogie board Shane had provided. A few yards away from them, Sarah was busy building a sand castle masterpiece, tongue lodged firmly between her teeth.

Her daughter must have felt them watching her. She looked up briefly. “I’m almost done. See, this is the princess’s bedroom. When the bad guys come to take over her kingdom, she’s going to jump out that window to her horse so she can fight them. And then she’s going to Hawaii to get married.”

Megan blinked a little at the explanation but she couldn’t fault the spirit behind it.

She and Cara grinned at each other as Sarah jumped up to get more water in her bucket.

“I won’t lie,” Megan said as she watched her. “The trip here was hard work, but I would’ve hated for the girls to miss seeing their dad get married. You know I’m happy for you both, right?”

Cara gazed at her, a little teary-eyed, then reached out and squeezed her fingers. “You’re about the most amazing person I’ve ever met, Megan. You know that?”

Megan rolled her eyes, though she couldn’t help being touched. “You should know better than that by now.”

“I’m serious. I can’t believe I’m so lucky to have you and the girls in our lives. Before I met you, I was so afraid you would hate me. My mom has hated every single one of my dad’s subsequent wives, including the one he’s bringing to the wedding. And she hasn’t even met her yet.”

“I don’t hate you, Cara,” Megan assured her. “Nick and the girls both love you, and that’s more than enough for me.”

Cara squeezed her fingers again before flopping over onto her back. “See how lucky I am?”

Megan didn’t have an answer to that, so she just rested her cheek on the rough weave of the towel and watched Sarah put the finishing touches on her castle.

A few moments later, nerves jumped in her stomach when she heard Shane’s voice.

“So this is where everybody’s hanging out.”

She looked up to find him standing near his sister, again wearing board shorts that bared all those delicious muscles.

Feeling at a disadvantage stretched out at his feet in a skimpy bathing suit, she rolled over and sat up.

“Oh. Hi.”

“Hey! Hi.” Sarah beamed, delighted to see him. She offered up a shaka, which he returned with a grin. “Look at my castle. Isn’t it awesome?”

“Truly spectacular. You did all that yourself?”

“Well, my dad helped a little, but I did most of it.”

“Looks like that parapet is tilting a little. Do you mind if I help you with it?”

She frowned. “I don’t see any parrot pet.”

“Parapet,” he said with a smile. “It’s that tower thingy there.”

He plopped down on the sand by Sarah’s creation and straightened one angle with deft motions. “There you go. Now it won’t fall down when it’s attacked by hermit crabs.”

Sarah giggled. “Not hermit crabs. The bad guys are coming to take over the castle from the princess but she’s going to jump out the window onto her horse and fight them and she’s going to chase them into the ocean.”

He blinked a little. “Okay, then. Good plan.”

Cara stood up. “I think I’ll take one more dip before I go in and shower. Sarah, do you want to come with me? We can look for more fish out there.”

“Okay!” Eager for more time in the water, Sarah dropped her sand shovel and hurried to pick up her boogie board.

Only after they took off together did Megan realize this left her alone with Shane. She wanted to chase after them but couldn’t figure out a graceful way to pull it off, especially when all she could think about was his exploring mouth, his tongue sliding against hers, the strength in those muscles as he’d held her.

She flushed, not quite sure what to say to him.

He was the first to break the silence. “Look, I’m sorry about what happened this morning. I shouldn’t have kissed you. I promise, it won’t happen again.”

Though she agreed in theory, his words still sparked a little pang. “It wasn’t your fault,” she finally said. “I didn’t exactly push you away. It’s easy to get carried away by this romantic setting.”

“The romantic setting,” he repeated.

She shot him a quick look. “Sure. Sunrise, beach, palm trees. Paradise makes people lose their heads.”

“It is beautiful,” he agreed. He gazed out at the water for a moment before turning back to her. “I would still love to take you and the girls around the island, but I completely understand if you want to take a pass, given the circumstances.”

That would be an easy out. She could rent a car herself or just hang out here on the beach with the girls.

But she wasn’t a coward. Hadn’t she raised two daughters mostly on her own the last five years?

“We’re both adults,” she said quietly. “I think we can handle a little inconvenient attraction.”

Before she realized what he intended, he reached for her hand almost casually, his fingers twining around hers. “Is that what you call this?”

“What else?” she countered, tugging her fingers away.

“To tell you the truth, I’m not really sure.”

She knew. Trouble. That’s what she would call this attraction that seemed to seethe and eddy around them like the frothy waves on the sand.

“I think I’ll go back in the water while I have the chance,” she said, escaping the currents tugging between them to head to her own boogie board. “Do you still want to take off about noon?”

“What is that, about an hour and a half? Will that give you enough time?”

“Yes. I’ll swim for a minute and then take the girls over to their hula lesson. We’ll meet you at our cabana after we clean off.”

“Deal.”

He grabbed his own board and headed for deeper waters while she waded toward the others.

* * *

“EVERY TIME YOU turn a bend in the road, the view becomes more breathtaking. How is that even possible?”

Shane shifted his gaze from driving for just an instant, enjoying Megan’s wide-eyed excitement immensely. The craggy, raw green mountains and stunning blue sea seemed even more spectacular when viewed from her perspective.

“I’d forgotten how beautiful it was,” he said. “It’s the Garden Island. I’ve been to Oahu, Maui and Hawaii, and I think I’d have to say I still like Kauai best. If I had to picture the Garden of Eden, this would be the place.”

“I love the flowers most,” Sarah announced.

“I liked the waterfall. It was huge,” Grace said. In the rearview mirror, he saw her hide a yawn after she spoke.

Both girls looked tired, probably still struggling a little with the time change.

“Chicago in January seems like another planet right now. It’s tough to think about returning to below-zero temperatures and bitter winds.”

He had enjoyed the last few hours with them and hated thinking this magical time had to end.

“Hey, Shane, is that a geyser?”

He looked down where water shot high through huge lava rocks. “No. That’s called a puhi, or blowhole, like what whales have. Water comes up through a lava tube then shoots out. Pretty cool, isn’t it? This one is called Spouting Horn.”

He pulled into an overlook and they watched it for a while. Okay, if he were honest with himself, Megan and her daughters watched the blowhole. He mostly watched them.

They, not the beauty of the island, were the real reason he didn’t want to return to Chicago. He would treasure the memory of their few hours together always. He loved being with them—Grace with her quiet courage and strength, Sarah with her energy and her inquisitive mind, and Megan, who drew him to her like the moon directing the tides.

All of them were entwining their way around his heart.

“I came here when I was a kid and heard a story about this place. I guess there’s some Hawaiian legend about a giant lizard that used to patrol this area and was trapped in the lava tube. According to the legend, that’s her breath coming out, and that noise you hear as the water rushes through is her roar.”

He wasn’t sure where that memory came from, but the girls seemed fascinated by it.

“How old were you when you came here before?” Megan asked, while Sarah and Grace were busy listening for the giant lizard.

“Around eleven or twelve, I think. Cara would have been eight, maybe. Our dad and his third wife brought us here.”

“You must have had fun,” she said cautiously.

His laugh was rough as memories he’d submerged a long time ago shot to the surface like water through that blowhole. “Not really. They didn’t want us along.”

“I’m sure that’s not true.”

“It was another of the endless custody battles in the war my parents waged after their divorce. Dad and Gina had already made arrangements to come here by themselves over the holidays. Then Mom reminded him a few weeks before Christmas break that this was his year to have us for Christmas. She’d already made her own plans that didn’t include us, and she wasn’t going to change them.”

He’d really wanted to like Gina, but it had been tough when she’d made snide comments throughout the trip about having to bring them along.

He could hear her and his father fighting about it every night of the trip. At least they waited until they thought he and Cara were asleep.

“It wasn’t the most pleasant vacation of my life. I was old enough to feel the tension between them and to know we weren’t wanted.”

Her features softened with sympathy. “How terrible for you.”

“Yeah. Let’s just say I didn’t handle it well. I spent the whole week acting like a little shi— Er, jerk, which didn’t make the situation any easier for anyone. Not one of my prouder moments. I think Gina walked out about two months later. I always felt like that one was a little bit my fault.”

“That sounds awful. You poor things.”

He hadn’t wanted her sympathy. Really, he couldn’t imagine why he had told her all that in the first place. Something about her warm expression and gentle compassion managed to draw out things he had no intention of telling anyone.

“With that sort of history here, I wonder why Cara wanted to have her own wedding on Kauai.”

“She was a few years younger,” Shane said. “I’m not sure she understood all the nuances, you know?”

“That makes sense.” Megan paused for a moment.

“I gather your parents have been around the wedding block a few times.”

“An understatement. Five for my dad, four for my mom. I’ve got enough ex-stepmoms and -stepdads to make a basketball team, complete with manager and a couple bench warmers. What about you?”

She gave a wistful sigh. “I was really blessed. My parents had more than two happy decades together. They were older when they had me—my mom was nearly forty and my dad a few years older. I was an only child. All I remember from growing up was how much we laughed together. Our house was always filled with joy. We loved each other.”

He noted her use of the past tense. “What happened to them?”

She focused her gaze on her daughters, who weren’t paying any attention to them. “On their twenty-fifth anniversary, they were driving home from dinner when they were T-boned by a drunk driver. Both of them died instantly.”

“I’m sorry.” On impulse, he reached for her hand and squeezed her fingers.

She looked down at their joined hands and then up at him with a tremulous smile. “That was about a year before I met Nick. My parents would have been crazy about the girls and I know they would have been fantastic grandparents. I still get sad when I think my daughters will never have the chance to know how wonderful their grandparents were.”

“They know. I’m sure you tell them. They’ll know your parents through the memories you share with them.”

Her smile deepened and she squeezed his fingers. “Thank you. You’re right. I think I needed that reminder.”

“Can we see another waterfall?”

He shifted his gaze to the girls. “I think that can be arranged. Or if you want, we can visit a cookie factory right here on the island.”

“Cookies!” Grace said promptly.

“Yay! Cookies!” Sarah added her vote.

“I guess that settles it,” he answered, smiling at Megan before he backed out of the viewpoint and they continued on their way.