Книга - Her Hawaiian Homecoming

Her Hawaiian Homecoming
Cara Lockwood


An Unexpected Attraction… For Allie Osaka, dealing with her tragic past means running from it. Inheriting her family's Kona coffee plantation on the Big Island of Hawaii is the last thing she expects when all she wants to do is keep running. Selling the inheritance and moving on sounds good, but her grandmother's will comes with a mighty catch–namely irresistible foreman Dallas McCormick, who owns half the plantation.Flaring tempers and hotter-than-lava attraction can only lead to trouble. But when a tsunami threatens Allie's future and the promise Dallas made to her grandmother, they both might have to open their eyes to the truth…and to love.







An Unexpected Attraction...

For Allie Osaka, dealing with her tragic past means running from it. Inheriting her family’s Kona coffee plantation on the Big Island of Hawaii is the last thing she expects when all she wants to do is keep running. Selling the inheritance and moving on sounds good, but her grandmother’s will comes with a mighty catch—namely irresistible foreman Dallas McCormick, who owns half the plantation.

Flaring tempers and hotter-than-lava attraction can only lead to trouble. But when a tsunami threatens Allie’s future and the promise Dallas made to her grandmother, they both might have to open their eyes to the truth...and to love.


“You’re really beautiful,” Dallas said, before he could stop himself.

“Come on.” Allie wiggled on her stool, made uncomfortable by the attention. “You don’t have to feed me lines just because we’re stuck here.”

“What lines?” Dallas stood, and moved around the table, so he was standing right in front of her. Allie craned her neck up to meet his eyes. “I told you, I only tell the truth.”

He moved in closer, and she tilted her chin up to meet his. She didn’t inch away, but sat very still.

His lips brushed hers, ever so gently. She didn’t push him away, or cry out. Instead, she wrapped her hand around the fabric of his shirt and pulled him closer. She spread her knees and instantly he was between them, her arms around his neck, nothing separating them but thin fabric.

She tasted like tequila and something even more delicious, and though he tried, he couldn’t get enough of her mouth. Her tongue met his in a little dance, and he felt as if, despite all the many women he’d kissed before in his life, she might as well have been the only one who mattered.


Dear Reader (#u925eb449-2a6a-524e-bff6-9ecf9752a649),

Aloha! Her Hawaiian Homecoming is my first book in the Heart of Hawaii miniseries, and I’m very excited to introduce you to the place I love most in the world. Like my main character, Allie, I grew up in a mixed-race family, part Japanese and part English. I was fortunate to take many trips to Hawaii growing up, and it was one of the few places I truly felt at home. I fell in love with the one-of-a-kind lava-rock beaches, the gorgeous tropical flowers growing wild, the welcoming people and their amazing aloha spirit.

Hawaii is a place where cultures often collide, and that’s what happens when Allie Osaka, who’s been running from Hawaii most of her life, comes home to find a cowboy from the mainland has taken over her family’s coffee plantation. As they fight each other to figure out who’s going to decide the fate of the Kona Coffee Estate, sparks fly.

I hope you enjoy their story—and this little escape to the Big Island—as much as I loved writing it. Our fiftieth state is a magical place, and it’s no wonder so many honeymooners escape there every year. Love blooms right alongside those gorgeous birds of paradise.

Here’s wishing you tons of warm sunshine, love and happiness.

Mahalo!

Cara Lockwood


Her Hawaiian

Homecoming

Cara

Lockwood






www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)


CARA LOCKWOOD is a USA TODAY bestselling author of eleven novels, including I Do (But I Don’t), which was made into a Lifetime Original movie. She’s written the Bard Academy series for young adults, and has had her work translated into several languages. Born and raised in Dallas, Cara lives near Chicago with her two beautiful daughters. When she’s not writing, she keeps busy running 5K races for charity, kayaking and scuba diving. Find out more about her at caralockwood.com (http://caralockwood.com) or follow her on Twitter, @caralockwood (https://twitter.com/caralockwood).


Dedicated to Allen Rebouche,

my knight in cowboy boots.


Contents

Cover (#uf24e0b13-ae56-542d-93c6-f75b4274c03a)

Back Cover Text (#u383ead58-a1df-5426-9a9f-e6575695bee3)

Introduction (#ubf3815d0-0c22-557d-b06c-faa79d7a605c)

Dear Reader

Title Page (#u68e60648-3108-5275-bf85-2b4e4eba9864)

About the Author (#uf51e00a2-e15a-5e0b-b8ae-88e501d68238)

Dedication (#u5375b6ef-cdc1-5e7e-aa3d-6ac6a4a78ec9)

PROLOGUE

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

CHAPTER TWELVE

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

CHAPTER NINETEEN

CHAPTER TWENTY

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

EPILOGUE

Extract (#litres_trial_promo)

Copyright (#litres_trial_promo)


PROLOGUE (#u925eb449-2a6a-524e-bff6-9ecf9752a649)

THE BITTER, UNSEASONABLE, cold March wind whipped across Lake Michigan, whirling flakes of snow outside the high-rise condo in Chicago as Allie Osaka tore into one of dozens of boxes, all marked with the names of high-end stores.

She felt giddy as she dug into yet another wedding gift. Would it be the fancy coffeemaker? That crystal bowl she loved so much? She slipped her hands into the foam packing peanuts and pulled out two beautiful champagne flutes from her fiancé’s uncle. She held them up to the light, admiring their sleek, yet delicate, design, and then carefully put them aside, marking down the item and name on her notepad for the thank-you she’d be writing later. The wedding would be in less than a month, but already they’d been swamped with presents.

She always loved staying over at Jason’s swank Loop condo with the breathtaking views of the massive lake, but now it was even more special, because every Sunday morning felt like Christmas: waking up to piles of gifts just waiting to be opened, each representing some new glimpse of their future life together. The pie plates she’d use on their next Thanksgiving or the coffee mugs they’d use daily. She felt suddenly grateful for Jason’s large family. It had been just her and her mom for nearly as long as she could remember. Her grandmother lived in Hawaii, but other than that, no aunts or uncles, and just a few distant cousins she didn’t know well. Allie worried a little about how lopsided the bride’s side of the church would be, but Jason promised he’d have his family fill out the seats. That was Jason: thoughtful to a fault.

Allie whipped her jet-black hair over one shoulder and pulled another in the stack of boxes toward her as Jason wandered out of the bedroom after he’d gotten dressed.

“Are you starting without me?” Jason protested as he headed to the kitchen, grabbing a mug from the cabinet. He poured himself a cup of coffee. He’d thrown on a pair of jeans and a T-shirt, the uniform she loved him in more than his usual work attire of tailored suits.

“I warned you I would if you kept on that iPad of yours.”

“Fair enough.” Jason was always busy scrolling through something or another on his tablet, usually related to his job. Allie had gotten up and dressed more than an hour before while he’d lain in bed, scrolling through emails. “I had to confirm my Boston trip this week.”

Jason traveled a lot, an expectation of working for a capital start-up firm, scouring the country for the next big thing.

“Uncle Mort got us flutes,” she said, nodding to the delicate stemmed glasses as she cut into the next box.

“Good ol’ Uncle Mort.” Jason padded over to Allie and gave her a peck on the top of her head. “Good nearly afternoon, beautiful,” he said, brown eyes sparkling as he grinned, sipping at the steaming cup. Allie beamed back up at him, and she felt so happy.

She curled a strand of her shiny black hair behind her ear as she noticed the box in front of her had no return address, only black marker with Jason’s name and address on the front. Probably someone who didn’t choose to buy something online, Allie thought. Like maybe one of Jason’s great-aunts. She glanced at Jason, who stood staring out the floor-to-ceiling windows at the snow.

She tore open the box and dug through wadded-up tissue paper. The minute she touched the coiled-up leather buried beneath, she knew something was wrong. This wasn’t anything she’d asked for. She pulled out the packing material and stared, dumbfounded, at the contents: a thick leather whip, a spiked dog collar and...a leather harness...and a frilly black lace thong?

Her first instinct was to laugh, a loud, braying bark, and to hold it up to Jason so they could both shake their heads at whichever of their friends had thought this was an appropriate wedding gift. Probably his best man, Stephen. All some elaborate joke. But something stopped her, a tickling doubt, a small pinprick of dread in the pit of her stomach.

She reached for the envelope neatly folded in the back. It had Jason scribbled in a feminine loop on the front. It must be some joke. Yes, something they’d laugh about at the wedding, a story they’d retell over and over again. Remember when...

But then she pulled the card out and read,

Jason,

You told me no more texts or emails because you didn’t want that bland little fiancée of yours to see them, but you didn’t say anything about snail mail. I’ve been a bad girl and need another spanking. I expect to be punished severely when you’re in Boston this week. Just like last time.

Xoxo,

Lisa

Lisa? As in Lisa Holly, Jason’s contact for the Boston project? That Lisa?

Allie’s heart pounded beneath her wool sweater, blood rushing loud in her ears. Fear and dread seized her. She wanted to run before her brain put together the clues before her. She wanted to close her eyes and hit Reverse, losing herself in the warm, safe bubble of her wedding plans.

“Wow, it looks miserable out there,” Jason said, his back still to her as he watched the snowflakes whirl. “Let’s not go anywhere today, all right, babe? Let’s stay right here and hibernate.”

Jason’s voice sounded muffled and far off, as if he was on the other side of a wall. Just like last time. Allie read the words once more. Her mind whirled. When was the last time Jason had been in Boston? Just a week ago.

Allie felt light-headed and sick, suddenly.

Bland little fiancée.

Was that what she was?

Allie blinked three more times, as if somehow she could make the words disappear from the page. They didn’t. And something else sat in the envelope. She tugged out a photo: Lisa, she presumed, a pale, freckled redhead, clad only in the spiked dog collar and a black thong, her pink nipples erect. Oh, God. She wore the same collar and thong sitting in the box before her. She wanted to fold it all up and pretend she’d never found it. But she had. Maybe there was still some way this could be made right. Maybe Jason could somehow explain this. She knew he couldn’t, but part of her still hoped.

“Jason?” Allie’s voice sounded strange to her own ears. Eerily calm as she held up the photo in her hand. “What is this?”

Jason turned, mug in hand, expecting, no doubt, to see some harmless kitchen gadget. When he saw the photo, all the blood drained from his face. That expression told Allie everything she needed to know: it wasn’t a prank. It was true. All of it was true. He’d been sleeping with this woman—no, spanking her. For God knows how long. His Boston project had been going on for... God, more than a year.

“Allie... I...” Jason put down his mug and stepped toward her. Allie jumped to her feet, hands up.

In that moment, Allie felt like such a fool. “I trusted you,” she said, and realized how dumb she sounded for saying it. What about her life had told her that trusting people ever worked out? They always found a way to disappoint. “How long?”

“What?”

“How long have you been...into this?” Allie held up the coiled whip.

“Allie, it’s... I don’t know, it just sort of happened.”

“How long?” Allie’s voice rose, her blood rushing in her ears.

She glared at him and saw he was tempted to lie.

“I don’t know. A year, maybe more.” Jason’s shoulders slumped. “I always wanted to tell you, Allie. I just never knew how.”

Jason had proposed to her six months ago, smack in the middle of whatever twisted stuff he was doing with Lisa Holly.

“Who else?” Allie demanded, suddenly imagining an army of women wearing dog collars and handcuffs marching through his bedroom. “Besides Lisa.” If there was one thing Allie knew about betrayal, it was that it never happened just once.

“Allie, knowing that isn’t going to help you.”

“So more than just Lisa, then.” Her suspicions were confirmed. Did it matter how many others? A steel wall came down then; she could almost hear the clang of metal encasing her heart. I never should’ve unlocked that gate to begin with. I should’ve known this would happen. My fault. It won’t happen again.

Jason grabbed her shoulders. She shrugged him off.

“Don’t touch me,” she warned him.

“You never wanted to...experiment with me.” Now he was going to make it her fault. Allie felt like laughing and crying all at the same time. “You know, I tried asking.” Jason frowned.

“I told you I didn’t want to play Fifty Shades of Grey,” she snapped, and she meant it. Nothing about pain and sex went together, in her opinion. “I told you that wasn’t my thing. If that’s what you want, you need to be with someone else.”

“Allie...”

“If I was too...too...bland for you, why did you propose?”

“Because I love you, Allie. Because...because my family loves you. Because...you had smarts, looks and everything I needed in a wife...”

“Except a twisted streak.”

Bland. Bland. Bland. She couldn’t get the word out of her head.

“Come on, Allie. This doesn’t have to be a thing. It’s not like I love Lisa Holly, or...any of the others. It’s just something I like to do. A hobby.” Jason rubbed his brown shaggy hair with a frustrated swipe of his hand.

“Are you serious?” Allie couldn’t believe her ears. Was he telling her that him sleeping...spanking...and God knows what else with other women was a hobby?

“Golf is a hobby, Jason. This—” she held up the photo with shaking hands “—is not a hobby. This is—”

“You don’t have to make this into anything.” Jason took another step toward her. She took one more back. He wasn’t getting near her. Not now, maybe not ever. “Actually, it’s good you know. We should start off the marriage being honest with one another. I’ve been wanting to ask you for a long time about an open marriage. I was going to wait at least until after the honeymoon to bring it up, but now this is much better. Now we can talk about it.”

Open marriage? Allie felt the room spin. She’d thought all the grenades had exploded, but here Jason had somehow detonated another one. She wanted to laugh. He thought she’d agree to that. He clearly didn’t know her at all.

“God...” Allie thought about calling off all the wedding plans, about losing the deposits they’d put down, about going public with the fact the wedding was off. “This is so complicated.” Allie felt her whole world caving in, everything she thought she knew turned upside down.

“When you think about it, it’s actually very simple.” Jason had the nerve to smile. She wanted to slap it off his face. Nothing about this seemed wrong to him at all. He actually looked philosophical. Not the least bit contrite. The man felt zero guilt about anything he’d done. That realization sliced through Allie like a cold wind. “We’re on much better footing now that you understand my needs. We’ll have an even stronger marriage because of it. This will be better than before. You’ll see.”

“No.” Allie had been a fool to trust him once. She wasn’t about to trust him again. Allie stalked over to his front door, grabbed her coat and stomped her feet into her Sorel snow boots.

“Allie, don’t make this such a big deal. We can talk about it. Think about how great this is for you. You can sleep with any man you want. I can do what you don’t like with someone else. We’ll both be happy. You’ll see. We can talk about it.”

“Nothing to talk about,” she said as she felt the tears burn behind her eyes. She didn’t want him to see her cry. He’d played her for a fool, but she’d manage to hold on to her last shred of dignity.

“Allie...”

“Go to hell, Jason,” she muttered as she spared one last glance at the stacks of beautiful wedding gifts. She’d never get to use them. She’d never have the life she thought of with Jason, or the big, warm, loving family she’d always wanted. Allie rushed outside, half expecting Jason to follow, but he didn’t. She flew into the first open elevator, jamming the main-floor button. By the time she ran across the lobby, her vision was blurry with tears as she burst through the revolving doors into the frigid Chicago air. She exhaled sharp breaths in cold, white clouds as she half ran, half stumbled down the sidewalk, nearly careening into people as she went. She felt as if she was breaking apart, her heart splintering like broken ice.

Her phone blared an incoming call in her pocket. She fumbled for it, hoping that, somehow, Jason would make this all right. He’d beg to have her back, see the error in his ways, tell her he’d been a fool. Maybe she could learn to forgive him if he really was sorry. She couldn’t believe she was even considering it, but at that moment, the pain hurt too much. She just wanted it to go away.

“Allie?” her mother’s voice came through the line, sounding thick with tears. “I have some bad news.”

Allie felt numb. What now? What could possibly make this day any worse?

“Allie, honey, Grandma Osaka died.”


CHAPTER ONE (#u925eb449-2a6a-524e-bff6-9ecf9752a649)

A month later

DALLAS MCCORMICK CROUCHED near the rainwater tank on the Kona Coffee Estate, where one of the pipes had sprung a leak. The warm Hawaiian sun beamed down on him as he whipped off his T-shirt to help himself cool off. From his vantage point, the property sloped on a rising hillside, where he could just see the sparkling blue of the Pacific Ocean framed by green palm trees.

Perspiration dripped down his back as he grabbed a wrench from his trusty red metal toolbox. He tipped up his straw cowboy hat to get a better look at the problem: a leaky pipe leading to the holding tank. Misuko—Misu to those who knew her—might be dead, God rest her soul, but he still had a job to do on the plantation.

“You gonna stare at that pipe all day or fix it?” The voice belonged to Kai Brady, the dark-haired thirtyish pro surfer and Big Island living legend. He’d walked over from the house next door, which belonged to his aunt Kaimana, and where he’d grown up. Now he lived in a luxury condo near the beach, where the biggest breaks of the island rolled in daily. He still competed, carried a few endorsement deals and managed to find some other businesses to keep himself busy.

Dallas stood, and the two old friends clasped hands, a big grin spreading on Dallas’s face.

“Why aren’t you out surfing?”

“Already been,” Kai admitted, and smiled. “Started at five, done by ten. If you don’t watch the sun rise over the ocean, what’s the point?”

“Indeed.” Dallas laughed. “And who’s running the coffee shop?”

“Jesse, naturally.” Hula Coffee was one of his side businesses, a coffee shop in nearby Kailua-Kona he ran with his half sister, Jesse. “It’s slow. You know the tourists don’t get up till eleven.” Kai shrugged. His eyes were covered by mirrored sunglasses, and he wore his thick black hair short and spiky. Kai, a quarter Hawaiian, a quarter Japanese and half Irish, was slimmer than Dallas, but nearly as tall. He was all wiry, tanned muscle.

“Aunt Kaimana told me to come check on you. She’s worried, now that you own this place.”

“Half this place,” Dallas corrected. He still couldn’t quite believe Misu had put him in her will. She’d been like family to him, but still. He wasn’t, technically, related. Where he came from in West Texas, only blood mattered. “The other half goes to her granddaughter.”

“Kaimana says she should’ve left it all to you. She’s worried about the festival.”

“It’s still seven months away!” Dallas exclaimed. Granted, the Kona Coffee Festival and Competition every fall was a district-wide event. Anyone who grew coffee on the Big Island participated, and winners got bragging rights all year round. The Kona Coffee Estate had lost out the past three years to Hawaiian Queen Coffee, but Dallas was hoping to change that this year with a new roaster and renewed determination. It had been Misu’s greatest wish to win.

Linus the goat, Misu’s old “organic lawnmower,” as she used to call her, ambled up then. She brayed and looked at the two men, but neither had snacks for her.

“Never too early to start strategizing. That’s what Kaimana says.” Kai shrugged. “And forget the competition. The shop needs your coffee. It’s the favorite house brew.” Hula Roast bought half the coffee produced on the estate. Without Hula Coffee, the Kona Coffee Estate would’ve gone bankrupt years ago. But people here on the Big Island looked out for one another. Tourists came and went, but locals were forever.

“I’m worried the granddaughter may want to sell. I can’t break up the estate. Not if I want it to work.” The roasting barn was on her side of the middle-line marker, which ran east to west across the property. He’d have to cough up tens of thousands to replace those buildings, and he’d have to give up prime coffee-growing land to build the barn, which he didn’t want to do but would if he had to. Coffee growing had seeped into his blood. Learning how to grow something as special as Kona coffee—a kind grown nowhere else on earth—had been a revelation. He’d finally found work he was proud of doing. The Kona Coffee Estate became the home he’d always wished he’d had growing up, and nothing scared him more than losing it.

The tall coffee trees stood, some branches heavy with sweet-smelling white flowers and others teaming with green coffee berries. When they turned red, it would be time to harvest. Kai kicked a toe in the dirt. He shifted uncomfortably. Clearly, he had something on his mind other than coffee.

“I saw Jennifer yesterday,” he said at last. “She came into the shop.”

Dallas’s spine stiffened. He didn’t want to hear about Jennifer.

“Yeah?” Dallas tried to keep his voice neutral, but failed. Even at the very mention of her, his blood pressure shot up, and he had to fight the urge to ball his hands into fists. His ex’s name had become a fighting word.

“Kayla was with her. She’s growing big. Like waist high now. She’s going to start kindergarten in the fall. She asked about you.”

The words felt like poison darts aimed at his back. “I don’t want to talk about them.” Dallas set his mouth in a thin line, feeling every bit of raging emotion running through his chest. Kai meant well, he knew it, but he couldn’t talk about Jennifer and Kayla. Not now. Maybe not ever. It was bad enough he saw Jennifer’s beaming face on all those real estate billboards from here to Hilo, now featuring Jennifer Thomas, Hawaii reality show star. He didn’t need any more bitter reminders.

“I’ve got to get this pipe fixed.” Dallas turned away from Kai, angrily clamping the wrench onto the pipe and giving it a twist.

“Hey, man. I know it’s not my business. You guys were so happy... I just... I mean, I’ve heard the rumors...”

“And you believe them?” Dallas wouldn’t be surprised. The Big Island might be the largest in the Hawaii chain, but it was still just like one big floating small town. No local got to keep secrets.

“Of course not.” Kai sounded offended. “After all you’ve done for me—for Jesse? Are you seriously asking me that question?”

Dallas felt rightfully put in his place.

“The rumors do make you sound like a real asshole,” Kai continued. “You should just tell me the real story, so I can set the record straight. You know I’ve had my share of women troubles.” Being one of the wealthiest and most famous surfers in the world came with a price: an endless parade of hot, gold-digging model girlfriends who made his life miserable.

Even though he knew Kai would understand the deal with Jennifer, would more than understand, he’d relate, he still couldn’t tell. Wouldn’t.

Kai looked at Dallas for a long time, waiting for an answer. Dallas focused on the pipe, twisting it hard.

“Not going to happen.” Dallas met Kai’s gaze, a stubborn set to his chin, the brim of his cowboy hat throwing a shadow across his face. He looked away first, assessing his plumbing handiwork. “There, all done.” He dropped the tool back into his box and snapped the metal lid shut.

“Fine,” Kai said. “Aunt Kaimana says you shouldn’t leave crap like that bottled up inside. It’ll cause cancer.”

“Oh? Is that an old Hawaiian proverb?”

“With her, everything is a Hawaiian proverb,” Kai said and grinned. “She’s sticking up for you, by the way. She says there are at least two sides to every story.”

“Aunt Kaimana is a wise woman.” That was all Dallas planned to say about what happened with Jennifer.

“Uh-huh. By the way, Jesse said she doesn’t care if you get back with Jennifer or not, but that you shouldn’t be single.”

“Why not?”

“She says it’s tacky to be a tourist attraction. If you keep sleeping with all the girls on spring break, then she’s going to start printing up brochures.”

Dallas felt a reluctant chuckle pop up in his throat. Jesse would do it, too. She was not the kind of woman to make an idle threat.

“I don’t sleep with college kids,” Dallas corrected. “I like women with more experience. Besides, I hardly ever take them home.” He had drinks with tourists, and once, only once, he’d hooked up with one, but by and large, he usually just drove them home and tucked their drunk, slurring selves safely into their hotel beds—fully clothed. He thought about the marketing executive last weekend who’d been so intent on learning all about the aloha spirit until she’d had her fourth mai tai.

“You don’t take them to your house because you probably hang out at their resort. Easier to sneak out in the morning.”

Dallas said nothing. If Kai wanted to believe he was getting laid every weekend, then he’d just leave it at that.

Kai shook his head, his mirrored sunglasses catching the light of the sun. “Aren’t you too old to be chasing tourists? I am, and I’m a year younger than you.”

“Tourists are safer than locals.” Dallas swiped at the sweat on his neck.

“Why? Because they don’t stick around?” Kai cocked an eyebrow, but Dallas just half shrugged one shoulder. The truth was, the locals had heard all the rumors, and he knew for sure that plenty of them believed the lies Jennifer spread.

Kai laughed and gave his friend a hard shove. “You’re not in your twenties anymore. You need to evolve, man.”

“I tried evolving. It didn’t work for me.” Dallas thought about Jennifer again, and he felt a cold, hard pit in his stomach. “Anyway, I’ve got to clean up before Misu’s granddaughter gets here. What’s her name? Alani, I think.”

“You mean Allie.” Kai whistled and shook his head. “I haven’t seen that girl in years.”

“You know her?”

“Yeah, we grew up as neighbors, went to kindergarten together. She moved to the mainland for third grade. She liked mangos. That’s what I remember. And she was a super tomboy, climbed every tree we had.”

“Misu has a picture of her as a girl on her refrigerator.” In that grainy old photo, Allie was a slim, lanky thing, her dark, nearly black hair in a high ponytail, standing next to Misu, who had on a big straw-brimmed hat. Misu kept the picture on a magnetic frame on her refrigerator. “Still doesn’t explain why she missed Misu’s funeral.”

“Hey, don’t be so hard on her. I’m sure she had her reasons. She had it really rough when she was little. There was a bad car accident. Her dad died. It was a miracle she survived. Anyway, she and her mom moved to the mainland after that.”

“He died?” Dallas knew how that felt. His father had passed on when he was just nineteen. But as a kid of...what, eight? That must’ve been rough.

The sound of tires on the gravel driveway interrupted the conversation, and both men turned, staring at the path, half hidden by the tall, treelike coffee plants growing in thick rows together. A small, compact white rental car gently nosed its way up the drive. Allie, Dallas assumed.

Linus the goat ambled around the corner, and the driver, skittish, veered hard right—too sharply. The tiny compact tire went off the driveway into the ruts on the side of the road with a hard thump, and splattered the trunks of the coffee trees with mud. Dallas straightened his hat as he walked out to save the damsel in distress.

That was when she opened the door and got out to inspect the stuck wheel.

This was no gangly preadolescent girl, like the one in the dated photo on Misu’s fridge. This was a full-blown woman, late twenties, with long, lean legs in formfitting jeans, and thick raven-black hair that fell long and straight past her shoulders. She did look like Misu’s kin, had the same chin and pronounced cheekbones. But she was clearly an ethnic mix: not wholly Japanese, but not wholly something else, either. She had flawless olive skin and dark eyes, her thick lashes magnified by mascara. Her thin, just-defined arms that jutted from her short-sleeved T-shirt showed just how fit she was. She had a sweater wrapped around her tiny waist, a wool remnant from Chicago, no doubt, as were her high-heeled leather ankle boots. She flicked a long, shiny strand of hair from her eyes, and as she inspected the damage, the muddied wheel sank three inches into the dark muck. If she were out on the main road, at least three cars would’ve stopped, men stumbling over themselves trying to help her.

“Wow, that is not the Allie I remember,” Kai said, voice low.

Dallas didn’t like the way Kai said that, and suddenly he felt like calling dibs, as if they were at a bar.

She hadn’t seen them yet. Dallas wondered what she would do now. A gorgeous girl like that probably wasn’t used to fending for herself. No doubt, she’d be on the phone instantly, asking for help.

Instead, she looked at the wheel, and then, without missing a beat, ducked inside the car to put the gearshift in Neutral. She walked around the car in her sexy but decidedly impractical heels, the black leather boot soles sinking into the mud as she went. She put two perfectly manicured hands on the back bumper and gave it her best push. He had to admire her spirit, even if the effort was futile. She probably couldn’t have weighed more than a hundred and ten pounds. One of her boots slipped, but she caught herself on the bumper.

“That’s the Allie I remember,” Kai said. “Never afraid of a little dirt.” Kai stepped forward. “Allie!” he called, drawing her attention. The woman’s head whipped up, and she squinted. “It’s Kai! Remember me? Kai Brady?”

“Kai,” Allie repeated, slowly at first and then once more, recognition dawning. “The boy who’d always steal my mango candy.”

Kai laughed. “Guilty,” he said, and wrapped his old friend in a hug.

“You’ve grown up!”

“So have you.” Kai backed away. Dallas found he couldn’t take his eyes off Allie. He’d seen his share of pretty girls, but something about her was just...striking. Flawless skin, a heart-shaped mouth and perfect cheekbones. Her big dark eyes turned to study him, and he felt rooted to the spot. “Uh...” She paused, her eyes flicking down to his bare chest, and it was then he remembered he’d forgotten to put his shirt back on. Where were his manners?

“This is Dallas,” Kai said. “He’s a good guy, once you get past the cowboy act.”

“It’s no act,” Dallas drawled, glad he could interrupt the little reunion. He wanted more of Allie’s attention. “I was raised on a ranch in Texas. I’d offer to shake your hand, but mine are...” He opened his palms to show the dirt from the water tank pipes.

“So you’re Dallas.” She said his name in a guarded way, which made him think they might have gotten off on the wrong foot, probably because he was nonfamily included in the will. His own father didn’t believe in giving out land to anyone but family and he had a very narrow definition of what that meant. He couldn’t blame her for thinking the same.

“Can we give you a hand?” Dallas asked.

“That would be great,” Allie said, but she looked at Kai. Dallas tried not to take offense as he rounded the back of the car. Still, he had to wonder, was there something between them? He watched the two carefully, but saw nothing hinting at sexual tension. She looked at him like a long-lost brother. Good.

“We’ve got this,” Kai assured her.

“Go on and get in and ease on to the gas when I tell you,” Dallas said.

Allie left her post at the back bumper and wobbled her way to the driver’s seat, her heels covered in mud. He watched the firm bend of her rear as she ducked into the car.

Dallas grabbed a huge leaf that hung near his head from a nearby banana tree and put it in front of the back tire for a little grip. Kai stood at the other side of the bumper.

“Okay, ready... Give it some gas.” Dallas put his shoulder into the back of the car and heaved with all his might. Kai did the same. Allie revved the engine, the wheel spinning and flicking serious mud all over his favorite pair of Wranglers. He gritted his teeth and pushed harder, digging his worn cowboy boots into the mud for leverage. On this push, the car gave a little. He leaned in, and the car broke free of the rut, rolled over the leaf and on to the main driveway again. Kai gave a whoop.

“Teamwork!” he said, and gave Dallas a high five.

She paused on the road, and he jogged up beside her driver’s-side window. She gave him a sparkling smile, showing even white teeth and a dimple in her right cheek. Right then, he could see a little of Misu in her, in the childlike glee of her expression. This is what it looked like when her guard came down, he thought. He felt a little light-headed. He wanted to reach straight into that front seat and kiss this girl on the lips.

This was not going to do at all. He couldn’t be lusting after Misu’s granddaughter, for heaven’s sake. It wouldn’t be right. Misu wasn’t here to give her blessing, and besides, Allie still had serious questions to answer.

“Thanks, Dallas,” she said now, smiling even more broadly. Her dazzling smile made him forget just what those questions were. “Where should I park?”

Dallas realized the only real pressing question on his mind right at this moment was what that tight little body looked like without clothes on. Kai nudged him, hard. He ignored his friend.

“Uh...right there,” he said, pointing to a spot near the water tank, recovering himself, even as he tried to get his dirty thoughts under control. “Misu’s house is the yellow one there.” She nodded and rolled up the window, maneuvering the car to the spot.

“I thought you didn’t like locals,” Kai murmured at his shoulder.

“I don’t.” Dallas watched her brake lights flash. “She’s not a local.”

“Allie is like a little sister to me. Just like ohana. Family.” Kai studied his friend. “Careful, Dallas. Don’t look so relieved. She’s not someone you play with. You get me?”

“I thought you said you didn’t believe the rumors.”

“I don’t. But what I know as fact is that you haven’t been yourself since Jennifer.”

That was the understatement of the year. Before Jennifer, he would’ve never spent his time babysitting drunk tourists. But a lot of things had changed since then.

“Dallas, I mean it,” Kai grumbled, voice low. “You have to promise me you’ll stay away from Allie.” Kai held Dallas by the upper arm, his grip a little tighter than it should have been.

“Kai, come on.”

“Dallas. I’m asking you. As a friend. Do not play with that girl unless you plan on marrying her. And even then... Just don’t mess around.”

“I...” Dallas watched Allie hop out of the car, her lean form tight as she made her way to the trunk.

“Dallas?”

“Fine, Kai. Okay, I promise.” Allie bent over the back of the open trunk, showing her perfectly rounded assets at the best possible angle. Dallas instantly regretted his promise.

“I’ll get that,” he said, offering to carry the bag.

“You don’t have to.” Allie looked at him suspiciously, clutching the suitcase tightly.

“I’ll take that,” Kai said, moving between them, and Allie handed Kai the bag, who took it up the porch steps and avoided Dallas’s eyes. He hadn’t seen Kai so protective of someone since, well, his sister, Jesse. Kai wasn’t kidding about her being family. He followed Kai up the porch and slipped the key into Misu’s lock.

“I’ve got to go check on Jesse at the coffee shop,” Kai said. “It was good to see you, Allie. Though I’m really sorry about Misu.”

A shadow of sadness passed across her face. “Thanks, Kai.” Allie smiled warmly at him, and Dallas felt a little tinge of jealousy. He wanted all of Allie’s smiles.

“You remember Jesse?”

Allie’s eyes lit up. “Of course! She hated pink!”

“That’s her, and she still does.” Kai grinned. “Jesse still lives next door with Auntie. We’ll have you over for dinner sometime soon.” Kai backed off the porch. “Or come for a free cup of coffee at Hula’s. And if this guy gives you any trouble, you call me.” Kai pointed his house key at Dallas, a warning.

“I won’t be trouble,” Dallas promised.

“You’d better not be.” Kai wasn’t kidding. Kai was normally a lighthearted, easygoing guy, and when he got serious, which was hardly ever, Dallas paid attention.

“I’d love to come over for dinner and see Jesse. Good to see you, Kai.” Allie waved. Dallas had left Misu’s place exactly as it had been when she’d gone into the hospital after her sudden and devastating heart attack. All of her furniture and most of her clothes were still here. The simple overstuffed white linen couch she loved sat in the middle of the living room, draped with the pink-and-yellow Hawaiian-breadfruit quilt. The kitchen was dated but clean, its white-tiled floor and older appliances ready for use, and the breakfast nook nearby, which acted as her dining room. Little had changed in twenty years. Dallas knew Allie had been here once. That photograph had been taken right on Misu’s porch, so she’d been here then anyway. Her house would’ve looked much the same.

Allie went straight to the kitchen, running her finger along the old yellow countertop, stopping at the refrigerator. She plucked the photo of her and Misu from the freezer door and stared at it, running a finger over Misu’s face.

“She was a good woman,” Dallas felt the need to say.

“She was,” Allie agreed, her voice sounding far away. She put the photo back and blinked as she looked around the room. She gave the small house a quick tour. “Where’s the bathroom?”

“Don’t you remember?” he asked her.

Allie shook her head.

“It’s outside,” he said.

“Outside?” she echoed.

* * *

ALLIE STOOD AND stared at her only working shower.

It was outside, in a cabana with walls but no roof. She plopped down her bag and stared.

How on earth had this little tidbit about her grandmother’s house escaped her? She used to live here when she was little, that much she remembered. But how old had she been? Seven? Eight? That was before... Well, before the car accident, before she and her mom moved to the mainland, where it had been just the two of them against the world. Of course, with her mom working two jobs, it had pretty much been Allie all on her own. Allie preferred it that way, actually. Anytime she depended on anyone—like Jason—they failed her.

“So if you want to talk about the estate, I’d be happy to...” Dallas stood by her, lingering near the door. Allie did not turn to look at him. If she did, she’d stare at his muscled chest, and she didn’t want to do that. She didn’t have time for guys who looked as if they belonged in a sexy-cowboy calendar. She had sworn off men this time, possibly for good. The fact that she was very aware of his every movement made her feel jumpy and anxious. Her mind might want to be done with men, but clearly her body wasn’t. It had other ideas about what she ought to do with Dallas McCormick.

“I just want to shower.”

“Oh...sure.” Dallas paused, as if waiting for her to invite him in. She nearly barked a laugh out loud. With abs like that, and those crystal-blue eyes, he was probably used to women throwing themselves at him all the time. Well, not this one, buddy.

“I’d like some privacy.” Allie was proud that she made it sound official.

“Sure thing, ma’am.” Dallas grinned, unoffended, and then tipped his hat at her as he backed out of the cabana. The door slapped shut behind him, and Allie moved to secure the bolt. With Dallas and his broad, chiseled chest out of the room, Allie felt as though she could breathe for the first time. She stared up to where the ceiling should be but saw only blue sky dotted with fluffy white clouds.

“How are you supposed to take a shower when it’s raining?” she muttered to herself.

Allie whipped up her thick jet-black hair off her neck, panting in the Hawaiian humidity as sticky sweat trickled down the nape of her neck.

All she remembered from her childhood at Grandma Misu’s were endless afternoons building sand castles on the pristine white beach about a mile away, and of Misu’s sticky sweet homemade mochi rice cakes and mouthwatering teriyaki chicken. She had fond memories of Misu, but hadn’t seen her grandmother in years. Money had always been tight growing up. She and her mom had barely made rent, much less managed to scrape together enough for two plane tickets to Hawaii. But if Allie was honest, since her father died, she’d been in no hurry to come back. For everyone else, Hawaii might be paradise, but for her, it represented just bad memories.

Still, Allie felt a pang of guilt; she should’ve come for her grandmother’s funeral. But it had all been too overwhelming—dealing with Jason and the called-off wedding. She’d been in no shape to travel anyway. She hadn’t been able to get out of bed, much less book a flight.

Jason was just one more person she couldn’t depend on, Allie thought. She tried her best not to slide into a pity party: girl loses her dad in a car accident at age eight, is left with a hardly there, working-two-jobs single mom and then a string of unreliable boyfriends...and now Jason. She hated feeling sorry for herself, but sometimes it beckoned like a warm, cuddly robe. Sometimes she just wanted to slip into it for a little while.

She kept coming back to the single fact that she should’ve known Jason would do this. He’d been her first really serious relationship, but she’d had plenty of short-term boyfriends who’d disappointed in various ways. How could she have been so blind?

Denial. It was probably how she’d spent two years with Jason and never even had an inkling about his penchant for S and M. Granted, he’d been bossy and controlling most of their relationship: always wanting to be the one to decide where they ate, what they did on weekends and even weighing in on what she wore. Sometimes it had grated, but most of the time she’d been fine with just going along. Happy to do what made him happy. He’d always been decidedly in control in the bedroom, but he’d never hit her, not once.

She’d thought she knew him better than anyone, but it turned out she didn’t know him at all.

Just because she didn’t like being beaten like a piñata during sex, she thought bitterly. She was sorry, but she liked pleasure with her sex, not pain. Why did that make her boring?

She blinked fast. No more pity party. That’s quite enough of that, Allie. She should look at the bright side—now she was back on her own. I’ll never have my heart broken again, because there’s no way I’m letting anyone within a five-block radius of it. Allie was officially done with men.


CHAPTER TWO (#ulink_4b110622-f96b-517b-80cd-1ab68e469a4e)

STANDING IN THE HOT, open-aired shower, Allie fanned herself. Jet-lagged and sweaty, all she wanted to do was get clean, change into some shorts and track down the nearest real estate agent. She’d use the money to travel the world by herself. She didn’t know where she’d go, but she’d figure it out.

She glanced up at the blue sky and blinked.

No roof? Who did that? She wondered if anyone would buy a place with an outdoor bathroom. Allie sighed and turned the knobs of the shower, half expecting them not to work. Water sputtered out, and surprisingly, it felt warm, but then again, the air was a balmy eighty-two degrees. Everything would feel warm, even at room temperature. Allie shrugged out of her too-hot jeans, T-shirt and wool sweater and stepped into the warm shower, letting the water rinse over her. She exhaled. Remember the positives, she thought. You’re not stuck in subzero weather in that blizzard you left back home, and once the property is sold, you can travel for a year. That was all she had to do: keep moving. People couldn’t disappoint you if you didn’t let them.

Allie rinsed her hair in the warm water and sighed, almost forgetting about the lack of roof when a bright red blur zoomed past her, practically thumping her head.

She jumped, startled, until she saw the intruder: a small, brilliant red bird with black-trimmed feathers, its beak thin and scooped downward. It looked as if a cardinal had mated with a hummingbird, a species she’d never seen before. Definitely not in Chicago anymore, she thought. The bird cocked its head to one side and eyed her.

Allie felt like jumping out of the shower and running back to the house, but instead, she shook the shower curtain and the bird flew away.

Wonder what he was doing in here anyway, she thought, rinsing off. She shut down the water and stepped out, reaching for a fluffy white towel. She grabbed one from a hook and wrapped it around her chest, tucking it under her armpits, and then she wrapped her head up in a towel, turban-style, and looked at herself in the foggy mirror. She swiped at it with one hand, wondering what that brown stripe was along the top of her head towel, and that was when she realized the brown stripe was moving.

It was a centipede—a huge, disgusting, hundred-leg brown centipede, nearly a foot long and thicker than her thumb.

Allie did what any reasonable city girl would do: she screamed.

She flicked her head downward, and in the same instant, bounced against the thin door and tumbled outside, barely keeping the small lightweight towel wrapped around her as the turban fell to the ground. In her panic, Allie couldn’t see where the centipede went. Was it tangled in her hair? Running down her back?

It was a friggin’ monster, that was all she knew. She’d never seen a bug that big in Chicago. Ever.

Then she saw the horrible insect crawling in the black lava dirt. She felt relief: it wasn’t on her! And yet she felt complete terror as she realized the huge bug was headed straight for her bare toes, its huge menacing back pincher stinger wagging as it went.

She hopped on one foot, squealing, unable to help herself as she looked around for a weapon—a stone, a stick, anything. She couldn’t step on the thing with her bare foot.

That was when a square-toed brown cowboy boot crunched it for her, mashing it into the dirt.

“Got it, ma’am,” Dallas drawled, an amused smile on his face as the thing twisted and turned under his boot. He ground it farther into the dust.

Allie had never felt so relieved and so embarrassed at the same time. Her wet hair hung in strands down her shoulders, black mud caked her once-clean toes. She clutched the towel more tightly around her chest, but it did no good. She might as well have been wearing a washcloth.

“Th-thanks,” she managed, trying to regain her composure. He’d put on a T-shirt, she noticed, wondering fleetingly about whether the Cheeseburger in Paradise was a real restaurant. It clung to his muscular chest, stretched and near popping as if his pecs were planning an escape. He was handsome, even she had to admit. He had golden hair, worn shaggy, with natural highlights from the sun. His age was hard to place, but midthirties, Allie guessed. She felt drawn to him, and immediately shut down the urge.

“Those things are nasty. Sting hurts worse than a yellow jacket. Want me to check for any more?”

“More?” Allie’s voice came out as a squeak of fear. She hadn’t even considered there’d be another one of those creatures.

“Sometimes they travel in pairs,” Dallas drawled, and Allie was unable to tell whether he was teasing or not. “I’ll check.”

“Okay.” Allie stood very still as Dallas made a slow sweep, walking so close to her she could catch the faded scent of some earthy aftershave. He just grazed her shoulder as he glided behind her, and she was more than aware she was standing almost naked in front of him. He seemed to be taking his time, she thought, and doing more looking at her skin than for bugs. She felt suddenly shy.

No one has seen me naked since...Jason. She shifted on her bare feet, very aware of Dallas’s eyes on her.

“You’re all clear,” he said at last, stepping away from her, eyes still on her bare knees.

“Good,” Allie said, her face still flushed. “Uh...thanks.”

“Anytime, ma’am.” Dallas grinned, a big, white smile that made the pit of her stomach feel fuzzy.

“I’ve...uh...got to get dressed. The Realtor’s coming...”

“The who?” Dallas snapped to attention, his demeanor immediately changing from affable country boy to guarded cowboy.

“Realtor. I took the liberty of inviting Jennifer Thomas. I’ve heard she’s the best on the island. I saw her on that show...Hawaii Living?”

Dallas looked suddenly pale, as if he’d seen a ghost, but Allie kept going.

“She said she might even want to put the property on the show when I talked to her on the phone...”

“I don’t want her here.” Dallas’s voice was a grunt.

Allie, surprised, shifted on one bare foot to another, conscious of the sticky dirt beneath her bare toes. “Oh, well... I don’t know if I can cancel with such late notice. Her assistant was very clear...”

“She can’t come here. She—” Dallas seemed to lose the ability to speak “—just can’t.”

“But...” Allie didn’t get to finish her sentence. Dallas had turned and was stalking away from her, his back taut with anger, his boots making rivets in the mud.

* * *

HOURS LATER, DALLAS still felt hot with anger. He couldn’t believe Allie had invited his ex straight to his doorstep. Might as well just let loose the rest of the lions and tigers and bears.

Jennifer would be more bloodthirsty than all of them. Dallas was arguing with Jennifer’s assistant on the phone that afternoon when he heard a roar near the driveway and realized he’d have to tell the woman to her face just how unwelcome she was. He walked out of his front door and down the path of coffee trees toward Misu’s place, carrying a bundle of papers rolled up and sticking out of the back pocket of his jeans. He made it to the clearing in time to see the goat skitter away at the sight of Jennifer’s cherry-red convertible BMW. Smart goat. Jennifer was the kind of woman who didn’t mind running over anything in her path. Dallas still had the tire tread on his back to prove it.

He frowned as he watched her step out of her sports car, wearing her usual uniform of overpriced designer clothes, which clung tightly to her curves, her too-short skirt inching up her thigh as she slammed the car door with a thunk. She met his gaze over the car roof and smiled just slightly, triumph on her face as she flicked a long, curving strand of blond hair off her shoulder. She must love that Allie invited her here, must be relishing every minute, he thought.

He glanced in the backseat and saw it was empty, save for Kayla’s pink-and-green striped booster seat. She’d be at day care anyhow. He felt a pinch in his chest as he saw her small white stuffed bear. Mr. Cuddles, he remembered. She used to be inconsolable without him. He felt the urge to run it over to her at day care, but then felt a dull ache in his rib cage when he realized that wasn’t his job anymore. Hadn’t been for nearly a year. Jennifer had made sure of that.

He watched as she vigorously shook Allie’s hand, his stomach tightening into knots. He didn’t know if he wanted to shout or run, but his whole body felt as if it was on fire. The two women standing there looked like yin and yang: complete opposites, dark and light. Jennifer was a walking Barbie doll, clad all in pastels and wearing high-heeled wedge sandals. Allie had on flip-flops and hiking shorts, not wearing a bit of makeup and looking all the prettier for it. Even angry at Allie, Dallas felt a strong pull to her. Seeing Jennifer standing so close to her made Dallas want to step between them, if only to protect Allie from being eaten alive.

He couldn’t believe that once upon a time, Jennifer had shared his bed. She’d been as aggressive there as she was everywhere else in her life. And just as selfish, he thought. It would serve her right if he told the whole island the truth of what had happened between them. Except that they both knew why he wouldn’t do that. It wasn’t just Jennifer after all. There was Kayla, and Dallas wasn’t about to do anything that would hurt that sweet, innocent girl. Jennifer knew it, too. Counted on it.

“Jennifer.” Dallas’s voice was stern. Jennifer glanced up, worry flickering across her face for a split second. She knew what she’d done, and the honesty of guilt showed in her eyes for the briefest of moments before she quickly buried it beneath a disingenuous smile. That’s right, Dallas thought. Just pretend nothing happened.

“Dallas,” she purred, and then threw her arms around him as if they were old friends. He staggered back a step, completely taken off guard. The woman had the nerve to touch him? “Good to see you again.”

Allie’s eyes widened, as she glanced from Dallas to Jennifer and back again.

“You two know each other?”

“Oh, we’re old friends.”

Dallas firmly unclasped her hands from his neck and stepped backward. “No, we’re not.”

Jennifer flipped her blond hair from her shoulder, not bothering to register the protest. “I was so surprised when Allie here told me you were selling that I wanted to come right over.” Jennifer ignored Dallas’s hot glare.

“I’m not selling.”

Jennifer swayed a little, unsteady on her feet. “But Allie said...”

“Allie doesn’t speak for me.” Dallas set his lips in a thin, determined line.

“You don’t want to sell?” Now it was Allie’s turn to look dumbfounded.

“Well...I thought it was too good to be true.” Jennifer considered Allie and Dallas.

“Now’s the part where you tell Allie the bad news,” Dallas said. He hated being so close to Jennifer and hated that Allie had brought her here, but the fact was, he would enjoy this next part.

“What bad news?” Allie had no idea what was about to hit her.

“I’m sure you’ve already considered the problem of selling only Allie’s half.” Dallas tucked his thumbs through his belt loops. Jennifer suddenly looked uneasy.

“What problem is that?” Allie’s voice was sharp.

“My half has the seaside views that the tourists want.” Dallas nodded toward his side of the property, which sloped downward. Allie’s house would have a seaside view, except it was completely obscured by tall coffee trees, dotted with white flowers. Dallas, on the other hand, had a house closest to the beach, nothing on three sides but sparkling blue Pacific Ocean. “Plus, I have indoor plumbing.”

“You what?” Allie’s face bunched up in anger.

He took a second to enjoy it. Wasn’t his fault that Misu had turned him down when he’d offered to build a bathroom to her cabin when he was doing the same for his.

“And then there’s the volcano,” Dallas continued, unable to help himself. “Technically, your half of the estate is in Lava Zone Three. I’m in four.”

“I know about the volcano. But what are the zones?” Allie’s gaze roamed from Dallas to Jennifer and back again.

“It means that you’re in a more hazardous zone than Dallas is.” Jennifer picked invisible lint from her shirt. “Your house is more likely to be wiped out by a lava flow.”

“What?” Allie grew pale.

“The divider line pretty much goes right through the property.” Dallas pointed from one end of the land, drawing an invisible line with his finger straight across the ground. “Because of that, and the lack of a seaside view and plumbing, your half will fetch less than half of what mine will if you’re selling to developers. If we sold our shares together and split the profit, you’d make far more. Isn’t that right, Jennifer?”

“Well...” His ex tried to hedge, but even as slick as she was, she couldn’t sidestep this fact. “Dallas is mostly right.”

“Mostly right?” Allie looked as if she was going to explode. Her dark eyes sparked like steel striking flint. “How much difference are we talking about?”

“Well, realistically...” Jennifer hesitated, biting her lower lip.

“Spit it out.”

“The real value is the land and the Kona coffee on it. If you took that away, as well as the seaside views... You’ve got a pretty small house and a coffee-processing facility, but only a very small share of the actual Kona crop, so it wouldn’t be a workable plantation. You’d have to sell it strictly as a residence, and with the lava zone issue and no plumbing...about half as much as we talked about on the phone.”

Allie couldn’t hide her disappointment, and Dallas saw it clearly on her face. Too greedy, Dallas thought. That was the problem with Allie and every other gorgeous woman he’d ever met. Too damn greedy. Maybe she and Jennifer had more in common than he thought.

“And you can’t even get that,” Dallas said. “According to the will, Allie can’t even sell her half without getting permission from Aunt Kaimana first.”

“What? I don’t remember that in the will,” Allie protested.

“Page three, section E,” Dallas said, pulling the will from his back pocket. He’d unrolled a photocopy of the will and began to read it aloud.

Jennifer and Allie listened with interest.

“‘If the land is to be divided and then sold, it is the will of Misuko Osaka that Kaimana Mahi’ai oversee the division and issue written approval of the final sale before official transfer can be made to both parties. No sale will take place unless approved by Ms. Mahi’ai.’”

“Wait—Kai’s aunt? What does Kai’s aunt have to do with my grandma’s estate?” Confusion flickered across Allie’s face.

Jennifer’s eyes narrowed. “You didn’t tell me this was a clause in the will.” She turned to Allie, her brow wrinkled in frustration.

“I didn’t know,” Allie confessed, having clearly missed that part. She took the will from Dallas’s hands and scoured the wording.

Jennifer sighed, annoyed. “Well, this is a waste of my time, then.” Her cheery manner disappeared, and she turned away from Allie.

“Wait—where are you going?”

“Call me after you talk to Kaimana,” Jennifer said, slipping on her designer sunglasses as she walked back to her BMW. “That is, if she’ll talk to you.”

“Wait!” Allie called.

“Don’t bother.” Dallas narrowed his eyes as they both watched Jennifer roar back out of the driveway.

“The lawyer didn’t read that clause over the phone,” Allie said.

“Nope, he didn’t.” Dallas grinned.

“But you knew it was there all along.” Allie turned on Dallas, her eyes flashing. He didn’t know how she did it, but she managed to look diabolically sexy when she was mad. Dallas had to admit, maybe he didn’t mind pushing her buttons. “You couldn’t have mentioned it to me before?”

“Me?” A harsh laugh escaped Dallas. “If you were the one who wanted to strip the land and sell it to no-good resort developers for a quick buck, then you should’ve read the fine print. You had a copy of the will.”

“Yeah, but...that’s not fair.” Allie balled up the photocopy of the will in her hands.

“Oh, really? What else do you call looting your grandmother’s property?”

“I’m not looting!” Allie looked mad enough to spit.

“That’s right. Not on my watch you’re not,” Dallas warned, taking another step closer. “You’ll have to go through me first.”

“You aren’t even family.” Allie’s face turned beet red as anger strangled her words. “What gives you the right...”

“Misu gave me the right. I’m part of this, too, whether you like it or not. She split the land between us for a reason. You haven’t been acting like family! You don’t know the first thing about your grandmother. You haven’t even visited, not once in the five years I’ve been here. Maybe if you’d come, even once, you’d see the land is worth keeping. But you didn’t bother!”

His words found their mark, better even than he thought they would. Allie suddenly looked as if she might slap him straight across the face.

“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” she ground out, eyes blazing, hands balled into fists at her sides.

“I know you didn’t come to her funeral. What kind of granddaughter does that?”

Allie looked stricken, as if he’d slapped her right across the face. The pain was evident, and Dallas was surprised to see it. He hadn’t thought Allie cared, one way or another. Now, seeing her face, he realized he was wrong. But it was too late to take back what he’d said. The words hung between them like a barbed-wire fence.

Allie said nothing, just turned her back on him and stalked away. He almost called out to her, but something in the way she rigidly moved away from him stopped him cold.


CHAPTER THREE (#ulink_97bccc4e-0c61-5451-b913-45893789509c)

ALLIE FURIOUSLY SWIPED at the tears on her face. She wasn’t the one who’d abandoned her grandmother. When had Grandma Misu visited, even once, in the twenty years Allie and her mother had struggled on the mainland, moving from one job to the next? What had her grandmother ever done for her besides the annual birthday and Christmas cards she got every year, sometimes weeks late because they were sent to an old address?

Sure, she felt bad about missing the funeral. She should’ve gone, should’ve somehow managed the heroic strength to put aside her heartbreak over Jason and just shown up, but, honestly, she’d never asked her grandmother for this land. She had never asked her grandmother for anything. How could she? She lived an ocean away in a different time zone. She knew her grandmother loved her, knew that she hadn’t been swimming in cash, but still. Part of Allie felt as if it was just one more person who wasn’t there when she needed them most.

Long ago, before Allie’s father died, Allie had been the apple of Misu’s eye. That was what she remembered—a doting grandmother who sewed her clothes and played endless rounds of doll tea parties on her breezy veranda. But the car crash had changed all that.

Allie still remembered the screech of tires, the sudden crack of metal and glass like a clap of thunder ripping apart the sky. The car accident had taken her father’s life and altered hers forever. One of the therapists she’d seen once had called it survivor’s guilt. But Allie thought they should just speak plainly: the accident had been her fault. She knew the truth. Her mother knew it. Grandma Misu knew it. If Allie hadn’t been in the backseat of the car that day, her father would still be alive. She’d been the reason he’d swerved into the other lane. Allie wouldn’t have spent a childhood moving from town to town, her mother chasing whatever low-paying job she could find.

After the accident, everything had changed. Grandma Misu changed. Her only son, dead. She wouldn’t get out of bed. Couldn’t even hug Allie goodbye that morning she and her mother left.

Allie blinked fast, pushing away the memory. Dallas had it all wrong. Allie hadn’t abandoned her grandmother; her grandmother had left her first. Not that she blamed her. Allie had paid the price for the car accident: she’d grown up largely alone.

It was why she’d fallen so hard for Jason. He had a huge family, and they all lived near him in Chicago. When she’d met them, a big Irish clan that got together every Fourth of July and nearly every other holiday, she felt like at last, she was part of a family. A real family. If she was honest with herself, she missed Jason’s sisters and cousins and aunts and uncles even more than she missed him.

She sat on one of the bamboo chairs on her grandmother’s porch, staring off toward the rooftop of Kaimana’s house, just visible above the coffee trees in the distance. She’d have to go talk to the woman sometime. She hadn’t seen Kai’s aunt in nearly twenty years. She’d been her grandmother’s best friend. She held the paper in her hand, the release paper she’d dug out of her copy of the will, the one Kaimana would have to sign to let Allie sell. She’d love to see Dallas’s face after she managed to get it signed.

She thought about Dallas and then felt a flash of anger once more. She had no idea how he’d wormed his way into her grandmother’s good graces, but Allie didn’t trust him, and it had nothing to do with Jason or her dislike of men at the moment. Dallas was up to no good.

Allie pulled herself to her feet. It was time to talk to Kaimana, see if she’d be open to getting this over with quickly.

She walked down the path of coffee trees and marveled at the bright coffee berries hanging from the branches. Many had turned from green to orange. The breeze brought the smell of the ocean and the raw scent of leaves in the sun. A red bird flew by, landing on a nearby branch. A bright orange, almost red, berry fell to the dirt near Allie’s feet, and she was overcome with a sudden memory of her and Kai playing tag in the thick foliage. She’d nearly collided with her father’s ladder, where he had climbed up high, basket dangling from his forearm as he picked coffee cherries. He’d smiled down at her, a berry dropping from his nearly full container.

“Careful, I don’t want a broken leg, now,” he’d warned her, half teasing, a twinkle in his eye as he grinned, showing off the big dimple in his left cheek.

Allie stopped, the memory vivid as it washed over her. She thought she’d long since cataloged every last image she had of her father. But this one was new. She held the hard berry between her fingers and rolled it, just like she’d done when she was five. She stood awhile in the same spot, waiting for something more to come to her, but it didn’t. That was what memories of her father were like: fleeting.

Like all the men in her life, she mused, thinking about Jason. No pity party, Allie. No time for that.

She glanced at the nearly red cherry in her hand and studied it.

How did it become that brown split bean she’d seen in countless bags of coffee lining store shelves?

She had no idea. Allie liked coffee, okay, as long as it was loaded up with enough sugar and cream that she could barely even taste the coffee bean. Never even had a cup of Kona that she remembered. Funny, she thought. Her father had loved coffee, claimed no other coffee on earth rivaled the richness of Kona. The dark, fertile soil made by the volcano made it so good, he’d said.

She’d never learned to drink coffee straight like he did. Hers was always laden with vanilla syrups and milk, mocha or caramel drizzle. She rolled the red berry between her finger and thumb, thinking as she walked.

The cool breeze coming down from the mountain caressed her bare shoulder. Clouds rolled in off the hillside from seemingly nowhere. A big raindrop splashed in the black dirt in front of her. Odd, she thought, since to the south the sky was a clear blue. Guess it was a tropical shower. She hurried her pace and came to an open clearing, where a bright blue house stood. Where Kai had grown up. It had been painted since she’d been there last, and the porch furniture was different, but she was surprised by how familiar it seemed. She remembered the big mango tree sprouting up in the yard. She and Kai would climb it daily and see who could pick the fruit from the highest branches.

Another raindrop fell, followed by several others, plunking hard in the nearly black lava soil. She barely made it the hundred or so feet to the porch, before the rain came down in sheets, blanketing the rows of Kona coffee trees behind her in warm tropical rain. She shook raindrops from her hair as she eyed the front door. Bright pink-and-white tropical flowers grew near the porch. A huge bird of paradise rose up from the edge of the porch step, a magnificent flower growing like an ordinary marigold.

She rapped hard on the door. Seconds later, a heavyset woman with warm eyes and thick black hair, a silver streak running through it, opened the screen door. Allie recognized the familiar smile. She wore her same old flowered muumuu with a shiny dark macadamia-nut necklace. Besides the streaks of gray in her hair, she had aged little in twenty years.

“Aloha,” she said in greeting.

“Aloha.” Allie smiled. “I’m Allie Osaka. Misu Osaka’s granddaughter? Remember me?”

“Aah... Uh... Ōlelo Hawai’i ’oe?”

Allie blinked at the woman. Was she speaking Hawaiian?

“I’m sorry, I don’t understand.”

“Ōlelo Hawai’i ’oe?” the woman repeated, looking at Allie expectantly. Allie shook her head and spread her hands.

“Do you speak English?” Allie asked her, wondering if the woman only spoke Hawaiian. Was that even possible? She didn’t remember that before, but then her memory was spotty.

“A’ole no e law aka makaukau ma ho’okahi wale no olelo.”

Now Allie was completely lost. Kaimana held up one finger, the international sign for “wait” and then disappeared back inside her house. She came back a few minutes later with a bag of her grandmother’s coffee.

“Kona coffee?” Allie asked, pointing to the cup and then to the trees behind her.

Kaimana nodded. “Kona,” she repeated, and pointed to the row of coffee trees behind her as she handed her the open ziplock bag. She smelled it and was immediately reminded of her father. He’d always smelled like fresh roasted coffee.

“Uh... Mahalo.” Allie knew the Hawaiian word for thank you. That and aloha were the extent of her Hawaiian language skills.

“A’ole pilikia,” Kaimana said.

“Mmm,” she murmured, inhaling.

Kaimana nodded, as if she knew this already. Allie felt hopeful then. Maybe she did understand English.

Allie held the bag, wondering what it would taste like brewed. She should’ve made more of an effort to know her grandmother, to know her coffee. But it had been so expensive. Kaimana watched her, smiling all the while.

Then she disappeared back inside her house and soon reappeared, carrying a teak bowl filled with hibiscus flowers and a half-strung lei. She bustled out to the porch and sank down on a wooden rocking chair, motioning for Allie to sit in the other. She began stringing the lei while Allie held the coffee, wondering what to do next.

Nearby, bright-colored birds chirped, and a warm breeze blew, rattling the delicate glass wind chimes hanging from Kaimana’s porch. They made a high tinkling sound.

“Ms. Mahi’ai...”

“Kaimana,” she interrupted, pointing at herself.

“Yes, uh...Kaimana, I’m not sure if you understand me, but my grandma Misu...”

“Misu,” Kaimana repeated and nodded.

“Yes, Misu. She left me the coffee plantation, but I need to sell it. Misu wanted me to get your permission before I did that and...”

Kaimana’s face looked blank as she strung flowers on the lei.

Allie realized none of what she was saying was going in. She barreled on anyway.

“I need you to sign this paper, please.” Allie reached in her back pocket and pulled out the folded slip as well as the ballpoint pen she’d stashed there. She pretended to write with the pen on the paper and pointed to Kaimana afterward. “You. Sign?”

Kaimana made no move to pick up the paper. Instead, she finished looping the last flower on the string and expertly tied it, her brown fingers working nimbly. She held it up for Allie to inspect and said, “Nani?”

Allie had no idea what she meant, so she just nodded. “Uh... Nani.” And nodded again.

“Ko Aloha Makamae E Ipo,” Kaimana said, smiling, as she stood and draped the lei around Allie’s neck. It was beautiful and soft, emanating a sweet, tropical fragrance.

“Oh, I couldn’t accept this.”

Kaimana shook her head and put up her hands, showing she wouldn’t take it back. “Nau wale no.”

At a loss, Allie had no choice but to take it. “Mahalo,” Allie said finally. “But about the paper. If you could just sign...”

Kaimana waved the paper away. “Dallas,” she said.

“Dallas?” Allie echoed. “No, Dallas can’t sign this. Dallas...” Wouldn’t, even if he could.

“Dallas,” Kaimana said, sounding certain he would handle it. “A’ole pilikia. Aloha ’auinala. Kipa hou mai,” Kaimana said, and she patted Allie on the shoulder and then went back inside and closed her door. Allie heard the lock being thrown.

“Kaimana? Ms. Mahi’ai? Are you in there?” Allie knocked, but Kaimana didn’t come to the door. “Hello? Uh...aloha?” Allie knocked once more.

Again, she heard nothing.

That went well, she thought sarcastically, staring at her unsigned piece of paper and Kaimana’s locked door. What now?

Allie stomped back across the plantation and found Dallas casually unloading a big toolbox from the back of his black pickup. She felt irrationally angry at him as he worked. If he wasn’t so stubborn, so full of himself, maybe the two of them could’ve found some kind of compromise. He glanced up and tipped his straw cowboy hat in her direction, his blue eyes amused.

“Ma’am,” he drawled. She ignored him. He let out a low chuckle as she walked past. “How did that conversation with Kaimana go?”

She whirled on him, his smug grin feeling like salt in her paper cut.

“As if you don’t know,” Allie spat out, annoyed. Dallas had sent her over there knowing full well she’d get nowhere without a translator. “She doesn’t even speak English!”

Dallas raised his eyebrows in surprise and then inexplicably burst into laughter.

Allie shifted uneasily, foot to foot. “What’s so funny?” Allie felt exposed, as if she might suddenly be transported back to the cafeteria in middle school. The joke was on her; she just didn’t know how.

Dallas nearly had tears in his eyes he was laughing so hard. He laid a big strong hand across his flat stomach as he howled.

“She speaks English just fine,” he managed to get out.

“What are you talking about?”

“She’s one hundred percent fluent, as fluent as you or I. But when she doesn’t like what’s going on, she’ll usually refuse to speak English. Just ask the traffic cop who pulled her over for speeding last month.”

Understanding dawned on Allie a beat too late. “She tricked me?”

“Probably just wanted to put you off for a little while,” Dallas said and grinned. His blue eyes sparkled. He clearly was enjoying this. “Whatever you were asking her about, she didn’t like.”

Allie felt a surge of annoyance and complete embarrassment for making a fool of herself by blubbering on as if Kaimana didn’t understand her, complete with full pantomime. Yet she considered the idea of a near stranger banging down her door and asking to sell the property of her once dearest friend in the world. Okay, maybe she hadn’t been the most tactful there. She still felt like a total idiot. And Dallas got a good laugh out it. At her expense. That was the worst part. She felt her cheeks burn. He’d probably sent her there knowing full well she’d be tricked.

“You’re still going to have to talk to me about selling,” Allie said. “Even if I can’t get her signature, I’ll find a way.”

“Maybe you should just get used to growing coffee. At some point, we’ll have to talk about the harvest.”

Allie felt a flash of anger. The last place on earth she wanted to settle down was Hawaii, the place her father died. And the last man on earth she ever wanted to deal with was Dallas McCormick. He reminded her of Jason, of the kind of man who thought the world owed him everything.

“I’ll talk about the harvest as soon as you talk about selling.”

Dallas’s blue eyes grew cold like steel. “Not going to happen,” he told her, shaking his head. She watched as he picked up the toolbox and began walking toward the big metal barn on the property. Her side of the property, she realized.

“Where do you think you’re going?” she demanded, hands on her hips.

Dallas stopped and calmly turned. “To see if I can fix the roaster. It has to be working by harvest time. Or we need a new one.”

“The barn is on my side of the property line. I didn’t say you had permission to fix it.”

Dallas froze, annoyance flashing across his face. Allie thought, Good. See what it feels like, buddy, when you don’t have the upper hand.

“Allie...” Dallas’s voice held a warning.

“You may not want to sell, but as long as this is my property, I can do what I want with it. I can knock down that barn and sell that roaster for parts, if I want to. I don’t need Kaimana’s permission for that. I could even knock down all the coffee trees on my side.”

Dallas looked stricken. “You wouldn’t.”

“Try me.”

Dallas hesitated, as if deciding whether or not to call her bluff. Allie dug her tennis shoe in the ground and dragged it across the dark lava dirt, making a line.

“That’s your side, and this is mine,” she declared, glaring at him. “You cross this line without my permission and...” Allie walked over to the nearest row of coffee trees on her side. She snapped one of the branches with bright orange coffee cherries on them.

“No...don’t!” Dallas protested, but he was too late. She dropped the branch in the dirt and stomped on the coffee berries.

Dallas flinched as if seeing the damaged limb brought him physical pain. He frowned, his blue eyes hard and glinting. “That was one of our oldest trees,” he growled.

“Good. I’ll start with cutting down that one first.”

Allie left him standing there, toolbox in hand, as she stalked off to the house, strode up the steps and slammed the door.


CHAPTER FOUR (#ulink_c2c00fe9-87a7-5907-9006-71b0d19de1ab)

BY THE NEXT MORNING, Allie was beginning to regret her show of temper. Not that she wasn’t still furious with Dallas and didn’t love seeing that smug smile wiped clean off his rugged face, but Allie usually didn’t get so mad, so irrational. She’d known the minute the door slammed behind her she’d been in the wrong. It was childish, and she knew it. She usually was the calm, sensible one in the salon where she’d worked in Chicago, the one who never got ruffled about anything. But ever since Jason, she felt as if she was sitting on a powder keg, and any little thing could set her off.

Boom.

She didn’t like this new Allie who flew off the handle at any small provocation. Sure, this was her grandmother’s land, and she’d had plans for the sale, but did that really merit stomping on coffee cherries like a three-year-old? She should’ve handled it better. Maybe she ought to apologize, she thought as she gathered up a change of clothes and headed out to the outdoor bathhouse on her grandmother’s property. She’d take a shower, get dressed and maybe go over and offer to talk things through. They had to come to some agreement, and Allie suspected that Dallas could probably convince Kaimana to sign those papers. She’d mentioned him by name after all. They had to work together...or neither one would get what they wanted. She felt better, more in control, calmer.

Allie had considered the whole problem as she’d tossed and turned the night before. Misu’s house had no working air-conditioning, and the night had been particularly sticky. Allie had been waiting for the sun to come up, waiting for her chance to sit in a cool shower, wash off the salty layer of sweat.

Allie thought she was being quite grown-up about it as she walked into the outdoor shower. She double-checked for prehistoric-size bugs and, finding none, plopped her clothes down and went to turn on the hot water.

Nothing came out.

This can’t be. She’d been looking forward to a shower for the past three hours of tossing around in the damp sheets of her bed, and now...no water?

She stared at the dry showerhead. “Don’t do this to me,” she whined.

She turned the knobs again, opening them all the way, and found...nothing. Not a single drop of water. “No!” This was seriously not happening. All she wanted was a cool shower. Her white tank top stuck to the small of her back; tendrils of hair stuck to her sweaty temple. Even her short plaid pajama bottoms felt too hot.

Allie wasn’t going to take this lying down. She was going to get a shower, one way or another. She marched outside and saw the big rain-fed water tank sitting a few yards away. She decided to investigate, and as she walked, noticed a deeper line in the black lava dirt. Her toe print had been widened and deepened, probably by Dallas.

She made it to the huge water tower, and that was when she noticed the line ran straight to the middle of the base of the tank. She walked around the tank on her side of the dividing line and looked up. Half the water was on her side. As far as she could tell, it should be equally split. She crossed over the line to Dallas’s side of the property, and that was when she noticed the kicker: the on-off spigots for the tank were on his side of the dividing line.

Well, crap.

God, she hated instant karma.

“I think you’re on my property, ma’am,” Dallas drawled, strolling up with one thumb hooked casually into the belt loop of his worn jeans. He wore a tight-fitting T-shirt across his muscled chest, and somehow it seemed even more sensual than if he’d been naked. Allie had to force herself to meet the man’s eyes and not just gape at the ridges of his muscled pecs, plainly visible through the thin cotton fabric.

“Why did you turn my water off?” Allie demanded, hand on her hip, as she stubbornly stood her ground.

“It’s our water, but the spigots are on my side, so...I can do with them what I want. Isn’t that what you said?”

She really hated having that thrown back in her face. She really, really hated it.

“I...” The apology Allie had so carefully thought out that morning evaporated off her tongue. She had no desire to apologize to this man. “Turn my water back on.”

A sly smile tugged at the corners of his mouth as he walked straight up to her, his tight T-shirt filling up most of her view. He only stopped when they were nearly toe-to-toe. She had to arch her neck to meet his steely blue eyes. She saw amusement there, but something else: strong-headed determination.

“Make me,” he murmured, grinning again. She took in his broad shoulders, his football player–like frame. There was no way all five foot two of her was going to make that wall of a man do anything.

She wanted to stomp on the toe of his worn cowboy boot, or call him names, or thump on his chest with her fists, but she knew it wouldn’t do any good. She felt that out-of-control temper flare again. The match was near the powder keg.

“Half of the tank is on my side. Half the water is mine,” Allie argued, trying to keep her voice level and calm. I will not lose it. I won’t!

“The spigots are on my side.” Dallas grinned more widely, showing off the dimple in his cheek and his even, white smile. The fact that he looked as if he ought to be on some tourist ad for a remote stable in Colorado made her just want to punch him straight in the nose.

“Turn my water back on or I’ll...”

“You’ll what? Destroy some coffee?” Dallas rocked back on his heels. “If you do that, it’s just money you’ll lose. I don’t plan on selling, and you need cash. I heard you quit your job to come here. You’re living off savings.”

“Who...”

“Through the grapevine.”

“The lawyer,” Allie exclaimed. “Misu’s lawyer is the only one I told. He...”

“He’s a good buddy of mine.”

Fan-freakin’-tastic. “Is this some more of that locals-protect-locals BS?”

“You should know,” Dallas said. “You used to be one.”

Allie let out an exasperated sigh.

“You still can’t make me turn that water back on.”

Dallas took a step closer. His eyes flicked down, lingering on the scooped neckline of her tank. Her anger burned hot, so hot she wasn’t sure if she could keep a lid on it anymore.

“You’ll turn that water back on,” Allie promised. She stood her ground. His eyes met hers.

“Only if you say...please.”

His blue eyes blazed with mischief, and something more. With a start, she realized he was flirting with her. God, the man’s ego knew no bounds. He’d just cut off her shower, and he was trying to get into her pants? Seriously?

“Say it,” Dallas said, his voice a rumble she almost thought she could feel in her own chest. Stubbornly, she stood her ground. “I’m waiting.”

“You’ll be waiting a long time,” she ground out, spitting mad.

He dropped his head back and laughed. “Then you’ll be waiting even longer for your shower.”

He had her there and she knew it.

“Fine.” Allie let out a frustrated breath. “Please,” she muttered, annoyance in her voice.

“That’s not a nice please.” He took a step forward, and Allie wanted to punch him in the nose.

“You didn’t say it had to be nice.”

“Didn’t I?”

He was so very close to her. She looked into his blue eyes and felt as if she’d fallen into the ocean. For that second, she froze, and she couldn’t tell if the adrenaline zinging through her veins was fueled by anger or something else. She could smell Dallas’s aftershave, and it made her head spin.

Dallas studied her mouth, and suddenly Allie’s throat went dry. “Please,” she whispered.

“What was that, darlin’?” He cupped a strong hand to his ear. “I can’t hear you.”

“Please,” she managed, a bit louder.

Dallas’s face hovered over hers, a smile in his eyes as he moved even closer. Allie thought for sure he’d kiss her right then, but he moved at the last minute, his lips missing hers by millimeters as he leaned into her ear.

“I’ll think about it,” he whispered, and she could feel his warm breath on her earlobe. It made her shiver. And not with murderous rage.

“Damn you, Dallas McCormick,” she ground out, and stomped on one of his booted feet. Her flimsy flip-flop did no good against the thick leather, and Dallas just threw his head back and laughed. She could hear the laughter following her almost all the way back to her the house. Her face burned in humiliation: he’d played her. She was thoroughly tired of being played by men. It wouldn’t happen again, she swore.

* * *

IF DALLAS MEANT to declare war, then, fine, two could play that game. Allie would just have to redouble her efforts to win over Kaimana, get that paper signed and sell her half. She’d love to see the look on Dallas McCormick’s face when she told him she’d sold her half to resort developers. See how he’d fare with just half his crop and no roasting barn.

The only problem was that, whenever Allie went to Kaimana’s house, she found the door locked, the blinds drawn.

Well, Allie wasn’t going to give up that easily. She made her plans even as she rinsed off in the kitchen sink with jugs of water bought from the local grocery store. She didn’t think she’d find herself wishing for an outdoor shower, but anything would be better than this.

One thing was for sure: she’d make Dallas pay.

She knew of only one person who could help her: Kai Brady. After finishing her hasty sponge bath, she got dressed and drove her rental into town.

She walked slowly down the main street of Kailua-Kona, with its brightly colored storefronts facing out to the ocean. Lines of green palm trees swayed against the blue sky nearby, and the sidewalk looked pristine, bathed in bright Hawaiian sunshine. Hula Coffee sat sandwiched between a salon and a little sushi restaurant. Painted a bright baby blue with white trim, the shop boasted an old-fashioned wooden sign carved into the shape of a Hula dancer, a Hawaiian woman wearing a white-flowered lei and green grass skirt, a halo of white flowers in her jet-black, waist-length hair. The small coffee shop was bustling even at two in the afternoon, the window-seat benches filled with people of all stripes. A handsome guy in his midtwenties, wearing board shorts and a tank top, opened the door, holding it for her.

“After you,” he said, taking in her sundress, his eyes lingering on her legs. She ignored him. She didn’t need complications right now. She saw Kai talking to his sister, Jesse, at the register and waved.

“Allie!” He motioned her over. “Come in. Say hi to...”

He hadn’t even got out Jesse’s name before the tanned, petite brunette had launched herself over the counter and clobbered Allie in a huge hug. “Why are you never on Facebook?” she scolded. “Seriously—we need to catch up! It’s been a thousand years!”

Allie had forgotten about Jesse’s bubbling enthusiasm for everything. She and Kai had the same mom and different dads, but they both had their Irish mother’s warm, hazel-colored eyes. She was two years younger than Allie and Kai, and what Allie remembered was a fierce little girl who wanted to climb every tree they did.

“This is a great place,” Allie said, meaning it as she looked around at the warm koa-wood tables and the easy conversation happening across the various nooks in the small but surprisingly open shop. Pastries of every kind called invitingly from behind a glass counter, and the air smelled like coffee and vanilla.

“Thanks,” Kai said, standing a little straighter, clearly taking pride in his establishment. “I never imagined having a life other than surfing, but my finance guy said it’s good to diversify.”

“That’s only because surfing is probably going to kill you,” Jesse scolded. “This guy liked to surf the big waves. Like seventy feet!”

“Seventy...?” Allie’s mouth dropped open in shock. Kai had always been fearless, even as a toddler, but somehow she couldn’t quite imagine his muscled body handling such serious surf.

“That was on a slow day,” Kai said, half teasing, half not. He pointed to the espresso machine. “Care for a cappuccino? On the house.”

“Well, I...” Allie hesitated for a split second, but before she could even properly answer, Jesse had bounced over to get started.

“You don’t want him making one. He doesn’t know how,” Jesse explained.

“I do so!”

“You’re only here a couple days a week,” Jesse teased, as they bickered warmly like the siblings she remembered. “During the slow times. Ask him where he is in the morning, during rush time?”

“Hey! I surf mornings!” Kai protested. “Got to keep giving those young kids a run for their money on the circuit. I just come in here to supervise, make sure you’re not sleeping on the job.”

Jesse snapped a dishrag at him, and Kai just laughed. In a few moments, she handed Allie a lush cappuccino.

“This is the second time this week someone put coffee in my hands.” Allie inhaled the rich aroma and then took a sip. It was the richest, most delicious thing she’d ever tasted. Nothing bitter about it, just dense, lush goodness.

“This is amazing,” Allie said, dumbstruck that she actually liked coffee without a sugary shot of vanilla or caramel.

Kai grinned, ear to ear. “Made from one hundred percent Kona Estate coffee.”

“My grandmother’s coffee?”

Kai nodded.

“Wow, this stuff is really good.” Allie took another sip, relishing it.

“The best Kona on Hawai’i,” Jesse said.

“Your grandmother’s coffee made this place,” Kai seconded.

Allie felt a shudder of guilt as she glanced around at all the happy patrons in Kai’s shop. They all seemed to like the coffee so much, and she could understand why. It was delicious, like none she’d ever tasted. But she had no intention of growing coffee, at least, not with her share. What would happen to Kai’s shop, to these patrons drinking her coffee, if they sold the land? Developed it for condos?

Not your problem, Allie thought. Your problem is Dallas McCormick and that smug smile he wears on his face.

“You said someone else gave you coffee?” Kai asked. “Where did you get it? Please don’t tell me it was you-know-what down the street. Please don’t!”

“Kai won’t even say their name, it’s that personal,” Jesse said.

“Don’t get me started on why,” he said. “Big corporate lattes! Wouldn’t know good coffee if it bit them in the...”

“Oh, no, don’t worry,” Allie said. “I haven’t been to any competitors. Your aunt gave me coffee grounds, actually.”

Kai immediately relaxed. “You saw Auntie K? She’s always had a soft spot for you. Did she make you a lei?”

“Uh, yes, actually. Gorgeous.” Allie cleared her throat. “I wanted to talk to you about her, actually. Grandma Misu wanted me to talk to her about the estate if I was going to sell, so...”

“She did?”

“Yeah, and I didn’t have much luck. She, uh...she...pretended not to know English.”

Kai and Jesse exchanged a meaningful glance. “That wasn’t very nice. Let me go talk to her,” Kai pronounced, like a big brother ready to go to bat for a little sister.

“No, that’s okay. I mean, I know she probably didn’t want to talk to me about selling Grandma Misu’s land, so I get it. But now she won’t answer the door, and...”

“That’s none of her business whether you sell or not,” Kai muttered. “That’s your choice, not hers. You should be able to sell if that’s what you want to do.”

Jesse didn’t say a word. Allie could tell she didn’t approve of selling, but she was grateful Kai didn’t judge her. “I just feel kind of stupid. I fell for it. I really thought she didn’t know English.”

“Aw, she does that to everyone,” Kai said. “Hell, the postal carrier didn’t know for years, and I don’t think the tax assessor still does.”

They all laughed, and Allie felt an easy kinship between them that she hadn’t felt in...years. She liked Jesse and Kai a lot. They felt like long-lost family.

“Hey, want to come to dinner tomorrow? We could help you talk to Aunt Kaimana. Maybe get this all sorted out.”

“Oh, I don’t want to put you out.”

“You won’t,” Kai assured her. “I’m barbecuing, and we’re having a few friends over anyway, at Aunt Kaimana’s house. One more is no big deal!”

For the first time since Chicago, Allie actually did feel like getting out. She ignored the little voice of warning at the back of her head. She was on a mission: sell the land and get out.

But, what would one little barbecue hurt? Besides, if she could convince Kaimana to sign her paper at the party, all the better.

“Sure,” she said. “I’d love to.”


CHAPTER FIVE (#ulink_6b66c170-88a2-5b8c-a7ca-d75851c1df7e)

A FEW PEOPLE turned into more like a hundred. By the looks of Kai’s crowded backyard, he’d invited every local on the island for his little barbecue. Allie stood awkwardly near a banana tree, clutching a frosty mai tai, wondering whether or not she should leave. It had been so long since she’d actually been at a party that wasn’t a bridal shower, she wasn’t sure she remembered how to mingle. Kai was busy manning the grill, and Jesse had her hands full with mixing drinks, and she’d not even seen a trace of Kaimana. She glanced down at her white striped maxi dress and high-heeled wedge sandals and suddenly felt overdressed. Everyone else wore colorful board shorts, tank tops and flip-flops. Allie was the only woman not in an above-the-knee sundress. But she had her reasons. Her legs were bright lobster red after she’d forgotten to apply sunscreen before she’d fallen asleep lying on her stomach on her grandmother’s reclining lawn chair in the backyard.

Her shoulders still radiated heat. They were so burned that even the thought of putting a strap or sleeve on them made her want to cry. The dress was the only sleeveless one she had, so she’d gone with it. Luckily, her front side was only marginally burned. In a day or so, she’d have a new golden tan. But right now, all she felt was agony.

Allie sipped at the sweet drink and glanced around, looking in vain for a familiar face. Just as she was considering knocking back her drink and bolting, she felt something pounce on her skirt. She looked down to see a fluffy brown Labrador puppy with steel-gray eyes.

“Poi! Down, boy, down!” An Asian woman about her age ambled up, deeply tan with her hair up in an elaborate do, a large white flower in her hair. She wore a black tube top and khaki shorts. “I am so sorry,” she said, grabbing the dog by the collar. “He’s not people trained yet.”

“No problem.” Allie grinned and knelt down, scratching the pup behind his ears. The dog reminded her of the lab she’d had growing up. “He’s friendly, aren’t you, Poi?”

“I’m Minnie,” she said. “You must be Allie.”

“How did you...”

“You’re the new girl,” Minnie said and grinned. “I know everybody here but you, so I just figured. Plus, the sunburn gave you away.”

Allie shifted uncomfortably. She realized she was the only one in the yard who didn’t have an all-year tan from years living here. It would take her quite a long time to work up to that, she thought. Her shoulders hadn’t seen sunlight for eight months, and even an hour of sun had burned her to a crisp.

“You need some aloe? I may have some in my car,” Minnie offered.

“I bathed in it before I came here. Don’t worry. I’ve got plenty.” Allie fidgeted. Her right shoulder blade in particular throbbed.

“Mind if I say, your eyebrows are...amazing. Where do you get them done?” Minnie studied Allie’s forehead. Minnie still held the puppy’s collar, trying to keep him from lunging again.

“I did them, actually. I used to do eyebrow sculpting in Chicago.”

“I have to introduce you to Teri, then,” Minnie said. “She owns the best salon in town.” Minnie glanced around and then waved to a platinum blonde in her midforties who was wearing a bright coral-colored blouse and white Bermuda shorts. Minnie waved her over and Teri came, carrying a nearly empty mai tai glass.

“Teri! This is Allie. You know, Alani Osaka—Misu’s granddaughter.”

“Oh, honey! So glad to meet you!” Before Allie knew it, she was enveloped in a big hug.

“Misu was my favorite customer. She always gave the best advice.” It seemed as if Teri didn’t want to let her go. Allie didn’t mind, though. Instead of an awkward outsider, she was starting to feel like a prodigal daughter returned. In Chicago, she’d always lived in big, populous neighborhoods and gone to overcrowded schools, walked busy city streets, where it was easy to blend in. She wasn’t used to being noticed or singled out. Small island life was a different kind of existence, she was quickly finding out.

“Teri, you won’t believe this. She does eyebrows!”

“You do?” Teri asked, taking the last sip of her mai tai. “Threading or waxing?”

“Both,” Allie said. “And facials, too.”

“I just lost my eyebrow girl, and I haven’t found a good replacement yet.” Teri studied Allie’s face. “You did your own eyebrows?”

Allie nodded.

“That’s good enough for me! They look great. You might be too busy with Misu’s place, but if you want a job...” She raised her glass as if a paycheck were inside.

Allie’s first impulse was to jump at the offer, but then the small voice in her head told her she ought not to get too comfortable. She wasn’t putting down roots. Here or anywhere else, she vowed.

“Oh, I’d love to, but I’m not sure how long I’m staying, actually.”

“You’re not staying?” Minnie asked, surprised. Teri and she exchanged a quick glance. “You’re just going to let Dallas run Misu’s place?”

“Or sell,” Allie said. “One Realtor told me it was good land for condos, maybe.” The mixed feelings that passed across Minnie’s and Teri’s faces told her they liked that idea about as much as Dallas did when he first heard it. “But I haven’t decided yet,” she finished quickly. Both women looked relieved.

“No need to rush something like that, honey,” Teri agreed. “Take your time. And hey, stop by the salon anyway. You want to just work something totally temporary until I can find a permanent replacement, that would be great. The tourists wait for no one! Just think about it, okay?”

“Sure, I’ll think about it,” Allie said, realizing it would be the perfect way to make a little extra cash while she waited to get her ducks in a row to sell. But only if Teri didn’t expect her to stay long-term. She was still planning to sell and get out—quickly.

“By the way, how are things going with my boyfriend, Dallas?” Minnie asked, her eyes bright.

Allie felt a ripple of shock. “Your boyfriend? Dallas... Uh, I didn’t know...”

“Don’t listen to her,” Teri quibbled, giving Minnie a shove. “That’s how she talks about Dallas, but they aren’t...”

“Hey, a girl can dream, can’t she? Besides, my boyfriend is the best kind imaginable: hot and completely imaginary. If I ever had a real conversation with him that wasn’t a passing hello, it would ruin the whole fantasy. So how is it living next to one of the hottest guys on the island?”

“He’s got an ego to match,” Allie grumbled, feeling a flash of annoyance at the mere mention of the man’s name.

“Ha! Lady after my own heart.” Teri grinned her approval. “Thank God you didn’t fall for that Texas charm. Dallas is bad news.” Teri rattled the ice cubes around her mai tai glass.

“Why bad news?” Allie asked, interest suddenly piqued.

“He’s a player with a capital P,” Teri said. “He’s not a one-woman man.”

“He can play me any day,” Minnie echoed in a dreamy, far-off voice. “Have you seen those abs? And that accent! I mean, ‘Cowboy, Take Me Away,’ you know what I’m saying? When he goes kayaking out of the bay, women just line up to watch and see if he’ll take his shirt off. I mean, a guy who looks like that? Maybe he should have more than one woman. We ought to share him, for the sake of the sisterhood.”

Teri laughed. “Minnie!” she exclaimed, giving her friend a shocked pat on the shoulder.

Allie had to admit he did have a nice chest. She could see why women would follow him around. Not this one, though.

“How do you know he’s a player?” Allie asked, curious now.

“Besides the fact he takes a new tourist home every Saturday night?”

Allie gulped. Every week? Not that she ought to be surprised. She knew Dallas was proud of his body. Why wouldn’t he want to show it off naked to a new woman weekly?

“An expensive proposition,” she said, thinking aloud.

“Oh, Dallas can afford it. Rumor has it he’s rich. Big sale of a family’s ranch back in Texas,” Minnie said. “He owns tons of stuff around here.”

“Like what?”

Minnie shrugged. “Real estate. Stores. Whatever. I’m surprised he’s not married already. He almost was last year.”

“Until he cheated on his fiancée,” Teri muttered, frowning as she held up her cup of mai tai in a grim toast.

“He cheated on her?” Allie asked, feeling suddenly angry for the woman. She knew what that felt like. Poi nudged her leg, and she absently bent down to give him a soft pat.

“Yeah.” Teri took a sip of her cocktail, as if to wash the truth of it from her mouth. “They made a really pretty couple, too. She had this beautiful little girl from another relationship. They were a pretty little family, even moved in together, until she had to work longer hours, and Dallas took advantage.”

Allie didn’t like that. Not one bit. How could he do that to his girlfriend? Or to her little girl? She felt a surge of new anger. She’d been right about him from the start, the jerk. He was just like Jason. His nice-guy, aw-shucks demeanor was just a cover for the womanizer beneath.

“Longer hours?” Minnie scoffed, gesturing with her hands and nearly tipping the edge of her plastic cocktail cup. She saved the mai tai just in time. “She was gone for weeks at a time filming that real estate show. What is it? Hawaii Living?”

Allie knew Hawaii Living. That was Jennifer Thomas’s show.

“Wait, Jennifer Thomas was his girlfriend?”

“Yeah, how did you know?” Minnie asked.

“I invited her over to the estate,” Allie confessed, awkwardly rubbing her arms. “To look at the land.”

Minnie and Teri stared at one another and then broke out laughing. “I bet Dallas loved that.”

“Well, it explains why he was so mad,” Allie confessed sheepishly. First, Kaimana and then Dallas and Jennifer—she felt at every turn like the new girl constantly stepping in it. She had a lot to learn about the island. Not if you don’t plan to stay, that tiny voice in her head pointed out.

“Well, well, speak of the devil,” Teri declared, as she looked at the back patio door.

Allie followed her line of sight and saw Dallas McCormick walking into the backyard. If he’d looked good without his shirt on, he looked even sexier now wearing a pressed white linen button-up and khaki shorts. His sharp blue eyes were hidden by expensive-looking sunglasses, but his thick blond hair was perfectly styled, and his broad chest just begged to be stroked. She saw him and her body instantly reacted, as if there was a magnetic pull straight to his navel. He pushed up his sunglasses, and she observed his clear blue eyes find hers in the crowd. For a full second, she froze, unable to move. He gave her a brief nod, and Allie felt a shiver run down the back of her spine. She hated that he looked so good. It made her even angrier.

Allie mentally shook herself. Was it something about her? Was she just destined to be attracted to unfaithful men?

“I’m surprised he came alone,” scoffed Teri, as if it were a bad word. “The man can’t do without female attention for ten minutes.”

“Why shouldn’t he? He’s gorgeous and rich. What else do you want in a man?” Minnie exclaimed.

“Fidelity?” Allie offered, which made Teri burst out laughing.

“Oh, I like this one.” She gave Allie’s arm a playful squeeze.

“You two are insane. Or blind,” Minnie chided. “I’m going to go stand at a discreet distance from my boyfriend and hover awkwardly. See you!” She made a beeline for Dallas, dragging Poi through the crowd. And she wasn’t the only one, either. Pretty soon three girls were standing around him making small talk, giggling and flipping hair.

“Are you going to head over there next?” Teri asked, a disapproving look on her face as she watched Minnie jostle for position.

“Me? Never! He’s arrogant and rude, and besides, I’ve half sworn off men anyway.”

“Did I tell you that I like you already?” Teri asked, as she wrapped her arm around Allie’s shoulders and squeezed. “Don’t forget to come by the salon! We’re right next to Hula Coffee.” Teri spotted a young man, barely older than a teenager, crossing the yard. “Oh, there’s Mason. I have to talk to him about the paint job he’s going to do next week. Will you be all right here on your own?” Teri had a mothering quality about her. Allie thought it was kind of nice, being looked after.

“I’ll be fine,” she said.

“If you get lonesome, come on and find me.” The sincere look in her eyes couldn’t be missed. “I only moved here five years ago. I remember how it feels to be the new girl on the island.”

Allie felt surprisingly glad for the offer. “Thanks, Teri.”

Allie took another big swig of her mai tai as she turned her attention back to the girls still swooning over Dallas. He didn’t do much to discourage them, she thought. Maybe the rumors were right. She watched for a few more seconds and then decided it was impolite to stare. She’d hate for Dallas to get the impression she cared one way or another.

She still couldn’t believe he’d cheated on his fiancée. Then again, part of her could. Unfortunately, her opinion of men had gone downhill since Jason. She pretty much thought any of them were capable of severe disappointment. Especially the dangerously handsome ones.

It was as if they were too sexy to have to learn the difference between right and wrong. Walking toddlers, the lot of them, using their charisma carelessly on anyone who stumbled into their path.

She took another drink and glanced around the yard. It was spacious and wide, and didn’t have a fence. Kai’s aunt’s house boasted a sliver of an ocean view, the same as Dallas’s half of the estate, and the water sparkled darkly under the light of a big full moon.

A mature mango tree grew near the house, and Allie recognized it as the one with a low V of branches, the one she and Kai would climb all the way to the near top. She realized it was probably all of fifteen feet tall, but then, when she was just five, it seemed like ten stories high. She saw Kaimana suddenly walk near the tree, paper plate heaped high with smoked sausage from the grill.

“Kaimana!” Allie called, just in time to see the older woman turn and stare. She quickly chewed the remainder of her bite and then bustled off toward the back door, as if trying to escape. Maybe she was. “Kaimana! Wait!”

But she sure could move fast for a seventysomething woman wearing a muumuu and orthopedic sandals. Kaimana had ducked inside the house before Allie had made it halfway across the backyard. When she got to the patio door, she found it locked.

That tricky old lady! She’d locked her out!

Unbelievable. First the fake language barrier and now this. Allie got the distinct impression Kai’s aunt really didn’t want to talk about Misu’s land. Well, it didn’t change the fact that she was the only one standing in the way of selling her share. Allie needed to talk to her whether she wanted to or not. Allie whirled on her foot, ready to stomp around to the front, when she nearly ran into a wall.

She looked up in time to see the broad chest she’d almost hit belonged to Dallas McCormick.

“Looking for someone?” Dallas’s lip quirked up in a knowing smile, and right then, Allie thought he and Kaimana might be conspirators working together to keep her little paper unsigned.

“Uh, no. Just looking for the food.”

“As it happens, I’ve got an extra plate.” Dallas was carrying two full plates of barbecue, potato salad and something that looked like sliced mango. “I thought you might be hungry.”

Allie glanced around, wondering where his throng of admirers had gone, and that was when she saw a few of them standing by the barbecue pit, eyeing her with interest. Had he really just ditched his fan club to offer her a plate of food? She looked at the potato salad with suspicion. Why was he being nice? The man who shut off her shower wasn’t nice.

“Why? You trying to poison me?” Allie glared at him with suspicion.

“Ouch. Maybe I deserved that,” Dallas admitted. “It’s a peace offering. I promise. No poison.”

She looked at the food suspiciously and then back at the ladies near the barbecue pit, who were trying not to outright stare.

“Come on, Allie,” Dallas coaxed. “I’m trying to say I’m sorry.”

“You shut off the water to the shower!”

“I turned it back on right away.”

He had? That took Allie completely off guard. She’d just assumed it was off, which was why she’d been bathing with bottles of water in the kitchen sink for two days.

“You did?”

“You didn’t notice?” Dallas threw back his head and laughed. “I wouldn’t be such a bad guy that I would seriously not let you shower. I just wanted to make a point. Besides, as I recall, you did say please.”

Allie’s face burned with embarrassment. Why hadn’t she checked? She’d...just assumed the worst. God, what a fool!

“You should have said something!” Allie folded her arms across her chest and glared.

Dallas just laughed more. “How? You weren’t talking to me!”

Touché.

Allie’s anger faded a bit. So Dallas hadn’t left her stranded without water out of spite like she’d thought. She’d been the one who assumed he had.

Allie glanced again at the ring of girls watching them and whispering. She suddenly felt like the new girl at school talking to the star quarterback.

“Look, let’s agree to a cease-fire, okay?” Dallas offered. “You can go back to stomping on coffee cherries tomorrow. But right now, let’s just eat and pretend we’re not going to kill one another.”

Dallas’s warm smile softened Allie a bit, but not enough.

“I’m not all that hungry,” Allie said, and then her stomach growled loudly.

“You’re a terrible liar.” Dallas chuckled. “Either you take the plate or I feed it to Poi, and I’m not sure that pup can handle all this potato salad. Not to mention, Kai and Jesse will be pissed if I tell them you fed their food to the dog!”

“How do I know you didn’t spit in it?” Allie eyed the plate with some disdain.

“Honestly. You go shut off a girl’s water for fifteen minutes and she starts to think you’re a criminal. You stepped on my coffee plant first.”

“You deserved that.”

“Maybe I did.” Dallas shoved the plate toward Allie. “Eat, would you, woman? Kai’s awesome barbecue is getting cold. That’s a crime against...barbecue.”

Kai gave her a wave from the grill, and Allie realized she was trapped now. Reluctantly, she took the plate. The smell of the food wafted up to meet her, hearty and good. She took a bite, and the barbecue melted in sweet goodness on her tongue. She almost forgot that Dallas was watching her every bite, his blue eyes studying her mouth. She felt a charge of tension between them, but chalked it up to the fact that she wanted to sell her share of the land, and he didn’t. Tension would be part of everything until that was settled.

“So how do you and Kai know each other?” Allie asked.

“Everybody knows Kai, but he’s a good friend, yes,” Dallas said. “He was the very first friend I made on the island. I had this crazy idea to go surfing, though I’d never been. I headed into some pretty atrocious waves, and nearly bit it that first day. I don’t know what I was thinking. Cowboys don’t surf! I wrecked my board, and Kai saved my life. Don’t tell him, though, because it’ll just go to his head.”

Allie laughed a little. Dallas grinned.

Then an awkward silence fell. Allie waited for Dallas to leave. His peace offering delivered, he was under no obligation to stay. Yet, he lingered.

“Thanks for the food, but you can mingle if you want to,” Allie said, hoping he’d take the hint and go. She felt a little disoriented, a little dizzy with him standing so close. She could smell his aftershave, something crisp and outdoorsy, and it made her want to bury her nose in his shirt collar. It just underlined the fact that she had terrible taste in men. Jason was no fluke, which was a depressing thought.

“You trying to get rid of me?” Dallas put up some mock outrage.





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