Chapter 17
“Trust me. Helmet hair is an emergency.” ~ Harper
Harper
T he doorbell rings and I rush to answer it.
“Slow down!” Dad yells. “It’s a door, not the last call at the bar!”
I am well aware of how it’s not last call at the bar since I was there for last call last night and I have the bruises under my eyes to show for it.
What was I thinking? Going out on a date with a man eight years younger than me? He’s going to run away when he realizes what our age difference means as far as wrinkles are concerned.
“It’s Carl,” I tell him as I reach the door.
“Carl? I don’t want Carl. I want a mermaid nurse with strong arms.”
Carl strolls into the house. “You’ll have to settle for me, old man. ”
“Old man?” Dad grunts. “I’m practically a spring chicken compared to you.”
“Except I can use the toilet without the help of a nurse.”
“Show off.”
The doorbell rings again.
“What is this? Grand Central Station? Tell whoever it is to leave unless they’re carrying a pizza.”
I sigh. Someone’s in fine form this morning.
“I don’t have pizza but I can order one,” Kai says when I open the door.
I cringe. “You heard Dad, did you?”
“I think the entire neighborhood did.”
“Dad doesn’t have volume control.”
“If you leave the door open any longer, a whole flock of seagulls is going to fly in,” Dad grumbles.
“Or an off button.”
“Not a problem.” Kai winks before strolling to my dad. “Hi, Mr. Poole.”
“Mr. Poole is my father and he’s dead and buried in the cemetery. If you want to speak to him, you’ll have to hold a séance.”
Kai chuckles. “I don’t know any witches, so I guess I better stick to calling you Henry.”
“Are you dating my daughter?”
If said daughter doesn’t die of embarrassment before we manage to get out the door.
“I am dating your daughter,” Kai answers Dad. “Assuming it’s okay with you. ”
“Okay with me? Harper is a thirty-two-year-old woman who knows her own mind. She doesn’t need my permission to date.” Dad narrows his eyes. “But you better ask me for her hand in marriage before you get married.”
“Dad!” I shout. “No one’s getting married.”
“Yet,” Kai mutters.
My mouth drops open. Is he serious? He can’t be serious. He must be joking. He’s joking, isn’t he? There’s no way Kai Raider, golden boy of the Raider brothers, wants to marry me.
I stare at him. “You’re skating on thin ice.”
He grins. “It’s a good thing I’m an excellent skater.”
“You can skate? I thought you were a runner.”
His blue eyes light up. “Slugger, have you been stalking me when I’m out on the trails running?”
I narrow my eyes at him. “No. I don’t stalk people. Stalking is more your thing.”
“Your loss. I prefer to run without a shirt on. You can ogle me all you want.” He waggles his eyebrows.
“Silly me. I thought you’d advanced from the sexual innuendos.”
“Not an innuendo. There was nothing indirect about my statement inviting you to ogle me.”
“Are the two of you going to stand in my living room all morning?” Dad asks. “I can’t hear the television over the two of you.”
“The entire town of Smuggler’s Rest can hear our television, Dad.”
He cups his ear. “What did you say? I can’t hear you. ”
Kai barks out a laugh and I glare at him. “Don’t encourage him.”
“It’s not my fault your dad’s hilarious.”
“Hilarious?” I snort. “Yea, right.” I shackle his wrist and drag him toward the door.
“My phone number is on the refrigerator,” I tell Carl before I leave. “And I made you some lunch but if you don’t want it, you can…” I trail off when he holds up his hand.
“I got this, Harper. Go have a good time.”
I hesitate at the door. Leaving Dad with a caretaker while I work is one thing. Leaving him with a caretaker to go on a date and have fun is another. Maybe I should cancel. If Kai doesn’t want to date me once Dad’s arm is healed, it’s his loss.
“You gonna shut that door or do you want me to pay to air condition the entire street?”
“Fine, we’re leaving,” I tell Dad before stomping out of the house.
Kai laughs as he leads me to his SUV.
“Don’t you dare laugh at me, or we can forget all about this dating thing.”
He presses me against the vehicle. “We are not forgetting about this dating thing. It’s taken me months to convince you to give me a chance, I’m not giving up now.”
“I won’t put up with you laughing at me.”
“Slugger.” He brushes the hair from my forehead. “I’m not laughing at you. I wouldn’t dare. You’d punch me. But your dad is hilarious.”
“My dad is a pain in the ass, is what he is. ”
“He can be both things at once.” He cups my chin. “It can’t be easy for your dad. Losing your mom and then having the stroke and losing his independence.”
I blow out a breath. “I know but he’s a crotchety old man sometimes.”
“I know. He reminds me of you.” He kisses my nose and opens the door. “Now, get inside. We’re going to have some fun and then eat tons of unhealthy food.”
“What if I don’t enjoy unhealthy food?”
He sighs. “And here I thought you were perfect.”
Perfect? He can’t be serious. I’m nowhere near perfect. I’m chubby despite how much physical labor operating the bar is. Plus, I’m grumpy. And I’m always exhausted.
Kai tugs on a strand of my hair. “Stop overthinking.”
He slams the door before I have a chance to respond.
“You can’t tell a woman to stop overthinking,” I attack when he settles behind the wheel.
“Do you prefer me to list all the reasons why I think you’re perfect?”
I cross my arms over my chest and fall back into the passenger seat. “I’m not perfect.”
“You are to me.”
“Flattery will get you nowhere.”
“Is it still flattery if it’s the truth?”
I don’t actually know. “Where are we going?” I ask since I hate losing an argument. And, frankly, I’m afraid of how I’ll react if Kai keeps saying I’m perfect.
Kai drives out of Smuggler’s Rest toward Rogue’s Landing .
“Are we going to steal a mascot? It’s a time-honored tradition in the Raider dating book.”
Each town on Smuggler’s Hideaway has a live mascot.
Pirate’s Perch – the tiny hamlet on the other side of the island – has a foul-mouthed parrot named Plank.
Smuggler’s Rest has the most adorable otter known to man – Viking.
And Rogue’s Landing – the town in the middle of the island – has Rogue, the rambunctious raccoon.
He chuckles. “The Raider dating book? I think I lost my copy.”
I guess we’re not stealing a mascot. “What are we doing for our first date if we aren’t stealing a mascot?”
“How do you feel about speed?”
I narrow my eyes at him. “It depends. Are we drag racing around the island? I have no intention of spending the night in jail. I have a business to operate.”
He groans. “I only spent the night in jail once for drag racing and it wasn’t my fault.”
“Of course, it wasn’t.”
“We’re not drag racing anyway, so you can take your lawyer off speed dial.”
“What are we doing?”
“How about go-karting?”
“I don’t think I’ve been go-karting since I was in high school.”
“ Shipwreck Speedway has improved a lot in the past few years. ”
“Really?” I raise an eyebrow. “No more go-karts smelling of puke?”
“Nope. And they make you wear a hairnet under your helmet.”
I guess I can’t complain about the foul-smelling helmets either.
Kai reaches over to squeeze my hand. “If you don’t want to go go-karting, we’ll go for lunch early.”
I open my mouth to tell him we should go to lunch but then I notice the disappointment on his face. Damnit. I hate disappointing him. Especially after all he’s done for me.
“Fine. We’ll go, but at the first whiff of puke, I am out of there.”
His smile lights up his face. “Deal.”
He pulls into Shipwreck Speedway and parks in the empty lot.
“Are they open? There’s no one here.”
His cheeks darken. “They usually open at noon.”
I glare at him. “You better not have paid someone to open early.”
He lifts his hands in the air. “I wouldn’t dare. You’ve made it perfectly obvious how you feel about my money. My buddy, Rich, works here. He said we could come in an hour early since he’s here setting up anyway.”
“Nice save.”
He lifts my hand to kiss my knuckles before ordering me to, “Stay there.”
A man who opens the door for me? You won’t hear me arguing .
He opens my door and offers me his hand. “Ready to get your ass kicked?”
“It’s cute you think you can beat me.”
We make our way to the employee entrance, where a young kid is waiting for us. “Harper, this is my friend, Rich.”
I wave in greeting and we follow him to the track.
“Whatever you’re thinking, you’re wrong.”
“What do you mean?” I ask Kai.
“You’re back to thinking I’m a child because Rich is my friend and he’s only seventeen.” I kind of was actually. “What you don’t know is I’m Rich’s big brother.”
I rock to a halt. “Big brother?” He nods. “You’re involved with Big Brother?”
His cheeks darken. “I know what it’s like to grow up without a father. I was lucky and had five big brothers. Not everyone is as lucky.”
Freaking smugglers lost at sea. Kai is not playing fair. This is supposed to be a fun date to let loose for a few hours before returning to my mundane life. This isn’t supposed to be an excuse for Kai to show me there’s more to him than being a goofball.