Chapter 3
CHAPTER 3
Reid was already on the set at Kualoa Ranch when he received the text from Tish.
Tish: My friend is in trouble. Needs a place to stay and a protector. Sending my friend your way early this morning. Please help.
With a frown, he texted Tish back.
Reid: Already at the set. Tell him there’s a key under the mat on the back porch. He can make himself at home until I get back.
Reid glanced up from his cell phone at the movie crew setting up cameras in the valley below. They’d started early to beat the forecasted rain that was predicted to move in after eleven that morning.
His position was high above the actual movie set as a lookout for any trouble or overzealous fans who might try to sneak in on four-wheelers or horses.
Normally, Kualoa Ranch offered adventure tours to tourists who wanted to see the old WWII bunkers built into the sides of the hills or to see where movies like Jurassic Park and King Kong had been filmed.
The production company had reserved the ranch for two weeks to record the sequences they needed. They’d made good time the first week and would wrap up that morning if the weather held off long enough to get good footage.
Thus far, Reid and his team had had very few problems to deal with. They’d steered a group of teens away who’d heard Jason Momoa was one of the movie stars on location at the ranch.
Rex Johnson, dressed in a black polo shirt, black trousers and mirrored sunglasses, had run interference on that one. Looking like a man from the set of Men in Black , he’d informed them that Momoa wasn’t one of the stars. He was working on a movie in the Bahamas for the next two months and wouldn’t be in Hawaii anytime soon. He'd also informed them that the ranch was closed until after the movie crew left. Of all of them, Rex was the most likely to know the truth of Momoa’s whereabouts, having come from a wealthy family out of LA. He’d gone to high school with some of the current movie stars who had a legacy of family members in film.
A stray cow had wandered onto the set at one point. Logan Atkins, Reid’s team member with the most experience with cattle, had shooed the bovine out of the scene and back through the gate someone had left open.
All in all, it had been an easy assignment. One Logan and Rex could have handled without Reid. He could miss a few hours on the set and go check out the friend Tish had sent his way.
He spoke into his headset, “Rex, Logan, Sitrep?”
“Watching grass grow here,” Rex responded.
“Was kind of hoping a rogue cow would find his way through the fence about now,” Logan muttered.
“Bored?” Reid asked.
“Understatement,” Rex said. “I’ll be glad when the chase scene comes close to my position.”
“All’s quiet on the Hawaiian front,” Logan concluded. “Why? What’s up?”
“I got a text from Tish.”
“The hot model?” Logan asked.
“The one you babysat while she was in a coma?” Rex clarified.
“That’s the one,” Reid said.
“Does she need a bodyguard for a beach photo shoot?” Logan continued. “I could sacrifice my position on a movie set to keep an eye on women modeling bikinis on the beach.”
“Sorry, Logan,” Reid said. “She has a friend who needs help.”
“Another model, like Kiana?” Rex asked.
“She didn’t say,” Reid said. “I’m going to meet him at my cabin. ”
“Him?” Logan sighed. “I was hoping for female models in bikinis. Yeah, you go, Reid. I might as well stick to the movie set. At least I hear the word Action , even if I’m not getting any.”
“What are you talking about?” Rex said. “Weren’t you chatting up the cute blonde at the Burger Bar in town last night? Did she shoot you down?”
“Crashed and burned, man,” Logan said. “Crashed and burned.”
Rex chuckled. “Probably recognized you as the player you are.”
“Bite me. Besides, we weren’t talking about me,” Logan groused. “Reid has a date with a dude. Talk about that.”
“I don’t have a date. I’m going to meet with a potential client. Can I trust you two to be serious and keep an eye on things here?”
“You bet,” Rex said. “We’ve got things under control here. Let us know if it turns into an assignment. We’ll be wrapping up here soon.”
“Yeah. It would be nice to know what’s next,” Logan seconded.
“I’ll let you know,” Reid promised. “Rex, you have the out brief if the director calls it done this afternoon. See you back at the cabins later.”
“Out here,” Logan said.
“Out here,” Rex echoed.
After checking that the crew was still setting up for the scene, Reid hopped onto the four-wheeler the Kualoa Ranch had assigned to him for the day. If he hurried, he could clear the area before the noise of his ATV interfered with the production.
Reid followed the trail leading back to the ranch’s main building. After checking in the four-wheeler, he hurried out to his pride and joy, a Porsche 718 Boxster he’d bought used not long after arriving on Oahu. He ran his hand along the side of the sleek black sports car, still amazed he’d gotten it at such a good price. Yes, it was used, but barely. The old man he’d purchased it from was moving back to the mainland to live with his daughter in LA and didn’t want to drive it in the city.
The other guys told him it was a mistake to buy a two-seater. What if he decided to settle down, get married and have kids?
Reid slipped into the driver’s seat and pulled out of the parking lot.
He hadn’t bothered to tell them he had no plans now or in the future of marrying and having kids.
Been there. Done that. Then, his wife left him for another man and took their baby daughter with her. He’d been deployed so much that the judge who had signed the divorce decree had given his ex-wife full custody, and because Reid didn’t live close to her, he had such limited visitation he rarely got to see his daughter. She called his ex-wife’s new husband Daddy and her biological father Reid because that was what her mother called him .
No. He’d never marry again, nor would he have any more children. He was careful to be sure of that with any woman he slept with, taking all the precautions to the point of pulling out before ejaculating, even with a condom.
Before he realized it, he was going eighty in a forty-mile-an-hour zone.
Reid lifted his foot off the accelerator, allowing the car to slow on its own. The little cabins he and his teammates rented were on the beach not far from the Kualoa Ranch. The cute blonde at the Burger Bar had told them about the vacancies when they’d stopped in for dinner after their first day on the movie set.
Reid hoped the friend Tish had sent had been able to find the key and let himself inside. It might be dumb to let a perfect stranger make himself at home in his cabin, but Reid figured that if Tish didn’t trust him, she wouldn’t tell him about the key under the mat. The guy would have to stay out on the porch until Reid got there.
And it wasn’t like he kept anything of value in the cabin. It was a vacation rental, not a real home with a safe and security system. He hadn’t had a real home since his wife had left him. Putting down roots, marriage and having kids set a guy up for a lot of pain when things didn’t pan out.
He traveled light. The car was the biggest commitment he’d made since his divorce. He didn’t look at it as a total commitment. It was an asset he would sell in a heartbeat. Maybe even make a little money on it, too.
As he pulled up next to the rental cabin, he studied the building. No one waited on the porch, which meant either the guy had found the key under the mat and let himself inside, or he’d spooked and split, not willing or able to wait for Reid to get there. Only one way to know. Check inside.
Reid parked the Porsche, got out and climbed the stairs of the front porch. When he tried the doorknob, it was locked. He checked under the mat for the spare key. It was gone.
The house was eerily silent. No sound of television, music or voices came from inside. He used his key to unlock the door and pushed it open, muscles tensed, ready to react to whatever or whoever he found on the other side.
Reid pushed the door open just enough to peer into the one-room cabin. The living room, bedroom and kitchen were all together. The only separate room was the bathroom with its walk-in shower, sink and toilet.
The only light in the room was from the open door, spilling across the floor in a wedge, leaving the corners in the shadows.
A figure moved near the small dinette table with its two vinyl-covered chairs .
Reid pushed the door open wider, allowing the light to reach the figure at the table.
A small woman with long dark hair stood beside the table, her chin held high and her fists clenched. She didn’t say anything; she just stood there, her body tense, as if ready for a fight or flight. She was beautiful like the native Hawaiian women Reid had seen in photographs for sale in the souvenir shops.
“Are you Tish’s friend?” Reid asked.
She nodded. “I am.”
“I’m Reid Bennett.”
He’d hoped by introducing himself, he could put this young woman at ease.
She remained where she was, with no visible release of the tension in her body.
“She texted me earlier saying a friend of hers was headed my way, in need of protection.” He lifted his chin toward her. “You want to tell me what’s happened?”
Finally, she moved. She wrapped her arms around herself and looked toward the corner instead of at him. “I don’t know. This is a mistake. I’m not sure I need protection. But I didn’t know where else to turn. I can’t go back to my apartment, and I can’t even use my own car. I had to borrow Tish’s.”
“Perhaps you could start at the beginning. Have a seat. Would you like a drink? I’m sorry, I think all I have in the fridge is?— ”
“—beer,” she finished for him. “No, thank you. I think I should go.”
“Do you have a place to go?” he asked softly.
Her pretty brow puckered, and she shook her head.
“Is someone after you?”
“I don’t know,” she whispered. “Maybe.”
He fought for patience. The fear in the woman’s eyes was palpable. But she was holding back like she didn’t want to tell him anything. Was she being abused? Was her husband or ex-boyfriend stalking her? He could only guess, and that would be a waste of time. “I can’t help you unless you tell me what happened.”
“I can’t,” she whispered, her pretty brown eyes filling with tears.
“Could you at least tell me your name?” he asked, frustrated by her refusal to talk to him. How could he protect her if he didn’t know what he was protecting her from?
Despite his frustration at her reticence, his protective instinct was on high alert. He wanted to help her. He wanted to take the fear from her eyes and pound the shit out of whoever was tormenting her. He wanted to protect her.
Reid moved closer. “Talk to me. Tell me your name.”
A movement behind her made Reid tense, ready to strike .
A tiny version of the pretty woman edged out of the shadows to stand beside the woman. “Her name is Maliea, and I’m Nani.” She held up her hand with three fingers extended. “I’m three years old.”
Seeing the child beside the woman hit Reid square in the gut. His first instinct was to back out of the cabin, jump into his Porsche and drive as fast and far away as he could get.
Three.
Holy fucking hell.
The little girl with long dark hair, like her mother’s, was three. The same age as his daughter, Abby.
But there, the similarity ended.
Where Abby was blond-haired and blue-eyed, Nani had dark hair and big, innocent brown eyes. She was Maliea’s mini-me incarnate. Someday, that little girl would be as stunning as her mother and break men’s hearts.
Men as gullible and trusting as he’d been.
“Are you okay?” Nani asked. “You look like you ate too much ice cream. When I eat too much ice cream, my tummy hurts. Does your tummy hurt?”
Oh, yes, his tummy hurt. It clenched from the gut-wrenching pain of losing his daughter when his wife had walked out.
He closed his eyes to block out the big, beautiful eyes of a child who was concerned about his tummy.
Reel it in, man. Reel it in.
He squared his shoulders, opened his eyes and gave the little girl a tight smile. “My tummy is okay. Thank you for asking.” He turned to her mother.
“Ma’am,” he said, keeping it formal. The less involved he got with mother and daughter, the better. “Perhaps we can go someplace to get a bite to eat.”
Her brow furrowed, and she started shaking her head. “We worked hard to get me and Nani out of Tish’s apartment so we wouldn’t be followed.”
“I got to ride in a beach bag,” Nani announced with a grin. “I didn’t move. Not even a little.”
Maliea touched a hand to her daughter’s hair. “You were so good.”
“How did you get out undetected,” Reid asked Maliea.
“Tish, Solange and I wore sunglasses and hats. Each of us carried a large beach bag and got into different cars. I took Tish’s. She took mine.”
Reid’s lips quirked. “And Nani rode in one of the beach bags. Clever.” He looked around the small cabin. “Do you still have the hat and sunglasses?”
She nodded. “I do.”
“I have a ball cap Nani can wear. The Burger Bar has a playground off the back porch. It’s not visible from the road, and we can wear our disguises. Nani can play while we talk,” he said pointedly. “Where did you park Tish’s car?”
Maliea chewed on her bottom lip. “Several doors down and behind a large trash bin.”
He nodded. “Good. It will be okay there. We’ll go in my car—” At that moment, he remembered. “Hmm. My car is a two-seater. If I promise to drive slowly, would you be okay with Nani sitting in your lap? When the other members of my team get back from the ranch, I can borrow one of their vehicles. One with more seats.”
Maliea frowned. “I don’t like Nani riding in the front seat and without a car seat for protection. But I guess if we go really slow... Are you sure we can’t walk there?”
He tipped his head toward Nani. “It’s too far for little legs, and I’d rather have wheels in case we need to go somewhere faster than on foot. We could stay here, but I don’t have anything for Nani to eat or drink, and I’d really like to know what’s got you spooked.”
“How far is the burger place?” she asked.
“About a mile,” he said.
She sighed. “I guess we could go. As long as we wear our disguises, and you go slow.”
“Let me get that baseball cap,” he said and ducked behind the bed where he’d stashed his duffel bag and pulled out his favorite San Diego Padres baseball cap. While he adjusted the back a little tighter, Maliea pulled Nani’s long hair up into a ponytail and wrapped it around the elastic band several times into a bun.
Reid squatted in front of Nani and placed the cap on her head .
She grinned at him. “Can I keep it?”
Despite the grief for his daughter gnawing a hole in his belly, Reid couldn’t help smiling at the little girl. “Yes, you can keep the hat.”
When he straightened, Maliea had tucked her own wavy dark hair up into a wide-brimmed straw hat and fit sunglasses over her luminous brown eyes.
She was nothing like his ex-wife.
Laura had long, straight blond hair, blue eyes and was five-feet-nine.
Maliea probably wasn’t even five feet five, and her skin was a light, dusky brown, a testament to her Hawaiian heritage.
“Ready?” he asked, tearing his gaze away from the pretty mother and daughter.
Once he had an idea of what they were up against, he would contact his boss, Jace Hawkins, and ask who he wanted to assign to Maliea and Nani’s protection duty.
Had it only been Maliea needing protection, Reid could have handled it. No problem.
Adding a three-year-old little girl into the mix?
He shook his head as he led them out to the fancy sports car that seemed entirely ridiculous now.
Maliea and Nani needed a bigger car and a protector with a lot less emotional baggage than he carried. Reid sure as hell wasn’t the right man for this job.
Nothing could convince him otherwise. Not even two pairs of beautiful brown eyes, begging him for help.