Chapter 14
chapter fourteen
Late on Friday afternoon, Alek hurried through the hotel hoping not to get stopped. Of course, this was his life and he was now with his family. There was no escaping his obligations. That thought had him smiling. It had been years since he had been this entrenched with the family, but he was getting used to being around them again. Just not right now. He wanted to get out of there and to Julienne.
“Alek,” Sammie called out.
He turned in the direction of where he heard her voice. She hurried across the lobby toward him. She was a tiny little thing, meaning she came up to about his chest. They were second cousins—or was it third—and out of all of his cousins, she was his favorite. Hell, he liked her more than his brother, but then, that was probably because Sammie had lived off the islands for school and then the decade after that. And living off the islands had nothing to do with Hawaii and everything to do with his family. They insulated their members and getting out from under their shadow could be difficult. He loved them, but he knew that he was a more well-rounded person because of his time in the military.
Sammie had experienced life without the safety net of the family. He felt a kinship with her over it. He remembered the crap she took for moving off the islands when he was in middle school. She was about five years older than Alek and happily married to some haole she met on the mainland.
“Where are you running off to?” she asked, one eyebrow raised.
See, this is why he had moved away. He liked his privacy and there was just no way to keep it with his family.
“It’s Friday. We’re Hawaiian. Leaving work early on Aloha Friday is a tradition.”
Which was bullshit, especially for his family. They tended to work overtime, especially those in charge.
“Oh, really?”
“I’m going over to Oahu for the weekend.”
Her smile was gradual, but it took over her entire face. “Oh, I had a feeling that was the way of it.”
And he stood there past the age of thirty and blushed. Freaking blushed . She laughed.
“Don’t worry. I won’t tell your secret. I’ll even cover for you.”
Relief rushed through him. “Thanks.” Then he thought about it. “Wait, why?”
She chuckled, her dark brown eyes dancing. “I like her. She’s sweet, and you know what I think about her on the professional level. But she seems…lonely. You know what I mean?”
“She misses her family and David had to go back to London to work.”
Sammie shook her head. “I don’t mean that. She doesn’t seem to have any friends.”
He got that feeling also. It seemed that she never talked about chatting with girlfriends. When he’d asked her, she said it had been hard to keep her friends after all the tabloid stories. And yes, he’d looked it all up and rolled his eyes. Anyone who knew Jules knew that she wasn’t like that.
“Yeah, was there anything else?”
“No. Rick wanted to have you over for dinner this weekend, but since you’ll be busy with Jules, I’ll say maybe next weekend? And maybe we can invite Jules? That way…”
Alek understood her cocked eyebrow and the smile on her face. Family could be a pain in the ass, but in this case, this particular family member was giving him a way to lure Julienne back to Maui.
He grabbed Sammie and hugged her. “That would be brilliant.”
When he let go of her, she laughed. “You sound like a Brit now.”
After promising to tell Jules about the offer, he went on his way, and he was able to avoid anyone else. It was pathetic that he was hurrying out of the hotel late in the afternoon. He had made up an excuse and was almost to his car when he heard the sugary sweet voice of a woman he would rather never see again.
“Aleka, is that you?”
He thought about ignoring her, but his mother had raised him better. He turned, unsmiling, to face Shelley. She walked over to him, her hips swinging in invitation and he felt…nothing. How could he feel anything when he had a woman like Jules waiting for him? Truth was, he could just be going home to spend the weekend by himself and he still wouldn’t want anything to do with Shelley.
“I’m so amazed we ran into each other here.”
He knew it was a lie. She’d been trying to get family members to give her information. Sammie in particular said to watch out for Shelley.
“I work here. It’s not that amazing.”
She pouted in that way he used to love. He’d spent an inordinate amount of time trying to get her to pout when they were in high school. Then, he could kiss it away. It was kind of their thing at the time. Now instead of looking playful, she looked calculating.
“You’re not still mad at me, are you?”
“No, Shelley. I’m not mad, but I have somewhere to be.”
“I thought we could catch up,” she said, leaning closer and slipping her hand on his chest. He looked down at her hand, then back up at her. The disgust and irritation on his face must have been easy to read. She dropped her hand, then took a step back. The woman had issues, that was for sure, but this was…weird.
“I thought maybe you would be interested in getting together tonight.”
“Didn’t you say you were amazed we just ran into each other? Like you didn’t know I was here already?”
Her smile faded just a little bit and he felt a sick kind of satisfaction. “I just thought of it.”
Bullshit, but he didn’t care to argue about it. He wanted to be far away from her. “I have somewhere I need to be.”
He turned to leave, but she wasn’t ready to let him go. “What about tomorrow night?”
He wanted to growl. “What about it?”
“We could get together and talk about old times?”
He shook his head. “I’ll be on Oahu all weekend.”
“Well, give me a call.”
He waved his hand—his mind already on Julienne—then slipped into his car. Traffic was heavy because it was Friday afternoon and Hawaiians took their Aloha Friday celebrations seriously. By the time he made it to the airport, he was ready to call it a day. He knew it was the height of a waste of money booking a private ride over, but he didn’t care. It was the fastest way to get there. Once he was settled on the plane, he made a quick call to Jules.
“Well, hello, Alek, what are you up to?”
Her voice wasn’t sweet or biddable. It was warm…sexy.
“We’re getting ready to take off.”
“Brilliant.”
He heard the happiness in her voice, and he had to fight his cock again. He glanced down at the bulge in his pants. Jesus, it was embarrassing. One little word of praise, and he was getting hard. It was her fault really. If she wasn’t so damned sexy, he wouldn’t have this reaction.
“Are you sure you have space for me?”
“Absolutely. I’m rattling around in this massive house. Definitely could do with someone else here.”
If all he could hope for was a guest room, he would take it. It was sad and a little pathetic, but the truth was that he would take a night near her than in bed with anyone else. What that meant in the big scheme of things, he wasn’t really sure, but at the moment, all he cared about was seeing her again.
Fucking pathetic, but he knew better than to fight the need he had for her. It just wasn’t going away.
“I should be there in time to go out for dinner tonight. Or at least a late supper.”
“I could have Marta cook us something,” she offered.
“I wouldn’t mind that, but I thought you wanted to eat local.”
“Oh, I do. I just thought maybe you might not feel like it after working all day and then flying over here.”
Normally, he wouldn’t, just out of frustration. He was accustomed to being more physically active in the military, but the idea of spending time with Julienne definitely had his engine revving.
“I’m ready for a little downtime and what better way than to show you some local color.”
“Sounds fantastic.”
He noticed the pilot signal that it was time to take off.
“I have to hang up now, but I should be there in less than an hour.”
“Do you need me to pick you up?”
Alek knew that she wasn’t familiar with the island and had commented about her issues with driving. It was odd but growing up rich had kept her from having to drive anywhere, and living in London, it was like having a car in New York City. A waste of money. So, throw her in a country that drives on the opposite side of the street, and it’d be kind of a disaster, according to her.
“Naw. Just your address will work. Text it, then I’ll text you when I land.”
“Brilliant. Be safe, Alek.”
“You too, Jules.”
After they hung up, he settled back in his chair. This was definitely his best idea since he decided to stay a few nights in San Francisco. And he couldn’t wait to take her to all his favorite places on Oahu. He would probably never live there. It was too busy and most of his family was on Maui. And he hadn’t had a chance to play tourist in a long time, so he looked forward to their time together.
And somewhere along the way, he needed to convince her to let him back in her bed. To do that, Alek knew he had to be patient. The better she knew him, the more of a chance he would have for a…what?
Jesus, he spent so much time thinking about her, but he didn’t know why he was so damned wrapped up in her. The sex had been the best of his life. He could admit that, even knowing it sounded stupid. They had some kind of connection, something that went beyond the pleasure. He lived to hear her laugh, to see the way her skin flushed when she was embarrassed. He especially liked the way her voice got all prissy when she was embarrassed. She was so damned cute.
That’s when it hit him: he was falling in love with her.
He blinked and waited for the certain panic he knew would set in, but it didn’t. Not at all. In fact, there was a bone deep sureness that lit through his blood. He didn’t know exactly what that meant, and he knew it was too early, in fact, to accept it. There were a lot of reasons that he shouldn’t fall for this woman. She came from royalty—or pretty damned close to it—and she lived halfway around the world from him.
Even as he thought of reasons not to fall in love with her, he knew he was already falling. And right now, it was enough to at least recognize that she had definitely captured a piece of him that no other woman had. If he wasn’t talking to her or texting her, he was thinking about her.
She could destroy him when she left, but at the moment, he was unable to resist her. One thing he’d learned in his time in the military was to grab the happy times by the neck and hold on tight. And he planned on doing just that.