Chapter 16
chapter sixteen
Alek wanted to take her to an authentic Hawaiian drive-in, so he chose Rainbow Drive-In in Honolulu. He parked the rental car, then got out and was on his way to her side of the car but found her standing there. He frowned at her.
“What did I do?” she asked.
“I was going to open your door.”
“Oh. Well, I’ll let you next time.”
Great, her tone had turned placating like he was some kind of five-year-old who had been denied a treat. It made sense though because he sounded like it. He didn’t care. Helping her out of the car was one way he could touch her without her complaining. Not that she complained when he did touch her. And, great, his dick twitched at the thought of the sound of her moans.
“Alek?”
He shook his head, clearing it of his wayward thoughts.
“Sorry. I haven’t eaten since lunch.”
“Then let’s get in there.” She took in the mainstay of Honolulu and hesitated. Damn, he probably should have taken her some place fancy.
“There’s a lot of people here.”
There was a thread of worry in her tone that caught his attention. “Yeah, Friday night.”
She sighed and straightened her shoulders. “Okay.”
“Hey, we can go somewhere else nicer.”
She glanced at him, those green eyes of hers studying him. “It isn’t that it’s not fancy. I just don’t want us to have to deal with…people.”
The lightbulb went off. She didn’t want to be recognized.
“Don’t worry. I have a feeling most of the people here don’t give a damn who you are. This is Hawaii. We have other things to worry about.”
Her mouth curved slowly, and his breath caught in his throat. Damn, she was the prettiest thing when she smiled. It was like the whole world lit up around him and nothing bad could touch him.
“Brilliant.” Then she took off and he had to hurry to catch up.
“Slow down there, English.”
She giggled at the nickname and did as he asked. He settled his hand on the small of her back as he guided her through the door.
“What should I order? Oh, I know, Nic told me to try loco moco. She said I would love it.”
“I take it you like your eggs runny?”
“Yes.”
“Good. I’ll place an order. Why don’t you grab that table?”
She glanced over where he motioned and then hurried to the table. What the hell had he been thinking bringing her here? It was mainly a take-out joint with very little seating, and it was kind of…well it was local. It wasn’t what she was accustomed to. But she waved and smiled at him like he had taken her to a five-star establishment. She then played with her phone. It looked like she was texting with someone.
By the time he got their orders and brought them to the table, she had set her phone down.
“Texting?”
Dammit. He had no right to know who she was texting, but he wanted to beat the shit out of whoever it was—if it had been a man.
“With Nic. She loves this place. Although, her favorite place is Giovanni’s.”
He set their plates on the table, then handed her the silverware.
“This looks amazing.” She looked at his plate, then up at him. “What did you get?”
“It’s a shoyu chicken plate.”
“Hmm.” She eyed his food and he laughed and cut off a piece of chicken, then placed it on her plate.
“Thank you.” She blushed prettily, and he knew when she did, it went all the way down to her amazing tits. God, the woman was his undoing.
She’s just a friend. Remember that, asshole .
She cut into her egg and sighed when the yoke dribbled out. “Oh, that is lovely.”
He laughed and she looked up at him. “Sorry. I just never heard anyone describe it that way.”
She smiled at him, then scooped up some of her food. When she slipped it between her lips, she moaned. And not some little moan, a big moan, like the kind she let out in bed.
He shifted in his seat as his cock threatened the ability of his zipper to stay shut.
“That is amazing. Who would have thought that such a weird combo would turn out to taste like this?”
He dug into his own food. “I would think a Brit wouldn’t have such a good palate.”
“Well, we traveled a lot as children. Mother always wanted us to explore and go beyond the English palate.”
“So, you stayed in fancy hotels and ate there?”
“Sometimes, but a lot of times it was a mix. We ate at the oldest restaurant in Paris, some little dive my parents loved in Mexico—which we had to flee after eating because of a shooting.” She said it with a laugh. “And then there was Singapore. I love that place.”
“Yeah, the food market there is fantastic.”
“You’ve been?”
He nodded. “Went there with a few of my buddies once.”
“See. I wanted to go on a tour of Singapore, and Malaysia, all that area as a honeymoon trip.”
“I take it Gregor wasn’t interested?”
She snorted. “I think he was uncomfortable with people of color.”
“So, let me get this right. He was boring and racist?”
“Yes, although he didn’t show those traits right off. I mean, he was boring, that was for sure, but the racist rubbish didn’t come up until the last month or so that we were dating. Or engaged. Or whatever.”
He let one eyebrow rise. “Or whatever?”
“Officially we were engaged, but…” it was as if she just realized she was saying it out loud.
“You can be honest with me. Go ahead.”
She sighed. “I always thought that if you’re in love, then you couldn’t keep your hands off each other. That’s the way my parents apparently were and now my brother and his wife.”
“But it wasn’t like that for you and Gregory?”
A little tinkle of laughter slipped, and she covered her mouth. “Gregor.”
He knew the bastard’s name but what the fuck kind of name was Gregor?
“And no, we were not like that.”
“Not even at first?”
She shook her head.
He frowned at that. “I think you’re lying to me.”
She laughed again and shook her head. “I’m telling the truth. We really never clicked. But the truth was, I didn’t know any better.”
He blinked. He knew she didn’t have much experience, but he realized that she was telling him that her ex was an even bigger idiot. Before he could respond, someone approached them. He watched as the happy, relaxed Jules disappeared into a colder woman, one whose smile didn’t reach her eyes. It was like looking at a completely different woman.
“Excuse me, aren’t you Aleka Johnson?” an older woman asked.
“Yes,” he responded, then realized who she was. “Auntie Michelle?”
He rose out of his seat to give her a big hug. The older woman worked for his grandfather for years.
“I didn’t know you were back,” she said, smiling up at him.
“I’m officially back, working for Tutu .”
“Good to hear. I have to get on out of here. Grandkids are waiting on me and this food,” she said holding up the plastic bag with the containers of food. “Tell your grandfather aloha for me.”
“I will,” he said, watching her walk away as he slipped back into his seat.
“Well, that was interesting.”
He looked at Jules, who was relaxed again. “What?”
“Nice to be a nobody when I’m out and about.”
“London is so big. Can’t you avoid the press or fans?”
“First, I don’t have fans.” Other than me, he thought. “And it was hard when Gregor started spreading the rumors.”
“Ah.”
“I really hated it. My brothers…well, they deserve it. Jensen especially gave them a lot to chew on.”
“Yeah?”
She blinked, then understanding moved over her face. Her beautiful face. “I forgot you probably weren’t paying attention to things like that. You had bigger fish to fry.”
He nodded. “Yeah.”
“Well, Jensen is a recovering addict.”
“Coke?”
She shook her head. “Heroin.”
“Damn.”
“Exactly. It was rough going there for a while, but he finally pulled his head out of his ass and got clean. And then he met Nic, who started as his sober companion before becoming his PA. And she knows how to deal with the press since she had bad press in her past. She was originally Nicola McCann before she married my brother.”
“That name is familiar.”
“She was an ice skater. Almost made it to the Olympics.”
“Ah.”
“So, tell me about your family.”
“Well, you’ve met most of them. It’s hard to avoid them if you have worked at the resort.”
She smiled, her eyes dancing. “Yes. They’re amazing.”
“They’re something alright.”
She chuckled. “Oh, come on, you must have missed them if you gave up your military career for them.”
For a long moment he said nothing. No one in his family had put it quite that way before. They just assumed he would give up everything to see the family through this turbulent time. Not one of them had thought of his military career as a career. Of course, none of them could ever understand moving off the island.
“What?” she asked. “Do I have some gravy on my face?”
He smiled. “No, you do not. And yes, I gave up my career, but my grandfather needed me.”
“Family. It can be hard to deal with.”
They shared a smile.
“So, tell me about your military time. You must have liked it.”
He nodded. “Yeah. I didn’t always like the situations we were put in, but I liked the order of things. I needed that, needed to serve a bigger purpose.”
“I admire that. I often wonder if I would have succeeded if my last name wasn’t Wulf.”
He hated the look in her eyes. It told him she didn’t think she would have succeeded at all without the support of her family.
“You would have.”
She offered a wry smile. “Don’t be so sure of that. I know what my family name affords me. Even if I didn’t work for our business, our last name would give me the right connections. That’s a lot of what interior design is. You have to know the right people.”
He quirked an eyebrow. “True. But I understand you were the top of your class at the Royal College of Art. That doesn’t happen because of your family connections.”
“Don’t tell me you’ve been spying on me?”
“I have not. But Sammie has a girl crush on you. She has been going on for almost two weeks about how wonderful you are.”
The prettiest blush crept up her face. “Your cousin is the sweetest.”
“Oh, and just so you know, she and her husband want to invite you over to their house.”
“Invite me to their house?”
He cocked his head because she looked confused. “They want you to come over for dinner.”
“Me?”
“Yes. Is there something wrong with that?”
She took a shuddering breath, then released it slowly. “No. Not at all. It’s just been so long since…well, that I’ve done anything social.”
“Hiding out at the house is getting to you?”
She shook her head. “I told you what happened. I went from being everyone’s favorite Wulf, to people acting like they didn’t know me.”
Those fuckers did a number on her. She’s better off without them, but he knew better than to say that. It’s never easy to face the truth of someone’s betrayal. He had learned that up close and personal with Shelley. It had crushed him at the time, but he gotten past it. And looking at Jules…with the purply pink rays of the setting sun providing a backdrop, well, he was damned glad that Shelley had dumped him all those years ago. Because this woman…THIS woman was the one.
Fuck me.
“Alek, are you alright?”
For a second, he didn’t answer. He couldn’t. He knew there was something special about her, something that got to him. Those big green eyes, all her curves, and that soft heart of hers.
He felt as if he had been hit over the head. He was in love with her. It was the only explanation, and Alek didn’t know what to think about that. Did people fall in love in just a few weeks?
Hell, he hadn’t even known her a month and he was in love. Like knee deep, over his head and going under for the third time kind of love.
“Alek?” She reached out and slipped her small hand over his. He looked down at their hands. She was such the epitome of the English rose, fair skin, fair hair.
He shook himself out of his thoughts and looked up at her. Worry etched her eyes as she studied him. Yep, he was stupid enough to fall for another woman who didn’t want to live here any more than he wanted to live in London.
“Yeah, sorry. And you’re better off without them.”
She moved her hand away, but he grabbed it and held on. Jules didn’t resist. For some reason, that warmed his heart.
“That’s easier said than done.”
He nodded. “I understand. Just take it from someone who went through something like that, it does get easier with time.”
“You had friends turn their backs on you?” the outrage in her tone caught him off guard. It figured that she was more upset with something that happened to him over a decade ago than what she went through. He had noticed how she tended to put other people before her own worries all the time.
“A fiancé.”
Her gasp would be comical if it didn’t make him insanely happy. And horny. Every expression she’d shown him was a turn on to him. Even when she was frowning at him, his dick was happy.
“Don’t worry, I got over it a long time ago.”
“She just abandoned you?”
He nodded. “Thankfully. She didn’t want to be a military wife and had wanted to be here in Hawaii. Or rather, wherever she could be to get the money. She wasn’t a woman who liked to do without.”
“Well, that’s just rubbish. You love someone, you walk through fire for them.”
“I didn’t talk to her about it, just sort of sprung it on everyone.”
“Still. I could see if she was upset at first, but if you love someone, you have to sacrifice.”
“Is that what was wrong with your engagement?”
“What?”
“Could you not see yourself sacrificing for your ex?”
He realized that he was holding his breath as he waited for her answer.
“You know, I never thought about it that way, but…I probably would have. I think it was more that I knew his answer to that question. And he proved it as soon as we broke up.”
He knew the mood had turned a little heavy and he wanted to push her worries away. “Verdict?”
“What?”
“I take it you like the loco moco?”
She glanced at her empty plate, then back up at him. Her smile was damned amazing. “I practically licked my plate clean, so I would say that’s affirmative.”
He loved when she was being a little sarcastic.
“Let’s get going.”
He tossed their plates, then grabbed her hand as he walked her back to the car. He could get used to this. Taking her out on a Friday night, have a little bit of dinner, have a little drive around. It just felt right.
He opened the door for her, and she smiled at him as he helped her into the car. “Thank you.”
Once she was settled, he shut the door, then rounded the hood of the rental car. His heart was beating so hard he was sure everyone could hear it. His hands were sweaty, and his entire body vibrated with need for this woman. Alek knew he needed to get a handle on these feelings.
He slipped into the car and started it up. When he glanced over at Jules, she was smiling at him, her eyes dancing with happiness, and he gave up trying to fight these feelings he had for her. Before he could think better about it, he cupped the back of her neck, pulling her closer so he could brush his mouth over hers.
She leaned into the kiss; her sigh filled with longing. It snuck right inside of him, grabbing his soul and he knew in that one moment, with a simple kiss and barely touching her, that he would probably never love another woman like he would love her. When he pulled back, her cheeks were flushed.
“Why did you do that?” she asked. No anger colored her voice, only confusion. It was that part that got him. Jules had no idea how irresistible she was.
He wanted to tell her exactly how he felt. How he didn’t want to ever sleep in a bed if she wasn’t by his side. But he didn’t. He couldn’t or she would probably panic and kick him out of her house. So, instead, he offered her a smirk.
“Just cuz I wanted to.”
Feeling better than he had in a week, he set off for her house. They would deal with the consequences of that kiss this weekend and just how he felt about her. But right this instant, he wanted to enjoy driving through the streets of Oahu with this sexy, amazing woman by his side.