Chapter 11
While Kimo paced outside Rex’s room, Angel and Leilani raided the kitchen.
“Looks like we have a choice between leftover pizza, moldy cheese, or eggs,” Leilani said. “Choose your poison.”
“I’m not hungry.” Kimo continued pacing.
Leilani pulled plates from a cabinet and set Angel to work microwaving pizza. She emerged from the kitchen and stood close to Kimo’s path. “He’s going to be all right.”
Kimo stopped. “How do you know? He doesn’t even know where exactly he’s going. His father, whom he hasn’t spoken with for over a decade, says to meet him at a marina, no questions. Who does that?”
Leilani shrugged. “I don’t like that part either, but Rex is trained in special operations.”
“The difference between his experience and what’s happening now is that he knew who the enemy was.” Kimo threw up her hands. “We don’t know who’s behind what’s going on.”
Angel came out of the kitchen, carrying two plates piled with pizza slices.
“The thing about knowing who the enemy was isn’t true.
There were many operations we went into where we didn’t know who was friend and who was foe.
” He laid the plates on the dinette table.
“We relied on quick reflexes and instinct to get out of tight situations or to protect our brothers in arms. Rex has good instincts and the added experience of growing up around the rich and morally challenged. He’s not going in completely blind. ”
Kimo tipped back her head and closed her eyes in an attempt to calm her wildly beating heart. “I hear you.”
She opened her eyes and gave her friends a weak smile. “Rex has combat training and experience working with a team. I worry that he’s going alone. No one will have his six like he’s had mine.”
“I don’t like that either,” Angel said. “But Rex is a smart guy.”
“Perfect timing for my entrance,” a deep voice sounded behind Kimo.
Kimo turned, and her breath lodged in her lungs.
Rex stepped out of his bedroom, clean-shaven, his hair slicked back, the black, tailored suit making his gray eyes even darker.
When he smiled at her, he took her breath away. “Is this okay?”
Dumbstruck, all Kimo could do was nod.
Leilani let out a low whistle. “Wow,” she said. “You clean up nicely.”
“Thanks,” he responded without taking his gaze away from Kimo. “Think my father would approve?”
Kimo blinked. “Who cares what he thinks? You look…”
“Like James Bond.” Angel walked around Rex with a huge grin on his face.
“Sexy as hell.” Leilani slid an arm around Kimo. “Wouldn’t you agree?”
Kimo nodded automatically. The man was hot anyway. In a form-fitting black suit, he made her weak in the knees.
Rex glanced at his watch. “I have a GPS tracker in my pocket. Angel, add it to your cell phone finder. That way you can track where I’m going.”
Kimo swallowed hard at the lump forming in her throat. “In case they kidnap you?” She stepped close to him and laid a hand on his chest. “I don’t feel at all good about this. Maybe you shouldn’t go.”
He laid his hand over hers and stared down into her eyes. “I have to. It’s my father. He knows Holte. If we have a fraction of a chance to learn the whereabouts of Alana, I have to take that chance.”
Rex lifted her hand to his lips and pressed a kiss to her palm. “I’ll be okay.”
“Promise?” Kimo whispered. “I kind of like having you around.”
He nodded. “I’m not any happier about leaving you.” With a nod toward Angel, he continued, “Angel and Leilani will be with you. I’ll be back as soon as possible.”
Angel added the tracking device to his cell phone finder, shook Rex’s hand and then pulled him into a hug. “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”
Rex laughed. “That leaves the field wide open.”
“Okay,” Angel’s lips twisted. “Just remember this is recon. Gather information and get out of there.”
“Will do.” Rex reached for Kimo’s hand. “Walk me to the door?”
Kimo laid her hand in his and let him pull her close. As she walked toward the apartment exit, she leaned into him, soaking up his strength and the scent of his cologne.
He stopped short of the door and turned to face her.
“Kimo, we’ve only been together a short period of time, but I’ve never felt as close to any woman as I do to you.
You’re strong, intelligent, feisty, and you care about your friends and people you don’t even know.
” His voice lowered to where only she could hear.
“More than anything, I want to be with you, to keep you safe, to hold you and to—”
Her heart pounding hard in her chest, Kimo flung her arms around his neck, leaned up on her toes and said, “Shut up and kiss me already.”
His lips curled as his arms came up around her, pulling her body up against his. He claimed her mouth with his in a mind-blowing, pulse-pounding kiss that rocked her world.
She opened to him. Their tongues met and swept together in a wave of passion Kimo had never experienced.
When he set her back on her feet, she swayed, her hands sinking to his chest, her gaze rising to meet his. “Be careful.”
He nodded, kissed the tip of her nose and disappeared through the door, closing it softly between them.
All the air left Kimo’s lungs like a deflating balloon as she reached out to twist the deadbolt. She rested her head against the cool panel. Finally, she remembered to breathe, drew in a breath and let it out slowly.
A hand on her back made her turn, and she was drawn into Leilani’s arms.
“He’ll be back,” she murmured, holding Kimo close.
“If it makes you feel any better,” Angel said from across the room, “Devlin and Teller are headed to Maalaea Small Boat Harbor now. They’ll infiltrate silently and remain hidden, watching Rex's every move. They’ll be there if he gets in trouble.”
Kimo hugged Leilani once and stepped back in relief. “That does make me feel marginally better. As long as they don’t take him away on a boat, somewhere they can’t get to him like Alana.”
“Hopefully, that won’t happen,” Angel said. “In the meantime, we wait and hope Rex comes back with something we can use to locate Alana.”
“Hey, come sit.” Leilani walked with Kim to the sofa and sat down beside her. “Based on that kiss, I’d say you really like the guy.”
Kimo nodded and frowned, looking into her friend’s eyes. “Is it too soon? Battle-forged attraction? Crazy? Real?” She twisted her hands together in her lap.
Leilani laughed. “All the above. Sometimes, it’s a case of when you know, you know.
” She patted Kimo’s hands and squeezed them gently.
“We never know how long we have in our lives. I learned that during the Lahaina fires.” Her gaze shifted to Angel eating pizza at the table.
“You have to grab for happiness whenever and wherever you find it.”
“I’m almost thirty years old. I’ve dated men, but I’ve never felt this before. It’s so achingly beautiful it’s almost painful.”
Leilani gathered Kimo’s hands in hers and gave her a watery smile. “Honey, if you’re not in love already, you’re well on your way there.”
“What if he doesn’t feel the same?” Kimo whispered.
From across the room, Angel answered, “Trust me, I’ve never seen Rex say so many words to a woman before. He might not realize it yet, but he’s absolutely, no-going-back smitten.”
Kimo shook her head. Insta-love didn’t exist. What she was feeling had to be a product of living through danger together. When the danger was over, would they have anything in common? Would there be enough to forge a lasting relationship?
She hoped with all her heart that they lived long enough to find out.
Rex drove across the island to Maalaea Bay, his thoughts on the meeting with his father warring with the kiss he’d shared with Kimo before he’d left.
He’d gone into many dangerous situations free of distraction from what he was leaving behind, able to commit his entire focus on the mission ahead and his teammates with him.
Now, his thoughts were on getting through the meeting with Holte, if it truly happened, and getting back to Kimo.
The whole leaving a loved one behind was messing with his mind, his concentration and... his body. His pulse raced, and his heartbeat alternated between pounding and fluttering.
Who was he?
One passionate kiss shouldn’t have him acting like a teenager after his first date with a gorgeous girl. He wanted to immediately see her again. The attraction was so strong, all he could think about was taking her to the next level as soon as possible.
Before he realized it, he was pulling off the highway into the Maalaea Small Boat Harbor.
Mission on. Time to bring his focus back to his purpose for being there, dressed in a suit with a tie already choking him. Not because it was tight, but because he hated wearing them.
He drove his truck into the parking lot ten minutes before nine o’clock, backed into a space and glanced around at the other vehicles parked there.
Several limousines were lined up side by side, also backed into their spaces, their drivers sitting behind the wheels.
His truck stood out among the gleaming black vehicles.
He shrugged and waited, glancing down the long stretch of boat slips filled with crafts of different types and lengths.
His gaze came to rest on the largest yacht moored near the middle of the paved dock, lights glaring, people already milling about on board.
A black limousine rolled into view in front of the slip with the brightly lit yacht. A man emerged alone.
Rex’s chest tightened. From a distance, he couldn’t mistake the way the man stood, straight as an arrow, his chin raised, hand tucked into the lapel of his suit. Aside from his hair having turned gray, he was the same. James Johnson. Rex’s father.
Rex drew in a breath, reminded himself that his father had no hold over him and dropped down from his truck.
Music drifted in the air, growing louder as Rex strode the length of the dock, passing cars parked in front of slips with smaller yachts and sailboats. His gaze zeroed in on the man he'd sworn he’d never speak to again.