After a sleepless night in his new studio apartment, Jake finished a hard run in the park with Tank to kick off the day. He dropped off the dog back at the condo and jogged two blocks to a gym he’d joined recently.

Now he bench pressed a barbell loaded with as much weight as he could take, heaving it up with animalistic grunts that expressed his feelings better than any words.

He didn’t know how he was going to get past this.

Jake’s logical brain argued that he and Sophie hadn’t been officially together when she slept with Alika. Sophie had been honest, telling Jake that she still had feelings for the guy. He even knew the exact night it had happened: they’d been shot at, and she’d had to hide in Alika’s hotel room. The whole thing was a natural setup. He shouldn’t feel this way about it.

But that didn’t change the sensation he’d had, a rending as if his heart had been ripped out when she told him that he might not be the baby’s father.

The feelings of betrayal felt primitive and absolute, life-threatening, even. Just the thought of Sophie with Alika, of his rival’s child in her womb, made him want to tear the world apart and set it on fire.

Jake pushed harder and faster on the bar.

Suddenly he reached the end of his reserves. The barbell trembled above him like a black guillotine. Spots danced in the corners of his vision. He simply couldn’t get it back into its cradle. Maybe if he let go, it’d drop on him and end the misery permanently.

“Let me help.” A familiar feminine voice. Felicia appeared in his line of sight. The grad student grabbed the weight beside his hands. Together, they were able to heave the massive thing back into its cradle.

Jake stared up at the receptionist in astonishment, trying to get his breath back as Felicia walked around to face him. She looked cute as sin, her blonde hair in pigtails, and she was wearing sexy little butt shorts and a tiny tank top that made the most of her twenty something assets. She wasn’t moving off quickly, either; instead she stared down at him like she’d like to take a bite.

“Excuse me,” Jake said loudly.

Felicia laughed. “Sorry. I was seeing if you were still alive, old man. Wanted to make sure you were breathing. Good thing you said something, or I’d have had to take a pulse.”

They bantered in the office like that. She called him “old man” and he called her “babe,” and other borderline inappropriate things. The flirtatious joking had been fun, a return to old patterns that he’d been slapped down for trying with Sophie. That Felicia seemed to enjoy it too had been a balm to his ego as he dealt with so many uncomfortable moments in his new relationship.

Which might be ending.

If Sophie was pregnant with Alika’s baby, he honestly didn’t know what he’d do. But if it was his? A whole different picture.

Somehow, he had to act normal and be supportive and he didn’t know how.

Total avoidance seemed best until he could get in the right headspace.

The awful feedback loop of his thoughts played on repeat, as it had since he’d left Sophie’s apartment the night before.

Jake realized he was staring at Felicia blankly.

“What? Have I got something on my face?” Felicia playfully crossed her eyes and stuck her tongue out, as if trying to lick something off her nose. She was freakin’ adorable.

“Nope. You’re good. But I’m not.” Jake sat up and swung his legs over to sit on the side of the bench. He braced exhausted, quivering arms on his knees. “You came along just in time. I didn’t even have enough breath left to call for help.”

Felicia’s blue eyes darkened with concern. “You know you should never let it go that far. I happened to notice you from across the room.” She did a forehead smack. “I wasn’t checking you out. I mean, I noticed you were in trouble.”

“Thank God you did.” Jake picked up a gym towel and wiped his face. “Pretty sad when a little girl has to save me.”

“Hey. Who’re you calling a little girl?” Felicia struck a pose, curling her arm. “I’ve worked hard for these guns. Besides, what’ve you got on there? Three fifty?” She peered at the stack of weights. “Anyone could get in trouble with that much weight.”

“Three seventy-five. And yeah. I got distracted. Too caught up in my head.” Jake took a sip of water from his squirt bottle. “Didn’t know you came to this gym.”

“Didn’t know you did.” Felicia glanced at the clock. “And we’re both due in the office in forty-five minutes. You’ve got a meeting with Ilima Cruz, the lady in charge of the Merrie Monarch Festival. Sophie’s supposed to be there too.” She put her hands on her hips. “Do you know where Sophie is? I called her phone, but it went straight to voicemail.”

“Yeah. She had an early meeting with Hamilton at the corporate plane. They have some special project they’re working on.” And he shouldn’t be jealous of that, either.

Being in love with Sophie was making him crazy—when it wasn’t the best thing in the world.

“Okay. Well, I’ll see you at the office. Be sure to grab something to eat, old man. You need to keep up your strength.” She bounced away across the gym.

Ilima Cruz wore a Hawaiian-print flowered dress and her hair was braided like a crown. She swung a sandaled foot in an impatient arc as she waited in his office.

Jake had taken the time to run back to the condo for a quick shower and clean work outfit. His hair was still damp as he extended a hand to the lady, and then sat down behind his desk.

“Sorry to keep you waiting, Ms. Cruz.”

“I’m here for an update. It seemed like your investigation was getting off to a good start, but we haven’t heard anything since that first day when you came around to inspect the facilities and I met you on the grounds where the Festival is held.” Her large brown eyes held impatience and something else—worry.

“You’re right, you are overdue for an update. However, I’m not sure I should be reporting to you.” Jake smiled, hoping to take the sting out of his words. “We report to our client.”

“Tell me who your client is. You wouldn’t tell me the day we met.” Cruz’s lips thinned and her brows drew together. “I’m in charge of the Festival. Everything that goes on regarding it is my business. I need to be kept in the loop.”

Jake sat back and considered. “Let me call our client right now and see if we can just do an update via phone that you can listen to on speaker. We’ll kill two birds with one stone. However, if the client is not comfortable with that, I will have to ask you to understand the confidentiality obligations we’re under.”

Cruz nodded her head stiffly. Jake heaved an internal sigh of relief and exited. He phoned Kim from the privacy of Sophie’s office. She answered on the third ring, and once he had oriented her on the situation he said, “I’d like to give you an update with Ms. Cruz listening in on speakerphone, if that’s all right.”

“Sure, that would be fine—unless you’ve got anything indicating Ilima is involved?”

“Not so far.”

“Then that’s fine. You’ll save me a phone call to her, anyway.”

Back in his office, the women greeted each other as Jake put the phone on speaker and set it down. Cruz visibly relaxed in the chair in front of his desk, chatting with Kim, as Jake pulled out the case file. He flipped it open and proceeded when there was a break in the women’s conversation.

“So. Our investigations have pointed us to the public relations and advertising firm, Coconut Wireless Advertising & Marketing, run by Penny Chang. We went to her office, posing as new clients looking for PR for an upcoming launch event and citing the sign outside of town at the airport as an example of what we were looking for. Ms. Chang was unhelpful.” Jake set down the folder and put his fingertips together. “She cited various reasons why the Merrie Monarch Festival did not need to spend as much as we would have to as a startup. While not definitive, Sophie and I were left with the impression that Penny has justified herself in doing something else with the money given her to spend on the Merrie Monarch.”

Cruz’s dark brows lifted in surprise. “I know Penny. She always has to overcome being associated with her lousy relatives. That doesn’t mean she doesn’t run a good business. And really? That is all you were able to obtain as far as investigating? An impression?”

“No, there’s more. Ms. Ang has the money trail mapped out, and Coconut Wireless appears to be the leak, but she will have to go over the details with you herself.” Jake looked down at the file and pulled his thoughts together. “Our recommendation is that you ask for an accounting of the exact spend of the advertising budget, with accompanying documentation of where the money went. I think we have gone as far as we can with this. Doing anything else will likely alert others to our digging, giving whoever’s involved time to cover their tracks.”

“Do you think we have enough that we could go to the police?” Kim asked, her voice thin and fuzzy over the speakerphone.

“I’m sorry, Kim. It seems clear that the PR firm has had something, if not everything, to do with the missing money. But how exactly to proceed to track it down legally, let alone get the funds back, is another matter. I think you need to do the steps I recommended first. Perhaps there’s some explanation we’re not aware of. Your board, or other governing entity, should meet and discuss our findings. I’ll type up a report for you, but I’ll need a little time, and Ms. Ang’s detailed input.”

Cruz leaned forward and spoke into the speakerphone. “Kim, why don’t you get hold of your rep from the Tourism Authority, and I’ll contact the Festival bookkeeper and a couple of board members I know that can keep a confidence. Let’s put our heads together and see if we can come up with a plan and try to get the money back privately. We don’t want a public scandal that will make folks lose confidence in donating to and supporting the Festival.”

“That sounds good,” Kim replied. “There are still three weeks until the event. Maybe we can get the funds back and still put them to good use. If not, the money can roll over to next year.” They wrapped up the call, and Jake escorted Ms. Cruz to the door.

When the event coordinator had been seen on her way, Jake turned back to face Felicia.

His erstwhile gym buddy had completely transformed herself. Her hair was scraped into a bun anchored at the back of her neck. She wore a calf-length, dirt-colored pencil skirt, clogs, and a man’s white shirt that hung on her like a tent. Black glasses he’d never seen before hid her eyes.

“Going with the frumpy librarian look today, I see,” Jake said.

Felicia shot him an annoyed glance over the top of the glasses. “I have to counteract the fact that you have seen me wearing pigtails and butt shorts, old man.”

Jake advanced upon her desk. “An unforgettable sight, for sure. What’ve you got next for me?”

“We have a possible new client. Some dot-com guy, inventor of the MiracleApp, out in Hamakua. The dude works from home. He wants a new security system and likes the idea of the AI software. Wants to see if it will integrate with his app, which is some kind of smart home service aggregator. I have an appointment for you to go out and meet with him and do an assessment for a full system install, and whatever other services you can upsell—he seems a little paranoid, so you should have fun with that.” Felicia handed Jake a file containing the intake forms and the address. “Probably take you a couple of hours. You’ll still have time to type up the report for Ms. Kauwa and Ms. Cruz on the Merrie Monarch situation when you get back.”

Gratitude warmed his gaze as Jake smiled down at Felicia. Why couldn’t he have fallen for a smart, nice, pretty, normal girl like her? Life would have been so much easier. “Thanks, babe. Don’t know what I’d do without you.” He headed for the door.

“Don’t call me ‘babe.’ Unless we’re going on a date,” Felicia called after him.

Jake closed the office door behind him and pretended he hadn’t heard that.