I had to laugh as she threw a tiny fist into the air to emphasize her point. She was so damn cute, and ferocious, and if you knew her, a little terrifying. “I missed you, Tutu.”

She flashed me a triumphant grin. “But you’re home now, so no need to miss me anymore.”

I wished so badly that it was true. “I’m only visiting for a few days, unfortunately. I have some business at the hotel. After that, I might stay a few days, but then I need to go back to the mainland.”

She clucked her tongue, wrinkling the cutest nose in the world at me. “You work too much. Don’t be like your father, working your life away. You’re rich. You can live anywhere you want. No one is living in your old family house, so move back in. See how easy it is? I just solved all of your problems. You’re welcome. Now sit down. I’m feeding you. You don’t need to keep model-skinny anymore, so why are you?”

I couldn’t help it; I just obeyed her, laughing. When Tutu said eat, you ate. That was how things worked around here.

Mari joined me just as Tutu brought the food out. I saw that it was enough food to feed all three of us, with all of our favorites. Mari and Tutu ate the spam musubi, and I ate the fried pork and rice. I scarfed it down in a hurry, making both women comment worriedly that I really was starving on the mainland. Tutu tried to get me seconds, until I insisted I was too stuffed.

We sat and talked for hours, until the café started to pick up for the dinner crowd. Both women had staff to work both of their shops, but it was unnatural for either of them not to help when work needed to be done, so work they did.

I knew I needed to get back to my own work, but I still sat there for a while, drinking tea, and just feeling so at home. This was why I never visited. It was so hard to tear myself away.

CHAPTER TWO

Mari brought me a bag stuffed full of island wear. I tried to give her my debit card to pay, but she wouldn’t hear of it. We had a somewhat heated argument about it, before I finally caved. “Fine, but you will agree to a spa day at my hotel, my treat. Tutu has to come, too.”

Mari beamed at me. “Oh, yes! We’ll make a girls’ day of it.”

I felt positively warmed by the thought. Hours basking in their company. I couldn’t wait. “I’ll arrange it. What’re your days off?”

She wrinkled her nose at me. “I’m the boss, pretty girl. Whenever I want, is my day off. You make the appointment, and we will be there.”

I grinned, the happiest I’d been in...I couldn’t even remember. Probably since I’d left the island, I mused. Well, since a little before that…

“I need a ride back to the hotel,” I told Mari sheepishly. It was just too far to walk in four inch heels, and I’d already wasted too much time.

She fished her keys out, tossing them to me. I caught them awkwardly, with the overstuffed shopping bag in one hand, my large red handbag in the other.

“It’s the Lexus in the back lot. Auntie’s been doing all right for herself, eh?”

I blinked at the keys. “Yes. In every way. I’ll have someone return it right away, thank you.”

She just smiled and nodded, waving goodbye.

I left on heavy feet, though I had to grin as I looked down at the bag of goodies she had given me. The bag was so stuffed that some tiny bikini bottoms were in imminent danger of falling out. I was walking through the back parking lot, staring down at them, debating whether they would stay in the bag until I made it to the car, when I ran smack into what felt like a solid brick wall.

The sudden contact knocked the air out of my lungs, and my hands just let go of everything I’d been holding in a spectacular arch, straight up in the air. I fell back with the motion, and would have fallen straight back, if huge, hard arms, hadn’t caught me. The hands put me back on my feet even before my eyes could travel all the way up into painfully familiar, warm brown eyes. Those eyes were as shocked as my own.

I took a big step back, just studying the man I hadn’t seen in over eight years. He was as gorgeous as ever, maybe even more so. His hair pulled back in an almost harsh style that brought out the hard, flawless lines of his face. Akira looked much like his sister, my dear Mari, but there wasn’t a pretty thing about him. His mouth was full, true, but it had a tendency to look mean. He had a tendency to look mean. He always had, with his quintessentially Hawaiian features, and his massive, starkly muscular physique. He towered over me, and it made my stomach flutter, as it always had. He wore a devastating three piece suit, and I couldn’t help it, I eyed him top to bottom, taking in every delectable detail of his tall, muscular length. He was a shrewd businessman at heart, but he had the look of a heavyweight boxer or a fit pro-wrestler, with his massive size. And I knew it was all muscle under his clothes. There wasn’t an ounce of fat on his perfect body.

I was proud to see that I recovered more swiftly than he did at our chance meeting. He still just stared at me, total shock showing on his hard face. I bent down, and began to pick up my scattered bag of goodies.

“Lana?” he spoke finally, his voice hoarse.

I straightened, smiling at him. It was my best, falsely bright smile. “Akira.”

His arms raised, as though to embrace me, but dropped, probably at the shocked look on my face. I hadn’t expected him to ever want to touch me again, for any reason.

Impulsively, I walked to him, throwing my arms around his neck for a hug. He wrapped strong arms around me instantly, and I closed my eyes, burrowing into his chest as though I were still a child. This felt like home. Home was a lie, I knew. But I let myself live the lie, for a few minutes, at least. I breathed him in. He smelled divine, like the ocean, and the island, and himself. The best smell in the world. I felt him stroking my hair, his cheek pressed to the top of my head. I don’t think either of us had a clue what to say, so we stood like that for long minutes, just comforting each other.

“How are you?” he finally asked. Mortifyingly, the question brought tears to my eyes. Adrift, I thought. I’m just adrift, banned from my home, and utterly rejected by the only man I’ll ever love. I wanted to hate him for it, but I just couldn’t. I had only ever known how to love him. Whole-heartedly. Too much so.

I swallowed hard, finally answering the innocent question. “Busy. Busy with work, as usual. How are you?” I finally pulled out of his arms, my tears mercifully dried.

I looked up into his eyes. They were troubled.

“The same, I guess. All of the businesses are prospering, so things are good. I didn’t know you were in town. How long have you been here?”

“I got in this afternoon. I just finished visiting with Tutu and Auntie.” As I spoke, Akira bent down, gathering up my things. I blushed when he handled some rogue lingerie. It was a tiny scrap of nothing that had nothing to do with island wear. I had no idea why Mari had added it to the bag. He paused when he saw it, then hurriedly shoved it into the bag. I didn’t bend down to help him, strangely transfixed as he handled several of my new, tiny bikinis. It made my face flush, and my skin heat. His hands were so big, and the bikinis were so tiny. And I remembered those hands. Those wonderful, talented, perfect hands…

“It looks like you’re planning a trip to the beach.” He grinned up at me. “Let me know if you want company. We could go to the old spot and try to catch some waves.”

I agreed before I could wise up and turn him down. “Okay.”

He straightened, handing me my purse, but carrying the over-stuffed bag for me. “We could go right now, if you’re up for it. I just finished up for the day.”

I knew I should say no, to preserve a little of my sanity, but I just couldn’t do it. “Sounds great. I just need to change into one of those bikinis.”

He was eyeing the keys in my hand, his brow furrowed.

“Auntie loaned me her car. I was going to have one of the hotel drivers bring it back for me,” I explained.

He led me to a dark SUV instead, opening the passenger door for me, and putting my bag in the back. He turned on the car, cool air rushing out of the A/C vents immediately. I sat in the seat, and he came back to my door, crowding me a little. “I’ll go return her keys, since I can drive you.” He touched the flower in my hair lightly, his eyes intense. “Be right back.”

He was gone for maybe a minute before I realized that I could just change while he was gone. I had changed into my swimsuit in his car countless times. Why should it be any different now? I climbed into the back seat, sliding out of my stilettos and then my tight skirt. I grabbed the first matching bikini pieces that I saw, slipping on the bottom before taking off my top. Because I was trying to hurry, my fingers fumbled with every button of my blouse.

I unsnapped my front-clasping bra, shrugging out of it. I realized, only after I was topless, that the bikini top was a tangled mess. I was still untangling the thing when Akira opened the driver’s seat door.

He froze, just froze, staring at my naked breasts. They were heaving in agitation, my nipples hard from the car’s blasting A/C.

I grimaced at him. “Sorry. I thought I’d save us a trip and get my swimsuit on now,” I said, expecting him to close his door and wait outside, to give me privacy. The windows were tinted dark enough that they did actually conceal most of the interior of the car.

But he didn’t close the door. Instead, he sat, buckling his seat belt. And then he did something that absolutely stunned me. He reached up one of his big, dark hands, and adjusted his rearview mirror, blatantly watching me. It froze me in my tracks, and I was too surprised to move for long moments, my breasts quivering as my breaths grew jerky and uneven.

Finally, I bent back down to the stubborn bikini top, working on untangling the strings. But I couldn’t focus on the task for more than a few seconds, my eyes flying back to Akira’s as he watched me in the mirror, his heavy-lidded eyes very obviously on my breasts. I arched my back, showing them off to better advantage. I had been a professional poser at one time, I told myself, so why not use it to my benefit?

His jaw went a little slack, and I felt myself growing wet. To affect him like that, to make him want me, was the biggest turn on in the world to me. I had been kneeling on the seat to change, but I shifted my position, facing him, on my knees now on the seat. I leaned back, letting my arms rest along the seat, the movement thrusting my breasts forward provocatively. He sucked in a harsh breath, but didn’t look away, didn’t speak. I cupped both of my breasts in my hands, kneading them. They overflowed in my hands, and I pushed them together, stroking them up until my nipples just peeked out between my fingers. I pinched them, and Akira’s head fell back against his headrest, his breathing audibly heavy now. Still, we didn’t speak. And he never took his eyes off me.

I further surprised the both of us when I ran one hand lower, down my taut stomach, and between my legs. I parted my knees on the seat, giving him a perfect view as I plunged a hand into my bikini bottoms and fingered myself.

“Untie them,” Akira said, his voice sounding rusty. “Please. I want to see what your fingers are doing.”