Calling Kupid (Kupid's Cove Book 1) (22 page)

Kate

I finished chatting with the bookmobile driver and wandered to a bench near the store Gideon had gone into. I tucked the brochure the driver had given me in my purse, wanting to call Freddie that minute and tell her about it. The public libraries in Hawaii had multiple bookmobiles that went out and served the islands in areas where it was difficult for patrons to get to the physical building. Maybe they weren’t as fancy as Winfred’s bookmobile, but they did the same kind of work, improving literacy of children in small towns and villages.

I looked around the town of Kahului. It was bustling with people shopping, eating, and generally enjoying the beautiful sunny day. It was so odd to be in shorts and a t-shirt at the end of January. I was sure back home in Minnesota it was probably twenty below with a brisk wind. I could get used to spending time on the islands if the last three days had been any indication.

After we made love the first night we fell into an exhausted sleep and didn’t wake until a knock on the door around noon. Gideon found a note under the door from the guard Sebastian had sent. He had come with news about the events in Chicago, which brought the whole ‘lovers’ paradise and staying safe at the same time’ to a screeching halt.

We immediately met with him to find out what the police had learned. Gideon answered some questions the police had and then Thaddeus assured us he would get the information back to Sebastian. He told us to act like tourists and he would have our backs at all times, so that’s what we did.

We went snorkeling at the reef, walked on the beach, paddle boarded, and sunned ourselves for the last two days. Gideon wanted to take me scuba diving, but because my heart doesn’t allow me to do that, we settled on snorkeling instead. It was the most amazing day of my life. The reef was teaming with beautiful fish that weren’t the least bit concerned by us being there. The ecosystem was in harmony and I felt a peace I hadn’t for many years. Gideon held my hand the entire time we were under the water and I knew he would hold my hand for the rest of my life if I let him, and I really wanted to let him. When we were alone together in our room, we couldn’t keep our hands off each other. One of the two of us was always starting something. We had finally made love in the water, granted it was in the huge hot tub in our room, but it felt like we had come full circle.

Later, when he would hold me before we slept, he told me that he would figure out a way to give me a child. He promised, no matter what he had to do, I would have his child. His words filled me with so much love and joy I couldn’t speak. I was afraid it would all flow out of me and I would lose the feeling it gave me. Hearing him tell me that not being able to have children wasn’t a deal breaker for him, was what gave me more hope than I’ve ever had before.

When he didn’t look down on me for what my family was, it solidified in my mind that maybe, just maybe, we could be soul mates like He had told me not so many days ago. I smiled when Gideon said we don’t get to choose our family, but we can choose how we want to live our life after they are gone. He pointed out all the things I had done that were positive since I lost them, including a successful law career and being a sister to a woman who needed me more than even a blood sister might. I was missing that woman right now and I wanted to tell her all the things that had changed since I left Snowberry. I prayed that, after tonight, I would be able to do that.

We had come into town to kill time before the big ‘takedown’ tonight. Apparently, the police in Chicago had a plan to catch this nut and I was all too ready for that to happen. The resort Gideon was interested in buying was beautiful, gracious, and exactly what he was looking to add to his acquisitions. It was on the coastline not too far from Kahului and we were exploring options for tourists outside of the usual recreation that comes with the islands. I was impressed so far with the cuisine offerings and the many different entertainment options, including the theater at the University of Maui.

I looked about and chuckled to myself a little. If Thaddeus was trying to be inconspicuous, he was failing at it miserably right now, but I couldn’t blame him for sticking close. Gideon had been in the store for quite a while now. Even I was getting nervous. After shopping, we planned to walk back to the resort and spend the rest of the day in the hotel room until we heard that their trap had worked and they had the guy.

I felt something go around my neck and his lips near my ear. “You’ve been lei’d.”

I touched the flowers around my neck and looked up at him. He was wearing a grin from ear-to-ear and a matching lei around his neck.

“Hi, I was just starting to worry about you. Thank you for the beautiful lei.”

He came around the bench and took my hand, pulling me up. He put his arm around my waist as we walked back towards the harbor and the resort.

“Its not nearly as beautiful as you. Are you having fun?”

I rested my head on his shoulder. “I am, but I’m getting tired. I’m looking forward to napping the rest of the afternoon away with you.”

He chuckled and kissed my forehead. “I wasn’t planning on napping.”

“Oh, really? What were you planning?”

“Making up for lost time,” he answered, but said nothing more.

We walked in silence for another mile until we neared the hotel. “Do you really think they will get this guy tonight and we’ll finally be free to go back home?”

He squeezed me a little tighter. “I want to say yes, but he doesn’t seem like the type to get caught in a trap. He seems like the type who will see this kind of play coming and turn it around to his advantage.”

“That’s depressing.”

“I just don’t want you to get your hopes up. We don’t have a clue whom this is or why they’re angry with me. The cops seem to be confident they will get him, so I’m leaving it in the hands of the professionals because it’s not my field.”

“I love being here with you, don’t get me wrong, but I want to talk to Freddie. I’m worried about her being pregnant and worried about me.”

He stopped and turned me towards him, kissing my lips in a tender ‘I understand’ kind of away. “If I could, I would take you to her now, but I can’t. If you can be patient for a few more hours, hopefully this will all be over.”

I leaned into his chest and kissed the skin above the open button on his silk shirt. “I love you.”

“I love you, too,” he smiled, taking my hand and pulling me down towards the beach.

“Don’t you want to go to the room?” I asked, pointing back towards the hotel.

“We will, but a walk in the sand won’t hurt, will it?”

I looked behind me and saw Thaddeus still trailing us. He had his sunglasses on and his hands in his pockets, as if he didn’t have a care in the world.

“I guess not.”

He leaned in, whispering in my ear, “Thaddeus has our backs, just relax and enjoy yourself, okay?”

“I am enjoying myself. I want to enjoy every second I’m here in the sun and the surf because once we’re back in the Midwest, it’s going to be a distant memory.”

“It doesn’t have to be,” he said.

I stopped, pulling my flip-flops off and carrying them in one hand. “What do you mean?” I asked, my sunglasses slipping down my nose.

He pushed them back and then tapped my nose with his finger. “I mean that my office in Chicago is completely unsalvageable and I have to rebuild. I don’t want to rebuild in Chicago. I want to rebuild wherever you are. If that means you want to stay in Snowberry then I’ll make that my home office, but if you are willing to leave Snowberry, I would be very content to make my home office here in the islands.”

Our hands swung between us as we walked and I stared straight ahead. “The only thing keeping me in Snowberry is Freddie, really. Yes, I have the law firm, but a job is a job. I can practice law anywhere.”

“But you can’t be a sister and an aunt if you’re not in Snowberry.”

“It would be a lot harder; that’s for sure,” I agreed. “I want you to do what’s best for your business, Gideon. If Snowberry isn’t what’s best for you then you can’t live there just for me.”

He stopped walking near a group of palm trees that provided some shade from the otherwise warm afternoon sun. He pulled me to him and kissed me, his lips painting a picture of all the reasons why he could live in Snowberry just for me.

“I can run my business from anywhere, Katie. I don’t need to be in a specific geographic location to do what I need to do. My point behind bringing this up is in a few hours our lives are going to come to a turning point and we will both have to decide what is most important to us. I choose you. My business is second in my life now. It will do what I want it to do, not the other way around.”

I nodded and bit my lip. He was right. In a few hours our lives were going to change again and new decisions will have to be made, but I wasn’t ready to make them yet.

“As long as I know you choose me and you know I choose you, can we leave the rest up in the air for now? I feel off kilter and don’t want to make any decisions about my job or my home until I feel like I’m not walking across quicksand.”

He laughed and held my chin, kissing my lips. “I love that you can see the humor in something that isn’t all that funny, so yes, we can wait to make decisions until we aren’t walking on quicksand.”

He pulled me to him and rested his hands on my belly as we looked out over the ocean. “It’s coming up on a year since we’ve known each other.”

I twisted around to peer at him, one brow lifted in the air. “We’ve only been together for ten days. What are you talking about a year?”

“We met on Valentine’s Day, right?”

“Yes, but we haven’t been together for an entire year.”

“Have you dated anyone else since you met me?” he asked and I shook my head. “Have I crossed your mind every day since we parted ways almost a year ago?” I nodded, catching my bottom lip in my teeth. “In the last week have you felt like you’ve known me forever?” I nodded again and he kissed my raised eyebrow until I lowered it. “Then in my opinion, our hearts have been together for almost a year, even if we weren’t together in a physical sense. Sometimes the heart knows things we don’t.”

“So much has happened since we were in Hawaii last time.”

“Has it really?” he asked quietly. “Has your life really changed that much?”

I shrugged. “Probably only for the worse. I see Freddie less now than I ever did before, which I understand, of course, but it makes for a lonely life. I spend every night at home working or trying to figure out a way to shake the feeling of overwhelming sadness at having no one I’m close to. I signed up for a dating service right before you came to Snowberry as a matter of fact.”

He turned me to look at him. “You did?”

“The weekend before you came, I was so lonely I was sitting with my head in my hands crying. I was full of turmoil over what happened with you and why I couldn’t let it go. I decided entering the dating world again was the only way to forget you. I wrote the ad, but never published it. I just didn’t have the heart to go through the motions of actually dating anyone.”

He ran his hand down my face and cupped my neck. “Why do you think that is?”

“The answer is obvious, now. Then I let myself believe it was because I didn’t care about life, that life would never be what I wanted it to be.”

“And now?” he asked, his eyes transfixed on mine.

“Now I know that my heart ached for you and no one else was going to ease that ache.”

He smiled, his hand taking mine. “Have I eased the ache?”

“In ways you may never know. Standing here with our lives back home in so much upheaval, I should be worried sick about it, but I’m not. I’m content to trust that you will find a way out of this so we can be together.”

He kissed my hand and smiled in a way I had yet to witness before. “I’m glad you feel that way, sweetheart. While we’re still here in paradise, I want to ask you something. I’ll understand if you can’t answer me right now, but I want you to know how much I want us to be together.”

He knelt on one knee and pulled a box from his pocket. The hinge creaked as he lifted the lid and inside was a round band, made from a beautiful teak wood polished to a glistening shine. He took it from the box and held it up.