Getting Lei'd (8 page)

When we arrive at the market, I’m surprised and delighted to see that it is an enormous farmer’s market, not a grocery, like I had assumed. The vendors sell everything from delicious fresh fruit to souvenirs of every imaginable size, shape, and type. The tables stretch on for what seems like miles, and I am in heaven.

I purchase a cup of pineapple and mango from a smiling man who faintly reminds me of Honi. The fruit is so sweet and juicy that I actually groan in delight at the taste of it. Kai seems to take pleasure in watching me enjoy it. When I bite into a large piece of pineapple and juice runs down my chin, he leans in and flicks his tongue out to catch it. It is an intimate and sweet gesture that sends a thrill of excitement down my spine.

While Kai negotiates with a vendor over the bulk price of coconuts, I continue shopping. I discover a booth with locally made, adorable magnets. I purchase three for five bucks, which seems like a fantastic bargain anywhere, let alone Hawaii. My selections are a colorful surfboard for Ruthie, a silly googly-eyed turtle for Baggy and a tiny hand-painted waterfall scene for me.

I walk away from the magnet vendor feeling rather pleased with myself. Then it dawns on me that it’s a little strange to have bought souvenirs only for the people who are with me on the trip. I stop at the next booth and purchase a bowl made of palm fronds for my parents, just so I have something to give them when I get home. I don’t even want to think about going back, though.

Kai catches up with me just as I stop to look at a table of coconut oil-based lotions and creams. “Nana Lana would not approve of you supporting the competition,” he teases near my ear.

“Just looking,” I tell him.

He continues to nuzzle my neck. “You’re wearing magic jelly on your neck.” The words vibrate close to my skin, making the tiny hairs on my neck stand at attention. “You smell good enough to eat,” he growls.

I wonder if we are making spectacles of ourselves, but his nearness feels so terrific that I almost don’t care. He trails soft kisses behind my ear. When his tongue brushes against my skin, my knees almost buckle. Kai steadies me as I lean into his tantalizing mouth. The lotion vendor is discreet enough to busy herself with aligning bottles as if she doesn’t notice.

“You drive me absolutely insane, Roxy,” he informs me before pulling back. I instantly miss his touch.

I decide that “insane” is the perfect word for how he makes me feel. I lose all of my normal inhibitions when Kai is near, and when he touches me, my body comes alive with a fire inside that I didn’t know was there.

Suddenly, we hear a high-pitched wailing voice about twenty feet from where we are standing. Kai springs into action. By the time I realize what is happening and follow him, he has already assessed the situation and taken off in pursuit of a young man. I quickly deduce that the tiny, upset woman has had her purse stolen.

I put my arm around her to try to offer some comfort as she continues to wail. Another bystander pulls out her cell phone to notify the police. A crowd has gathered around, and we all watch helplessly as Kai chases the thief.

They run across a busy street toward a residential area. The boy has a good lead on Kai, but Kai is closing the gap. When the young man climbs over a tall privacy fence, I hear a man from the crowd say, “That big guy isn’t going to be able to get over that fence.” Kai proves him wrong by hurtling himself over the fence at full speed as if it requires no effort at all.

I smile in secret pride at Kai’s athletic ability, although I’m not sure why. “Looks like he made it,” I say to the doubter, who now has a surprised, slightly envious look on his face.

Now that the runners are out of sight, the crowd begins to disburse. I still have my arm around the tiny victim. Her wailing has stopped, but tears are streaming down her face. I feel so bad for her, but I’m not sure what to do to help. “It will be okay,” I tell her, even though I’m not at all certain that is the case. I don’t like not being able to see what is happening with Kai and the pickpocket. What if he pulls a weapon on Kai? The thought makes me shudder, so I try to push it out of my mind.

It seems like we stand there forever. After what feels like an incredibly long time but is probably actually only a few minutes, a policewoman arrives on the scene. She tries to get details from the victim, but the elderly lady is still too upset to be of much help. I step in and share as much information as I know. When I get to the part about Kai taking off after the thief, the officer stops me. “Kai Mauka?” she asks me, smiling.

I nod, even though I’m appalled to realize that I don’t know Kai’s last name. I’m going to be rather embarrassed when he gets back, if he is not the Kai she is referencing. I wonder how common the name Kai is on the island.

The officer doesn’t seem to notice my stress. “Nothing to worry about, then. Kai will bring him in,” she reassures us.

Now, I’m pretty certain that we aren’t talking about the same person. After all, why would a police officer have faith that a resort chauffeur/bartender/fire thrower would win a foot chase with a criminal and bring him in?

It isn’t long until Kai proves her absolutely right. He and the young man approach us. Kai has his large hand around the gangly lad’s arm, but other than that, they look like they are on a friendly stroll.

“If I’d have known you were chasing after him, I wouldn’t have bothered driving over,” the officer says to Kai, beaming a huge smile at him and tossing a familiar arm around his shoulder. I immediately wonder how acquainted Kai is with the lovely lady.

“Happy to help anytime I can.” Kai returns the hug with his free arm and gives her a sweet kiss on the cheek, which makes her blush. I can feel jealousy bubbling at the familiarity they share, but I force it down.

Kai turns his attention to the boy. “Don’t you have something to say?”

“I’m sorry,” he mumbles, handing the stolen handbag back to the distraught lady.

“We didn’t hear that.” Kai gives him a stern look.

“I’m sorry for taking you purse, ma’am. I won’t do anything like that again.” This time he looks the woman in the eyes and speaks with purpose. It makes me wonder exactly what went on when Kai and the young man were out of our sight.

“I’ll take over from here,” the cop informs us as she places handcuffs on the young man. Kai finally releases his grip on the lad’s arm and the officer begins reciting the boy his rights and leading him to her patrol car.

The tiny lady is staring at her purse with a huge look of relief evident on her face. She carefully unzips the bag and inspects its contents. Satisfied that her belongings are all present and accounted for, she pulls out her wallet. She reaches in and pulls out a crisp twenty-dollar bill, which she shoves at Kai’s chest.

“Oh, no.” He backs away as if the money has burned him. “No reward needed. You try to enjoy the rest of your day,” he tells her and turns to leave, effectively taking away the option of her insisting that he take the money.

We continue on through the vendors, but I am no longer interested in shopping. “You are an amazing man,” I tell Kai honestly.

He grins down at me. “You’re pretty amazing yourself, Roxy.” He brushes a brief but tender kiss across my lips.

I am so completely and instantly aroused by this simple touch that I would likely go along with anything he suggests. If he asked me to sneak off to a public restroom for a quickie with him, I am quite certain that I would follow him. I try not to touch anything in public restrooms, yet if Kai wanted to, I’d get naked and naughty with him in one. The power he has over me is frightening but exciting at the same time.

We leave the market without visiting the restroom—to my relief and disappointment. I spend the entire drive back to the resort looking for places that we could pull the limo over and climb into the back. Although I see several, I am too chicken to suggest it. Kai is a gentleman and returns me safely and uneventfully to the door of my room.

He gives me a quick peck on the cheek, says he’ll see me later, and leaves. Sigh.

If I had known what I would find on the other side of the door, I would have never opened it. I did open it though, and what I saw can’t be unseen.

I didn’t see them at first, which is why I walked all the way in, leaving me no way to gracefully retreat. “Hi!” The word startles me, but nearly not as much as the sight of the man uttering it.

My eyes quickly assess the situation I’ve walked in on. The only good thing about the entire scene is that I wasn’t five minutes later. The scenario I probably would have encountered then would have definitely scarred me for life.

For some reason, I seem to be the only one embarrassed by my walking in to find Baggy and Jim, or Howie, or whatever his name is, in their bikinis and lubed up from head to toe in magic jelly. The air in the room is filled with an odor similar to what I would imagine a coconut processing factory smells like, so that probably should have been my first clue to enter with caution—or better yet, not at all.

Baggy’s boyfriend is sporting a bright yellow banana hammock, and his skin is as shiny as an oiled pig. He has both hands raised and is waving in welcome at me as if I should come in and sit down. The full-frontal view of his barely covered junk is almost too much to take in.

Baggy is wearing a red bikini and her skin is glistening as well. “This stuff is magnificent!” she raves, holding up her almost empty jar of magic jelly.

“Yeah, it’s good stuff,” I respond. I try to avert my eyes but the sight of the two of them is almost like a train wreck—you don’t want to look, but for some reason, can’t quite tear your eyes away. Finally, I come to my senses enough to start backing out of the room.

“I’m going down to the pool,” I inform them.

“Don’t leave on our account,” Jim/Howard says.

“Nope, that was my plan all along. I just came to the room to grab a towel,” I add quickly, snatching one from the bathroom. They are polite enough not to point out there are plenty of towels for guests at the pool. “Enjoy the rest of your day,” I yell on my way out.

Once it closes, I lean back on the door. “Wow.” It’s really the only word that fits the situation. Then a snort of laughter erupts out of me and I giggle all the way to the pool.

As I lay back on a lounge chair to absorb a few minutes of sunshine, I try to decide if I should warn Ruthie or let her discover Baggy and Jim/Howie on her own. I finally decide that if I happen to see her, I’ll tell her. Otherwise, she’s on her own. I’m not going to seek her out. Besides,
I
had to see it. I snicker to myself, imagining how Ruthie’s eyes would nearly pop out of her head as she described the scene. Once she gets over the anger of me not warning her, this will likely strengthen our sisterly bond. No one else could possibly understand.

“You look like you’re up to something.” Kai smiles down at me as he walks past.

“You have no idea,” I tell him mysteriously.

He winks at me but keeps walking, so I enjoy a long, luxurious look at his fabulous backside.

I move to a lounge chair in the shade in order to avoid getting sunburned. I didn’t have time to grab a book from the room, so I spend a few minutes looking at my cell phone. I have now been e-mail- and social media–free for a few days, and I quickly find that I haven’t missed it. The volume of notifications that ding when I sign on to the resort’s Wi-Fi feels overwhelming, so I put the phone back to sleep and stow it in my purse.

There is no way I am going back to the room and risking seeing whatever wild activities Baggy and her man are up to in there, so I slide on my blingy sunglasses and tip my chair back to a more relaxing angle. I decide the best use of my time is to daydream about Kai—this pastime has become one of my new favorite activities.

I let steamy Kai fantasies wash over me. Remembering his sweet kisses on my neck and lips is enough to make me smile like a Cheshire cat. When I allow my mind to wander into the territory where our bodies have not yet gone, I can feel a familiar and delightful tension building deep inside me.

I imagine us on a deserted stretch of beach, lying on a large blanket. He slowly trails kisses down my chest. His tantalizing tongue laps out to caress me. My vivid imagination comes in handy as I picture the two of us slipping out of our clothes and touching each other all over. Of course the sand isn’t a problem. This is my daydream, after all.

Even with the magnificence that Kai’s body promises when clothed, I am pleasantly surprised to discover it is even more impressive when I envision him in all his glory. I picture myself slowly pulling his swim trunks down. Naturally, in my daydream, I am much sexier and graceful than I am in real life. Someone walks hastily by me, dribbling pool water along my calf. The chilly water stuns me out of my fantasy.

I open my eyes to look around. No one seems to be staring, so I must not have been moaning in ecstasy. Since I had been enjoying myself, and no one seems to be suspicious of the naughty turn my thoughts had taken, I allow my mind to dip back into the fantasy.

Kai and I are nude, lying together on the beach. Our bodies are touching in all the right places. Our hands rove all over, exploring each other’s bodies. Kai rises up and looks down at me with adoring eyes. I have never felt so beautiful and desirable. Just as he begins to lower himself, Ruthie plops down in the lounge chair next to me, announcing that she’s hungry.

I consider telling her to go away, but instead, I grudgingly sit up and ask her what sounds good for lunch. As much as I’d like to continue my naked roll in the sand with dreamy Kai, I’d prefer to have the real-life experience—and the memories of it to relive once I get home. The thought of having to go home brings me down, so I immediately push it out of my head.

Deciding to get my mind off that topic completely, I say to Ruthie, “You’ll never believe what I just walked in on in our room.” This opener allows us to talk and laugh hysterically throughout our seaside cafe lunch of fried clams and parmesan truffle fries. Ruthie physically covers her eyes, as if that will block the mental image I am describing of seeing Baggy’s man in his skimpy yellow ensemble.