This week’s topic is vacation/exotic locales. Since I have an entire series of connected books based in Hawaii, this was not a hard one for me. The toughest part was figuring out which one to pick. I went with my first Hawaii-based book, YOUR MOUTH DRIVES ME CRAZY because I have a soft spot for it. Kane is Hawaii born and raised. Annie is definitely not.
“We’re going to go on a little fieldtrip to your hotel.” Kane poured another cup of coffee. “You just need to tell me where you’re staying.”
Annie figured he was taking this one to go. By her count, that made five. The guy must have a rock-hard stomach. At two cups, she tested her body’s tolerance. The hanging out and drinking part of her job never got easier. Alcohol or coffee, it didn’t matter. She preferred her own company. Just her and her camera and the room to explore.
“Well?” Kane asked when she didn’t cough up the answer.
There was no use in hedging. He’d figure it out, so she gave him the name of the beach resort where she stayed before boarding the yacht. She should have checked out by now. She’d get right on that as soon as she figured out what to do about not having any identification or a key or her stuff on her.
With the yacht missing, she needed everything in her room. She’d also need protection to escort her inside in case the same someone who pushed her into the ocean was waiting in there to finish the job. And Kane would fill the role of escort just fine. Once there, she’d figure out how to get him out of the way.
“After that visit, we’re going to the marina,” he said.
She couldn’t figure out if that was a good idea or a bad one. “Not to state the obvious, but the yacht isn’t there. It’s gone.”
“I’ve heard.”
She toyed with the sugar packets, piling them in a neat stack, knocking it down then building again. “Then what’s the point? We can see the water from your front yard. Lovely view, by the way. Oceanfront on a policeman’s salary? Hard to imagine how you managed that.”
“There was a time when people could afford to live here. I bought then. Before the overbuilding and before everyone from…where are you from?”
“Seattle.”
“Right.” He took a long sip. “Before everyone from Seattle barged in, acted like they were the first to discover the beach and ocean, and started building street after street of overpriced houses.”
She photographed the outdoors for a living. She understood the swell of anger and frustration when people took nature for granted or acted as if they owned it rather than borrowed it as a caretaker. “Bitter much?”
“Honest.”
“We don’t need to drive around the island looking for beauty. It’s right at your doorstep.” She had enough trouble without tracking down more.
He watched her fingers. His stare following the placement of every pink packet. “Yeah, but this way if you continue to lie, I can always open the truck door and throw you back in the water.”
She didn’t bother to deny the charge. “You don’t have to sound do damn happy at the thought. Where are we now anyway? I mean, I know we’re on Kauai, but where exactly?”
He leaned back against the sink with his ankles crossed in front of him. “Your new temporary home is in Kapaa.”
“Home? You keep thinking I plan to stay the night and hang out with you tomorrow.” She did, but that wasn’t really the point.
“That part isn’t up for debate. The only question is where. You can sleep on the front porch. The trade winds are cool this time of year and the waves tend to be loud, but you should be fine if you curl up under the deck chair.”
She refused to dignify that joke – and it had better be a joke – by responding. “How many bedrooms do you have?”
“Two. One for me. One for Derek. And you can’t have Derek’s room.”
She didn’t want to displace the kid, but still… “A gentleman would let me have his bedroom while he slept elsewhere.”
“Then you should have washed up on that guy’s beach.”
A scream of frustration rumbled up the back of her throat. “You’re infuriating.”
“Tough talk from a woman who claims to want to sleep inside tonight.” He rinsed out the coffee pot and dropped it in the sink.
“Were you fired for how you treat tourists?”
“One last time, I wasn’t fired.” He stepped back to the table and knocked over the pink packet wall she’d been building.
“Hey!”
“I’m the police chief and, from what I can tell, the only person you have on Kauai.” That sexy dimpled smile of his spread across his mouth. “So, left side or right?”
“Would it matter if I said I had no intention of sharing your bed?”
His grin grew even wider. “Not one bit.”
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