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Parle and Passion Fruit
Paradise never felt like this. Uncomfortable didn’t even begin to describe it.
What kind of a bozo asked a man why he didn’t kiss her? Now that the question had come out of my mouth, I didn’t know if I really wanted to hear the answer.
On the scale of most awkward situations, this was somewhere between mixing up your laundry and realizing you’re wearing your roommate’s underwear and calling a traffic court judge Your Majesty.
Yep. I’d done both and wouldn’t recommend either one.
I had no idea what on earth had possessed me to be so direct with Kai. It turns out that the people who write romantic comedy scripts actually know a thing or two about life.
I finally understood why couples in movies never have those “easy” conversations and solve all their issues by talking things out. There wasn’t a single easy thing about a conversation like that.
Why didn’t you kiss me?The question replayed over in my head, mocking me with every syllable.
Kai held his breath. I held mine. Even the breeze died down, not daring to sway the palm trees. Who knew Mother Nature would be just as aghast at my question as we were?
Even with as horrible as it had been to wonder why Kai had failed to plant a juicy one on me in the water, it was so muchworse to ask the man why he hadn’t.
Just as I was considering hopping back into the canoe and heading for Tahiti, a woman who couldn’t have been more than five feet tall called out from a small beach hut nearby. “Kainalu!”
She hurried across the sand toward us. The corners of her eyes crinkled with the wide smile stretching across her round face. Her tan skin glowed next to the bright-red background of her flower-print wrap dress. It hugged the full curves of her apple-shaped body.
Kai scrubbed his hand on the back of his neck and spoke in a low voice, “Um, can we talk about this later?” He flashed a nervous glance toward the woman.
“Absolutely.” My idiotic hand shot out in front of me to shake Kai’s as if I were some sort of business tycoon, striking a deal. Yeah, that wasn’t weird at all. “We can talk later.”
Or never. Never was good too.
Kai took my hand, the familiar teasing twinkle returning to his eyes. But I didn’t have time to enjoy that twinkle. I was too busy trying to contain the fleet of goosebumps clogging up my skin.
It didn’t matter how much of a ninny I made of myself; anytime I came in contact with Kai, sparks were going to fly, and goosebumps were going to pop.
The short woman reached Kai’s side and elbowed him in the ribs. “You were right about her,” she said, wagging her brows.
“Mama, please.” A subtle shade of pink rose into his cheeks.
“You’ll have to forgive my son,” the smiling woman said. “He’s always been a bashful boy. But he knows a beautiful woman when he sees one.”
“This”—Kai sighed and ran his fingertips across his forehead—“is my mother Lolani.”
She clasped my hand with both of hers and gave it a hearty shake.
I suddenly became hyper-aware of my soggy undies that hadn’t had a chance to dry out since our “swim” in the cove. They’d ridden up into a precarious position on my backside. I didn’t feel all that beautiful as I fought the urge to dig them out. Though, I couldn’t help but wonder what else Kai had told his mom about me. My cheeks burned hotter than Kai’s.
Lolani put her arm around my shoulders and guided me across the beach, toward the hut. “I can’t tell you what this means to our family.”
I was still trying to figure out what she was talking about when I tripped over one of the prehistoric outriggers that littered the beach. My big toe went right through the dry-rotted wood. I stumbled, trying to break my foot free without disrupting the chatty woman beside me.
“We were ecstatic to hear from Mr. Peters before you arrived, weren’t we, Kainalu?”
“Yes, mama.”
I yanked my foot out and stopped dead in my tracks. “Mr. Peters?” I sucked in a sharp breath and squeaked the words out like the rat that I was. “You’ve spoken to him about me?”
I shot a quick look over my shoulder to where Kai followed close by. How much did he know?
“Yes,” she continued, her shiny face beaming. “Hospitality is our family’s calling. There’s nothing we love more than making travelers feel like a part of our family. It will be our pleasure to show you the best our island has to offer.”
