AllFreeNovel
Share Us
"I can keep secrets, don't worry."
I slowly raised an eyebrow. "I bet you can."
Casually, I reached out and took the monstrous piece of cake. While Lei handed me one of the two forks he had also brought, I placed the plate on my thigh. "It would be rude to let you eat alone," he explained, sitting down next to me without any prompting.
It wasn't until I sank my fork into the cake that I heard my stomach growling softly. There was a good chance I'd missed lunch, too, with all the prep work.
"I take it the important meeting my father and fiancé were detained in doesn't concern you?"
His look told me all I needed to know. Still, he said it, "I hate events like this, but I've never had a problem with priorities."
Lei's hair was thick and dark, but underneath I recognized the traditional tattoos on his scalp. I also knew that they ran down the side of the muscle strand of his neck, covered his shoulder, and then wound down one half of his body. Part of it was hidden under his swim trunks before it ran seamlessly down his leg to the ground. At least, that's what I remembered from the last few years, when he'd spent a fair amount of time with my dad at this very pool. Matthew Keahi called it working effectively, and Lei seemed to have simply made the best of the situation.
Finally, I shrugged. "Maybe you should teach them the basics?"
His gaze betrayed the answer long before he opened his mouth. The lashes that framed his eyes were long enough to make most women jealous. The same could be said for his hair and his chiseled cheekbones. His well-groomed beard was probably the envy of the male faction, but none of that changed the fact that Lei was simply one of those men who stood out everywhere he went– unless he was standing in line with the locals dancing the hula.
"Maybe you should start thinking about when there will be consequences for this type of behavior."
Usually this was the point in a conversation where I rolled my eyes and went back to my thoughts, but Lei was hardly comparable to my parents, Alexander, or the other people who were always trying to tell me what to do and what not to do.
With pursed lips, I dipped the fork back into the cake.
"I gave up tilting at windmills a few years ago. If you remember."
"And it still eats at your insides."
That had never stopped, but at least I had made my relative peace with the family. I did not mention that my rebellious side could still break my neck.
Lei was aware.
But neither of us had ever brought it up, so he pretended not to know, and I did the same.
Sometimes I played with him. Like tonight. I challenged him, tempted him, even though I knew he would not give in. He was too controlled. Too far above me.
When I'd had a crush on him for one summer when I was twenty-one, I'd gone through every possible scenario. I'd come to the conclusion that I'd rather wade through a bunch of sea urchins than confess to him and make a complete fool of myself. Risking the liberated basis for conversation because of a stupid crush was not an option either, so I had kept quiet and a few months later my father had introduced me to Alexander, and that had been the end of that hormonal roller coaster ride.
"Oh, I think I'll be fine."
"That's why you're doing your father a favor by marrying his preferred heir to the family empire?" Instead of claiming it myself as Matthew and Naomi Keahi's only child. He didn't have to say it aloud; the thought was enough.
"They still let me do what I want." Work in a local bookstore, for example– instead of sitting around the mansion all day like a decorative object, counting the motes of dust floating by.
Lei nodded, busying himself with the cake for a moment. As he cut off another piece, I felt the pressure of his fork on the plate, pressing harder against my bare skin. A tingling sensation shot up my leg. I studiously ignored it, just as I had ignored his presence outside my door, which was open a crack as if by accident.
"May I ask an indiscreet question?"
Curious, I raised my eyebrows. "Asking permission lately?"
"Are you in love with him?"
I quickly bit my tongue. The answer was as complex as it was disturbing. Alexander was like my father. I knew exactly what I could and could not expect from him. That he was married to his work and only needed a woman to hang on his arm like a bag when he left his mistress alone. He was nice, but in a superficial way. He was not interested in the people around him. Passion existed in the office or on the golf course, but otherwise things had to go on as usual. Deviations were fatal. Alexander was the safe choice because there would be no surprises. He would not betray me. He would provide for me. He would want one child, perhaps two if the first was a girl and he had a preference for a male heir. As long as I didn't take after my mother and would nearly die from complications during the second pregnancy, that would make an urgent choice between the unborn and me necessary.
If you wanted it that way, every tiny detail was already preordained, and all I had to do was skip from one day to the next. Ironically, there was only one thing keeping me sane in the meantime– and that was the livestreams, which took place several times a week and allowed me to do exactly what I wanted.
I did not need professional help to gain this insight into my own psyche. In fact, it was so obvious that I was surprised Alexander himself had not recognized it.
"Does my answer have any bearing on the rest of the conversation?"
