Lana(3)

Tutu smirked, pointing at the collage of my photos. “Milena hates those pictures, if it makes you feel better. She threw a conniption for weeks after I put them up. She wouldn’t even come into the café for a long time. I wish to God that had lasted!”

I had to laugh as she threw a tiny fist into the air to emphasize her point. She was so damn cute, and ferocious, and if you knew her, a little terrifying. “I missed you, Tutu.”

She flashed me a triumphant grin. “But you’re home now, so no need to miss me anymore.”

I wished so badly that it was true. “I’m only visiting for a few days, unfortunately. I have some business at the hotel. After that, I might stay a few days, but then I need to go back to the mainland.”

She clucked her tongue, wrinkling the cutest nose in the world at me. “You work too much. Don’t be like your father, working your life away. You’re rich. You can live anywhere you want. No one is living in your old family house, so move back in. See how easy it is? I just solved all of your problems. You’re welcome. Now sit down. I’m feeding you. You don’t need to keep model-skinny anymore, so why are you?”

I couldn’t help it; I just obeyed her, laughing. When Tutu said eat, you ate. That was how things worked around here.

Mari joined me just as Tutu brought the food out. I saw that it was enough food to feed all three of us, with all of our favorites. Mari and Tutu ate the spam musubi, and I ate the fried pork and rice. I scarfed it down in a hurry, making both women comment worriedly that I really was starving on the mainland. Tutu tried to get me seconds, until I insisted I was too stuffed.

We sat and talked for hours, until the café started to pick up for the dinner crowd. Both women had staff to work both of their shops, but it was unnatural for either of them not to help when work needed to be done, so work they did.

I knew I needed to get back to my own work, but I still sat there for a while, drinking tea, and just feeling so at home. This was why I never visited. It was so hard to tear myself away.

CHAPTER TWO

Mari brought me a bag stuffed full of island wear. I tried to give her my debit card to pay, but she wouldn’t hear of it. We had a somewhat heated argument about it, before I finally caved. “Fine, but you will agree to a spa day at my hotel, my treat. Tutu has to come, too.”

Mari beamed at me. “Oh, yes! We’ll make a girls’ day of it.”

I felt positively warmed by the thought. Hours basking in their company. I couldn’t wait. “I’ll arrange it. What’re your days off?”

She wrinkled her nose at me. “I’m the boss, pretty girl. Whenever I want, is my day off. You make the appointment, and we will be there.”

I grinned, the happiest I’d been in...I couldn’t even remember. Probably since I’d left the island, I mused. Well, since a little before that…

“I need a ride back to the hotel,” I told Mari sheepishly. It was just too far to walk in four inch heels, and I’d already wasted too much time.

She fished her keys out, tossing them to me. I caught them awkwardly, with the overstuffed shopping bag in one hand, my large red handbag in the other.

“It’s the Lexus in the back lot. Auntie’s been doing all right for herself, eh?”

I blinked at the keys. “Yes. In every way. I’ll have someone return it right away, thank you.”

She just smiled and nodded, waving goodbye.

I left on heavy feet, though I had to grin as I looked down at the bag of goodies she had given me. The bag was so stuffed that some tiny bikini bottoms were in imminent danger of falling out. I was walking through the back parking lot, staring down at them, debating whether they would stay in the bag until I made it to the car, when I ran smack into what felt like a solid brick wall.

The sudden contact knocked the air out of my lungs, and my hands just let go of everything I’d been holding in a spectacular arch, straight up in the air. I fell back with the motion, and would have fallen straight back, if huge, hard arms, hadn’t caught me. The hands put me back on my feet even before my eyes could travel all the way up into painfully familiar, warm brown eyes. Those eyes were as shocked as my own.

I took a big step back, just studying the man I hadn’t seen in over eight years. He was as gorgeous as ever, maybe even more so. His hair pulled back in an almost harsh style that brought out the hard, flawless lines of his face. Akira looked much like his sister, my dear Mari, but there wasn’t a pretty thing about him. His mouth was full, true, but it had a tendency to look mean. He had a tendency to look mean. He always had, with his quintessentially Hawaiian features, and his massive, starkly muscular physique. He towered over me, and it made my stomach flutter, as it always had. He wore a devastating three piece suit, and I couldn’t help it, I eyed him top to bottom, taking in every delectable detail of his tall, muscular length. He was a shrewd businessman at heart, but he had the look of a heavyweight boxer or a fit pro-wrestler, with his massive size. And I knew it was all muscle under his clothes. There wasn’t an ounce of fat on his perfect body.

I was proud to see that I recovered more swiftly than he did at our chance meeting. He still just stared at me, total shock showing on his hard face. I bent down, and began to pick up my scattered bag of goodies.

“Lana?” he spoke finally, his voice hoarse.

I straightened, smiling at him. It was my best, falsely bright smile. “Akira.”