My Beloved: A Thin Love Novella(28)

Dear God, how he loved her.

“They call this Magic Beach,” he started, easing his way toward her with slow, cautious steps. “It’s because of all the treasures along the shore—shells that look like silver, ivory. It’s lucky to find something like that.” Kona was careful when he eased next to her, squatting in front of her sitting on that lava rock. “Luka told me once that an ugly troll lived in the cave and took bad kids who swam too far out in the water.”

Keira sniffed, finally moving her chin across her folded arms to look down at him. “What did you have to say about that?”

Kona’s mouth twitched, then slid up slow on one side. “I told him he was a liar because he’d swum out past the cave a hundred times and he wasn’t taken and he was the worst kid ever.”

Kona laughed to himself, not put off or upset when Keira didn’t even smile at him. Next to his leg was a half empty bottle of warm champagne. It had been in their rental unit, a $1500 parting gift from Christenson for his flirty wedding planner.

“This any good?”

She sat up a little, resting her elbows on her thighs. “Not anymore. Too warm now. The fizz is gone.”

He hated this. There was too much silence between them, too much tension. It hadn’t been like that in New Orleans, not in the past few months, not sixteen years ago. But tonight on the beach, with Keira’s eyes out of focus and her bare arms shaking from the cold, Kona felt her distance, the defensive cast of her body that told him she didn’t want his touch.

When she shuddered against a low breeze and Kona saw the immediate shiver and gooseflesh dot over her arms, he took off his jacket and eased it over her shoulders. Her back immediately straightened but Kona didn’t comment, and she couldn’t, no matter how angry she was at him, keep him from kissing her temple. Keira didn’t slap him, didn’t lash out or retreat as though she couldn’t stand his touch. She blinked slowly and for a fraction of a moment when her chin lifted, her glistening eyes met his, rather than sit on the sand, Kona took a chance and joined her on the rock. She protested at first, but without conviction, and made no comment on how closely he sat next to her, and didn’t complain about how tightly he held her against his chest.

“You should go inside. You’re chilly.”

“I like it out here. There’s only the sound of the water.” She leaned away from him and looked across the waves. “Or at least there was only the sound of the water.”

He let her little jab go, not willing to risk even a sarcastic comment that would have her pulling further away from him.

“I hurt you.” It was simple, spoken low, but Kona knew she heard him. “I promised you I wouldn’t do that again.”

“Everyone is in pain, Kona. All over the world. No one gets out of life without feeling it.”

“That doesn’t mean I should create it for you. That doesn’t give me the right to break my promises.”

She came off the rock, but kept his jacket over her shoulders as she stood, pulling her arms through the sleeves and then wrapping them around her waist. She never stopped staring out across the water.

“Ransom…”she started, then faltered.

“Has a big heart, baby. He gets it from you.” When Keira nodded, unable to disagree with Kona, he stood up, too, tried standing near her without her retreating. “My mom’s dying.”

“I know. I heard Malia talking about it today.” She finally turned to look up at him, dismissing his frown. “I also heard her talk about your father, how he promised to marry your mother, but instead left her and married a haole.”

“It messed her up.” Kona slipped his hands into his pockets and joined Keira as her gaze turned back to the dark waves. “He died a few years back.” Keira moved her head, expression open, curious. “She never said anything. I wouldn’t have known anything about it until Devon told me they got a message from his family, his brother, actually. Kaino’s niece was tracking down the friends he’d had here on the island for him. The brother told me he was sure Kaino knew something was off. He wasn’t feeling right. I guess one conversation led to another and then he found out about me and Luka. Then he was diagnosed and wanted to meet us. He was dead by the time I got the message.”

Kona closed his eyes when Keira made a noise, something that sounded bitter and frustrated. “She is a hard woman, Keira. She was hardest on Luka. She never wanted to believe that I was to blame for anything I’ve done. Not getting you pregnant, not getting Luka killed. I knew that she believed I was something I wasn’t and God help me, I never wanted to disappoint her.”

Finally Keira faced him, tilting her head as though his explanation didn’t make sense to her. “So you let her manipulate you?”

“My guilt over getting Luka killed made me ignore her manipulating me.”

Kona shut his eyes when Keira’s voice softened and she touched his arm. “Kona, that wasn’t your fault.”

“I wish that were true, baby.” He knew she only touched him to give him comfort. He knew she wasn’t silently telling him she’d forgiven all the stupidity he’d caused that day. But Kona couldn’t have Keira this close, have her touch him even silently and not move toward her, not touch her back.

Keira’s face hardened, her features wrinkling as she stared at him, and he imagined she was likely thinking what an idiot he was. He didn’t stop her when she walked closer toward the shoreline with her arms still wrapped tight around her. He didn’t follow, either; she seemed to need that distance, but God, how he wanted to hold her, to take her hair down from those loose braids that knotted around her curls.