Island Promises: Hawaiian Holiday / Hawaiian Reunion / Hawaiian Retreat

When Shane returned Sarah to Megan, he held out the board to her. “Do you want a turn now?”

She ordered her stupid hormones to calm down.

“No. Thank you, though. I need to get these little mermaids onto dry land for dinner and bed. We’re still on Chicago time, I think. It’s been a long day today, with more fun planned tomorrow.”

“If you take the board, I can carry Grace up to the house for you.”

He knelt down in the water, offering his broad, comforting back. “Hop on, Ariel,” he said over his shoulder.

Grace and Sarah both giggled, clearly infatuated with him. Grace threw her arms around his neck and he stood easily, wading through the waves and sand toward their cabana.

“Outdoor shower first, girls,” Megan said, following along with Sarah’s hand in hers. “We need to wash all this sand off out here.”

He lowered Grace to the little bench beside the shower. “Thanks for the boogie boarding,” Megan said, trying not to stare at all those gleaming chest muscles, or the small, puckered red scar on his biceps from the gunshot wound.

“No problem. I’ll see you all later.”

His fingers brushed hers as he grabbed the board. His smile encompassed her and her daughters, then he turned around and headed back into the waves. He waded a little ways, then dove in with quick, sure movements, heading for deeper water.

“Mommy?”

Sarah’s tone indicated that wasn’t the first time she’d tried to get her attention, and Megan jerked her focus away from Shane and back to her daughters, where it rightfully belonged.

CHAPTER FOUR

SHE SLEPT WITH the windows open and the sound of the sea lulling her to a deep and dreamless state...and awoke to pearly dawn splashing across the white and red hibiscus embroidered on her Hawaiian quilt and the quiet, endless murmur of waves licking the sand.

For one disoriented moment, she couldn’t think why she had brought the girls’ sound machine into her bedroom, then she realized that it wasn’t some kind of white noise sleep aid, it was the actual ocean.

She and the girls were in Hawaii, staying in a beautiful ocean-side cabana. Nick and Cara were getting married the next day.

She stretched and sat up. Though the clock on the bedside table read barely five-thirty, she was abruptly wide awake.

She loved working the night shift at the hospital for the flexibility it gave her with her daughters’ schedules, but as a result her body had become conditioned to odd hours and quick transitions from sleep to full consciousness. She wasn’t very good at sleeping in.

The ceaseless rhythm of the waves seduced and entranced her. Was it as beautiful as she remembered here?

She climbed out of bed and padded through the silent house to the lanai. Yes. In the pale pink predawn light, the water looked a mysterious, alluring green. Palm fronds rustled in the breeze, and the air was heavy with the scent of ocean and flowers.

She felt as if she were the only one awake this early, as if she had the entire Pacific to herself. A sudden, fierce urge to stand at the water’s edge to greet the sunrise washed over her.

Why not? How many chances like this would she have?

She hurried back to her room and threw on the first thing she grabbed in the closet, a soft, loose sundress the color of newly ripe peaches. She quickly pulled her tangled hair into a loose ponytail and picked up the video baby monitor she sometimes still used when Grace was sick, grateful for the impulse to pack it at the last minute.

A quick check of the screen told her the girls were still sleeping soundly, so she unplugged the little monitor and slipped it into her pocket, then walked out into the quiet.

The sun hovered just below the horizon, the puffy clouds glowing orange and pink and pale lavender in the gathering light. She could hardly take her eyes off it as she turned to walk down the ramp of the lanai to the sand.

Only then did she notice three boogie boards propped next to the front door. Two of them had little clear windows for looking beneath the surface.

She stared. What in the world?

A note was attached to the biggest one, written on resort stationery that flapped in the breeze. She pulled it off, knowing instantly who had left these on the porch.

“We can’t let Gracie miss the fish,” Shane had written in bold, masculine handwriting.

She pressed one hand to her mouth as she reread the note, warmth spreading through her like baby breakers reaching the shore.

She couldn’t believe he’d gone to so much trouble on their behalf. She ran her fingers along the smooth curve of the largest board.

If she wasn’t careful, she could be in very grave danger of falling for a man like him.

She’d have to use extreme caution over the next few days. She couldn’t afford to risk her heart, not when she had two girls who depended on her to be strong.

After tucking the note in her pocket with the monitor, she walked barefoot down the steps. The sand was cool and soft between her toes as she walked to the water’s edge, the warm, sweetly scented trade winds rippling the cotton of her dress around her legs.

Shorebirds walked on gawky legs in the froth, and a few more wheeled and called overhead. She headed back to the dry sand and sat down, knees to her chest, to watch them as the sun inched higher and painted the clouds with more vivid color.

She was alone with the birds until she spied somebody jogging in her direction from the far edge of the beach.

She knew who it was even before she could make out his features in the pale light. She recognized the breadth of those shoulders, the brown hair glinting with streaks from the sun. Of course, the faded gray Chicago Police Department T-shirt was a bit of a giveaway.

The instant he spotted her, he changed course and headed in her direction.

“You’re up early this morning,” he said when he was close enough to speak without yelling. “The time change must be messing with you, too.”

“I decided a Hawaiian sunrise was too rare an event in my chilly Chicago life to miss.”

“The girls are still asleep?”

She pulled the monitor from her pocket and held it out for him to see.

“That’s handy.”

“It has a range of a hundred-fifty feet. I can be back in the cabana in a second.”

To her discomfort, he plopped down beside her, all those hard muscles just inches away. Again, she had to force herself not to stare, focusing instead on his kindness to her and the twins.

“Thank you for the boogie boards. That was a lovely thing to do.”

He shrugged, his expression embarrassed in the glowing sunrise slanting over his features. “I only rented them. I figured, what are you going to do with boogie boards back in Chicago?”

“It’s still wonderful.”

“It was a complete whim. I headed into Lihue last night for dinner and there was a surf shop open right next to the restaurant, advertising board rentals. It seemed like fate.”

“The girls will be thrilled. I was tempted to wake them up for a test run the minute I saw them on the porch. Fortunately, I came to my senses in time and decided to enjoy five minutes of quiet.”

His mouth twisted into a smile. “Until I came running along to disturb the peace.”

He definitely disturbed her peace, but not for the reasons he probably thought. She wasn’t about to tell him otherwise, though.

“What are you three planning today?”

She pointed to the water. “Sand, surf, sun. That about covers it.”

His low laugh sent nerves shivering down her spine—which only intensified when he shifted closer to her, stretching out long legs covered in dark hair.

“Are you interested in a drive around the island a little later? I wouldn’t mind playing tour guide. We could go see a couple waterfalls I know, visit some quiet beaches, maybe head up to Kailua.”

The invitation both thrilled and terrified her. Spending a few hours in a car with the man likely wasn’t the best way to protect her heart.

“I don’t know,” she stalled. “Things can be hard with Grace’s chair. She can use the walker most of the time, but we would have to take the wheelchair along in case she gets too tired.”

“I rented a big Jeep. There should be plenty of room for the chair and walker in the back, and I can easily lift her in and out.”

She should say no. The word hovered on her tongue. But the girls would love to see one of the plummeting waterfalls the island was known for and a little more of the island than this stretch of beach outside their cabana.

She supposed she could always arrange for a rental car and venture out on her own, but spending time with him was much more appealing. The twins would certainly love it, given how drawn they were to him.

“That could be fun,” she finally allowed, though she wanted to call the words back the moment she said them.

“Great. Shall we say noon? That’ll give you time to play around in the water for a while. And I know the girls have a hula lesson this morning, too. We can grab lunch on the way somewhere and still be back for the rehearsal dinner tonight.”

Ah, yes. The rehearsal dinner. Nick and Cara wanted the twins in the wedding party. They had to practice their role, which meant Megan wouldn’t be able to manufacture a convenient excuse to skip it.

“Sure. Okay. That would work.”

From the monitor, she heard a little cough that her maternal instinct told her came from Grace. She pulled it out to check and saw that both girls were still sleeping, cough notwithstanding.

“Everything okay?”

“For now. They’re pretty sound sleepers. I think I’m still safe for a few more moments.”

She turned her face back to the sunrise, which exploded with color now above the horizon.

“It must be hard, on your own with twins.”

She flashed him a look and saw his expression was compassionate, not judgmental. “Some things are hard. I won’t lie about that. Two parent-teacher conferences, two sets of homework every night, two girls nagging me in the store to buy them a treat. Most of the time they’re a joy, though. I wouldn’t trade our life for anything.”

“Do you ever wonder if things might have been easier if you had...” His voice trailed off, as if he had suddenly reconsidered what he’d been about to say.

“Stayed married?” she finished for him.

His expression turned rueful. “Sorry. That was a rude question and none of my business.”

She bumped his shoulder with hers. “My ex-husband is marrying your sister in roughly thirty-six hours. I’d say that makes it a little bit your business.”

“There is that.”

She wrapped her arms more tightly around her knees while the breeze lifted strands of hair that had escaped her ponytail. “I care about Nick. I always will. But we’ve both discovered we’re much better as coparents than we ever were as a couple.”

“I can see that. The girls seem very happy.”

“That’s the important thing, as far as I’m concerned.” She glanced over at him. “What about you? Have you ever gone through this?”

“What? Marriage? Not me. On the morning of my mother’s third marriage, when she was stuffing me into yet another tuxedo for another trip down the aisle with her, I decided that when I get hitched, it will be forever. I think this was a year or so after my father’s fourth wedding. I was about thirteen by then.”

She’d guessed something of the sort from what Nick had told her about Cara’s family. Sympathy squeezed her chest. She couldn’t imagine that. Her own parents had been deeply in love until the day they were killed together in a car accident when she was in nursing school.

Sometimes she thought their dying together had been a gift, as neither would have been able to live well without the other. A gift to them, anyway. As an only child who had always had a particularly close relationship with her parents, the loss of them both at the same time had been a devastating blow.

She’d figured out a long time ago that her grief after their deaths was one of the reasons she’d hurried into a relationship with Nick. She’d been lonely and adrift, seeking a connection that had never really been there.

“For the record,” Shane murmured after a long moment, “I like Nick. He makes my sister happy. But I’m beginning to question his sanity to let someone like you slip away.”

Heat seeped through her at his words, and she gazed at him with startled eyes. It seemed natural and perfect—there, alone with the sunrise and the water and the few shorebirds pecking across the sand—when he leaned forward and kissed her.

CHAPTER FIVE

HER BREATH CAUGHT and she froze, his lips warm and delicious on hers. Oh, it had been so long. She had really, really missed kissing, the slide of mouth against mouth, skin against skin, the wild flutter in her stomach.

The breeze swirled around them and the ocean whispered and she didn’t want this lovely moment to ever end.

She kissed him back, her hands curled into the cotton of his T-shirt. Since her divorce, she had focused only on being a good mother, a good nurse. The unleashed heat of Shane’s mouth and tongue and hands reminded her she’d lost something along the way. She had forgotten that, at her core, she was still a woman, with needs and desires she’d worked hard to suppress.

He eased away from her a little, breath ragged and blue eyes glazed with hunger.

“Yeah. Nick is definitely crazy,” he said, his voice gruff. He leaned in for another kiss, his arms around her, pulling her against his hard chest.

They kissed for a long time, while the sun rose higher in the sky. She didn’t want to stop, but a muffled cough from the monitor in her pocket acted like a cold splash of water.

Oh.

What was she doing here, wrapped around Shane Russell like some kind of tropical vine?

This close, she could see his irises, speckled glints of silver in the blue. She could also see a certain light reflected there that looked suspiciously...tender.

An answering emotion flooded through her. Yes. She could fall in love with him very easily. She thought of his help and care on the long flight, and how sweet he was to rent boogie boards for her and her daughters.

He could break her heart like the tide washing over a sand castle.

Hearing a sleepy little huff from the monitor, she gathered all her strength and wrenched away from him, her heart pounding.

“I...need to go,” she said, feeling flustered and off balance, rocked to her core by the kiss. “The girls will be up, and I don’t want them to wonder where I am.”

“Right.” His voice was still rough, his expression dazed. She supposed it was small consolation that he’d been just as affected by their kiss.

“I’ll see you later.”

She fled back to her cabana before he could say anything else.

* * *

SHANE WATCHED MEGAN hurry into her little house as if she were being chased by reef sharks.

His head still swam from the dizzying shift in emotions, but one clear thought rose above the rest.

He shouldn’t have kissed her.

He was intensely attracted to her. Something about those big green eyes, her delicate features, that small, curvy body just did it for him.

Not only that, but he greatly admired her caring and concern for her daughters. She obviously loved them deeply. It showed in everything she did, from her attention to their comfort on the flight over, to her delight last night playing in the water with them, to the video monitor in her pocket this morning.

He couldn’t even imagine the guts she must have needed to drag her twins across the ocean for their father’s wedding to another woman. He couldn’t help but respect that.

Yeah, he liked her—way too much. He gazed out at the endless rows of breakers. Despite his attraction, both physical and emotional, he knew she wasn’t for him.

He’d made a vow a long time ago, after years of seeing the chaos his parents created in his life and Cara’s, that he wouldn’t drag other children through that kind of turmoil. Kids had a rough enough time making their way in the world. They didn’t need new people moving in and out of their lives, the stress of separate visitations, the drama of being forced to adjust to a different family dynamic.

He had a strict no-kids policy and he intended to stick to that.

No matter how difficult it was.

* * *

“TELL ME THE truth. Is this uncomfortable for you?”

Megan glanced over at Cara, stretched out on a beach towel next to her in a cute blue bikini, soaking up sun.

“Uncomfortable? No. Unfair, absolutely. We’re roughly the same age and you look tanned and buff while I look like a pasty-white cream puff.”

“Spray tan is a truly wonderful invention. But you know that’s not what I mean. I’m talking about this whole destination wedding thing. While I was dreaming and making plans, I should have thought things through and realized how difficult it would be for you to haul Grace and Sarah all the way out here.”

“They’re having the time of their lives. Look at them.”

Cara and Megan both shifted to watch Nick haul a giggling Grace around on the boogie board Shane had provided. A few yards away from them, Sarah was busy building a sand castle masterpiece, tongue lodged firmly between her teeth.

Her daughter must have felt them watching her. She looked up briefly. “I’m almost done. See, this is the princess’s bedroom. When the bad guys come to take over her kingdom, she’s going to jump out that window to her horse so she can fight them. And then she’s going to Hawaii to get married.”

Megan blinked a little at the explanation but she couldn’t fault the spirit behind it.

She and Cara grinned at each other as Sarah jumped up to get more water in her bucket.

“I won’t lie,” Megan said as she watched her. “The trip here was hard work, but I would’ve hated for the girls to miss seeing their dad get married. You know I’m happy for you both, right?”

Cara gazed at her, a little teary-eyed, then reached out and squeezed her fingers. “You’re about the most amazing person I’ve ever met, Megan. You know that?”

Megan rolled her eyes, though she couldn’t help being touched. “You should know better than that by now.”

“I’m serious. I can’t believe I’m so lucky to have you and the girls in our lives. Before I met you, I was so afraid you would hate me. My mom has hated every single one of my dad’s subsequent wives, including the one he’s bringing to the wedding. And she hasn’t even met her yet.”

“I don’t hate you, Cara,” Megan assured her. “Nick and the girls both love you, and that’s more than enough for me.”

Cara squeezed her fingers again before flopping over onto her back. “See how lucky I am?”

Megan didn’t have an answer to that, so she just rested her cheek on the rough weave of the towel and watched Sarah put the finishing touches on her castle.

A few moments later, nerves jumped in her stomach when she heard Shane’s voice.

“So this is where everybody’s hanging out.”

She looked up to find him standing near his sister, again wearing board shorts that bared all those delicious muscles.

Feeling at a disadvantage stretched out at his feet in a skimpy bathing suit, she rolled over and sat up.

“Oh. Hi.”

“Hey! Hi.” Sarah beamed, delighted to see him. She offered up a shaka, which he returned with a grin. “Look at my castle. Isn’t it awesome?”

“Truly spectacular. You did all that yourself?”

“Well, my dad helped a little, but I did most of it.”

“Looks like that parapet is tilting a little. Do you mind if I help you with it?”

She frowned. “I don’t see any parrot pet.”

“Parapet,” he said with a smile. “It’s that tower thingy there.”

He plopped down on the sand by Sarah’s creation and straightened one angle with deft motions. “There you go. Now it won’t fall down when it’s attacked by hermit crabs.”

Sarah giggled. “Not hermit crabs. The bad guys are coming to take over the castle from the princess but she’s going to jump out the window onto her horse and fight them and she’s going to chase them into the ocean.”

He blinked a little. “Okay, then. Good plan.”

Cara stood up. “I think I’ll take one more dip before I go in and shower. Sarah, do you want to come with me? We can look for more fish out there.”

“Okay!” Eager for more time in the water, Sarah dropped her sand shovel and hurried to pick up her boogie board.

Only after they took off together did Megan realize this left her alone with Shane. She wanted to chase after them but couldn’t figure out a graceful way to pull it off, especially when all she could think about was his exploring mouth, his tongue sliding against hers, the strength in those muscles as he’d held her.

She flushed, not quite sure what to say to him.

He was the first to break the silence. “Look, I’m sorry about what happened this morning. I shouldn’t have kissed you. I promise, it won’t happen again.”

Though she agreed in theory, his words still sparked a little pang. “It wasn’t your fault,” she finally said. “I didn’t exactly push you away. It’s easy to get carried away by this romantic setting.”

“The romantic setting,” he repeated.

She shot him a quick look. “Sure. Sunrise, beach, palm trees. Paradise makes people lose their heads.”

“It is beautiful,” he agreed. He gazed out at the water for a moment before turning back to her. “I would still love to take you and the girls around the island, but I completely understand if you want to take a pass, given the circumstances.”

That would be an easy out. She could rent a car herself or just hang out here on the beach with the girls.

But she wasn’t a coward. Hadn’t she raised two daughters mostly on her own the last five years?

“We’re both adults,” she said quietly. “I think we can handle a little inconvenient attraction.”

Before she realized what he intended, he reached for her hand almost casually, his fingers twining around hers. “Is that what you call this?”

“What else?” she countered, tugging her fingers away.

“To tell you the truth, I’m not really sure.”

She knew. Trouble. That’s what she would call this attraction that seemed to seethe and eddy around them like the frothy waves on the sand.

“I think I’ll go back in the water while I have the chance,” she said, escaping the currents tugging between them to head to her own boogie board. “Do you still want to take off about noon?”

“What is that, about an hour and a half? Will that give you enough time?”

“Yes. I’ll swim for a minute and then take the girls over to their hula lesson. We’ll meet you at our cabana after we clean off.”

“Deal.”

He grabbed his own board and headed for deeper waters while she waded toward the others.

* * *

“EVERY TIME YOU turn a bend in the road, the view becomes more breathtaking. How is that even possible?”

Shane shifted his gaze from driving for just an instant, enjoying Megan’s wide-eyed excitement immensely. The craggy, raw green mountains and stunning blue sea seemed even more spectacular when viewed from her perspective.

“I’d forgotten how beautiful it was,” he said. “It’s the Garden Island. I’ve been to Oahu, Maui and Hawaii, and I think I’d have to say I still like Kauai best. If I had to picture the Garden of Eden, this would be the place.”

“I love the flowers most,” Sarah announced.

“I liked the waterfall. It was huge,” Grace said. In the rearview mirror, he saw her hide a yawn after she spoke.

Both girls looked tired, probably still struggling a little with the time change.

“Chicago in January seems like another planet right now. It’s tough to think about returning to below-zero temperatures and bitter winds.”

He had enjoyed the last few hours with them and hated thinking this magical time had to end.

“Hey, Shane, is that a geyser?”