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Every instinct in Joely’s body was telling her to run, but she didn’t know where. She couldn’t risk going back to her job and her friends. If Timothy found her, he could easily overpower her and she’d be on a plane back to Minnesota before she came to.
How did he find her? She was always so careful to be in the background at the hotel events where she might be caught on camera. She never was on social media. It was too coincidental to be just a chance meeting.
“Are you going to buy something?” the sales girl asked, while chewing her gum.
“Yeah.” Joely grabbed a bikini, a tote bag, and a towel. “I’ll take these please.”
After the sales girl rang her up, she darted into their bathroom to change. Stuffing her maid’s uniform into the tote bag, she tugged on the suit. It was far too young for her, way too little, and an annoying shade of purple. It was nothing like Annie Andrews would wear. And that was the point.
Maybe she could get Holt to pack her things for her while she waited in the car. If she could get him to take her to the bank too, that would make things easier.
If she could trust him.
If he believed her.
If he ever showed up.
Glancing out the door of the shop, she still didn’t see him or his car. He was late. Holt was never late.
“These too.” Joely added a pair of flip flops. She wouldn’t be able to run fast in them, but they stood out less than her comfortable sneakers. “And these.” She plopped down a large pair of sunglasses and a wide brimmed hat.
The girl sighed as if this was all too much for her. Joely paid with her credit card, wondering if she should drain her bank account and stick with using cash. She was taking a risk that Timothy hadn’t cracked her identity, but it was nearly impossible to connect Annie Post Andrews to Joely Anderson. Her identification and social security number were the best that money could buy. Her sister had seen to that.
Putting on the hat and sunglasses, Joely wrapped the towel around her waist and bustled out with some tourists. Heading towards the parking lot, she darted glances all around her. Timothy could be anywhere.
Luckily, Holt had decided to show up after all. He parked by the curb, and she eased into the passenger side of his Honda Accord. Noting the surfboards on top, a little tension eased out of her back. It would be nice to surf one last time.
“What the hell are you wearing?” Holt barked at her, as she pulled the seatbelt around her and clicked it in place.
Normally, she would have blushed and stammered being in such close proximately to him. But suddenly, she was so very tired, she just didn’t give a fuck anymore. She wouldn’t be seeing him again anyway, which was too damned bad.
“I couldn’t wear my uniform.”
“Did you put sunscreen on?” he continued.
“What? No. It wasn’t on my list of things to do.”
“Glove compartment. You’re going to get burned to a crisp.”
“We’re not going to be out there that long,” Joely said regretfully.
“With your skin, we don’t need to.”
He had a point. She pulled the sun block out and slathered it all over, trying not to get any on his leather seats.
“Did you give Amelia my notice?” Joely asked. She’d figure out how to do her back once they were on the beach. The thought of his big hands smoothing over her body made her shiver. She had a crush on him from the moment she laid eyes on him five years ago. Then he had to ruin it by accusing her of being a hooker.
“I said we were taking the day off.”
“I need to leave the island. I was wondering if you could pack up my things for me and drive me to the bank so I can drain my account?”
“Why don’t you tell me what’s going on? I talked to Senator Andrews.”
“What?” Panic coursed through her. “You what?” She looked in the backseat, suddenly positive Timothy was hiding back there waiting to jump out at her. When he wasn’t there, she gripped the door handle. Holt locked the doors. With a jolt, she realized she was trapped. But a quick look out the window confirmed that they were on the way to the beach instead of going back to the resort. Forcing her hands to stay still, she clasped them in front of her. “What did you tell him?”
“He showed me an old picture of you. I told him I hadn’t seen you.”
Joely deflated like a balloon against the soft leather seats. “Thank you,” she said weakly.
“Your husband seems eager to find you.”
She bristled. “Ex-husband.”
Holt nodded. “Good.”
“You’re damn right it’s good. Of course, that little piece of paper ending our marriage didn’t mean anything.” She risked a glance at him under her lashes. “Or the restraining order I filed against him.”
Joely knew Holt got what she was trying to say by the way his jaw clenched.
“What’s he doing here looking for you now?”
Blowing out a sigh, she rested her forehead against the window. “I wish I knew.” Straightening, she played with the threads in her towel. It was so cheaply made, it was already fraying. “But I can’t let him find me.”
“Why?” Holt said.
“He’ll kill me.” Joely shrugged.
Holt went white knuckled on the steering wheel. “What do you mean?”
“I mean the last time, he shattered my jaw, broke my cheekbone and smashed my nose.” Joely was surprised that her voice was so calm. She felt like she was floating above the car looking down. “I married him just after high school. He was controlling, and at first I didn’t know any better because he treated me like my father treated my mother. But then he wanted to run for the Senate, and he needed for me to have a college degree.”
Her mind wandered to those first gloriously frightening days of attending classes on the huge state campus. She was so excited to take all the computer classes she could. She had even conned Timothy into buying her an expensive gaming rig.
“I learned a lot of things he hadn’t expected me to. Freshman psych was an eye opener. I filed for divorce sophomore year and moved to on-campus housing. I got a restraining order junior year. I was in the hospital for reconstructive surgery on my face during what would have been my senior year.”
Worse than that, he had smashed her computer to bits.
The silence fell heavy in the car. There was more to the story, so much more. But the less Holt knew about her and her family, the better.
“Then what happened?”
“I changed my name. My face was already changed.” She hiccupped and gave a shaky laugh. Her calm façade was starting to break. “And I ran. I was lucky to get away. I ended up here.”
Joely could feel Holt’s judgement in the thickly charged silence between them.
“Did you press charges?”
“One of his brothers is a state cop and the other is a lawyer.”
Holt’s lips tightened. “He violated the restraining order and put you in the hospital. And now he’s a state senator.”
“Yes, but he lost the election that year.” A hysterical giggle escaped her, and she clamped a hand over her mouth.
Holt pulled into the beach parking lot. It took everything in her not to bolt as soon as he unlocked the car doors. She forced herself to climb out of the car with as much grace and dignity that she could muster. He took the boards down from the roof of his car.
“Let me get your back, otherwise you’re going to be a lobster.” He reached in and grabbed the suntan lotion.
She braced herself for his touch, holding her breath. He smoothed the lotion over her shoulders first. His big hands were warm and strong. She closed her eyes. It had been a long time since someone touched her so gently. Even if his strokes down her back and the back of her legs were efficient rather than lover-like, it was nice to be touched.
“Thanks,” she whispered as he capped the bottle and tossed it back into the car.
“‘A’ole pilikia.”
She shivered. He was almost unbearably sexy when he spoke Hawaiian. She concentrated on carrying the surfboard to the water without tripping or making a fool out of herself. She almost swallowed her tongue when Holt shrugged out of his shirt and dropped his shorts. He was wearing a bathing suit underneath, but for a moment she almost had a heart attack.
“Aren’t you going to put on sunscreen?”
“Never leave the house without it.” He grinned at her.
Well, damn. She had wanted to return the favor. Nothing ever went right for her.
D.T. Fleming was almost deserted this time of the morning during the week. The lifeguards were hanging out in their booth, but aside from a few families spread out along the beach, they had the place generally to themselves.
Joely wished she didn’t have to leave. She was going to miss the beach, and the ocean, and the absolute feeling of peace she felt when paddling out to the waves.
Today the waves were flat, but it didn’t matter. What mattered was the feel of the sun on her back, and the quiet strength of the man beside her. If things had been different or if they had more time, maybe they could have had something more than a co-worker, grudging friendship. They didn’t say anything until they were out far enough that they were away from everyone else.
“Thanks for this,” she said, and she heard the longing in her voice. “I’m going to miss Maui.”
“I need you tell me everything,” Holt said. He was sitting astride his board, his leg close enough to touch hers. She wanted to smooth her hand over the fine hairs of his leg and muscled thigh. Holt would always be forbidden fruit for her. He was too sharp to lie to, and he wasn’t the type of man who would accept anything but the complete truth in a relationship. She couldn’t give him that. The secrets she kept weren’t only her own.
Timothy ruined everything. First by being a dirty politician, but mostly because he considered her to be a loose end. Maybe if she told him she was content being a missing person, he’d go back to Minnesota and forget about her.
And maybe it would snow on the beach today.
“It doesn’t matter,” she said.
“It does to me. It does to your friends.”
Joely blinked back tears. “You can’t help me. You don’t know what he’s like. He’s ruthless.”
“You’ve met my uncle, right?”
She was surprised she could still laugh, and was startled by the chuckle that escaped her. His uncle, Tetsuo, was rumored to be the oyabun of the local Yakuza clan. “Okay, point taken. The thing is if Timothy knows I’m at Palekaiko, he’ll wait until I’m vulnerable. Then, he’ll knock me out, and take me back to Minnesota. If he doesn't kill me out right, he'll keep me there until I escape. And before you tell me I’m being dramatic, he’s done it before.”
“That’s kidnapping, a federal crime, especially if he takes you across state lines.”
“If he’s caught. If anyone believes me. And only if I escape this time. Like I said, he just might kill me.”
She was fascinated by the muscle that worked in his jaw. Joely wanted to stroke his cheek and tell him not to worry. She’d get away from him again.
“Why does he want to kill you?”
And here was where things got tricky. She couldn’t tell him the real reason, not without risking that he would turn her over to the police—or worse leave her all alone out on D.T. Fleming Beach. She’d be a sitting duck. “He didn’t like that I filed for divorce. I embarrassed him.” It wasn’t even a lie. It just wasn’t the whole truth.
Holt seemed to accept her explanation and that made her feel worse. She would have liked to tell him that her father and his uncle would have gotten along famously, but she knew that he wasn’t close to Tetsuo and hated that he wasn’t a legitimate business man.
“You need to go to the police. His brothers can’t help him here.”
She wasn’t surprised that Holt recommended the police. In his world, the police were the good guys. Except for the ones who were owned by his uncle, or could be bought with Timothy’s money.
“And tell them what?” She watched as the boogie boarders rode the small waves back to the beach. Paddling out farther, she just wanted to keep going. Let the ocean take her before her ex could. “He’s done nothing wrong...yet. And by the time he does, it will be too late.”
“What if we all sit down with him?” Holt paddled out so he was next to her again. “You’ll be surrounded by your friends. We’ll make sure you’re never alone until he leaves.”
That wouldn’t work. If Timothy was backed into a corner, he’d start singing like a canary and paint her the villain. Joely didn’t think she could take it if her friends looked at her differently after he spread his poison. And Holt was so straitlaced, he might insist on calling the police anyway—to arrest her. She was no angel. She had made a lot of mistakes that she was running from as well.
“He won’t take no for an answer.” Again not a lie, just not the complete truth. “That’s why he’s here after all these years. I will only be able to sleep at night if I’m a hundred percent sure Timothy has no idea where I am. So, I’ve got to leave this new life I built for myself and start over somewhere else. Maybe even change my name again.”
“Maybe not,” Holt said, his eyes lost in thought.
“What do you mean?” She pulled her feet on the board and wrapped her arms around her knees.
“He’s here on vacation. Amelia checked his reservation. Two weeks and then he flies back to Minnesota.”
“This was no chance meeting. He knew I was here.” She hated that her voice shook.
“He saw a picture of you on somebody’s social media page in your uniform. But he doesn’t know that you’re still here.”
“I’m so fucked,” Joely groaned, pressing her forehead to her knees. Of course, a wave smacked her off her board when she wasn’t looking. She lost her hat and her sunglasses, but at least her bikini was still on—barely. As she adjusted her wardrobe malfunction under water, she looked up at the ankle leash holding her to the board and Holt’s strong legs dangling from his board.
It was so peaceful and quiet, she wished she had the time to have taken a deeper breath. She’d like to stay down here forever. Too bad she wasn’t a mermaid. Swimming up to the surface, she steadied herself on the surf board.
“For my next trick,” she said, clambering back on the board. This time, she straddled it like Holt did for better balance. “I’d pull a rabbit out of my hat, if I still had one.”
Holt wordlessly handed her back her hat.
“Thanks,” she said.
“Be right back,” he said, unclipping his leash then diving into the water.
Joely put her foot on his board so it wouldn't float away. Smoothing her hair back, she put it into a ponytail and wrung out her hat before jamming it on her head. A few minutes later Holt came up for air, but before she could ask him what he was doing, he dove underwater again.
Having grown up on Maui, Holt could hold his breath for a long time. He and the other guys took her out fishing one time. They didn’t tell her until she was on the boat that they weren’t going to use poles. They went spear fishing and she was the only one who had a snorkel and vest on. The other guys didn’t need it.
This time when Holt came back up, he was holding her sunglasses.
“You didn’t have to do that,” Joely said, shocked. “But thank you.”
“You’re welcome. I think I know a way out of this. But I’ve got to make a few phone calls first. Let’s go out for lunch.”
She shook her head. “I can’t risk Timothy seeing me.”
“He’s snorkeling in Molokini today.”
Joely stared at him like he had two heads. “Timothy? Snorkeling?”
“I told you. He’s on vacation first. He’s not really expecting to find you. He's chasing a long shot. Once he checks things out, and you're not here, he'll go home.”
Placing a hand over her heart that just started beating hard in her chest, she stared out into the waves. Could it be true? “So, you think that I can lay low in a hotel for two weeks and then everything will go back to normal?” That would play hell with her savings, but it would be completely worth it. She squinted at Holt. “Do you think Amelia will hold my job?”
“I can pretty much guarantee it. But I’ve got a better idea than a hotel. Come on Freckles, let me take you to lunch.”
She would not blush. She would not blush. But his evil chuckle told her that her face was as red as her hair.