Page 13 of Trust

“Nicola doesn’t like her.”

“I get that.”

“No. She’s been looking over Royal’s social media as soon as she found that.”

“I felt like I needed a shower,” Nic said. “She acts like everyone can afford her lifestyle in Hawai’i, and she is disrespectful to the culture.”

“Lani said the same thing.”

There was a slight pause, and he wondered about it.

“How is Lani?”

“Fine.”

“What was that?” Nic asked.

“Your voice was weird, bro,” Jensen said, sounding like a douche. Then he chuckled. His brother had a weird sense of humor.

“Nothing, just, there seems to be something off between her and Ben.”

“Oh. That’s weird. I always thought they were rather close,” Nic said.

“Yeah. And Ben was at home in the middle of the day.”

“Well, he is getting married this weekend.”

That would make sense if his sister wasn’t doing most of the heavy lifting. He saw a glimpse of that when he was there, but Marta had filled him in on that situation. Oahu was like a small town in a lot of respects. Marta was on the Auntie network and was sure he knew more about what was happening with the Kingston family than the reporters in Hawai’i.

“Well, I’m going to jump in the pool for a bit.”

“Okay. Check in with us, and Jules said something about jumping over early next week.”

That brought a smile to his face. He adored their little sister and hadn’t seen her in a few months. “I’ll text her.”

After hanging up, he headed up to his room. He always liked to be in the pool the first day he arrived in Hawaii. It seemed to help with his jet lag.

Nicola stared into space as she sunk into the fragrant bath. She had been there for ten minutes, pretending to read.

“What are you thinking about, love,” Jensen asked her.

Nicola started because she hadn’t realized that he was in the bathroom. “Nothing.”

“Nope. I know you better than that.” He settled down on the edge of their massive garden tub in their bathroom. “What’s bothering you about Jakob?”

She loved having a man who understood her well, but sometimes it was annoying. Knowing he would bug her until she answered, she set down the book she wasn’t really reading.

“There’s something about Lani. Always has been with Jakob.”

He laughed. “Of course there is. He’s in love with her.”

Nicola frowned at him. “What?”

“The first time I met her—after I got clean, and we went to his premiere ofGetaway Car—he gave me a hard look and said that she was off limits.”

“Oh, that. It was because of her age.”

He shook his head. “He kept reminding me any time our paths crossed. And she was nineteen when I met her.”

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