Page 31 of Trust

“Is she Hawaiian?”

He nodded. “And you can’t take her to a place to eat?”

“She’s busy at a location. I want to take her something besides Hawaiian ice, which is one of her favorite treats.”

She offered him a smile. “Is she allergic to seafood?”

“No. She loves poke.” Then it hit him. “That’s brilliant. Thanks.”

“Any time,” she said as he rushed to get ready.

He knew one of Lani’s favorite places to get poke was at a convenience store close to where she would be. If this worked, he would definitely owe his sister, but if it helped him with Lani, he didn’t care.

Seven

Lani sat at one of the tables in the suite she had rented for the night at Turtle Bay. She wasn’t planning on being there the night of the wedding. She assumed that she would be worn out pretending to be happy for her brother at the end of the day. It did mean she would have to come up to the North Shore again, but she would want her own bed on Saturday night.

The guest numbers were insane. They actually had over five hundred RSVPs. Thankfully, the wedding planner would handle the guests for the most part. But she was checking names against their security lists. They already had to inform one of the former Kingston surfers he couldn’t attend. The guy was out on bail for domestic abuse against his girlfriend. It was why they had dropped him from their company. Lani still didn’t know why he had been invited. Her phone buzzed, and she looked down at it.

Jakob:Where are you?

Lani:I told you. Turtle Bay.

Jakob:No, where in the resort are you?

She sent him the room number. Lani:Rented it for tonight.

Jakob:On my way.

Wait, what? Why was he on his way? What was happening? She was sitting there, holding her phone, her brain meltingdown because Jakob had contacted her once again. She had hoped that they would be surrounded by people when she met him face to face again. It would make it less awkward. Yes, she talked to him on the phone, but that was easier than seeing him and blushing.

Rolling her eyes, she set her phone down. Lani knew not to get excited. He was just being nice. The Wulfs were friendly people.

Five seconds later, she popped out of the chair to hurry to the bathroom. It was bad enough that he was surprising her. She was not going to look like an unkept mess. Her makeup was light, as usual, but she had been outside most of the day, and her hair looked like it. The trades were pretty bad today. Before she was ready, there was a knock at her door. She brushed her hair as fast as possible, then headed for the door. There was another knock just as she reached it.

Looking out her peephole, she saw Jakob. He was holding a bag and a box.

“I can hear you breathing.”

With a sigh, she opened the door.

“I thought you might pretend you weren’t here.”

“Sorry. You just took me by surprise.”

He smiled at her, and her heart skipped. It was probably a trite saying, but it was exactly how she felt. Her palms were sweaty, and her head was spinning.

Why was he so damn pretty? All of the Wulfs were beautiful. Flaxen hair, blue eyes…but Jakob was the best looking. When he rolled out of bed, he screamed movie star with dimples and hair that probably looked perfect.

Oh, she should not have thought that. One, thinking about Jakob and a bed led to being overheated. Second, they were standing at the door to her room with a massive king bed.

“Are you going to let me in?”

Inwardly, she groaned. She’d been off since he had called her this morning. There was something different about him like he had an agenda, and she didn’t know what it was. She had learned the hard way when it came to men to always know their plans. Still, this was Jakob, and he apparently had food.

She stepped back. He stopped in front of her. His gaze roamed over her for a long moment before connecting with hers again. It didn’t make her feel gross like it did with a lot of men. This made her think…seen.

“You look beautiful today.”

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