Page 3 of Forbidden Hawaiian Nights
She was beginning to think that she had read the situation wrong, even though she couldn’t work out what the alternative could be. He glanced over his shoulder to her and then stopped so that she could catch him up.
He must be at least six-three, she thought faintly. He seemed to tower over everyone in the café. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Mack, the owner, and his wife Rae, and she nodded. The café was only just beginning to fill up with another wave of people arriving at the beach. The families had left and all the twenty-and thirty-somethings would be heading down to have dinner at one of the food trucks that lined the strip of road at the back, or else just hang out in groups on the sand.
‘Don’t worry,’ he drawled, looking down at her. ‘Your friends will make sure you don’t get kidnapped by me.’
‘My friends?’
He nodded to the counter. ‘I’m guessing you know those two behind. Good. If I can’t reassure you that I’m not about to take advantage of you, then the presence of those two should.’
‘I would be reassured if you actually told me your name,’ Mia returned without batting an eye. ‘You know mine, so it’s only polite.’
‘And I will. What do you want to drink?’
‘A glass of water would be fine.’
The man shrugged. There were empty tables to choose from and he opted for one to the side of the café and away from the window.
‘Everything okay, Mi?’
Mia forced herself to smile at Rae, an attractive woman with cropped blonde hair and an easy smile who had approached them with a pad and a pen. Right now, there was a question in her eyes, and Mia couldn’t blame her. She had spent long enough joking that the next time Mia came to the café she wanted to see her with a nice young man. That hadn’t happened yet so her curiosity would be spiked by the sight of Mia with the man semi sprawled in the chair opposite her, their knees practically touching, because the wooden table was tiny.
‘Sure!’ They ordered their drinks and Rae left them alone.
‘Is it always like this?’
‘What do you mean?’ He had a voice that was lazy, only mildly interested, and yet strangely commanding. She was momentarily distracted by his direct gaze. Something about him was mesmerising and she wasn’t quite sure why. Surely it couldn’t be just a matter of good looks?
‘Recognised wherever you go…’
‘I’ve lived here all my life, and it’s not enormous—not when so much of my time is spent on this beach. I teach the kids on a Saturday and a Sunday. I surf whenever I can. It can be a tight-knit community. And you still haven’t told me your name.’
‘Max Stowe. I’m Izzy’s brother.’
Mia went very still.
That was the last thing she’d expected to hear even though she hadn’t had a clue what she had been expecting.
He looked nothing like Izzy. Izzy was small and blonde with big, blue eyes.
This guy was a six-foot-something hunk with black hair and dark blue eyes and Danger, Keep Away stamped all over him.
She was still floundering in stunned silence when he pulled out a wallet and extracted a card which he shoved on the table between them.
His driving licence.
‘Just in case you still have any doubts,’ he drawled.
Mia didn’t answer. She pushed the driving licence back towards him. ‘I didn’t realise you would be coming over,’ she stammered.
‘No,’ Max soothed. ‘I made sure to warn Nat and his assistant to keep my arrival under wraps.’
‘Why?’
‘I didn’t want you to get any time to work out how you might avoid my questions.’
‘What questions?’ Mia asked. It still wasn’t sinking in. Izzy’s brother?
Izzy had mentioned Max in passing. ‘Bossy’ had been the term most frequently used when it came to a description.
