Page 94 of Small Town Firsts
“Thanks to you, pal.” I frowned. “How do you know we’re sleeping together? And she got a nickname already?”
He cracked the can. “Evidently you and Shane pick women that are big personalities. WhereAnelais tiny and ethereal like an angel, yours is a fucking goddess. The kind of woman you want to get a hold of and don’t let go.” He got a wistful look on his face. “I met a woman like that once.”
My eyebrows lowered as I stared at him.
Kain threw his head back with a laugh. “Don’t worry.”
“I don’t need to. She’s mine.”
“Then why do you get so growly about your boss? I like him by the way. He has a steady and true way about him. Like he’s part of the land.”
And that was a big compliment from Kain. He may have been quick to escape Hawaii when he was looking to make his own name, but he was serious about legacy and his attachment to the land and the ocean. One of the reasons we spent so much time in the Pacific when we were young and dumb.
He’d returned to Hawaii to connect with his family, even if he couldn’t see eye-to-eye with his father most of the time. Both of them were far too stubborn.
“Yeah, I like Beckett. I did follow him here practically sight unseen.”
“See. Look at you following your instincts. I’m so proud.” He took a long swallow.
“Ass.”
His chuckle eased some of my annoyance.
“If you like him, why do you act like you’re going to chew his arm off?”
I opened my own beer and took a drink before I answered, then held the can up to my forehead. “I don’t know, man. She fucks with my head.”
“You do know men and women can be friends, right?”
I grunted. Yeah, I knew it logically.
“My sister married her best friend.”
Kain rolled his eyes. “It happens,Boa. Maeve and Brian were dancing around each other since they were freaking teenagers.”
“Yeah, well, that’s how long Beckett and Kira have known one another.”
“All right, you got me there.” He gave me a big sigh. “You don’t think you can trust her?” He shook his head. “She’s not Darcy.”
I tried to roll off the tightness across my shoulders. My ex-girlfriend hadn’t been topmost of my mind, but now it made sense why I got itchy about Kira and Beckett. “No, she’s not.” I took a long swallow from the beer.
“You and Darcy were long over before she started with that bullshit and you know it. You were just being stubborn about pulling the plug on the relationship.”
I set the can on the arm of the chair and rotated it slowly. “At the time, I thought it was a gut shot.”
“And now?”
“Now, I know it wasn’t even close to how I feel about Sunshine.” I lifted it for another sip to wet my parched throat. “But Darcy was in denial about how she felt about Jim. A piece of me wonders if Kira is the same with Beckett.”
Beckett was damn protective of her.
“I didn’t know Darcy that well, but you never looked at her like you look at Kira. And vice versa.Hinawouldn’t have gotten so mad at you today if she didn’t have feelings messing her up.”
A few of the bands across my back eased. “Yeah. Hindsight and all that bullshit.”
Kain rested his beer on his belly. “So, are you saying it’s more than just banging?”
“Who says we’re sleeping together?”
