FULL NOVELXO The Wrong Fiancée: Chapter 12
I had peace for a while.
Dean left for parts unknown, and the Thatchers started to go to restaurants that were not at the resort.
My housekeeping colleague, who had been on maternity leave, came back, so she was assigned the bungalows that caused furor whenever I was in them.
Everyone at Hale Moana was getting a little tired of the complaints from Ginny and Felicity about everything. Leilani took great pleasure in telling Ginny that I was not cleaning their bungalows, so it looked like the new person cleaning was having the same problems as me—which was her way of saying, ‘Stop bitching and moaning, please.’
At least it was tolerable right now, I thought as I pedaled down the coastal road toward Ka Pono, the island of Kauai unfurling around me in its usual, effortless beauty.
Even after all these years, I never got tired of the view. The road, lined with towering palm trees and patches of hibiscus in full bloom, wound along the coast like a ribbon, snaking between the sapphire ocean and the emerald green cliffs that rose like sentinels on the other side. Ahead, the deep blue of the Pacific stretched endlessly, the sunlight shimmering on the waves like crushed diamonds.
Behind me, I could still feel the pull of the Nāpali Coast, one of my favorite places to hike. The jagged cliffs, lush with tropical vegetation, plunging straight into the sea. It was rugged and wild; everything the rest of my life wasn’t. I’d spent hours hiking those trails, trying to lose myself in the endless green of the valleys, the waterfalls that poured from the heavens, and the secret beaches that felt like they belonged to no one but me.
I hadn’t seen Dean even before he left the resort—actually since he came to my cottage. He probably realized what a bad idea it had been to come knocking on my door, demanding a conversation neither of us was ready to have. I was grateful, honestly. I didn’t need the complications, didn’t need Felicity’s pouty glares, and didn’t need to be sucked back into their world.
Liar! You miss seeing him.
Dean hadn’t been in Kauai for nearly a week now, not that I was counting days or anything.
Yes, you are!
Was I not over him? Damn it. Or maybe since he was my last good lay, and I missed that. It was normal, wasn’t it?
It’s been four years, so, no, it’s not normal, and you fell in love with him, so the rest of the crap you’re trying to feed yourself isn’t true either.
I had tried to date after Dean—but it hadn’t been easy, not with the aftermath of Daddy and Noe’s accident, and working all the freaking time on top of it.
Keeping a positive outlook was getting harder and harder.
I was exhausted. I’d lost weight, which I’d convinced myself was a good thing. Didn’t every woman need to lose some pounds? I’d never had trouble with how I looked. I used to not be skinny or curvy, just average. Now, I could see my ribs and it wasn’t a good look.
No one is seeing you naked, Elika, so get over yourself, will ya?
Maybe I should find someone to see me naked. Some good, sweaty sex was what I probably needed.
‘Come for me, baby, because I can’t hold on any longer,’ Dean groaned as he pounded me from behind.
With him, sex was always surprising, fun, and exciting. It wasn’t boring and missionary. The best part was that I always came. He knew what he was doing when he stroked my clitoris, found my G-spot, and twisted my nipples. He knew just how far and how much to touch.
‘Dean, I can’t,’ I whimpered. I’d already come twice, and that was one more than I normally did.
‘Yes, baby, I want to feel you milk my cock. Please. Give in, Elika.’ His voice was guttural, his fingers brutal as they played with the nub of nerves between my legs.
I was remembering my orgasm when another mini-explosion occurred…on the road. I was rounding a bend when my bike’s front tire lost its grip on the asphalt, and I heard the familiar hiss of a flat tire.
Of course. Of fucking course.
I growled in frustration, pulling to the side of the road and hopping off my bike, giving the tire a once-over. It was completely deflated. Great. Ka Pono was still at least a mile up the road. The stretch ahead was mostly uphill, the kind that made your thighs burn even when you were pedaling, and now I’d have to walk it while pushing the bike beside me.
Wonderful.
Well, there wasn’t anything to do but get on with it. If a local with the right kind of vehicle came along, I could hitch a ride, but I wasn’t going to wait in the July sun for that to happen.
I started walking, pushing the bike up the incline with ill grace.
It wasn’t just the flat tire. It was everything. My job, my life, Noe.
I’d spent the past four years trying to help my sister, pulling her out of the darkness she’d been trapped in since the accident. And she couldn’t stand me. Why did I keep going every week? Maybe once a month would be enough.
Even as the thought crossed my mind, I knew I wouldn’t do it. Noe was lonely, and she got upset when I didn’t visit every week. She might poke and prod at me when I was around, but the nurses said she waited impatiently for me every Wednesday.
I sighed, wiping the sweat from my forehead as the sun beat down relentlessly. My tank top clung to my skin, and the waistband of my denim shorts—well past their prime—was damp and uncomfortable.
I trudged along the road, the wheels of my bike creaking because the Universe obviously hated me.
Stop the pity party, Elika. You at least have legs to walk on.
That put a stop to my self-indulgence.
Noe couldn’t ride a bicycle, couldn’t walk, maybe forever. I couldn’t blame her for being depressed—who wouldn’t feel like shit when they’d lost their legs at the age of twenty-four. God! She’d been so young when the accident happened. We’d all been so young, but Daddy’s decision to drink and drive had aged both of us.
I’d try and cheer Noe up today, I decided. We’d go to the beach, and I’d help her get her feet into the water. That would make her happy. I knew she missed swimming and surfing.
Could she surf even if her legs were not all there? Maybe she could paddle? I was lost in thought, so I didn’t hear the low hum of an engine until it was all but next to me. I turned to see a sleek, black four-wheel drive rolling to a stop beside me.
The window rolled down, and Dean leaned casually against the driver’s seat, his eyes hidden behind dark aviator sunglasses. Even in this heat, the man looked ridiculously cool, like a freaking advertisement for luxury travel.
‘May I give you a lift?’ he asked.
I gripped the handlebars of my bike and stared at him for a second longer than necessary. Part of me wanted to say no, to be stubborn, to walk the last mile like I didn’t care. But another part of me—the part that was hot, tired, and sweaty—was about to give in.
‘Please,’ he added somberly, sincerely.
‘Thank you. I’d appreciate it if you could just drop me off a mile down this road,’ I replied politely, giving bitchy Elika a break. He was being kind and generous, and I had to get my head out of my ass and not blame him for my lack of…everything that he wanted in a partner.
‘Where are you going?’ He hopped out of his car, easily lifting my bike into the back before I could protest.
‘Ka Pono…it’s a rehab center.’
He opened the passenger door, and I slid in, trying not to think too much about how nice the cool air felt as it blasted through the vents.
The road twisted through lush greenery, where steep cliffs softened into rolling hills sprinkled with wildflowers. Kauai had a raw, untamed beauty—unpolished, yet breathtaking. I turned to the window, watching the ocean glimmer under the sunlight as it stretched endlessly beside us.
‘This the place where your sister is getting treatment?’ Dean asked, breaking the quiet.
‘Yes. She was in a clinic in Waikiki, but they’re doing some experimental treatments here that could…ah…she can’t walk, but they’re hoping she’ll be able to get some mobility with this new thing they’re trying,’ I explained.
‘I know that she was in the car accident where you lost your father.’
I hesitated, not sure why I wanted to tell him about Noe, the clusterfuck my life was. Maybe it was the fatigue. Or maybe I was just tired of carrying it all by myself.
‘She has a TBI.’ I stared out the window, hating to say these words, hating that my sister had lost so much because of our father’s carelessness. ‘A Traumatic Brain Injury. From the accident.’
‘What does that mean?’ he asked, his eyes on the road.
‘Like I said, her legs don’t work—she’s paralyzed. She’s been stuck in that wheelchair for years now, and it’s been hell for her. It’s not just the physical stuff. With a TBI, her brain is affected. She has extreme mood swings, good days and bad days. She’s also clinically depressed.’ I paused, feeling like a drama queen spilling all my woes. ‘But I’m hoping she’ll regain some mobility, and maybe that’ll push her to…I don’t know, leave the rehab center and start living again.’
‘She has to be there full-time?’
‘No. She wants to. She…I thought when we came here, she’d get out and live and work, even though she was wheelchair-bound, and go to Ka Pono on an outpatient basis. But her doctors don’t think her mental state is where she can function and….’ I trailed off, swallowing the lump in my throat.
‘But she feels like she’s lost herself,’ Dean finished quietly, surprising me.
I nodded, my voice catching. ‘Yeah.’
Dean glanced at me briefly, then back at the road. ‘You have faith in the treatment at Ka Pono?’
‘Yeah, I do,’ I said softly. ‘But not Noe. It’s hard for her to believe in it, you know? After so many years of nothing changing.’
I could feel his eyes on me again like he wanted to say something, but he didn’t. We just drove. The air smelled of salt and plumeria, and for a brief moment, my worries felt far away. Maybe it was the drive, maybe it was the island, or maybe…it was Dean.